High Protein Overnight Oats {with Easy Options}

These creamy overnight oats are loaded with extra protein. Just mix 5 basic ingredients and refrigerate overnight. Then, serve with your favorite toppings for a delicious, quick, high-protein breakfast.

Just by making a few simple ingredient swaps, you can double the amount of protein in overnight oatmeal and make a more nutritious breakfast.

This oatmeal recipe is simple to make and only takes 5 minutes to measure, mix, and put in the refrigerator. After you've made the base recipe they can be customized to your personal preference by mixing them with your favorite fresh fruit or nut butter for an easy high-protein breakfast or meal on the go. 

Best of all they are great for busy mornings and meal prepping, so you don't have to think about what to make in the morning for breakfast.

Jump to Recipe

They are the best way to make a no-cook easy breakfast when time is short and you are on the go and need a healthy breakfast option that is high in protein.

If you’ve only had your oatmeal cooked and hot, you are missing out on the easiest way to enjoy oats!

Jump to:

• What Makes These Oats High Protein?
• The Story of Overnight Oats
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• How to Make an Overnight Oats Strawberry Parfait
• My Top Tips
• Substitutions & Variations
• Toppings and Flavors for Overnight Oats
• Make Ahead & Storage
• More Delicious Recipes for Breakfast
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

What Makes These Oats High Protein?

This recipe contains nearly 4 times the protein of regular old-fashioned oatmeal without adding protein powder. Of the five ingredients in this recipe, three are high-protein versions of simple ingredients to give that extra boost of protein.

Just swap high-protein versions of oats, milk, and yogurt and you are all set to add an extra boost of protein to your overnight oats and to your other meal plans.

The Story of Overnight Oats

Easy, trending, overnight oats are really not new. The history of overnight oats as a recipe goes back more than a century. The idea of taking oats and soaking them overnight in yogurt and fruit juice or milk called “muesli” was, and still is, a typical Swiss and German breakfast. 

While the Kellogg brothers in America were making crunchy, tasty, cornflakes to serve as a healthy breakfast, a Swiss physician named Maximilian Bircher-Brenner was perfecting his version of breakfast cereal, Bircher Muesli, with the same goal in mind; make a healthy, tasty, breakfast. Interestingly, both the Kellogg brothers and Bircher-Brenner believed a cold breakfast was a healthy way to start the day.

What I like about overnight oats is that they are cool. No, not cool like boss, far-out, dope, or sic. I mean they are cold. Just like a cooked breakfast warms you up on a cold day, nothing beats a cool breakfast in hot weather.

Overnight oats can be measured and mixed in less than 5 minutes. Then store them in any container with a lid overnight in the refrigerator. But if you want to be trendy, go ahead and make them in a jar with a screw-top lid and you have a protein-packed breakfast on the go!

So, let's cook!

Ingredients

This simple recipe for overnight oats contains these five ingredients:

• Fairlife Whole Milk - This ultra-filtered milk contains double the protein of regular whole milk, contains less sugar than regular whole milk, and is lactose-free.
• Kodiak Cakes Protein Oats - Here's another ingredient that boosts the protein in this oatmeal. Regular old-fashioned oatmeal contains 6 grams of protein per serving. But if you use Kodiak Cakes Protein Oats the protein increases to 10 grams.
• Plain Non-Fat Greek Yogurt - Greek yogurt contains almost double the protein of regular yogurt and gives creaminess to these overnight oats.
• Chia Seeds - Chia seeds set the oatmeal and give it a creamy, pudding-like texture. Plus they are another hidden source of protein.
• Honey - Optional. Honey is added to sweeten the oatmeal. But it is completely optional and not required to make the oats set up.

Please see the recipe card for the exact quantities.

Instructions

In the evening, put all the ingredients into a glass bowl, glass jar, or mason jar and give it a good stir to combine everything. The oat mixture will be thin.

Cover the bowl or jar with a lid or cling wrap and put it in the refrigerator. The next morning the oats will be ready to eat. 

Time to grab a spoon and enjoy! You can eat them plain, or simply top your overnight oats with whatever you like, and you are good to go. Personally, I like to layer my oatmeal with fruit and/or nuts.

How to Make an Overnight Oats Strawberry Parfait

Here is how to layer the overnight oats with strawberries. First, spoon a layer of the overnight oats into the bottom of a glass, and then add cut strawberries on top of the layer of oats.

Slicing strawberries very thin will let the berries curve against the glass and make everything look so pretty!

Then chop a few strawberries and fill the center of the glass with more fruit!

Lastly, cover the layer of strawberries with more overnight oats and top off with a sliced strawberry. These overnight oat parfaits are so pretty for a special breakfast or brunch!

My Top Tips

♡ You don't have to make overnight oats in the evening. After two hours the mixture will thicken, but the oats will not yet be softened. After about four hours the mixture will be thick and the oats will be soft. So, "overnight oats" don't have to sit overnight. You can make them early in the morning for lunch.

♡ For even more ideas on how you can top and change up the flavor of your overnight oats, be sure to check out the recipes on both the Quaker Oats and the Kodiak Cakes sites.

Substitutions & Variations

These substitutions work well but most will reduce the protein content. But, even though the overnight oats won't be as high in protein, they will be very healthy and nutritious.

• Substitute Other Oats. Instead of high-protein oats, you can use steel-cut oats, rolled oats, old-fashioned oats, or quick oats. Do not use instant oats as they are too soft.
• Substitute Plain Yogurt. You can substitute plain yogurt for the Greek yogurt.
• Substitute Sour Cream. Sour cream is also a good substitute for Greek yogurt.
• Substitute Agave or Maple Syrup. Instead of honey, you can use agave syrup or maple syrup.
• Make them Vegan. Omit the Greek yogurt, add a scoop of vegan protein powder, and substitute your favorite soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, or oat milk for the high-protein milk for another healthy version of overnight oats.
• Make Them Budget Friendly. The only ingredients you must have to make overnight oats are any variety of oats and a soaking liquid, which can be water. The ratio to make overnight oats is equal parts of oats and your liquid. A single portion is ½ cup of oats to ½ cup of liquid.

Toppings and Flavors for Overnight Oats

• Fruit - Fresh berries, dried apples, raisins, dried cranberries, bananas, peaches, nectarines, fresh pineapple, and kiwi.
• Nuts - Almonds, walnuts, pecans
• Seeds - Sunflower seeds, pepitas, flax seeds, hemp seeds, and sesame seeds.
• Nut Butter - Peanut butter, almond butter, hazelnut-chocolate spread, and cashew butter.
• Trail Mix, Coconut, & Chocolate Chips
• Jams and Jellies - Just pick your favorite!
• Syrups - Maple, butterscotch, and fruit-flavored.
• Spices - Cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cardamom, and coriander. 
• Vanilla Extract - For extra flavor add just a small amount of vanilla extract is delicious. Start by using a capful from a small bottle.

Make Ahead & Storage

Overnight oats will keep up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. So, they are perfect for meal prep. 

You can double or triple the recipe and then portion it out to eat over subsequent days with your favorite toppings. For best results do not add fruit at the time you mix overnight oats. The fruit and toppings are more pleasing when added fresh each day to a portion of the soaked oats.

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