If you leave home before six to beat the traffic, breakfast is usually the first thing to go. Overnight oats with Greek yogurt move the work to the night before. You get to spend only two minutes stirring oats, Greek yogurt and milk into a jar, and the fridge does the rest while you sleep.
In the morning you take the jar out, add fruit, and eat it. Below is one base jar, five Nigerian ways to flavour it, and what to do when the power goes off in the night.
The base recipe for one jar of overnight oats
Use a jar or container with a tight lid that holds at least 400ml, so there is room for fruit on top.
- Half a cup (40g) of rolled oats
- Half a cup (about 120g) of Zayith Low-Fat Unsweetened Greek yogurt
- Half a cup (120ml) of milk, fresh or made up from powdered milk
- A pinch of salt
- Fruit or toppings, added in the morning
Method:
- Put the oats and salt in the jar.
- Add the yogurt and milk, and stir until no dry oats are left at the bottom.
- Close the lid and leave the jar in the fridge for at least eight hours, or overnight.
- In the morning, stir it again. If it is thicker than you like, loosen it with a splash of milk.
- Add your fruit and eat it cold, straight from the jar.
A made-up jar keeps in the fridge for up to three days. Add cut fruit on the day you eat it, because banana goes brown overnight.
Overnight oats with milk or with Greek yogurt
You can make overnight oats with milk alone. Greek yogurt makes the jar thicker, closer to a pudding than a porridge, because strained yogurt holds less water. It also makes it tangier, from the live cultures.
On USDA figures, plain low-fat Greek yogurt has 9.95g of protein per 100g, against 3.15g in whole milk. Using both, as the base recipe does, gives you the yogurt’s thickness and protein with enough liquid for the oats to soften. The full breakdown by serving size is in our guide to how much protein is in Greek yogurt.
If you would rather not wait until morning, a Greek yogurt parfait uses the same yogurt with fruit and granola and takes five minutes.
Five Nigerian ways to flavour overnight oats
Make the base jar, then change what goes in it or on top. Fruit goes in the morning, and anything dry can go in the night before.
1. Banana and groundnut overnight oats
Slice a ripe banana over the jar in the morning and scatter a handful of roasted groundnuts on top. You can add a pack of Deyi Foods Groundnut to your yogurt order. If you have groundnut paste at home, stir a spoonful into the oats at night instead.
2. Mango overnight oats
When mango is in season, dice a ripe one over the jar in the morning. For a jar that is mango all the way through, blend half a mango into the milk the night before. The blended mango sweetens the whole jar.
3. Pineapple and coconut overnight oats
Stir a spoonful of coconut flakes into the oats at night so the flakes soften with the oats. Top with chopped pineapple in the morning.
4. Cocoa overnight oats
Stir a level tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder into the dry oats before the yogurt and milk go in, so it does not clump. Unsweetened cocoa is bitter, so make this jar with Zayith Low-Fat Sweetened Greek yogurt, which has 7g of sugar per 100g, or add a teaspoon of honey to the Unsweetened.
5. High-protein overnight oats
Swap the yogurt for Zayith High Protein & Vitamin Unsweetened Greek yogurt, which carries 80g of protein in every 1L tub and has no added sugar. Use three-quarters of a cup of yogurt to a quarter cup of milk, and the jar comes out thicker, with more protein than the base jar.
Buying oats, power cuts and a week of jars
Which oats to buy for overnight oats
Buy rolled oats, sometimes sold as old-fashioned oats. They soften overnight and keep some bite. Instant oats turn to paste by morning, and steel-cut oats are still firm and chewy after one night in the fridge.
Keeping overnight oats cold during a power cut
A fridge with the door closed keeps food safe for up to four hours without power, according to FoodSafety.gov. The same chart says yogurt and milk that have sat above 4°C for more than two hours should be thrown away, and a jar of overnight oats counts.
So when NEPA takes light at night, keep the fridge door shut and do not open it to check on the jars. If the power was off for more than four hours, or the jar feels warm in the morning, throw it away.
Making a week of overnight oats on Sunday
Line up five jars on Sunday evening and put the oats and salt in each. Add yogurt and milk to three of them for Monday to Wednesday, and leave the other two dry until Wednesday night. That way no jar sits in the fridge for more than three days.
A 1L tub of Greek yogurt covers about eight jars at half a cup each, so one tub sees you through the working week with some left over.
Are overnight oats healthy?
They can be a sound breakfast, because the oats bring fibre and the Greek yogurt brings protein. What tips a jar the other way is what you add to it: spoonfuls of honey, chocolate spread and sugary granola all count. Keep the yogurt unsweetened, let the fruit do the sweetening, and the jar stays low in added sugar.
If you are eating overnight oats to lose weight, our guide to Greek yogurt for weight loss covers portions and the best time to eat it. If you are managing diabetes, see your doctor about how oats fit into your meals.
Where to buy Zayith Greek yogurt
We deliver online orders within Lagos, usually in 24 to 48 hours. You can also find Zayith in 647 outlets across 29 cities and towns.
Frequently asked questions
What is the formula for overnight oats?
Equal parts by volume: one part rolled oats, one part Greek yogurt and one part milk, plus a pinch of salt. Scale it up by the cup for a family batch, and use less milk if you like it thick.
Is it good to mix overnight oats with Greek yogurt?
Yes, and you can leave the milk out altogether. A jar made with yogurt alone sets thick and sour, so loosen it with a splash of milk or water in the morning.
How do I make high-protein overnight oats with Greek yogurt?
Use a high-protein Greek yogurt, as in the fifth jar above, and make any liquid you add milk rather than water, since water adds no protein.
