Porridge oats is a very filling breakfast for we adults, as well as for the kids. This high fibre diet is one that is bursting with nutritional and health benefits in form of minerals, vitamins, iron, carbohydrate and protein in varied quantities. You can dress it up in so many ways – take a look at this peanut porridge recipe-story as an example – and they’re so easy to change up to suit your mood. Eating porridge oats has also been proven to lower cholesterol and prevent heart diseases. Kids that take oats in the morning, as I mentioned in another post perform better in school. Porridge oats is good for all and sundry…babies, toddlers, weight watchers, diabetics etc.
Cooking porridge oats however, may sometimes be a chore that some of us are not ready for on a work or school morning. This is especially when you live in busy cities like our Lagos, where you have to wake up before you even start sleeping and join the traffic that builds up before 5am. Overnight Porridge Oats comes in handy both for you and the kids if you love your breakfast porridge.
Overnight Porridge Oats (or Muesli, the original name for overnight oats) as the name implies is simply oats soaked overnight in liquid, usually milk and then taken in the morning. The beauty of this is that you also top it up with fruits or purees of your choice.
I must confess that I now dislike eating cooked porridge oats ever since I started taking overnight oats and the children love it too. I use the fruit purees to make my baby’s and chop the fruits for the bigger babe and mine.
You need a mason jar or any other container with lid if the kids are taking their oats to school or eating it in the car on their way, or if you are taking it to work too. You can also use a bowl at home. I have turned my earlier banana oats porridge into overnight oats here as an illustration…more recipe ideas are coming, but before then, add fruits and nuts of your choice as you try this.
If you dislike cooked porridge oats, try overnight oats and you will definitely get hooked.
Banana Overnight Porridge Oats Recipe
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup quick cooking oats – e.g. Quaker Oats
- 1 cup milk – if using powdered milk, just dissolve in water according to instructions on the tin.
- 1 Banana
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla flavour
Method:
- Put oats in a bowl, jar or container that has a lid/cover. Add nutmeg and vanilla flavour to the milk and pour into the oats.
- Place in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 2 hours.
- Mash or chop bananas in the morning and add to the oats. Stir and enjoy.
Note: If you are not comfortable with taking cold oats, you can warm it but I promise you won’t want to.
Have you tried this? How did it turn out?
Nnennaya says
I agree with using Muesli which is a tough fibre and can be soaked overnight. However I dont think its a good idea to soak the normal Quaker Oats overnight especially as they usually boil in 2 minutes. I think I’d rather use the 2-minute oats than soak overnight. However I will surely try this for muesli which is usually so difficult to soften! Unless u use warm water. Thanks. Good job you’re doing.
Mummy's Yum says
Muesli is a mixture of oats and other stuff. The idea of soaking oats overnight is to soften it and it has no adverse effect. Plain oats are normally blended as smoothie with fruits. Give it a try, you may not want to boil oats again. ???
Efeose says
Thanks for this simple but fabulous recipe. I used to have muesli but I didn’t know what to do with it so it sat in my pantry till I got tired and threw it out. Thanks to your recipe, I’m getting another pack of muesli tomorrow.
Mummy's Yum says
You are very welcome Efeose. You can use your normal oats rather than buying muesli…it’s all up to you though.
Jummy says
Thanks for this. Do you add the banana before or after if you need to warm the porridge.
Mummy's Yum says
Thanks so much Jummy. It’s all up to you, I actually don’t warm mine but felt I should hint that.
Aisha Ndaiji says
Tnxx sooo much…. Pls where can i buy the overnight oat jars in nigeria?
Chioma says
Aisha, you are welcome. You can buy any jar with cover in the market. Your empty mayonnaise jar can even serve the purpose too.