Oats are a beloved part of our morning routine around here. You can make slowcooker oats, blend them into an oat smoothie, or use them in overnight oats. But oats on their own are not high in protein, which is an important part of any healthy diet. That’s where protein powder and chia seeds come in! I’ll put on my nutritionist hat for a second and explain. Getting protein into your diet in the morning helps with: Luckily, you can get that much need protein from these meal-prep friendly protein overnight oats!
Reasons you’ll love these Protein oats
Ingredients for Protein Overnight Oats
Whipping up a batch of protein overnigt oats is a cinch thanks to 6 simple ingredients. So gather up your oats and let me show you what else you’ll need.
Rolled Oats: Begin with ½ a cup of old-fashioned rolled oats. Milk: Pick out any type of unsweetened milk you prefer—almond milk, regular milk, coconut milk, soy milk, or other. You can also use a higher protein milk like Fairlife to up the protein amount even more. Vanilla Protein Powder: This ingredient boosts the protein content significantly. It’s especially useful for those looking to increase their protein intake for muscle recovery and growth. Most are sweetened in someway so this acts as the sweetener for the oats too. Chia Seeds: These little nutrient powerhouses not only assist in thickening the mixture by swelling when they come in contact with liquid. Vanilla Extract & Salt: The vanilla helps to enhance the overall vanilla flavor and the salt brings out more of the sweetness.
How to make Overnight Oats
All you need to make these oats in the jars you will serve them in and 5 minutes. So, let’s get cracking!
Meal Prep These oats
These oats are excellent for meal prep and wil last for up to 5 days in the fridge in sealed jars. If you plan to top them with any fresh fruit, I recommend waiting to do so until you’re ready to eat it.
Substitutions
For The Milk, you can use any kind of milk such as flavored, plant-based, or regular. One of my favorites is Almond Banana Milk (don’t knock it till you try it). For The Chia Seeds, you can use ground flaxseeds or leave out the chia seeds. If you leave them out, you will need less milk and the protein amount will be reduced.
Can you use another flavor of protein powder?
Yes, you can use a variety of flavors. Some of my favorite alertnatives to vanilla (which is the best) are:
Make It Your Own!
Make it vegan by using vegan milk and plant based protein powder Add nuts or nut butter to add more protein to these oats and add a crunch Add fruit or chocolate like bananas or chocolate chips to mix up your protein oats flavors
More Overnight Oat Recipes You’ll Love
What I love about protein overnight oats is that all of these other flavors can be mixed with this basic protein oats recipe!
Blueberry Overnight Oats add a great burst of bright fruit flavor. Strawberry Overnight Oats can be made with fresh or frozen fruit which is perfect for enjoying all year round! Peaches & Cream Overnight Oats is like your favorite peach cobbler made portable. Cookie Dough Overnight Oats have all the best part of a cookie but are made even better when mixed with these protein oats.
And for another breakfast that packs in protein, try these tofu waffles (just…trust me).
