Vegan Overnight Oats are the ultimate make-ahead, budget-friendly breakfast. Minimal prep, easy to customize with any add-ins or toppings you like, and perfect for busy mornings!
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I'll be sharing my basic and customizable master vegan overnight oat recipe, lots of tips and tricks, and all of my most popular vegan overnight oat recipes. You can even grab yourself a FREE vegan overnight oats printable with 12 new and exclusive recipes!
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Vegan Overnight Oats Ingredients
With just a handful of pantry staples you can make my basic overnight oats recipe. Here is what you need:
- Oats - Rolled oats or old fashioned oats are best but quick oats work too if you don't mind the smaller pieces and a much softer texture. I don't recommend using steel cut oats. Use certified gluten-free oats if necessary.
- Chia seeds - To thicken the oatmeal.
- Sweetener - I like to use maple syrup or a chopped date but you can use agave or sugar if you prefer.
- Plant Milk - Any unsweetened non-dairy milk will do such as almond milk, soy milk, oat milk or cashew milk. If you only have sweetened milk omit the sweetener in the recipe.
- Salt - Just a tiny pinch of salt enhances all of the flavours!
Expert Tip - Prefer really creamy overnight oats? Instead of regular dairy-free milk use canned coconut milk, or switch some of the milk for a couple tablespoons of thick and creamy vegan yogurt. Both will make your overnight oats instantly thicker and richer!
Overnight Oat Mix-Ins
Customize the base recipe with whatever mix-ins you like. You can have such fun with flavour variations. Some of my favourites include:
- vanilla extract or almond extract
- spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, cardamom, or ginger
- fruit & vegetables like berries, banana, pumpkin puree, sweet potato, grated carrot and zucchini
- jam/preserves or lemon curd
- fruit compote
- vegan yogurt
- seed & nut butters like tahini, peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, or almond butter
- cookie butter
- shredded coconut
- chopped nuts like pecans and walnuts
- seeds like pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or hemp seeds
- dairy-free chocolate chips
- date caramel
How To Make Vegan Overnight Oats
Recipes don't get much easier and the prep time is very minimal. Simply mix the ingredients up in a jar or put the lid on tightly and give it a shake. You can make one big batch in a large container, OR make individual portions in separate jars. Make the basic recipe as is and add toppings when serving, or add your choice of mix-ins.
Refrigerate the overnight oats for at least 6 hours to give the mixture time to absorb the liquid and thicken.
Meal Prep Tip - Make multiple servings of overnight oats on Sunday night so that you have breakfasts ready to go all week long. All of my overnight oat recipes can easily be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled. Hover over the servings number in the recipe card and a slider will appear that enables you to increase or decrease the size of the recipe. The ingredient amounts will automatically change to suit.
My Favourite Jars For Overnight Oats
I love to use 10oz/295ml wide mouth mason jars like the ones in the picture below for my overnight oats because they are so easy to eat out of and they make your meal prep very easy. It means you don't have to tip the oats out into a bowl, which saves on washing up and means you can easily eat your oatmeal on the go!
Bonne Maman jam jars are also just the right size as long as you don't go overboard with mix-ins. A great option if you're obsessed with their jam and have lots of used jars like me!
How To Serve Overnight Oats
Now that you're all ready to make up a batch of overnight oats you might be wondering how you serve them. Do you eat them cold or warm them up?
The beauty and convenience of overnight oats is that unlike regular warm oatmeal, they are ready to eat straight from the fridge and no cooking is required.
During their time in the fridge the oats soak up the milk, the chia seeds plump up, and everything gets thick, creamy, soft, and delicious.
Overnight oats are best eaten just as they are, but that's not to say you can't warm them up a little if you want to. Just don't go overboard. They certainly don't need cooking so just give them a quick blast in the microwave to take the chill off rather than boiling them on the stovetop.
I tend to eat my overnight oats straight from the jar most mornings. It's easy and saves making extra washing up. If I feel like a treat though I'll spoon them out into a bowl and add some toppings like a drizzle of maple syrup, fresh berries, sliced banana, mango, nut butter, chopped nuts and seeds.
Vegan Overnight Oats FAQs
Most overnight oat flavours will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge, but a few, such as those made with banana and softer fresh berries like raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries, will only last for 2 or 3 days. Blueberries are a great choice because of their slightly tougher outside skin. They aren't as fragile and will keep for the full 5 days.
Yes, basic overnight oats are considered raw vegan, you just need to be mindful of your mix-ins, making sure they are also raw.
Overnight oats can be very healthy if you stick to healthier mix-ins and toppings like fresh fruit, nuts, seeds, and vegetables. Oats are wholegrain and a really good source of protein, fibre, plant sterols, and antioxidants. They are filling, heart healthy, aid digestion, and can help lower blood pressure. In fact, overnight oats also contain more protein and fibre than cooked oatmeal. (Source: University Healthy News).
Chia seeds work really well to thicken overnight oats, and they add healthy fats, omega 3's etc. if you don't have any though you can omit them. Your oats will just be a little more liquidy. You could use flax seeds instead but I'm personally not a fan of their flavour in my oats.
No, I do not recommend freezing overnight oats. Baked oatmeal freezes well for up to 3 months though, as does regular cooked oatmeal. I give freezing directions that will work for any hot oatmeal recipe in this coconut milk oatmeal recipe.
Make my Vegan Bircher Muesli recipe instead! There is no cooking involved and it's ready to eat in just 15 minutes! Fun fact - Bircher Muesli was developed in the 1900's and is actually where inspiration for todays overnight oats came from!
Recipe
Vegan Overnight Oats Recipe
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
basic overnight oats
- ½ cup (50 grams) rolled or old fashioned oats
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup , or 1 finely chopped Medjool date
- ¾ cup (180 ml) non-dairy milk
- 1 small pinch salt
customizable mix-ins
- ½ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
- spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, cardamom, or ginger
- ⅓ to ½ cup fresh fruit
- 1 to 2 tablespoons nut or seed butter
- 1 to 2 tablespoons jam/preserves
- 1 to 2 tablespoons vegan lemon curd
- 1 to 2 tablespoons fruit compote
- 1 to 2 tablespoons date caramel
- 2 to 3 tablespoons vegan yogurt
- 1 tablespoon chopped nuts or seeds
- 1 to 2 tablespoons shredded coconut
- 1 to 2 tablespoons dairy-free chocolate chips
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add all of the basic overnight oat ingredients to a jar or other lidded container. Stir to combine.
- Add mix-ins of choice and stir well. Or leave as they are and add as toppings when serving instead.
- Put the lid on tightly and refrigerate for anything from 6 hours to 5 days.
- Eat straight from the jar or spoon into a bowl and add toppings.
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NUTRITION
Popular Vegan Overnight Oat Recipes
Prefer to have a complete vegan overnight oats recipe to follow rather than customizing your own? Then you can find my best vegan overnight recipes below. These are all tried and true reader favourites!
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Patricia G says
Great recipes - look forward to trying some of thevariations. I have been enjoying basic overnight oats for a long time (frozen blueberries, chopped dates, oats, ground golden flax or hemp hearts, cinnamon). They are very transportable if you are not a "breakfast at the crack of dawn" fan, and can be enjoyed later in the morning or at work.