Can someone please tell me how to prepare overnight oats the night before and how to heat them up the following morning so that the texture and taste is always great?

I always eat mine cold, so can't help ya on the heat front.

As for texture I've found that using yogurt in the mix helps a ton and make it end up a bit thicker. My usual mix is half cup each of old fashioned oats, milk, and yogurt. Half-ish scoop of vanilla protein powder, tbsp-ish each of ground flax and chia seed, then a dash of salt and heavy dash of cinnamon.

Night before:
2/3 cup oats
Chia seeds
Honey
Cinnamon
3/4 cup milk

Morning of:
Add Greek yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries, and sometimes pecans

Eat them cold with two or three bananas and a cup of black tea with collagen added, and you have my daily breakfast for the past couple of years.

I also eat mine cold. Here is my recipe, that I've been eating every single day for, I don't know, 6 or 7 years. You could sub out low fat dairy for fat free. I divide this into 4 servings when I eat it.

480 g Mootopia fat free milk.
226 g fat free plain Greek yogurt.
60 g egg white protein powder.
8-10 g sugar free Jello pudding mix (about 1/3 of the package; I mostly use cheesecake flavor or chocolate, if I'm making chocolate oats)
135 g oats. DO NOT use instant. Use the kind you make on the stovetop. I love the Trader Joe's rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds, but plain will work fine.
36 g chia seeds - this is the secret to getting the oats to thicken up

I always add 3 tsp cinnamon to mine, a splash of vanilla extract, and 100-125 g fruit.

I top mine with 10 g of honey roasted almonds or Kind protein granola for a little crunch.

The flavors I make are
Chocolate cherry - frozen cherries, cacao powder, and chocolate pudding mix
Pumpkin - canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) and a little nutmeg and clove
Carrot cake - shredded carrots, nutmeg, and raisins.
Cardamom peach - frozen or fresh peaches and cardamon spice (omit cinnamon)
Tiramisu - cacao powder, instant espresso, and cinnamon
Blueberry cinnamon - frozen or fresh blueberries, or blueberry compote

Wow! Thanks a bunch!

3 tsp of cinnamon? That's a ton of cinnamon, even if you're dividing into 4 servings. That would be overpowering for me. I just do a few dashes of it on mine.


But yeah, I've been doing overnight oats for a solid 3 years. Super easy, saves me time, and I find it tasty. Also think it's healthy for me. Try to have it post workout since it's got protein powder in it. I also eat it cold, and like it like that from a taste and texture perspective. If you want to have it warm, don't over cook it, as it can sometimes form a layer on top (almost like a baked product) if you protein powder and stuff in it.

My almost daily go to is as follows (I weigh all my ingredients for consistency):
40g old fashioned rolled oats
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (enough for ~20-25g protein)
10g milled flax seed
5g hemp hearts
15g almond butter
200-220ml whole milk or soy milk (or some combo of the 2, though soy milk will be thicker, so combine with water if just soy)
80g frozen wild blueberries
A few sprinkles cinnamon on top

Sometimes I'll add other things into it overnight, like various nuts, chopped dates, drizzle honey.
Sometimes I'll add other stuff the morning of eating, like fresh strawberries, honey, dates, peaches, or other berries

The consistency I go for is like almost soggy cereal without a bunch of extra milk, if that makes sense. It might take a few tries to get the exact texture you like.

I absolutely love cinnamon. But I exclusively use the Penzeys Vietnamese cinnamon, which has a very unique flavor.

I could totally see where a lot of people would find it overpowering. I prob shouldn't have given an amount, because it is definitely "to taste".

By far, the thickest of the versions I posted is the carrot cake. The shredded carrots actually give it a really nice texture, thickness, and crunch. You might could get the same effect with shredded zucchini, but you probably will have to press some of the water out first.

What is the point of cold oats? I throw oats in my protein shake every morning and only recently heard of this concept.

Genuinely asking, not trying to troll, just curious if it's for some additional benefit or not.

You mean cold oats specifically? Or overnight oats?

Cold oats, I don't think there's a point. Some people just are content with eating them out of the fridge. I know some people like pudding warm, and some like it cold.

Overnight oats, the idea is that soaking them makes them more digestable and helps them start breaking down some of the harder to digest things in them that normally would require cooking to become digestable. But it's just a quick and easy way to get oats rather than cooking them in the morning (time to cook, time to cool sufficiently to not burn your mouth). Just pull it out of the fridge and go. Plus you can make several days worth in advance, and do all kinds of mixins.

Got it. Yes, I meant overnight oats. Not sure why I said cold oats…

So people are just making their oats the night before and then grabbing them in the morning cold and that's the cold oats, I guess.

Sorry for derail never heard of this before.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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What is the point of cold oats? I throw oats in my protein shake every morning and only recently heard of this concept.

Genuinely asking, not trying to troll, just curious if it's for some additional benefit or not.

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I'm not a huge shake/smoothie fan. I'd rather have something with a little texture that I can chew.

I also ate hot oatmeal all the time before I made the switch or overnight oats. I stick with it because it's an easy/convenient way to get 30-40 G protein in my first meal of the day.

Have been using overnight oats for at least 10 years or so. Always have used those medium sized mason jars.

1/2 cup rolled oats.
1 cup milk (for me is coconut milk right now)
2 scoops protein of choice (~25g of protein)

Shake it up in the jar and place in fridge.

Pretty sure overnight oats really started as a fad for stone cut oats when THOSE were a fad and people who didn't have the time to cook them in the morning. I vastly prefer stone cut myself. Texture thing.

Meant as a reply to tha aggie

I've never tried overnight oats. But I eat oatmeal most mornings. 2 cups of skim milk, bring to a boil then turn down low, add 60 gms steel cut oats, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 sea salt, and cook for 15 mins. Once done I add around 42 gms of chia seeds, and 60 gms each of blueberries and raspberries. Doesn't take terribly long and I throw in a protein shake afterwards (skim milk, my creatine for the day, and a scope of fiber powder in skim milk).

100g rolled oats
110g fat free greek yoghurt
160ml skimmed milk
30g whey protein
Scoop of chia seeds
Slices up banana
Cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Little over 100 g of carbs and 50 g of protein

I started doing this in January as a response to my doctor telling me my ldl needed to come down. Previously, I'd have a couple boiled eggs and a couple slices of bacon each morning. I'm very much a minimalist, not an adventurous eater, don't enjoy prep work or weighing food. I combine 1 cup of rolled oats with 3/4 cup of water in a mason and chill it overnight. In the morning I will add a tablespoon of chia seeds and eat it right out of the jar. Y'all have some good ideas, though and might need to try a couple of them. I also take some supplements, but in 4 months I lost about 15 lbs, and brought my ldl down from 237 to 118. The rest of my diet is Mediterranean-ish.

Quote:

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but in 4 months I lost about 15 lbs, and brought my ldl down from 237 to 118

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This is impressive! Good job

Eat it cold. IMO its the best way. Would never dream of trying to warm that up.

Personal preference, but try putting your chia seeds in the night before. It makes them less crunchy and also opens them up a bit to taste better.

Any overnight oats will be better if you let them sit for at least 24 hours - especially so if you add chia seeds.

Great thread. This is part of my breakfast of choice on days when I'm double or triple dipping activity in some combo of weights, weights x2, running, sports.

It's a nice grab and go that can be supplemented with whey for even more protein.