High-Protein Overnight Oats

Ingredients

• 50g rolled oats
• 100g Greek yoghurt
• 100ml milk (whole or oat)
• 1 scoop whey protein powder (vanilla)
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 banana, sliced
• 50g mixed berries

Method

Combine the oats, Greek yoghurt, milk, whey protein powder, and chia seeds in a sealed container and stir until the protein dissolves completely. Lumps of powder won't hydrate overnight — they'll sit gritty and separate. The yoghurt and milk together provide enough liquid to suspend the oats and chia, which will absorb water as they sit cold. This absorption is the point: overnight oats work through passive hydration, not heat. The oats soften without cooking, the chia seeds swell and thicken the base into something between porridge and custard, and the protein powder distributes evenly through the mixture. Seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, though overnight is standard. The texture will be thick and spoonable come morning — if it's too set, stir in a splash more milk.

Stir the jar once before eating. Add the sliced banana and mixed berries on the morning you eat it, not before. Banana oxidises and darkens within hours; berries collapse into the liquid and turn the whole thing murky. Both need the textural contrast of freshness against the dense, cool base.

For batch-cooking, make three to four jars on Sunday evening. They'll hold for three days refrigerated, the oats continuing to absorb moisture and the flavours settling into the yoghurt. Each jar is a complete breakfast unit — no assembly required on busy mornings beyond the fruit topping.

Variations are straightforward but commit to them. Swap the berries for chopped apple and half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon stirred into the dry base — the spice complements the apple's tartness as it softens. Replace the banana with a tablespoon of peanut butter mixed through the oats themselves; the fat from the nuts will coat the oats and create a richer mouthfeel than fruit adds. For chocolate overnight oats, add a teaspoon of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients and reduce the berries, which muddy the cocoa's clean bitterness. Don't layer or marble — fold everything together so the flavours distribute evenly overnight.