OVERNIGHT OATS 6 WAYS | easy recipe for health + weight loss
hello my friends it's Dany and as we roll into this new year we are going to focus on easy healthy breakfast ideas and I'm going to kick this series off with the queen of healthy breakfast recipes overnight oats now overnight oats truly are the perfect make aead no cook healthy breakfast idea because all you have to do is combine a handful of everyday ingredients right into a jar give it a stir pop it in the fridge and then in a few hours or overnight you have yourself a delicious nutritious affordable grab and go breakfast that is ready to be enjoyed and the best part about overnight oats is how versatile they are you can easily make them gluten-free plant-based and with or without an extra boost of Protein Plus once you know the base recipe which I'm about to show you the flavor combinations are endless so they truly are a great easy healthy breakfast option for any type of dietary approach and can happily help to support your health wellness and or weight loss goals so to get started you just need a handful of ingredients starting with rolled oats now you want to use good old-fashioned rolled oats I don't recommend using quick cooked oats like these because they are more processed and they are softer and they tend to get too mushy and I also don't recommend using steel cut oats because they are too hard and they tend not to get soft enough so a good oldfashioned rolled oat is what you are looking for and while oatmeal is naturally gluten-free often times it's processed in factories with other ingredients that are not gluten-free so there can be a little bit of cross-contamination so if gluten-free is a priority for you you're going to want to make sure to choose a brand that has this little emblem on it letting you know that your oats are 100% gluten-free and then other than your oatmeal the only other ingredients you need to make your overnight oats are some unsweetened almond milk or really any type of milk prefer chia seeds some Greek yogurt and then a bit of maple syrup for some sweetness and then the last thing you need to consider before you assemble your oats is your jar or what type of container you're going to use personally I am a big fan of these short fat 16 oz mason jars because there's plenty of room to stir all the ingredients to add my toppings and they're really easy to grab and go so I'm going to start with the base recipe which is absolutely delicious just the way it is and then I'm going to share six of my favorite flavor combinations and keep in mind each jar is one serving so to make the overnight oats base recipe you're going to combine a half a cup of those good oldfashioned rolled oats then I have a/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt now I like to use a low-fat Greek yogurt but you could also do a full fat or a non-fat or if you want to keep this recipe plant-based you could choose a plant-based yogurt as well they will all work so of course use what you enjoy and what aligns with your dietary preferences then I'll add my chees seeds now you could do anywhere from one teaspoon to 3 tpoon of chia seeds the more chia seeds you add the thicker and more pudding like your oats are going to be and the less you add the looser and creamier they'll be so again personal preference next up is our sweetener now I have 1 tblspoon of maple syrup if you wanted to cut back on the sugars you always have options you could sub in a couple drops of liquid Stevia here or some type of monk fruit sweetener alternative and then I didn't mention this in the base ingredients but I do love to add about a half a teaspoon of cinnamon as well it's just a great flavor booster and then finally I add in a half a cup of unsweetened almond milk now this is completely optional but if you want to increase the protein of your overnight Oak breakfast you can do that very easily by stirring in anywhere between a half and a full scoop of a good high quality protein powder so that would be anywhere between say 13 and 26 g of protein powder not a necessity but certainly an option if you're looking to increase your daily protein intake okay once I've got everything in the jar I'm going to give this a good stir get everything really well Incorporated and then I'll pop on a lid and stick this in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours and preferably overnight now when your oats are done they're going to be rich and creamy and if you added those extra chia seeds they may even have a really thick pudding like texture now I usually eat them cold right out of the fridge but if you prefer you could certainly heat them up in the microwave or in a pot on your stove top and using this as a blank canvas you could really add any toppings that you like fresh fruit nuts berries seeds Nut Butter Etc they would all work so this is the fun part add What You Love and Enjoy so now that you know the base recipe I'm going to share six of my favorite flavor combinations because I really love to add different flavors and textures and ingredients right into that base recipe and then of course you could also add extra toppings as well so flavor Combo Number One we're going to do a double chocolate overnight oat so I've got my base recipe going and for this recipe if you were going to use the extra protein powder vanilla could work but in a perfect world I would recommend adding some chocolate protein powder so we're really getting that rich chocy flavor and that's exactly what I'm doing here then I'm also going to add one tablespoon of cacao powder or cocoa powder they both work and then one tablespoon of cacao nibs now cacao nibs are just crumbled little bits of cocoa beans and they're really rich but they're not sweet and they add this great little crunchy texture to the oats if you wanted something a little bit sweeter you could swap those in with some mini chocolate chips I'll stir everything together get it really well Incorporated pop on my lid and put them in the fridge once they have set up you can of course enjoy them just just the way they are but I really love this flavor combo topped with an extra dollop of Greek yogurt and some extra cacao nibs right over the top now if you're in the mood for some really light fresh flavors then my blueberry lemon overnight oats are for you now keep in mind the protein is always an option so that is up to you if you want to add the optional protein powder or not and for this flavor I do not include the cinnamon but what I do do is I start by taking a3d of a cup of fresh blue BL berries and I mashed them in a bowl with the back of a fork I just like this cuz it breaks the blueberries down and really infuses that blueberry flavor throughout the oats so then I just transfer this into the base recipe along with a half a teaspoon of fresh grated lemon zest now remember when you're zesting your lemon you just want to zest this bright yellow skin that's where all the essential oils are that's where all the flavor is once you see this white piy part of your lemon that's the space between the lemon fruit and the skin you want to stop because the pth is very bitter okay so get this bright vibrant skin and that's what's going into your oats I'll mix that all together get it well Incorporated pop on my lid and into the fridge it goes now once they're set up you can enjoy them as is they are so delicious but when I'm home I will often add the extra toppings and again for this one I just love to mimic what's inside so I'll give an extra dollop of Greek yogurt a few whole blueberries and if I have it a little extra lemon zest now if you want something a little more exotic and tropical then perhaps you want to try my mango and coconut overnight oats so to start here you're going to need some diced mango and I have found the easiest way to cut a mango is to just trim off the top and the bottom of the mango stand it straight up and then come straight down from the center and cut the cheek off of the mango there's a long pit that runs through the center so you want to get your knife as close to it as you can and just slice straight down then what I do is I just create a Tic Tac board in the mango and you'll see you can just flip it inside out and you've got all these little beautiful pieces and then you can either use a knife I just like to use my thumbs just pull those pieces right off of the skin such an easy way to cut up your mango if you want the pieces a little smaller just take your knife and cut them in half and for this flavor I do not include the cinnamon so I'll add that mango right into my oats along with some shredded unsweetened coconut just a tablespoon stir it all together pop it in the fridge and then when I serve this one I do what I always do I put a little extra mango a little extra coconut and then I also love some cashews on top of this one macadamia nuts would be really good as well okay so I have a few more flavor combinations that I'm going to share with you but I was just thinking that when I was first working to build healthier eating habits something that really helped me was to focus on less so instead of trying to change everything at the same time I started by focusing on one meal at a time and for me that was breakfast I chose two to three breakfast recipes that I knew I enjoyed that were easy to make that aligned with my goals and then I practiced eating those on a daily basis and yes overnight oats was one of those recipes and then once that just became a habit and that was really easy and enjoyable for me to do then I started to focus on lunch and then snacks and dinners you get the idea so if this is something that you yourself are working on that might be a tool that is really helpful and I will tell you that this next flavor combination my apple pie overnight oats was one of my staple recipes and it's still one of my personal favorite flavor combinations to this day okay so I've got the base recipe in the jar this one does include the cinnamon and again the protein powder it's optional so you get to decide and then what I'll add is 1/4 cup of diced Apple I love a honey crisp or a Fuji apple they're super crisp and sweet but any Apple will do the job and then I've got 1 tblsp of raisins and 1 tbsp of nut or seed butter I like peanut butter mix that all together get it really well Incorporated let it set up in the fridge and then once they're all set up I just like to mimic those ingredients right on top so I do a little extra Apple a little extra cinnamon and a little extra nut butter now if you are somebody who goes crazy for pumpkin spice like I do you can kindly remind yourself that you do not have to wait till the fall to enjoy it and you can make these creamy pumpkin overnight oats any day of the year so what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my base recipe and I'm going to add 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin puree and then for this one I always add some extra chia seeds so you want to have the full tablespoon because that's what's going to help to keep this combination nice and Rich and thick and then instead of the cinnamon I swap in some pumpkin pie spice because that ultimately is what makes pumpkin everything taste like pumpkin mix that all together give it a really good stir and then once this one has set up I like to top it again with a little bit of extra Greek yogurt and then a Sprinkle of walnuts or even some peans because that crunch creates the perfect balance so good now if you love a classic flavor combination then these peanut butter and jelly overnight oats are for you my kids actually love this one so to the base recipe and yes it does have some cinnamon in there I am going to be adding some chopped up strawberry now I love using strawberries because whenever I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I always use strawberry jam but you could really use any type of berry that you love so you could do raspberries blackberries blueberries or better yet do whatever type of berry is on sale and once you've got that into your oats you're going to add in one tablespoon of good oldfashioned peanut butter and look for an allnatural peanut butter remember whenever you're buying any type of nut butter the only ingredients that need to be listed are whatever type of nut that is so in this case peanut and perhaps some salt I'll stir that really well get it all Incorporated pop this one into the fridge and then you guessed it I like to finish this one with some extra berries and an extra drizzle of nut butter so as you can see the flavor combinations for overnight oats are truly endless it's a delicious healthy easy versatile breakfast that you can easily add in to your morning rotation now if easy healthy breakfast ideas are something that you are looking to enjoy more of make sure to like this video And subscribe to the channel because I'm going to be sharing them all month long and if you know anybody else who wants to make healthy eating easy and delicious share it with them as well thanks so much for watching I'm Danny Spees and I'll see you back here next time with some more clean and deliciousness cheers
