Overnight Oats Recipe + Flavor
Breakfast that makes itself while you sleep. Five minutes the night before, one jar, and a base you can send in six different directions depending on who's eating it.
Overnight oats are a good way to fuel the body and the microbiome before a day that needs both. Eat them cold in warm weather, warm them through in winter, and change the flavor with the season or with whoever is complaining loudest.
Make it part of a nighttime routine, or build the whole week on Sunday. If mornings are the specific problem, we have more on that in Back to School, Back to Reality.
The base
Overnight oat base
Ingredients
- ¼ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- ¼ cup milk or milk alternative, plus more to loosen
- 1 Tbsp chia seeds or ground flaxseed
- 1+ Tbsp plain Greek yogurt
- Pinch of salt
- 0–2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup (see the note below if a baby is eating)
Method
- Put the base ingredients in a mason jar or any sealable glass jar. Mix until smooth.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- In the morning, top with whatever you fancy.
- Eat cold, or warm through in the microwave or on the stove.
On thickness: chia soaks up a great deal of liquid overnight, so if the jar comes out stiffer than you'd like, stir in a splash more milk in the morning. Easier than guessing the night before.
No honey for babies under one
Honey can contain Clostridium botulinum spores. An adult gut deals with them without trouble; an infant gut under twelve months can't, and the result is infant botulism.1
So for anyone under one, use maple syrup instead — or leave the sweetener out entirely, since fruit does a lot of the work. Note that the Ginger-Mango-Coconut topping below has honey in it too.
Over one year old, honey is fine for everyone.
Six ways to top it
Peanut Butter & Jelly
1 Tbsp peanut butter · 1 tsp strawberry jam · ¼ cup diced strawberries
Banana & Chocolate Hazelnut
½ banana, sliced · 1 Tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread · 1 Tbsp peanut butter (optional)
Key Lime
1 Tbsp lime juice · lime zest · 1 Tbsp full-fat coconut milk from the can · crushed graham crackers
Chocolate Covered Coconut
1 Tbsp extra maple syrup · 1 Tbsp full-fat coconut milk from the can · ¼ cup unsweetened flaked coconut · 1–2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
Ginger-Mango-Coconut
1 Tbsp full-fat coconut milk from the can · 1 Tbsp honey · ½ tsp fresh grated ginger · ¼ cup fresh or frozen mango
Pumpkin Pie
1–2 Tbsp pumpkin puree · 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Tips worth knowing
- Use old-fashioned rolled oats. They're steamed and rolled but otherwise whole, so they soften without collapsing. Instant oats are pre-cooked and cut finer — they turn to paste overnight. Steel-cut go the other way and stay stubbornly firm.
- Prep the whole week. Sealed and refrigerated, they keep about five days. Once fresh fruit is stirred through, eat that jar within a day or two.
- Some toppings can go in overnight. Nut butters, cocoa, spices and coconut milk are all fine ahead. Fresh fruit is not — it goes mushy.
- Sweeten in the morning. You can always add honey or maple syrup; you can't take it out.
- Grind the seeds. This matters more for flaxseed than chia — flax has a hard hull that mostly passes through intact, while chia is softer and gels as soon as it meets liquid. Grinding chia still helps: ground chia has been shown to raise plasma alpha-linolenic acid more than whole seed.2 Flax, though, really does need grinding to be worth including.
- Boost it. Protein powder, collagen, or a fruit-and-greens blend all fold in. Add more milk to compensate.
Adding Flourish? Cold only
You can stir your daily dose of Flourish into a portion you're eating cold, and it disappears into the fruit and yogurt nicely.
What it won't survive is the microwave. It's a living liquid, so add it to the jar you're about to eat — never to one you're about to heat, and not to the batch you're storing for the week.
Where does Flourish fit?
Flourish Original and Flourish Junior are living liquid probiotics — eleven strains, small-batch fermented in Iowa — taken daily to support digestive and microbiome health. Junior is the sweeter of the two, which tends to matter at breakfast.
Flourish is a dietary supplement made to support digestive and microbiome health. It isn't a treatment for any condition. Check with your doctor before starting a new supplement, and with your pediatrician before giving one to a child.
Ready to try a living probiotic?
Eleven living strains. One daily shot. For the whole family.
Shop Flourish Original · Shop Flourish Junior · Why we keep it liquid
A few questions we hear a lot
Can babies eat this?
The oats, yes, once they're on solids and the texture suits them. The honey, no — not under twelve months, because of the infant botulism risk.1 Swap in maple syrup or leave the sweetener out.
Why old-fashioned oats and not instant?
Instant oats are pre-cooked and cut fine, so an overnight soak turns them to paste. Old-fashioned rolled oats soften while keeping their shape.
Do I have to grind the chia?
Not the way you have to grind flax. Flax hulls pass through largely intact; chia is softer and gels immediately. Grinding chia does improve how much alpha-linolenic acid you absorb, though.2
How long do they keep?
About five days sealed in the fridge. Add fresh fruit to the jar you're eating rather than to the batch, and eat any fruited jar within a day or two.
Mine came out like cement. What happened?
Chia. It absorbs a lot of liquid overnight, so a full tablespoon in a small jar sets firm. Loosen it with a splash of milk in the morning, or use a little less next time.
Can I put Flourish in the batch I'm storing?
Better not to. Add it to the individual portion you're about to eat, cold. Heating it undoes the point of a living probiotic.
About this article
Recipe and inspiration by: Lorilyn Van Dyke, Entegro Health | Originally published: August 2021
Important information
This article is for general information. Do not give honey to infants under 12 months. If you are cooking for someone with a food allergy, verify every ingredient label yourself — formulations change without notice. This article isn't a substitute for professional medical or dietary advice; speak to your physician, pediatrician or a registered dietitian with questions about your family's diet, and before starting a new supplement. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Sources
- Rosow, L. K., & Strober, J. B. Infantile Botulism. StatPearls / NCBI Bookshelf — honey as a recognized source of C. botulinum spores and the recommendation against giving it to infants under 12 months. Source
- Ayerza, R., & Coates, W. (2007). Effect of dietary alpha-linolenic fatty acid derived from chia when fed as ground seed, whole seed and oil on lipid content and fatty acid composition. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 51(1), 27–34. Source
