Overnight Oats with Frozen Fruit

Overnight oats with frozen fruit are easy to make and work great for meal prep.  Using frozen fruit is an easy way to always have everything on hand to make a healthy breakfast for the morning.

This is a basic recipe on how to add frozen berries to overnight oats.  For more flavor options on overnight oatmeal using frozen fruit, try blueberry cheesecake overnight oats, cherry overnight oats, mango overnight oats, strawberry overnight oats, or raspberry overnight oats.  You can use fresh or frozen fruit in all of these recipes.

Recipe Features

• It’s vegan and gluten-free.
• Since these overnight oats use frozen fruit, you can make these year-round and always have everything on hand.
• It’s a no-cook method of making oats and is great for meal prep.  
• It’s customizable, change up the fruit or add nut or seed butter.

Ingredient Notes

Rolled oats - Use old-fashioned rolled oats, not steel cut or quick cooking.

Frozen fruit - Most frozen fruit should work, for this oatmeal, I use a mixed berry blend.  If you want to use strawberries, the texture once thawed can be a little off-putting.  They can be smashed at the bottom of the jar which the flavor reminds me of jam, or you can puree them with milk like in this recipe strawberry overnight oats. 

Dairy-free milk - Any dairy-free milk will work.  I prefer a 1-to-1 ratio of rolled oats to milk but adjust for your preferences.

Maple syrup - This can be substituted with agave syrup or another sweetener of your choice.  Adjust the amount of sweetener to suit your preference. 

Ground flax seed - It soaks up the milk and creates a creamier texture for your overnight oats with frozen fruit.  It can be replaced with chia seeds if needed.  When I substituted them with chia seeds, I prefer a smaller ratio, but adjust to your liking.

How to Make Overnight Oats with Frozen Fruit

There are several ways to do this.  I added option 1 to the recipe card, but here are a couple of other options for you to try.

Option 1: Mix all the ingredients for the overnight oatmeal (except fruit), then mix in the frozen fruit.  They’ll thaw overnight.  When ready to consume, mash the berries while you stir the oats.  The juices will flavor the oats.  A similar method is to mix the oats, then layer the frozen fruit on top, again they’ll thaw helping to flavor the oats.  Give them a stir before consuming.

Option 2: Thaw the frozen berries just enough that they’ve softened and mash them at the bottom of the jar to have a layer then mix the rest of the ingredients for the oats separately.  Then layer the oat mixture on top, like in my blueberry cheesecake overnight oats.  With this method, you might want to add more flavor to the oats since the fruit will be separate.  You can do this with lemon juice, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, or a nut or seed butter.

Option 3: Puree the frozen fruit with the milk then mix it with the rest of the ingredients.  Like in my strawberry overnight oats.  When I puree the berries, I like to add ½ tablespoon of lemon juice to help preserve the color.

Tips

• Thawed strawberries can be a little mealy.  I’m not a fan of the texture, but they do work great if you mash them up or puree them to flavor the overnight oatmeal. 
• I prefer the consistency of a 1-to-1 ratio of oats to milk and I use ground flax seeds to soak up some of the milk.  If you prefer a thicker consistency for these overnight oats with frozen fruit, then reduce the milk by a tablespoon or two.  
• If you prefer a thinner consistency then add more milk.
• Add maple syrup to suit your preferences for sweetness.

Ideas to Enhance Your Overnight Oats

• 1 tablespoon of peanut, almond, cashew butter, or sunflower butter
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• A little lemon zest
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Make it chocolatey by adding cocoa powder
• Chocolate chips

Toppings

If you add toppings to your frozen fruit overnight oats, add them right before consuming, especially granola and nuts or seeds for them to remain crunchy.

• Chocolate chips or cocoa nibs
• Oil-free Granola
• Dairy-free yogurt
• Nuts or seeds
• Fresh fruit like sliced banana or more fresh berries
• Coconut flakes

More Overnight Oat Recipes Using Frozen Fruit

• Strawberry overnight oats
• Raspberry overnight oats
• Mango overnight oats
• Blueberry cheesecake overnight oats
• Cherry overnight oats

As always, I hope you enjoy this recipe for frozen berry overnight oats!

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