Best-Ever Bariatric Overnight Oats – Super Simple Recipe 5

Quite a big fanfare, claim and decision to announce this recipe as ‘best-ever bariatric’ but not one I’ve taken lightly.

Overnight oats are a favourite here and perhaps they are yours too and we have covered quite a few versions and variations over the years. These include those with various fruits, nuts, seeds, differing milks and other additions. I didn’t think we could improve upon a basic recipe. That is until we tinkered this weekend with one that gave bariatrics a great all-round recipe that contained the usual oats and milk (the milk type you like) but also the added bonus of protein in the form of yogurt and protein powder (optional) and fibre in the form of chia seeds.

It’s a winner and you can then add the topping of your choice – nuts, fruit, seeds, purée or compote, cacao nibs, a drizzle of sugar-free syrup or whatever takes your fancy!

With autumn now firmly on the horizon we think this is a great ‘straddle’ dish between crunchy muesli in the summer and steaming porridge oats in the winter. We also believe it will be a winner when we all return to work, school or our usual non-summer-holiday routine when time in the morning is at a premium and all you have time for is a quick stir – or better still just a few minutes to stash your screw or clamp-top pot into your bag with a spoon to enjoy later.

It’s naturally a great choice for breakfast but to be honest can be eaten for any meal of the day and all save the early fluid-stage post-ops should be able to manage some since the mixture can be thinned to an acceptable and tolerable consistency.

The recipe here makes enough for 2 regular non-WLS portions (or about 4 WLS ones) but I confess to making this in larger quantities since it keeps well for about 3 days in the refrigerator – and somehow it miraculously disappears. One recipe to definitely try ….

BEST-EVER BARIATRIC OVERNIGHT OATS

Ingredients

METRIC/US

80 g/1 cup porridge oats (not instant but traditional ones)

2 tbsp chia seeds

300 ml/1¼ cups semi-skimmed or low-fat milk of your choice

2 tbsp protein powder (optional – I used Slender Blend vanilla flavour from Protein World)

200 g/¾ cup fat-free Greek yogurt

fruit, nuts, seeds etc to top (optional)

Method

Mix the oats with the chia seeds, milk, protein powder if used, and yogurt in a bowl until well mixed. Cover or spoon into individual serving pots and chill overnight.
To serve, mix well and spoon into bowls or serve straight from the individual pots. Top with fruit, nuts, seeds etc as liked.