Banana Cinnamon Overnight Oats

These Banana Cinnamon Overnight Oats are an easy, superfood breakfast you can whip up in 5 minutes flat! They’re portable, storable, and oh-so-delicious! Set your mornings up for success with overnight oats!

This is the ULTIMATE easy and healthy breakfast. With a few inexpensive and pantry-friendly ingredients, you can have a wholesome, hearty, vegan breakfast ready in minutes. In fact, overnight oats are the single best answer to busy weekday mornings. Need to get your mornings back on track? Then this meal prep-friendly recipe can help!

As written, this recipe is dairy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and vegan. 🎉

What Are Overnight Oats?

Overnight oats are, you guessed it, oats that you make “overnight”. In other words, they’re oats that you make the night before eating them.

Overnight oats do not require any cooking at all. Instead, you soak your raw oats (and other add-ins of your choice) in a liquid, overnight. By the time you wake up in the morning, the oats will be soft and perfect to eat. They’ll also be full of flavor and super creamy, thanks to the time spent soaking.

That’s overnight oats in a nutshell. When I say EASY and HEALTHY breakfast, I really mean it! The next morning, you can take your mason jar of oats with you for a convenient and travel-friendly breakfast-on-the-go. Prefer to meal prep on the weekend instead? You can also mix up a few jars of overnight oats at once and store them in your refrigerator for the week ahead.

Why Make Overnight Oats?

Four main reasons (though I could come up with many more!):

1. Cannot stress this enough–easy, healthy, and convenient. 🥳
2. They’re a great summertime breakfast and a perfect alternative to warm oatmeal.
3. They take no time at all to mix up and will help ensure that you stick to your healthy eating goals.
4. You won’t be hungry in an hour, the way you would be with many store-bought grab-and-go breakfast options.

These banana cinnamon overnight oats, in particular, are an extremely well-balanced breakfast and they taste like banana bread! This recipe supplies:

• 15 grams of plant-based protein
• 11 grams of fiber, including both soluble and insoluble
• 9 grams of healthy fats, including omega-3s
• More than 20% of your daily potassium and iron needs
• Tons of antioxidants, including lignans, isoflavones, and curcumin

Oats are an amazing breakfast option, period. But overnight oats are an even more convenient version of oatmeal.

And these overnight oats, with superfoods like flax, Ceylon cinnamon, turmeric, and soy milk? They might just be the best oats of them all!

Ingredients

• Oats: Oats are a great way to start the day. They’re inexpensive, may help lower blood pressure, and will keep you full. Choose rolled or old-fashioned oats for this recipe. (I prefer to buy organic oats to try to avoid glyphosate.)
• Banana: Instead of using added sugars to flavor this oatmeal, we’re using an overripe banana. Overripe mashed bananas are really sweet and contain healthy fiber and vitamins. Basically, they’re the perfect natural sweetener. (Tip: This recipe is great for using up extra overripe bananas since you can make a few jars at a time and store them in the fridge for 5 days.)
• Ground Flax: A healthy super seed, flax contains omega-3s and more lignans than any other food. Flax also has a gelling effect that helps make these oats nice and creamy.
• Soy Milk: High in protein and phytoestrogens, soy milk is a thick non-dairy milk that helps make this a balanced breakfast. It’s also easy to find soy milk that doesn’t contain additives.
• Ceylon Cinnamon: This is the best kind of cinnamon, with proven health benefits.
• Turmeric: A powerful spice with anti-inflammatory benefits, turmeric makes these overnight oats a nice yellow color.
• Allspice: This a type of spice (not a spice blend). It tastes a bit peppery and is related to cloves. Allspice is my favorite addition to all types of oatmeal these days since there is something very comforting about it.
• Pinch of Salt & Pepper: These ingredients are optional, but recommended. The salt helps balance the sweet banana flavor for a more balanced bite. Meanwhile, the pepper helps make the curcumin in turmeric more bioavailable.

Instructions

Overnight oats are seriously simple! If you’re new to them, though, I wanted to show you exactly what to do and just how easy it all is! If you give this recipe a try, I bet that overnight oats will become a staple in your easy breakfast rotation too.

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Grab a fork and a mason jar (or any container of your choice that holds about 2 cups).
• Break your banana into a few pieces, then add the pieces to the bottom of your mason jar.

• Mash the banana with your fork until it breaks down. (It’s helpful to hold your jar at an angle for easier mashing.)
• Once mashed and fairly uniform in texture, add all remaining ingredients to your jar.

• Give everything a very good stir. It will look pretty liquid-y right now. That’s totally normal.
• Grab your lid, close up your jar, then refrigerate overnight. All done!

Storing & Serving

Fun fact: You will mix, store, and then eat your overnight oats all in the the same container! 🎉

Once mixed, store your overnight oats in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours before serving.

After that, your overnight oats are ready to eat at any time! They will last up to 5 days in the fridge, though they will get a bit softer as time passes.

Topping Ideas

This overnight oats recipe is quite delicious and filling as written. However, if you’d like to add toppings, feel free! I recommend keeping your toppings separate until serving, though, for best results. This is especially important if you’d like to use fresh fruit or crunchy nuts. Here are some ideas:

• Additional sliced banana
• Hemp hearts
• Chopped walnuts or pecans
• Nut butter of choice
• Raisins or other dried fruit
• Blueberries or other fresh fruit
• A dash of cinnamon

Note: These banana cinnamon overnight oats are plenty sweet for me. However, the sweetness factor will vary depending on the ripeness and size of your banana. I recommend that you taste and adjust the sweetness (with date syrup or the sweetener of your choice) after the oats have had a chance to soak.

Substitutions

• Rolled Oats: Unfortunately, there is no substitute for the rolled/old-fashioned oats in this recipe.
• Soy Milk: You may use whichever type of non-dairy milk you prefer, but try to stick with unsweetened varieties.
• Turmeric: Simply leave this spice out if you don’t have any on hand. You can also omit the black pepper, in that case.
• Ceylon Cinnamon: Use whichever type of cinnamon you have on hand.
• Allspice: You can replace allspice by mixing together equal amounts of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
• Flax: You can use an equal amount of chia seeds instead. Chia seeds also thicken up these oats, but they are detectable in the final product. If you’re looking for some extra texture, though, that might be a positive for you. 😉

Common Questions

Helpful Tools for this Recipe

• Wide-mouth Mason Jars
• Measuring Cups & Spoons

Similar Recipes

• Vegan Banana Oatmeal Cookies
• Apple Baked Oatmeal

Continue to Content

Banana Cinnamon Overnight Oats

Yield: 1 serving

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

These Banana Cinnamon Overnight Oats are an easy, superfood breakfast you can whip up in 5 minutes flat! They’re portable, storable, and oh-so-delicious! Set your mornings up for success with overnight oats!

Print

Ingredients

• 1 medium overripe and spotty banana, peeled
• 1/2 cup rolled or old-fashioned oats (certified gluten-free if necessary)
• 3/4 cup soy milk, unsweetened
• 1 tbsp ground flax
• 1/2 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Add your overripe, peeled banana to a wide-mouth mason jar or a different meal-prep container of your choice.
2. Mash the banana well with a fork until smooth. If using a mason jar, you can hold the jar at a slight angle for easier mashing.
3. Add raw oats and all remaining ingredients to your jar. Stir very well, then refrigerate. Allow to sit overnight, or for at least 8 hours before enjoying. These oats will keep well in the refrigerator for 5 days. Add toppings just before serving, if desired.

Notes

Substitutions: You have a lot of options with this recipe. If you don't have Ceylon cinnamon, use whichever kind of cinnamon you have on hand. If you don't have allspice, you can substitute it by mixing together equal amounts of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. If you don't have turmeric, you may simply leave it out. If you don't have flax, chia seeds also work well. Finally, any unsweetened non-dairy milk may be used.

Storage: These oats can be made ahead and will keep well in the refrigerator for 5 days. However, note that they get softer the longer they sit.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 1 Serving Size: About 1.5 cups
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 385Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 100mgCarbohydrates: 65gFiber: 11gSugar: 15gProtein: 15g

Nutrition information is an estimate only, based on the recipe as written. Data was obtained through MyFitnessPal's recipe creator.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a recipe rating or pin it for later!

The Background & Science Behind These Ingredients

• Lignan-rich foods may reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. You can learn more about lignans in this study.
• Ceylon cinnamon is healthy cinnamon and brings delicious flavor and antioxidant power to your meals.
• I prefer to buy organic oats to try to avoid glyphosate. Here’s a handy guide on glyphosate levels in different oat products.
• Not convinced about oatmeal? Then have a look at this list of oat benefits.
• Learn more about the health benefits of turmeric and why we’re adding black pepper to oatmeal.

What do you think?

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you make this recipe, then please leave a comment and rating. I would love to hear what you think and how it worked out for you!

If you’re looking for more delicious oat recipes, you must try my apple baked oatmeal! For more healthy breakfast ideas, see all of my breakfast recipes!