Overnights Oats with Protein Powder – 18 grams of Protein!
These overnights oats with protein powder are a healthy plant-based breakfast recipe easy to make ahead and meal prep 4 days of protein breakfast.
Bonus, this Protein Overnight Oats recipe is vegan, gluten-free, and contains 18 grams of plant-based proteins per serving.

What Are Protein Overnights Oats?
Overnight oats are a healthy raw breakfast recipe that consists of soaking rolled oats in milk overnight in the fridge.
It has a similar texture to oatmeal, except it’s uncooked and preserves all the nutrients and healthy properties of the ingredients as no heat is involved.
Protein Overnight Oats are a version of this recipe made richer in protein by adding protein powder.
Are Overnight Oats Vegan?
No, an authentic overnights oats recipe is not vegan because it always contains dairy from milk and yogurt.
How To Make Overnights Oats With Protein Powder
This healthy overnight oats recipe with protein powder is the easiest healthy breakfast recipe ever!
If you know how to make overnight oats, you know how to make this version with protein!
Ingredients
All you need to make this vegan overnight oats recipe are:
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats – this is the coarse version of oats, not instant oats.
- Chia Seeds – if you don’t like chia seeds, you can use flaxseed meal instead, but it adds a slightly bitter flavor to the mixture, so it’s not our favorite choice.
- Unsweetened almond milk or oat milk, or soy milk to up the protein even more.
- Sweetener of choice – we used maple syrup, but agave syrup or sugar-free erythritol works as well.
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon – optional, but this adds a delicious flavor to the recipe.
- Protein powder of choice – we used vanilla peanut protein powder from Macro Mike, but any vanilla plant-based protein powder works well.
Step 1: combine dry ingredients with liquid ingredients
First, add all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl, including rolled oats, chia seeds, protein powder, and cinnamon.
Stir well to distribute ingredients evenly. Then, stir in almond milk, vanilla extract, and the sweetener you love.
Feel free to skip the sweetener if you don’t have a sweet tooth.
Step 2: Soaking Overnight
Seal the mixing bowl with a silicone lid and place it in the fridge overnight.
We recommend giving a quick stir in the mixing 1 hour after being placed in the fridge to prevent the chia seeds from migrating to the bottom of the bowl.
Step 3: Serving The Next Day
The next day, serve the overnight oats recipe with vegan toppings of choice.
Serving Protein Overnight Oats
Overnight oats are even better served in small jars, with layers of other plant-based ingredients, including:
- Fruits – berries like raspberries, blueberries, or chopped apples and banana slices.
- Nuts – chopped pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts.
- Seeds – hemp seeds for a boost of plant-based protein or sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds.
- Peanut butter or almond butter.
- Chocolate chips – you can use sugar-free dark chocolate chips to keep the recipe healthy and sugar-free.
- Melted dark chocolate
The possibilities are endless, and our favorite overnights oats flavors are:
- Peanut butter and raspberry chia seed jam.
- Dairy-free yogurt, blueberries, and melted chocolate.
- Peanut butter, banana slices, and chocolate chips.
- Chopped apple, cinnamon, pecans, and maple syrup.
Storing Overnight Oats
Overnight oats can be stored for up to a week in the fridge in a sealed container.
You can also freeze overnight oats in a small container and thaw them in the fridge the day before eating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Protein Powder Can I Use?
You can use any vegan protein powder in these overnight oats with almond milk.
Of course, plant-based protein powders are highly recommended, like pea protein powder, almond protein powder, or peanut protein powder.
You can use vanilla-flavored powder or even chocolate protein powder in this recipe to make chocolate overnights oats.
Can I Skip The Chia Seeds?
No, you can’t make overnights oats without chia seeds, or the texture will be runny.
In fact, you need high-fiber seeds like chia seeds or flaxseed meal to add a jelly-like texture to the overnight oats. You can use white chia seeds or black chia seeds in this recipe.
Other options are to swap the 2 tablespoons of chia seeds with 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal or 1 tablespoon of whole psyllium husk.
Are Protein Overnight Oats Healthy?
Yes, overnight oats are one the most healthy breakfast with a high nutrients profile, including:
- High fiber – chia seeds and oats are high in fiber, and one serving of overnights oats contains 6 grams of fiber.
- High protein – these overnight oats are made with protein powder, so it’s one of the highest protein breakfasts with 18 grams of protein per serving.
- High nutrient profile – raw breakfasts are uncooked, which preserves all the vitamins and nutrients from grains and seeds.
- Low GI – these overnights oats with protein powder are high in fiber and low in carbs keeping your blood sugar level stable for longer. Plus, if you don’t add the sweetener, one serving only contains 20 grams of net carbs and 200 kcal!
Can I Use Instant Oats?
You can replace old-fashioned oats with instant oats, but you may have to add more instant oats to achieve the same creamy texture.
In fact, instant oats contain less fiber, and it’s less liquid absorbent than rolled oats.
As a result, if you swap one for the other, the texture of your overnight oats with protein powder can be very liquid.
More Plant-Based Breakfast Recipes
Do you love overnight oats? You may also like these healthy plant-based recipes:
Have you made these overnights oats with chia seeds vegan recipe? Share a comment or review below. I love to connect with you!
Overnight Oats with Protein Powder
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Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats - note 1
- 2 tablespoons Chia Seeds
- 2 scoops Protein Powder - we used Macro Mike Vanilla protein powder (1 scoop about 40g)
- 2 cups Almond Milk
- 2 tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add old-fashioned rolled oats, chia seeds, protein powder, and cinnamon. Stir to distribute evenly.
- Stir in almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Seal the bowl with a lid, refrigerate overnight. I recommend stirring the mixture 1 hour after you pop it in the fridge. This prevents the chia seeds from sinking to the bottom of the bowl.
- The next day, serve in small serving jars with peanut butter, dairy-free yogurt, fresh berries, and nuts.
Is this also gluten free?
Can I substitute coconut milk for almond milk?
You must use a certified gluten-free oat brand if you are intolerant to gluten. The remaining ingredients are gluten-free. Any milk can be used.
Hi there
I like my breakfast hot, can I warm it a little bit in the morning?
Absolutely!
Does this work without chia seeds and does anyone know the nutrition without?
Yes, it won’t thickened as much, you can add a few more tablespoon of oats to balance that.
After I mix it together, can I prep it into 4 containers each holding 3/4 cup of mixture?
It doesn’t seem like enough for a serving.
Absolutely!
Wonderful!
I’ve been using this recipe for over a year, basically making a triple size batch for weekly meal prep. It’s super easy, tasty, and every neighbor/workout bro I’ve shared it with has given it 5 stars.
Do you ever add plant based yogurt ?
Yes, you can swap 1/4 cup of milk for any plant based yogurt you love.
This is my first time trying overnight oats (not an oats person) and this recipe is fantastic! So versatile and filling. Thank you!
Hi! I would love to try this recipe with a combo of my Juice Plus vanilla protein powder plus my PB2 peanut butter powder. Do you have any suggestions for how I might edit the measurements if I did this?
Thank you!
I guess you could replace some of the milk by juice, if you add PB2 decrease the protein powder by same amount to avoid the result to be too dry.
Hi, I eat overnight oatmeal almost everyday. I’ve never used chia seeds and my oatmeal comes out perfect every time. Mind you, I’ve never liked nor eaten oatmeal until I discovered the overnight version. I use, rolled oats, strawberries, blue berries, milk and maple syrup. Sometimes I add pumpkin seeds and coconut flakes. Now that I know you add protein powder, I’ll be adding it also.
You don’t list the measurement for each ingredient?
Scroll up , the recipe is in the recipe card above this comment section, enjoy!
Adding protein powder to my OO was a huge help in keeping me satiated. I make mine a little differently, with 4 mason jars lined up, I add in the dry ingredients to each one, frozen blueberries and then enough plant milk to the top-cover and shake and put in the fridge. So basically, I just do the math divided by 4. I don’t use sweetener or vanilla because that’s already in the vanilla protein powder. Thank you for this great idea!
What size are the glass containers you have in the picture? I want to make it, then store it in the fridge in individual servings.
They are about 1/2 cup size
If I was making these ahead for meal prep, how long would they last? Could I use this recipe and eat one each day for 4 days?
I keep mine up to 2 days in the fridge, as soon as there’s no fruits, it can last up to 4 days in the fridge. Otherwise, freeze and thaw the batch the day before in the fridge. Enjoy
I can’t find the exact protein powder you’re referring to. On the Macro Mike site I only see a Hawaiian Salted Vanilla flavor and a Vanilla Buttercream flavor. Is it one of those you’re using?
Any protein powder works very well in the recipe, the Hawaiian protein powder on Macro mike is the one we use the most. The almond range is under their premium tab
Question: how can the calories be correct when 1 cup of these oats has 300+ cals?
You are not eating 1 cup of rolled oats per serve. The recipe serve 4 breakfast, the whole recipe contains 1 1/2 cup of rolled oats so one serve contains 6 tablespoons of oats, so 1/3 of the calories from a cup of oats and so roughly 100 kcal from oats. Remaining calories are from the added ingredients, per serve, one serve is 3/4 cup of the prepared recipe, recipe is evenly divided in 4 batch
Great recipe! Except, I would leave the vanilla extract out. I made my first batch with the full teaspoon and couldn’t eat it. I made my second batch with half of a teaspoon, and even though I can finish it, it’s still not great.
Very interesting, I’ll definitely attry this .
Thank u
Very cool recipe it looks like a delicious breakfast though I will try it with steel cut oats.
Just a small edit here, avoiding cooking rolled oats doesn’t accomplish too much. Rolled oats are subjected to a significant amount of heat as part of the steaming and rolling process to flatten them.
I don’t think steel cut oats soften very well if soaked overnight, let me know how it goes!
I make overnight oats with steel cut oats a lot but I cook a big batch of steel cut oats and freeze so I can use them whenever, plus for overnight oats I let the oats cool and then use a portion in my overnight oats and add ingredients to that and they come out very tasty and add more liquid after if I need to
I’ve tried steel cut and it didn’t do anything. I tossed it. Trying old fashioned rolled oats tonight.
Yes, the recipe mentioned that you must use rolled oats, steel cut oats won’t make smooth and creamy overnight oats. Enjoy !
Can I add the fruit, nuts, peanut butter, etc. to the jar the night before, or does it need to be added the next morning?
Thanks so much…can’t wait to try this!
Sure, add them in the mix the day before. It will work just fine, no need to thaw the fridge either. Enjoy!
Hi, how many are 2 scoop of protein in grams?
1 scoop of our protein powder in about 36-40g
Please send me the link to make this vegan over knight. Oats
To see the recipe, simply scroll up before this comment section. Enjoy!