– By:Food Network Kitchen

By Heath Goldman and Emily Saladino for Food Network Kitchen

Don’t let the name fool you: overnight oats take just a few minutes to prepare. A no-cook wonder, this popular breakfast gets its beauty sleep overnight in the refrigerator and is at its best the following morning. Learning how to make overnight oats means you can have a wholesome and filling breakfast any day of the week — all you have to do is remember to quickly combine a few ingredients the night before. Here’s everything you need to know about overnight oats.

What Are Overnight Oats?

Overnight oats are uncooked oats that you soak overnight in the refrigerator in a container of yogurt, milk or another liquid. While oatmeal is meant to be eaten hot, overnight oats are cool and creamy. Like oatmeal, overnight oats can be made with different flavor profiles by switching up its soaking liquid and what you mix into it.

How to Make Overnight Oats

To make overnight oats, simply combine old-fashioned rolled oats with a liquid such as milk and, if you like, a sweetener, then let the mixture sit overnight in the refrigerator.

Overnight, the oats absorb some of the liquid and soften up, becoming delightfully chewy. The best oats for overnight oats are old-fashioned rolled oats because they maintain their texture during the overnight soak, so your overnight oatmeal is creamy, not mushy. However, if you’re in a pinch, you can use other types of oats by modifying your process.

Part of the fun of overnight oats is that you can customize them with different sorts of toppings — from berries to chocolate chips — so you never get bored. We prefer to stir in lighter fruit like berries the night before and add heavier fruits like banana slices in the morning, so the fruit doesn’t all sink to the bottom. Similarly, we recommend saving crisp toppings like nuts and cereal for topping just before you eat the oats in the morning, lest they get soggy. The sky’s the limit when it comes to mix-ins, but some of our favorites include: chopped mango, pomegranate seeds, hazelnuts, chocolate, tahini, banana slices, strawberry slices, orange zest and ground cardamom.

You can make overnight oats with old-fashioned rolled oats in three easy steps.

Step one: Combine the oats and liquid. Stir equal parts old-fashioned rolled oats and a liquid such as milk in a jar or container with a lid. If you’re adding any sweeteners or fruit like berries, stir those in now as well.

Step two: Cover and chill. Cover the container or seal the jar’s lid and store in the refrigerator overnight.

Step three: Enjoy! The next morning, your overnight oats will be smooth, creamy and ready to eat. If you’re using heavier fruit like pineapple chops or crisp mix-ins like nuts, sprinkle them on top of your oats and dig in.

The Best Overnight Oats Containers

You can make and serve overnight oats in any sort of vessel, although we like making them in the container that we plan on eating them in. Typically, we make overnight oats in jars that we can grab and eat on the go or at the kitchen table.

How Long Do Overnight Oats Last?

We recommend storing overnight oats in the refrigerator in airtight containers for up to five days. That means if you’re meal-prepping on Sunday, you can make a work week’s worth of overnight oats and not have to think about breakfast again until Saturday. How convenient.

Go-to overnight oats recipe can be customized with different flavor profiles, including spiced mango, chocolate-hazelnut, or classic strawberry-banana. Some recipes at link. And many more all over the internet. This is simply the basic. We add maple syrup and/or agave nectar to ours. Then, whatever fresh fruit is added when serving.

 

 

 

I still made my granddaughter egg in a basket or egg & toast, with some isigny ste mere butter. She’s on Zoom from home office on this day, so this was first break.

 

 

One with Vermont Creamery cultured butter & the other today is isigny ste mere butter 🧈 😋