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The perfect make-ahead healthy breakfast: Berry Overnight Oatmeal! In this quick and easy recipe, soft and chewy oats are combined with fresh strawberries and blueberries for a nutritious, high protein breakfast or snack.
It doesn’t get much easier than a simple overnight oatmeal recipe! With about 5 minutes of prep, you can stir together a healthy, high protein breakfast or snack that will keep in the refrigerator for days. Make more than one at a time and you’ll be set for the week!
The combination of fresh fruit, toasted almonds, whole grain oats and Greek yogurt make this complete meal hearty, satisfying, and (most importantly) absolutely delicious!
What is overnight oatmeal?
Overnight oats are an alternative way to prepare oatmeal that doesn’t require any actual cooking! Rather than the traditional method of boiling oats, these raw oats are mixed with milk and Greek yogurt and refrigerated overnight. While chilling, the oats absorb the liquid, thicken, and soften so that they’re ready to enjoy in the morning!
How to make High Protein Berry Overnight Oatmeal:
First, let’s start with the ingredients. For the base of your oatmeal you will need:
- Old fashioned oats
- Plain Greek yogurt
- Vanilla almond milk (or other milk of choice)
- Honey
- Salt, cinnamon and nutmeg
- Almond extract
Don’t skip the almond extract! While you can use an equal amount of vanilla extract instead, this particular flavor gives the oatmeal a delicious dessert-like taste!
Next, combine all of the ingredients (except the berries) in a bowl or jar.
Stir the berries into the oat mixture, cover with a lid, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or overnight).
When you wake up in the morning you’ll have a thick, rich, creamy and flavorful bowl of oatmeal ready to enjoy — no baking, boiling, or cooking required!
How to serve Overnight Oats:
I like to finish the oats with a handful of additional fresh berries and some toasted sliced almonds just before serving. This adds great crunch and healthy fats for staying power!
To quickly “toast” nuts in the microwave, place nuts in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave on high in 30 second intervals, just until golden brown and fragrant (this usually takes a total of about 1 minute).
Do you eat overnight oatmeal hot or cold?
Both! While the oats in this recipe are raw, the ingredients are safe to consume both cold or warm. In the summer, I love the refreshing taste of cool, creamy oats in the morning. If you can’t imagine eating cold oatmeal, you can gently warm the oats in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave until they reach your desired temperature.
Cook’s Tips and Recipe Variations:
- Overnight Oats Jar Size: I love using mason jars or the Weck jars that you see here for my oatmeal. The best size jar for this recipe is either the 16.9-ounce 1/2 liter tulip jar or the 1/2 liter mold jar (both shown in this post). These jars give you plenty of room to stir the oatmeal and add toppings!
- Which oats are best for overnight oatmeal? I only use old fashioned (sometimes called “rolled”) oats for this recipe. These oats absorb the liquid in the jar, become soft and chewy, while still maintaining a bit of texture. I do not recommend substituting with quick oats or steel cut oats.
- Keep the overnight oats ratio in mind, and feel free to multiply the ingredients using the same ratio to prepare more than one jar at a time. You want equal proportions of oats, yogurt and milk.
- Use the base of this recipe to create your own flavor combination! Instead of topping with almonds, try adding peanut butter, almond butter, or toasted pecans or walnuts on top.
- Mix up the fruit! Use just blueberries to make Blueberry Overnight Oatmeal, use raspberries or blackberries, or swap out the berries for other fruit instead. Try making Banana Overnight Oats or Peach Overnight Oats!
- Prepare Chocolate Overnight Oats by adding unsweetened cocoa powder to the liquid mixture, or add a handful of chocolate chips. Garnished with a drizzle of peanut butter or some chopped peanuts on top, your breakfast will taste like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup!
- I used plain, non fat Greek yogurt, but you can substitute with any yogurt that you prefer. Vanilla Greek yogurt would add a great touch of flavor and sweetness!
- Feel free to use any type of milk in lieu of the almond milk. Regular milk, cashew milk, or any other favorite will work!
- If you don’t have almond extract, you can substitute with vanilla extract.
- Instead of honey, try sweetening the oats with maple syrup or agave syrup. Adjust the amount of sweetener to suit your preferences.
- Prepare the oats in advance: This is a great “meal prep” option, since the oatmeal will stay fresh in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 5 days!
More easy oatmeal recipes that you might enjoy:
Berry Overnight Oatmeal {High Protein}
Ingredients
- ½ cup old-fashioned oats
- ½ cup plain Greek-style yogurt (I used non-fat, but any variety will work)
- ½ cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but regular dairy milk, cashew milk or other milk of choice will work)
- 1 tablespoon honey (or substitute with maple syrup)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of nutmeg
- ¼ cup sliced strawberries (plus additional for topping, if desired)
- ¼ cup blueberries (plus additional for topping, if desired)
- Optional: toasted sliced almonds for topping
Instructions
- In a small bowl or jar, stir together oats, yogurt, milk, honey, salt, almond extract, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Add berries to the oat mixture and stir to combine.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours so that the oats soften, thicken, and absorb the liquid.
- Just before serving, top with additional berries and toasted almonds, if desired.
Notes
- Overnight Oats Jar Size: I love using mason jars or the Weck jars that you see here for my oatmeal. The best size jar for this recipe is either the 16.9-ounce 1/2 liter tulip jar or the 1/2 liter mold jar (both shown in this post). These jars give you plenty of room to stir the oatmeal and add toppings!
- Which oats are best for overnight oatmeal? I only use old fashioned (sometimes called “rolled”) oats for this recipe. These oats absorb the liquid in the jar, become soft and chewy, while still maintaining a bit of texture. I do not recommend substituting with quick oats or steel cut oats.
- Keep the overnight oats ratio in mind, and feel free to multiply the ingredients using the same ratio to prepare more than one jar at a time. You want equal proportions of oats, yogurt and milk.
- Use the base of this recipe to create your own flavor combination! Instead of topping with almonds, try adding peanut butter, almond butter, or toasted pecans or walnuts on top.
- Mix up the fruit! Use just blueberries to make Blueberry Overnight Oatmeal, use raspberries or blackberries, or swap out the berries for other fruit instead. Try making Banana Overnight Oats or Peach Overnight Oats!
- Prepare Chocolate Overnight Oats by adding unsweetened cocoa powder to the liquid mixture, or add a handful of chocolate chips. Garnished with a drizzle of peanut butter or some chopped peanuts on top, your breakfast will taste like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup!
- I used plain, non fat Greek yogurt, but you can substitute with any yogurt that you prefer. Vanilla Greek yogurt would add a great touch of flavor and sweetness!
- Feel free to use any type of milk in lieu of the almond milk. Regular milk, cashew milk, or any other favorite will work!
- If you don’t have almond extract, you can substitute with vanilla extract.
- Instead of honey, try sweetening the oats with maple syrup or agave syrup. Adjust the amount of sweetener to suit your preferences.
- Prepare the oats in advance: This is a great “meal prep” option, since the oatmeal will stay fresh in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 5 days!
This recipe was originally published in June, 2015. It was updated in July, 2019.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website.
This looks absolutely divine (and very patriotic)! Love your use of oats – by far my favorite grain!
These oats look more like a dessert than a breakfast! I love it. I would happily oblige to starting my day with this!
Thanks, Jen! That’s right — doesn’t get better than dessert for breakfast!
Mmmm…YES, PLEASE!! I love it when breakfast gets to look so fancy–it’s just extra fun! Love all the berries; I bet this is an uber-delicious version of overnight oats that I am definitely needing to try!
Thanks, Anna! 🙂 If I can find a way to make breakfast feel like dessert, I’m doin’ it!
I love the name of these overnight oats, Blair! Berry shortcake sounds so delicious! You are definitely reminding me that I need to make these more often. What a quick and delicious breakfast! Pinned!
Thanks, Gayle! I know — I often forget to make these easy breakfasts, too. Coming up with decadent-tasting flavor combinations is even more inspiration to enjoy them often! 🙂
Spot on with this write-up, I truly feel this site needs a
lot more attention. I’ll probably be returning to read more,
thanks for the info!
Looks delicious but…the oatmeal looks so unhappy! 😀 (look at the strawberry and blueberries on the side:D
Hah! Mix it all up and make that oatmeal happy! It tastes delicious no matter what! 🙂
Could I replace the dairy yogurt with coconut yogurt?
Yes! 🙂
Did I miss the nutrition numbers? Back to reread the recipe & such.
Hi, Amy! I just added the nutrition panel! Some of my old recipes were written before the recipe boxes included nutrition information. Just updated now, so hopefully that helps! 🙂