For sheer convenience, it’s hard to beat overnight oats recipes for breakfast, especially if you often feel pressed for time in the morning. Just combine oats with your preferred mix-ins, store the bowl in the fridge before you head to bed, add your desired toppings when you wake up, and you’ve got a hearty meal ready fast.
And speaking of mix-ins and toppings, the sky’s pretty much the limit: Thanks to oats’ typically neutral flavor, they’re basically a blank canvas, which opens up a ton of possibilities for spicing up your dish—sometimes literally. To showcase that versatility, we tapped Anthea Levi, MS, RD, CDN, a Brooklyn-based registered dietitian and the founder of ALIVE+WELL Nutrition, to create five totally original overnight oats recipes that are tasty and satisfying.
While oats are known for packing a hefty dose of energizing carbs (and, more specifically, fiber), they aren’t completely lacking in protein, either. A half cup of Old Fashioned Quaker Oats, for instance, brings five grams of protein to the table. (And some products include even more, like Bob’s Red Mill Protein Oats, which comes in at 10 grams per one third cup serving, or Trader Joe’s Organic Rolled Oats With Ancient Grains & Seeds, which packs eight grams per half cup serving.) What’s more, the adaptability of your oats makes it easy to add in high-protein ingredients that’ll help take the overall amount from middling to major—a key point, since protein plays a critical role in keeping you satisfied after a meal. That’s why each of these five overnight oats recipes contains at least 15 grams of protein—no protein powder necessary!
Whether sweet, savory, or somewhere in between, these dishes all build on the fiber-rich oatmeal base to bump up the protein and include heart-healthy fats, too, according to Levi. Between those two additions, you’re going to get “more lasting fullness and steady energy throughout the day,” she says. Besides, like we said before, the prep process is about as easy as they come: “Most of these recipes can be thrown together in a couple of minutes,” Levi says. Make a big enough batch, and you’re set for the next few days.
Read on for the full list of high-protein overnight oats recipes—and don’t be afraid to experiment (or make tweaks according to your preferences). “[Feel free to] put a spin on one of them and go in a different direction,” Levi says. “It’s kind of hard to mess these up.”
Photo by Anthea Levi
Nutty Mocha Crunch Overnight Oats
“I have a huge sweet tooth, so if there is a balanced way for me to eat chocolate for breakfast, I’m all for it,” Levi says. Thanks to half a cup of chocolate milk (not to mention other ingredients like maple syrup), this recipe delivers just that for a desserty spin on plain overnight oats. Decadent as it might sound, however, it’s actually highly nutritious: You’ll get some fiber and heart-healthy fats from the seeds in the oats; protein and fats from the chocolate milk; protein, calcium, and probiotics from the Greek yogurt; and fats and a little bit of protein from the almond butter and chopped hazelnuts, according to Levi. Last but not least, this recipe also packs a caffeine kick thanks to its coffee content—another reason to love it as a breakfast option. Get the recipe here.
