Overnight Oats: A Base Recipe, and the Container to Make It In
- Prep time
- 5 min
- Resting time
- 6 hours
- Total
- 6 hours 5 min
- Serves
- 1
Ingredients
| 50 g | rolled oats |
| 150 ml | milk (or a plant-based drink) |
| 100 g | Greek yoghurt or quark |
| 1 tbsp | chia seeds |
| 1 tsp | honey or maple syrup (optional) |
| a pinch | salt |
| a handful | fruit to top it in the morning |
Method
- Put the oats, chia seeds and salt in the container.
- Add the milk, yoghurt and honey, and stir until there are no dry patches.
- Close the lid and put it in the fridge for at least six hours, or overnight.
- In the morning, stir. Too thick? Add a splash of milk.
- Add the fruit on top and eat it cold, or let it stand for ten minutes first.
Overnight oats are breakfast you make the evening before. Oats, milk and yoghurt go into a container, the fridge does the rest, and in the morning it is ready to eat or carry out the door.
This is the base recipe we use. One portion fits in our 400 ml steel container, with a little room left for topping.
The base recipe
The ratio is what matters: roughly one part oats to three parts liquid, counting the yoghurt. Too little liquid and it sets like cement. Too much and it stays soup. The ingredients and steps are listed below this article.
Make it at least six hours ahead. You can make it up to two days in advance, which is what makes it useful for meal prep: two containers on Sunday evening covers Monday and Tuesday.
Three variations
Banana and cinnamon. Mash half a banana into the base, add half a teaspoon of cinnamon, and use 130 ml of milk instead of 150. The banana brings its own sweetness, so skip the honey.
Chia and berries. Use two tablespoons of chia seeds instead of one, add 50 ml of extra milk and use 50 g less yoghurt. Chia absorbs a lot, and this keeps it all within one 400 ml container. Put the berries on top in the morning, not in the mix overnight, or they turn the whole thing purple.
High-protein with quark. Replace the yoghurt with 150 g of quark and reduce the milk to 120 ml. Thicker, more filling, and it keeps you going until lunch.
Which container?
Most people make overnight oats in a glass jar. That works, and it looks good: you can see the layers. Glass is also heavy, and a jar in a bag is a jar that can break.
Can overnight oats go in a plastic container? Yes. Plenty of people do it. Two things to know: plastic takes on colour and smell over time, and berries and cinnamon are exactly the kind of thing that stains it. And if you would rather no plastic touched your breakfast, a plastic container is not the answer.
We make them in steel. The 400 ml round container holds one portion, the lid is steel too, and the silicone seal closes it well enough to carry upright in a bag. It does not stain from berries and it does not hold on to yesterday's smell. Acidic fruit is not a problem for 304 steel in the fridge; we wrote about why.
What steel does not do
You cannot see the layers through it. If that is half the fun for you, glass is the better choice, and we would rather say so. It does not go in the microwave either: if you like your oats warm, tip them into a bowl first. And it keeps nothing cold on its own. For a long commute, put a cold pack in the bag.
See the 400 ml container → Making breakfast for two, or a few days ahead? The Round Set has two of them, plus two 1200 ml containers.
Food should be stored without doubt.
Good to know
- Keeps up to two days in the fridge.
- Not for the microwave: warm it in a bowl.
- Put berries on top in the morning, not in the mix.
- The steel container keeps nothing cold on its own: use a cold pack for a long commute.