I spent around 8 months living in London a few years back, and did some temp work at a private members club. It was a fairly regal building where you had to where a tie to get through the front door.
One of the perks of working here was the free food – breakfast and lunch were both provided for all staff in a small dining room – however the meals were typically English and often quite heavy (and quite meat-y), so I usually would bring in my own food in just in case. for breakfast in particular, I always like to start the day with something healthy – I find food affects my blood sugar levels and moods too much and if I started the day with chocolate cake or grilled cheese sandwiches I end up grumpy and ready for a nap by 11am (except on Christmas day of course, when chocolate is perfectly acceptable for breakfast and for some unknown reason has no ill effect whatsoever on my mood or energy levels).
One of the girls I worked with started bringing in to work bircher muesli – rolled oats soaked in yoghurt (which she pronounced “yog-hurt”, not “yo-ghurt”. I assume this is standard British pronunciation, but it always makes me smile thinking about it), grated apple and orange juice, topped with chopped nuts. I decided to make my own and was impressed – despite being initially somewhat skeptical of the odd combination of ingredients, it actually tasted pretty good. Bircher museli has been on rotation in my go-to breakfast dishes ever since. At some point along the line I came up with the ingenious idea of combining the bircher muesli and chia pudding…. well, maybe not that ingenious, but for an oat and chia seed lover I was pretty happy with this discovery.
So, here you have it, my overnight oat and chia breakfast pudding. Its incredibly adaptable, but I’ve listed out below my favorite way to make it – feel free to use other milk or sweetners, and play around with the toppings depending on what you like.
- ¼ cup of rolled oats
- 1 Tbsp chia seeds
- ⅔ cup milk of your choice (I use coconut)
- 1 Tbsp desiccated coconut
- 1 tsp raw honey
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ½ banana, mashed (optional)
- Toppings - fresh berries or diced fruit, dried berries or fruit, chopped nuts, seeds, nut butter, yoghurt, granola, shredded coconut, bee pollen, cacao nibs
- Add all of the ingredients except the banana to a small container and mix well to combine. Leave in the refrigerator overnight to thicken.
- In the morning, stir through the mashed banana, and top with your choice of toppings.
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For more overnight oaty and chia-y goodness, be sure to check out my Chocolate Overnight Oat and Chia Pudding recipe
And for a complete guide on how to make creamy, wholesome wholegrain porridge check out the Perfect Porridge step-by-step guide and printable chart
Chia seeds pudding is my go-to breakfast! This recipe for it looks delish! And your photos are beautiful, as per usual! <3
Thanks lovely x
This sounds so delicious, healthy and filling! Its a lovely variation of the ones you always used to make for me when you used to come stay. I have been lazy in preparing it for my self, but this one I will be making :)
Yes, similar but I think this ones a lot nicer! You’ll have to try it and let me know :)
Healthy breakfast are my favorite! Now I am in a soft boiled egg + multigrain toast phase, but I’m trying this next! It looks fantastic! x
Thank you Consuelo! x
Haha, I just made chia pudding as well. Great minds think the same ;)
Your’s look so good. The addition of oats sounds amazing. I guess it’ll make you feel full longer.
And chocolate is SO acceptable on Christmas morning ;)
Haha, I saw your chia pudding and thought exactly the same thing – great timing :)
This looks so good! I have yet to try chia pudding. Once the weather warms up (it’s freezing in the Toronto area!) and cold breakfasts are back in the rotation, I will have to whip this up.
Great photos as well! I know this type of food is hard to look pretty, but you’ve done just that. :)
I’ve heard its been really cold and snowy in Toronto at the moment! It doesnt really get below zero here and no snow so I really cant imagine what the low temperatures you’ve been having would feel like! No doubt you’re all about hot breakfasts at the moment, and fair enough! And yes – very hard to photograph this type of food, so thank you :)
I’m laughing at the “yog-hurt” pronunciation. That’s hilarious!
I’ve never had overnight oats because I can’t bring myself to eat oats cold. But I really like the idea of adding chia seeds. It sounds like such a healthy start to the day. I’ll have to be brave and try it sometime!
Haha, yeah I think overnight oats arent for everyone! My partner hates them too and would prefer to go without breakfast at all than eat them! Give it a go and see what you think (but if you dont like it, I take no responsibility.. ;)
I made this, and was wondering if you used the white chia seeds??? Mine looked a lot darker than yours. It was still very delish though!!! I used the dark ones!!
I have added cacao tonight, cant wait to taste it in the morning :)
Yes I used white but chia seeds are flavourless so you could use any type and the only difference should be the colour. I have added cacao to mine before and its really tastty – like (healthy) chocolate dessert for breakfast :)
Looks like I have to try it, just one question, in what form do you use the oats? Rolled? Groats?
Thanks!
Hi Lenka, I used rolled oats – I have just updated the recipe to now include this too :)
Absolutely love this recipe….it is my absolute fav breakfast in this warm weather!!! thank you :-)
So glad you liked it Nerissa :)
This looks quick, healthy and delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Yum definitely going to try this! Looks amazing!! Perfect summer breakfast. How long does this last in the fridge? Can I make a few days all at once?
Hi Liv, it should last a few days at least in the fridge – I’ve made a big batch of a Sunday in the past which has lasted me through until later on in the week :)
I don’t know if it is my computer but I can’t see the recipe, I only see “[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:26]”. I can see the your other recipes though
Oops, no it’s not you slight little hiccup there! I’ve fixed it now Natalee, thanks for letting me know :)
Hi I’ve just found your recipe and it sounds amazing I’ve been eating a commercial brand of ist and chia but I’ve noticed it has 2dpoons of sugar per bowl but anyway as I have just started eating porridge something I never thought I would do I’m an old boarding school girl and it was always lumpy and burnt and my nightmare every day but if I follow your overnight regime then cook it would it still work I use unsweetened coconut milk I don’t think I could eat cold porridge oh and are they quick cooking oats or normal , sorry for the long post, cheers.
Hi Jan! Ooh, that boarding school porridge sounds awful! Hopefully you like this one a lot more :) You can use either quick cooking oats or rolled oats here, however quick cooking oats work better and have a much creamier texture – the whole oats will be quite chewy if you use those. And yes you can heat it, though you may need to add a little more milk or water as if it starts to cook while heating, it will start to absorb the liquid thats there. Enjoy! :)
Excellent recipe!! thanks a lot! By any chance might you know how many calories are in this?
Thank you Shiro! I dont count calories and prefer to look at the nutrition content of a dish to decide how healthy it is – so unfortunately I can’t help you here.
We’ve been making the chocolate version elsewhere on your site and it is a hit with 3 people in our household, now using this recipe to cater for the other person who prefers their porridge simpler. Great topped with nuts toasted with cinnamon and with berries
Thanks Elissa – glad that’s such a hit :) Love the toppings too – great idea to use toasted nuts :)
What do you mean by 2/2 cup milk? Is it just 2 cups of milk?
Hey Lula – it’s 2/3 cups milk, it just looks a bit funny I think if you’re looking at it on a small screen (or small text size). I might play around with the font when I get a chance so that it displays better – thanks for pointing this out! :)
Dearna, you’ll be pleased to know that since your mum came to stay last month (and introduced me to this recipe), Uncle Angelo & I have been eating it almost every morning!! We love it! I didn’t like the idea of eating it cold over the winter months, so I’ve been heating it up (ever so slightly). Is this a big NO NO?We also tried the chocolate version, but decided it was more like a dessert, so I’ll make it again at some stage as a “healthy” dessert option.
Hello! So glad you are liking it! :) I warm mine in winter too, much nicer to eat a warm breakfast on a cold morning. Yeah the chocolate one can be a little rich and “chocolatey” for first thing in the morning – if you’re making it for dessert, it’s nice as well if you replace the oats with more chia seeds and a little extra liquid and make a chocolate chia pudding (pretty much the same thing, but without the oats), tastes a little like chocolate sago pudding that we used to have for dessert when we were kids. xx
Hello. How much is a cup tho? I mean, what ammount of oats is in 1 cup? I hope you understand what i’m asking, cos idk how else to formulate this
Hi Cristina, the measurement is one metric cup of oats. This should be roughly 90g of oats according to my internet search, I normally always use metric cup measurements for this recipe however.
I’ve made your version of pudding many times, I loved it ! I recently started experimenting with recipe, this is my favorite. Same recipe but add almond extract . Honey instead of maple. Raisin’s w/ no cinnamon. Top with shaved almonds and a sprinkle of nutmeg. I like almond milk as the liquid. You have inspired me !
Marian Simpson
Thank you so much Marian, so glad you like it! And I love the sound of your variations – its such a great recipe to experiment with :)
This sounded so good so I made it, and I wonder why my chia didn’t expand. I thought they would buble a bit and have texture to the pudding. I was a little sad. But otherwise was good.
Hi Crystal. Your chia seeds should expand if left long enough, though they still will have a bit of “bite” to them. Once they have expanded, the texture of the chia pudding should be thick like normal pudding.
Do you have a calorie/sugar count for this recipe? I made it yesterday and I’m eating it now and it is DELICIOUS!
I have been using grond chia seeds mixed in well no seed crunch