Honey Overnight Oats

Overnight Oats are the perfect breakfast for busy people. Prepared in just a few minutes during the evening, you are rewarded with a delicious ready to eat breakfast the following day! If like so many of us you find yourself dashing around in the morning and sometimes even forgoing this important meal we highly suggest giving them a go and starting your day with a healthy breakfast that can provide you enough energy to easily keep you going until lunchtime! If you make your overnight oats in a jar as we suggest, then you also have a portable breakfast to take with you if you need to. I know many people that don't really feel like eating much when they first wake up, so if you have to leave for work early then just pop the jar into your bag to eat a little later!

Honey overnight oats don't require any cooking but they do require the oats to be soaked for around 12 hours (hence the 'overnight' in the name!) I tend to make mine while I'm cooking dinner. I'm in the kitchen already and I can easily get them made while something else is baking in the oven. There are so many amazing and healthy ways you can customise your overnight oats that we'll also cover at the bottom of the page!

This recipe is the perfect amount for a smaller sized 'Kilner' style jam jar that holds around 250 – 300ml of liquid. Although you can use any suitably sized container with a lid. We also think it's the perfect amount for most adults too, you may think it looks quite a small breakfast but it's a lot more filling than you might imagine!

To make the honey overnight oats you will need:

• 50g Rolled Oats
• 125ml Fresh Skimmed Milk (or non-dairy alternative)
• 1 tbsp Plain Yoghurt (or non-dairy alternative)
• 1-2 tsp Just Bee Honey

Step One:

Add the 50g of rolled oats to the jar, then add 125ml of fresh milk and give it a good mix with a teaspoon.

Step Two:

Add a tablespoon of yoghurt and two teaspoons of Just Bee Honey and stir through the oats. The sweetness of your oats is very much down to personal taste. I like mine sweet and I really like to be able to taste the honey but others may prefer a little less. So adjust to your own preference.

Step Three:

Close the lid and pop it in the fridge overnight!

Step Four: Eat and enjoy!

But why stop there?

While these simple honey oats are delicious, it's always fun to add some additional healthy ingredients to make every day a little different! Adding nuts and seeds will provide some healthy oils and protein, while adding some fruit for flavour really makes them taste special. If you like you can also add another dollop of  yoghurt on the top in the morning before eating! Here's some ideas to get you started, simply add them to the recipe above before you pop them in the fridge for the night!

Frozen Berries

Just add straight from the freezer to the jar and mix in! Blueberries and raspberries are my favourites, they add a lovely burst of tang and colour to your oats. You can add as many or as few as you like (providing you have room in the jar) but 6 or 7 berries works well and won't take over the taste completely.

Seeds

I find a teaspoon of seeds is about right, Chia seeds are a popular addition but not everyone likes the jelly-like 'frog spawn' effect they create when they are soaked overnight! Alternatives like hemp seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds are also a good choice. You can buy bags of mixed seeds if you'd like a good overall mix and it's much less expensive than buying bags of individual types.

Nuts and Dried Fruits

You can add any nuts that you like, hazelnuts and brazil nut pieces are great but your choices are really unlimited. You can add flaked almonds or even stir through a teaspoon of peanut butter! Raisins and sultanas work well but more exotic dried fruits like pineapple and papaya chunks are also really tasty too! My personal favourites at the moment are coconut flakes and raisins!

Fresh Fruit

It's a little less convenient sometimes but you can also add fresh fruit too, small chunks of apple are nice (you can add a little cinnamon or ginger too if you like which is amazing with apple!) Also grapes are really fun as they have all that lovely juice inside when you bite into them! I would avoid really soft fruit like peaches unless you like it to really mush in with the oats.

Flavoured Honey

You can of course use any of the flavoured Just Bee honey range too. Unfortunately our limited edition Toffee Apple Honey has already sold out, but if you were lucky enough to get some then I would highly recommend trying some in your oats! You could also use our Just Bee Vitality Honey with ginseng root extract for an extra boost and zesty lemon taste!

Overnight oats are healthy and easy!

Oats are great for supporting your gut health. Oats will also provide some fibre and can also help manage cholesterol levels. Yogurt provides nutrients that promote heart and digestive health and it's a great source of probiotics. Consuming probiotics regularly may help balance the number of good and bad bacteria present in the gut. If you've had an infection and had to take a course of antibiotics eating foods with probiotics, like yogurt, can help restore the good bacteria. Cow’s milk is a great source of protein and contains many essential vitamins and minerals including vitamin B12, riboflavin and calcium. Just Bee Vitamin Honey is of course supercharged with Vitamins D, C, B6, B12 and Echinacea. Combining these ingredients makes a portion of overnight oats a great way to start every day!