Jamie Oliver's Overnight Oats
Making a quick batch of overnight oats that will sit happily in the fridge for up to 3 days, ready to be transformed with all kinds of different flavours, is a really helpful, nutritious, delicious thing to have in your life. This is the mothership recipe, which is perfectly tasty in its own right, but when you check out the other variations (see below), you’ll see there’s a whole lot more to love about this breakfast…
Servings: 6
Ingredients
Mothership Overnight Oats
- 2 ripe bananas
- 700 ml (1¼ pints semi-skimmed milk or your favourite unsweetened fortified plant milk
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 300 g (10½ oz) porridge oats
- 2 eating apples
Peach Melba Overnight Oats
- 80 g (3oz) raspberries
- 220 g (8oz) Mothership overnight oats (see above)
- 80 g (3oz) drained canned peaches
- 2 Tbsp Greek Yogurt
Cherry Bakewell Overnight Oats
- 1 orange
- 220 g (8oz) Mothership Overnight Oats (see above)
- 80 g (3oz) frozen cherries
- 1 heaped Tbsp toasted flaked almonds
Apple & Pear Overnight Oats
- 100 g (3½oz) rolled oats
- 200 g (7oz) Granola Dust (see blow)
- ground cinnamon
- 500 ml (17 fl. oz.) semi-skimmed milk
- 2 apples
- 2 pears
- Natural yoghurt to serve
PBJ Overnight Oats
- 300 g (10½ oz) rolled oats
- 100 g (3½oz) peanut and raisin mix
- 350 g (12½oz) frozen raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries
- 3 eating apples
- 1 litre (1 quart) semi-skimmed milk (or plant-base alternative
- 2 heaped Tbsp peanut butter
- runny honey to taste
- 6 Tbsp Greek-style yoghurt (or plant-based alternative), to serve
Granola Dust
- 1 kg (35oz) porridge oats
- 250 g (9oz) unsalted mixed nuts (such as walnuts, Brazils, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, cashews)
- 100 g (3½oz) mixed seeds (such as chia, poppy, sunflower, sesame, linseed, pumpkin)
- 250 g (9oz) mixed dried fruit (such as blueberries, cranberries, sour cherries, mango, apricots, figs, sultanas)
- 3 Tbsp quality cocoa powder
- 1 Tbsp freshly ground coffee
- 1 large orange
Instructions
Mothership Overnight Oats
- In a blender, blitz the peeled bananas with the milk and vanilla until smooth, then pour over the oats in a bowl. Coarsely grate in the apples, mix well, then cover and pop into the fridge overnight to do its thing.
- The next day, stir well, correct the consistency with a little extra milk, if needed, then either tuck in as it is, adding a handful of your favourite seasonal fruit, unsalted nuts or seeds, or choose one of the following epic flavours (see below) – each makes one tasty portion when paired with 220g (7¾oz) of Mothership overnight oats. Fill. Your. Boots.
Peach Melba Overnight Oats
- Crush the raspberries with a fork.
- Layer them up in a jar or pot with the Mothership overnight oats, peaches and yoghurt.
Cherry Bakewell Overnight Oats
- Finely grate the zest of the orange, then segment the fruit.
- Layer up with the Mothership overnight oats, frozen cherries and flaked almonds.
Apple & Pear Overnight Oats
- The night before, place the oats, Granola Dust and a pinch of cinnamon into a lidded container. Pour over the milk, mix well then cover and pop in the fridge overnight.
- In the morning, grate in most of the apple and pear and give the mixture a good stir, adding a splash more milk to loosen, if needed.
- In the morning, grate in most of the apple and pear and give the mixture a good stir, adding a splash more milk to loosen, if needed.
PBJ Overnight Oats
- The night before, place the oats, peanuts and raisins and most of the frozen fruit (keeping two handfuls to defrost in a small bowl) in a lidded container or large bowl. Coarsely grate in the apples, discarding the cores and stalks.
- Pour over the milk, mix well, then cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
- In the morning, loosen the peanut butter with a splash of boiling water, then stir in the honey. Mash the remaining fruit with a fork.
- Transfer the overnight oats to bowls or portable containers, top with a dollop of yoghurt and the mashed fruit, then drizzle with the peanut butter and honey, to taste.
Granola Dust
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
- Place the oats, nuts and seeds in your largest roasting tray. Toss together and roast for 15 minutes, stirring halfway.
- Stir the dried fruit, cocoa and coffee into the mix, finely grate over the orange zest, then, in batches, simply blitz to a rough powder in a food processor, tipping it into a large airtight jar as you go for safekeeping.
- To serve, you can have loads of fun – the simplest way is 50g of granola dust per person, either with cold cow’s, goat’s, soya, nut or oat milk or 2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt, and a handful of fresh fruit (80g is one of our 5-a-day). You can make porridge using 50g of granola dust to 200ml of milk, then top with fresh fruit, and this ratio also works for a smoothie – I like to chuck 1 ripe banana and 1 handful of frozen raspberries into the mix too. It’s even a great base for pancakes – simply beat 2 heaped tablespoons of granola dust with 1 heaped tablespoon of wholemeal self-raising flour, 1 mashed banana and 1 large free-range egg, then cook as normal. And in winter, try a hot drink – heat 25g of granola dust with 200ml of your favourite milk to your desired consistency.