How to make protein packed vegan overnight oats

Easy and healthy vegan overnight oats that are packed with 30 grams of protein! With 3 delicious flavor options, your mornings will be off to a healthy and yummy start!

One of my favorite breakfasts to start the day off with is oatmeal, but oddly enough, I don’t have an overnight oats recipe on the blog!

Weird too, because these oats basically saved me as I raced to my 8 am classes in college (LOL to the fact that I’m now 4 years out of school and it’s freaking me out how fast time goes!).

While these overnight oats don’t really count as a “recipe” per say (I mean, technically I did recipe test this all of those years haha), my version of these vegan overnights oats happens to be packed with over 30 grams of plant based protein (ummm what?) so I felt like it was worthy enough of being placed on the blog!

So I decided, what better way to introduce my banana readers to my go to breakfast than with three vegan overnight oats recipes?!

You can prepare the oats the night before, meal prep a few for the week ahead, take them on the go to class, work, etc. and you’re set with a protein packed plant based healthy breakfast to start your day!

What are overnight oats?

Funny enough, I’ve been making overnight oats back since high school (now a decade ago YIKES), thanks to one of my favorite OG blogger, Julie F aka Peanut Butter Fingers.

Basically, overnight oats is a mixture of rolled oats, yogurt, milk, and a sweetener of your choice, which sits in the fridge (you guessed it) overnight. Then you serve with a little extra milk and your favorite toppings!

However, these overnight oats recipes are a little different. Today, we’re making vegan overnight oats that have just as much protein as more traditional overnight oats, and you’ll see why in a second!

What containers should I store overnight oats in?

Obviously, the hipster in me recommends mason jars. I have a collection of over 20 mason jars and lids of all shapes and sizes, and they really do come in handy for throwing an overnight oats jar in your purse and racing to wherever you’re going!

However, if you aren’t a self-proclaimed hipster or don’t own a single mason jar (they’re cheap too- only a $1 each!), any glass container with an airtight lid will do!

How do you make vegan overnight oats (aka basic overnight oats)?

Let’s go over the basics. For these vegan protein overnight oats, you’ll need the following:

• Rolled Oats: I recommend either gluten free sprouted oats (like by One Degree Organics) or rolled oats. Using steel cut oats I personally believe doesn’t taste as good.
• Dairy Free Yogurt: for this recipe, I used cashew yogurt (such as Forager’s), but you can use whichever you prefer! If you have a nut allergy, feel free to use either coconut or soy yogurt.
• Dairy Free Milk: again, use whichever you prefer; I like the slight tropical flavor of coconut milk, so that’s what I use, but you can use almond milk, soy milk, cashew milk, heck, even oat milk!
• Pea Protein Powder: okay so I have a few favorites here. If you want just the pea protein, I love Terrasoul’s, which I order off of Amazon. If you want flavored pea protein, Nuzest is totally the way to go.
• Vanilla Extract: yes, even in your chocolate-flavored overnight oats recipes, you want vanilla! Vanilla is the base of every flavor!
• Maple Syrup or Stevia: depending on whether you want no added sugar or you like refined sugar free, you can choose which sweetener fits your personal lifestyle. I like adding in maple syrup (just a teaspoon), but you can absolutely use stevia or mashed banana as well.

And that’s it for the base of your protein-packed overnight oats!

Now you’re ready to make one of your soon to be favorite healthy oatmeal recipes 🙂

Before we get to all of the fun flavors you can do, let’s make the base:

1. In a bowl, whisk together the oats and pea protein.
2. Add in the vanilla, dairy free yogurt, dairy free milk, and maple syrup, and mix all together until thick.
3. Move onto the optional flavor ideas, or cover and place in the fridge to sit overnight.
4. Top with favorite toppings in the morning.

That’s it! How simple is that?! And you want to know the grand total protein count for the base of this oatmeal recipe?

A whopping 30 grams of protein!

How insane?!

How can I make oatmeal taste better without sugar?

While the base overnight oats recipe here only has 4 grams of added sugar (coming from the maple syrup), you are more than welcome to use stevia or mashed banana as a natural and lower sugar option!

Other options to make oatmeal taste better without sugar include making sure you add in vanilla (our taste buds tend to associate vanilla with sweet, so this is good!) and cinnamon for extra flavor 🙂

Vegan Overnight Oats Flavors

Okay, so now that we’ve gone over the basics, let’s dive into what you probably came here for- the flavor combos of your vegan overnight oats!

For this oats recipe, I decided to showcase three of my favorite vegan overnight oats combos, but obviously, these oats serve as a blank canvas, so feel free to add in whatever you’d like!

These healthy vegan overnight oats flavors make the perfect week morning or on the go breakfast for you to take to work or school! Or enjoy at home, whichever you please 🙂

1.Peanut Butter Banana Overnight Oats

Basically my favorite combo- I mean you can’t go wrong with vegan peanut butter banana overnight oats! Add in sliced banana chunks (you can omit the maple syrup if you’d like!) and a tablespoon of peanut butter. Top with chocolate chunks if you want to go extra fancy, and enjoy!

2.Vanilla Blueberry Almond Overnight Oats

This flavor combo is absolutely refreshing and light, while delivering a boat-load of nutrients. Add in some slivered almonds and fresh blueberries to the oats, and top with an extra tablespoon of almond butter. Absolutely out of this world!

3.Chocolate Hazelnut Overnight Oats

You could easily eat this version as a healthy dessert recipe as well, but basically it tastes like Nutella in a pudding-like oatmeal form, and it’s insane.

Add in a spoonful of cacao powder, some crunched up hazelnuts, and an optional spoonful of vegan Nutella or cacao hazelnut spread, and you are set!

How long do overnight oats last?

The beauty about overnight oats is that they actually last quite a bit!

Prep these on a Sunday night, and the overnight oats will last about 5 days in the fridge when properly stored in an airtight container.

Meal prep vegan overnight oats for the week:

Of course, I’m a big fan of meal prepping, but not a big fan of having the same thing day in and day out.

These vegan overnight oats are perfect because you can make the base layer on a Sunday and take a few minutes each night to customize whichever flavor you’d like!

First, determine how many oats you’ll have that week (so 3 days, equals 3 servings), then multiply the base recipe down below in the recipe card by the number of days that you’ll have oats. Then the night before, add in the mix ins that you’d like and top in the morning!

I hope you loved these easy vegan oats recipes as much as I do! If you happen to try one out, let me know down below in the comments section how it went!

As always, I love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there 🙂

Happy overnight oat-ing!

More Healthy Oatmeal Recipes and Breakfast Ideas

The BEST Oatmeal

Instant Pot Zucchini Oatmeal

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Vegan Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

Vegan Nutella Star Bread

Paleo Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Paleo Vegan Monkey Bread

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