Peanut Butter Overnight Oats (easy)

These peanut butter overnight oats are a creamy and delicious start to your day for any peanut butter lover.

Overnight oats are one of the go-to breakfasts around my house, partly because they taste sooo good and partly because the fridge does most of the work and who doesn’t love that?

I’ve experimented with different types of overnight oats, ranging from the fruity to the dessert-inspired, but I wanted to see if peanut butter overnight oats would taste as good as they sounded.

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Unlike some other overnight oats where the mix-ins don’t change the creaminess too much, overnight oats with peanut butter required a few tests because the peanut butter did seem to make the oats less creamy and more sticky if we didn’t add more yogurt.

Overnight Oats Explained

Overnight oats can be confusing to people who are used to, well, regular oatmeal, because what makes them overnight?

The idea behind overnight oats is that you’re not heating up the oats.

You’re mixing the dry oats with water or other liquids like milk or thin yogurts, and over time, the oats will soak up that moisture, effectively turning edible, and you won’t have had to turn on the stove or the microwave!

The final result is a creamy and wonderfully tasty way to eat oats.

I’m not knocking regular oats, but there’s just something so refreshing and fun about eating chilled oats out of a sloth mug or mason jars that my normal oats can’t compete with.

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Ingredients

The ingredients for peanut butter overnight oats aren’t too complicated, and are also inexpensive!

• water – this is going to keep our overnight oats with a more mild and less tangy flavor, which I prefer, as well as act as the agent that turns out dried oats edible

• greek yogurt – I use full-fat Greek yogurt (love this brand), but you can use any kind you want. This gives it a creamy texture and also helps those oats go from dry flakes to delicious breakfast options

• rolled oats – the star of the show! Either use rolled oats or steel cut out like these, preferably. Instant oats will have a gummier texture and not work as well.

• peanut butter – use your favorite brand, whether it’s chunky or smooth

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Does it Matter what Peanut Butter I Use?

Nope, just use the brand that you already use and love! I think smooth peanut butter leads to a better overall texture, but then I never really understood people who prefer chunky peanut butter anyway…

You can also use almond butter if that works better for you!

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How to Make Peanut Butter Overnight Oats

Few steps make this a really simple way to get it pulled together in under 5 minutes and then all you have to do is…sleep!

Combine the water, yogurt, and vanilla together in a small bowl.

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Add in the oats and peanut butter and combine.

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Leave in bowl or pour into mug or mason jar, covered with saran wrap.

Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

Enjoy!

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Overnight Oats Tips

Let’s talk tips for overnight oats, especially if you haven’t made them before.

1. The easiest way to eat the overnight oats is in a mug, which is why I sometimes prefer to simply use a sloth mug from the start to refrigerate my oats. It has a handle, you can easily put saran wrap over it, and it’s a really convenient way to enjoy (way more convenient than fancy mason jars that we all use for our photos, let’s be real).

2. My husband likes his regular oatmeal much thinner than I do, as I prefer mine so hard and dry that you can turn it upside down and it won’t fall out. The differences in preferences are the same for overnight oats. Some like it creamier, some like it runnier, and that will often come down to your own tastebuds and not how well the recipe is developed. So test a few options before settling.

I have added some extra yogurt in with this one in the recipe already to try and make sure the overnight oats don’t come out too dry because the peanut butter can zap that moisture quickly, but you can always adjust a bit by adding more yogurt when you go to eat them if it’s not to your liking.

You could also make plain overnight oats without the peanut butter, and stir in the peanut butter in the morning if you’re really wanting to have more control.

How to Store Peanut Butter Overnight Oats

You can store overnight oats in their container in the fridge for up to about 3 days after making.

Do not leave them at room temperature, as the greek yogurt needs to be refrigerated.

I haven’t tried freezing peanut butter overnight oats and am unsure why you would, so stay clear of that. You can make single portions and eat within the next 3 days, so no freezer necessary.

Substitutions in Peanut Butter Overnight Oats

The joy of overnight oats is that as long as you stick to around a 1:1 ratio of dry oats to the liquid ingredients (you can go overboard with the liquid and it will be fine, but go under and your oats will be too dry), you’ll come up with an edible product.

You can’t “mess up” overnight oats easily, so test out these substitutions.

If you want less of a creamy texture, decrease the amount of greek yogurt.

If you prefer a tangier taste, use milk instead of water.

If you’re trying to avoid dairy altogether, use a dairy free milk, or cut the yogurt and double the amount of water in this recipe.

Do You Have Other Overnight Oats Recipes?

Some other ideas are:

• blueberry overnight oats
• strawberry overnight oats
• plain overnight oats
• vanilla overnight oats
• lemon overnight oats
• matcha overnight oats
• banana overnight oats
• birthday cake overnight oats
• honey overnight oats
• chocolate chip overnight oats