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- Makes 1½ cups
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Carrot cake for breakfast? Yum! Naturally sweet grated carrots and almond milk add to the dessert-like taste of these overnight oats. This easy vegan breakfast bowl is also laced with cinnamon and nutmeg, the classic carrot cake spices. The final texture will depend on how fine you shred the carrots. Smaller threads will melt into the softened oats, while coarsely grated carrots will have more of a crunch. The recipe serves one but is easy to double or quadruple if you want to make enough for the family or for a couple of days. And don’t forget the toppings! Along with flavor, they can add extra fiber and nutrients to your morning meal.
Recipe from carolynspantry.com
By Carolyn Yachanin,
Ingredients
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup shredded carrot
- 2 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of ground nutmeg
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, plus more for serving
- Toppings such as hemp seeds, chopped pecans, almond butter, and/or raisins (optional)
Instructions
- Combine the oats, carrot, dates, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, and almond milk in a glass jar.
- Cover and chill for 2 hours, or up to 2 days. Stir in toppings (if desired) and add additional milk, if needed.
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Comments (32)
(5 from 8 votes)Would steel cut oats work?
Yes, I've used steel cut oats in overnight oats recipes.
ive tried the majol date and love them make my food taste sweet without trying
Would using oat groats rather than rolled oats work in this recipe?
Hi Marshall, Yes but you'll need to be sure to soak them for a full 8 hours or more to soften the groats since they're harder and denser than rolled oats. Let us know how it goes!
Do you eat this cold, room temp or warm?
Hi Joanne, Lots of people eat their overnight oats at room temperature or chilled, but you can also microwave them if you’d prefer to eat them hot. Thank you, Courtney, editor, Forks Over Knives
I love this recipe, easy, nutritional and delicious. For the past 43 years, I meal prep. With this recipe, I can easily prepare 7+ servings at a time, leaving out the carrots and milk. About 2-3 days prior to eating a serving, I add my carrots and milk. It works perfectly! I can even take them in the go, so convenient.
I've been eating this 2-4 times per week for the last month or so! I love it! I've never eaten my way completely through a container of pepitas, but I just might do it soon, eating them in this breakfast. And the carrots are a nice crunch.
We love this recipe. Has anyone tried freezing this? I'm going on the road and would love to bring along some premade breakfasts!
What size jar? Can you make a weeks worth?
Hi Kelly! Any size jar will be just fine. And if you want to triple or quadruple the recipe then you can certainly make enough for several days. Overnight oats typically stay good in the fridge for up to five days. Enjoy!
I made cookies out this recipe. Used date syrup instead of cut up dates, 3 tablespoons applesauce instead of nut milk, oat flour for binder.
Where is the instapot used?
yes indeed
Instantpot? This is a recipe for oatmeal that’s refrigerated overnight and usually eaten cold. No cooking involved.
I’ve not made overnight oats before although I keep thinking, “I need to try these”. I was not disappointed. I followed the recipe as written except for the nutmeg (tends to encourage acid reflux for me…weak sphincter). It did not disappoint! The ingredients fit nicely into a pint size BALL jar. Attached the lid, shook a bit and refrigerated. YUM! This will be a repeat.
First time trying this and can’t wait for final results, I used chia seed’s instead of flax seeds….looking forward to trying this for breakfast.
This was delicious, making it again!
Update - adding less liquid definitely helped boost the flavor! I used 3/4 cup oat milk, because 1/2 cup looked a little dry, but once I stirred it more, the carrots released their juices, so even 3/4 cup liquid was a bit much. I did try with a plant milk this time - definitely going back to using just water. After 10 years as a vegan, putting a liquid on my food that looks so much like milk was just revolting, LOL. To each their own though. About the dates, that probably was worth the extra work of chopping them up rather than using raisins. The dates melt seamlessly into the background, providing sweetness without overpowering anything. It might be worthwhile to add a little more cinnamon, if you like a lot of cinnamon like I do. I'm still not sure this recipe is quite made it to a 5, but just reducing the liquid helped a lot, maybe a 4.5. Including "carrot cake" in the name of the recipe gives it a lot to live up to - if you think of this as a carrot spice oatmeal, you will probably love it!
This was real easy to prepare and was delicious. The next morning I added some soy milk and zapped it in the microwave. I topped it with walnuts and a bit of maple syrup. This is so much more substantial and filling than regular oatmeal.
Maybe not quite carrot cake, but good! I love that the recipe incorporates flax and carrots - an easy way to get in some more veggies and Omega-3 in the morning (or any time). I tried a few things to make this more carrot cakey, and some worked better than others. Adding lots of raisins - not good - I wanted it sweeter, but adding a ton of raisins threw off the balance and overpowered the carrots. Don't go overboard there. I will try it again using the dates as recommended, and maybe a few raisins for a topping. I also tried adding a spoonful or 2 of finely shredded plain dried coconut - yes please! My favorite vegan carrot cake recipe calls for coconut, and it adds a wonderful richness to it. Works the same in the oatmeal. Other than that, I'd maybe add less liquid (I always use water in place of plant milk, so I'm probably shorting myself some sugar there). I think the extra liquid is diluting the natural sweetness - this recipe would be better using 1/2 - 3/4 cup liquid. I will try it again and report back - this recipe is definitely worth tweaking to make it 5 stars!
This is a good way to make 1/2 cup oatmeal turn into a filling meal!. I added a small amount of boiling water when I removed it from the refrigerator and then heated it for a few minutes.
Can you sub chia for flaxseeds? I’m allergic to flax
Yes you can
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Is this eaten hot or cold?
The tag on this recipe says 'no cook'. However if one wanted to heat it up to warm it that would work.
You can also just take it out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.
Can I use steel cut oats and cashew milk as substitutes?
Yes.
Very tasty and filling! A nice switch up from traditional oatmeal.