I always knew mason jars would somehow make their way into my home, but I thought that it would be for a project like paint-dipped mason jars or one of those layered salads. It never crossed my mind that it would be for oats.
Have you heard of overnight oats? Somehow, they’ve become supremely popular as of late. I see recipes all over Pinterest and Buzzfeed. So I went researching. Finding an actual definition of what overnight oats is is actually quite hard to find. Let me give my best explanation for you.
It’s cold oatmeal.
Ok, a little bit more on that. It’s oatmeal that you prep in a small container by adding a liquid to your oats and then sticking it in the fridge overnight. The oats start sucking up the liquid and it becomes soft. There’s still some texture, but it’s cold. It also takes no time to set it up.
You can jazz up the oats with chia seeds, flavorings, nuts and fruit. I’m going to share the recipe I’ve perfected over the last couple of weeks: Peanut butter and honey overnight oats.
This recipe also travels well. I’m able to grab a mason jar out of my fridge each morning and eat it when I get to my desk. It’s filling and tasty.
All you need is old-fashioned oats, chia seeds, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, honey and powdered peanut butter. The powdered peanut butter is optional, but I like it.
Start with half a cup of old-fashioned oats. I just use Quaker Oats and I have the really large container. Some recipes will call for steel cut oats, but those, true to their name, are definitely more crunchy. If you don’t like crunchy oatmeal, use the old-fashioned kind.
Take your oats and put them in the bottom of your mason jar.
Have you tried chia seeds before? Yep, they are the same seeds you put on your chia pet (or chia person) when you were younger. I never had one, but I know the ch-ch-ch-chia commercial pretty well.
I bought a15 oz. bag of chia seeds from Whole Foods, the 365 brand. It was cheaper to buy them this way versus the bulk section, which I thought was a bit odd.
Put 1 tablespoon of chia seeds into the mason jar on top of the oats. I like how the chia seeds taste after they’ve sat overnight. They tend to puff up and I try popping them between my teeth.
Also, just a little bit of advice, make sure you do a mirror check after eating the oats just in case you have a rogue chia seed sitting in between your teeth. It happens.
Then measure out 3/4 cup of the unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I go with unsweetened because you will be adding a sweetener and the sweetened version of vanilla almond milk can be very sugary.
Into the mason jar it goes!
I drizzle in about a teaspoon of honey.
Here’s the powdered peanut butter. I had never used it before, but it seemed a lot easier to use than trying to get regular peanut butter in the mix. This is just the PB2 brand which seems to be sold at most stores now-a-days.
I eyeball the measurement here, but 1-2 tablespoons seems like a good amount. The peanut butter powder also seems to make the whole dish creamier. The photo at the top of this post has the peanut butter powder, while the bottom photo does not. See if you can tell the difference.
So at this point, it fills the mason jar halfway. Put the cap on and then shake it up! Shake it really good too.
All combined! It’s important that you shake it really well because the honey needs to be incorporated. Sometimes it can pool so you get some spoonfuls with a bunch of honey and some without.
Stick your mason jar into the fridge overnight. I make a batch and it lasts for a couple of days.
There you go. Overnight oats. Great for breakfast. Now, you can just stop right here and eat these as is, but I sometimes add frozen bananas. Yours don’t need to be frozen, but that’s what I have on hand.
I’ve also done a version that uses Nutella. I didn’t add the peanut butter powder before I stuck the mason jar in the fridge overnight. The next morning, I stirred in a tablespoon of Nutella . Then I added frozen mixed berries. Pretty good. Although it took a lot of stirring to incorporate the Nutella into the oats.
So the possibilities are endless! I’m still experimenting with overnight oats, but I’m pretty happy with the peanut butter and honey version.
Peanut butter and honey overnight oats
1 serving
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tablespoon chia seeds
3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 teaspoon honey
1 to 2 tablespoons of peanut butter powder (optional)
Put all ingredients into a mason jar and cover with lid. Shake furiously to incorporate ingredients. Store covered in refrigerator overnight.
To eat: Uncover and stir ingredients. Add toppings such as fruit or nuts.
Crafting and Cooking 