Recipe · Breakfast · American
Overnight Oats with Apple, Cardamom, and Toasted Pecans
Five minutes of work tonight buys you a breakfast tomorrow that tastes like you tried.
The case for overnight oats keeps making itself: five minutes of work tonight is a breakfast tomorrow that tastes like you tried. The texture is creamier than cooked oatmeal, the flavour mellows and deepens overnight, and you eat it cold straight from the jar with one hand while the other is doing something else.
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, not quick or steel-cut
- 1 1/4 cups milk of choice, dairy, oat, or almond all work
- 1/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt, or unsweetened coconut yogurt (optional)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tart apple, such as Honeycrisp or Pink Lady, diced small
- 1/4 cup pecans, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp lemon zest, freshly grated
- 1 pinch cinnamon, to finish (optional)
Equipment
- Two 12 oz mason jars or wide-mouth containers
- Small skillet
- Microplane
Directions
Toast the pecans first. Heat a dry skillet over medium and add the pecans. Shake the pan every 30 seconds. After about 4 minutes they'll smell warm and look slightly darker. Tip them onto a plate so they stop cooking. This step is optional. It is also non-negotiable.
In a bowl or measuring cup, whisk the milk, yogurt (if using), maple syrup, vanilla, cardamom, and salt until the syrup dissolves.
Divide the oats between the two jars. Pour the milk mixture over evenly. Stir each jar to ensure no dry pockets remain.
Layer the diced apple on top of each jar. Don't stir it in — the apple stays brighter when it isn't sitting in the oat mixture overnight.
Lid the jars and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 3 days.
In the morning, stir to incorporate the apple. Top with the toasted pecans and lemon zest, and a tiny pinch of cinnamon if you want it. Eat cold, or warm 90 seconds in the microwave with a splash of extra milk.
Cook's notes
Use rolled, never quick. Quick oats turn to paste overnight. Steel-cut don't hydrate fully without cooking.
The cardamom is the move. If you've never put cardamom in oats, this is your wake-up call. Use freshly ground if you have whole pods; the flavour is twice as bright.
Swap-friendly fruit. Pear, persimmon, or roasted plum all work in apple's place. In summer: peach + basil instead of apple + cardamom is a different recipe but follows the same template.
Make-ahead & storage
The entire point: the recipe is the make-ahead. Build on Sunday night, eat through Wednesday morning.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 380 · Protein: 11g · Carbs: 55g · Fat: 14g
Estimated. Actual values vary with substitutions.
Source: A house staple, adapted endlessly from the Bob's Red Mill carton instructions until it bore no resemblance.