By fortifying this high protein pumpkin overnight oats recipe with one full scoop of whey, you get a whopping 44 grams of protein, making this a complete meal. The standard vanilla protein that most people have on hand works great, but try pumpkin protein for intense flavor. You can use store bought pumpkin spice seasoning or make your own. Top it off with some sugar free maple syrup (and maybe a dollop of Greek yogurt) and it’s like eating pumpkin pie for breakfast! Well, almost.
Should You Heat Up Overnight Oats?
As the name implies, overnight oats are usually made at night, put in the refrigerator and then enjoyed in the morning cold with no cooking required. But if you prefer, you can heat it in the microwave before you eat. Neither way is right or wrong. I usually enjoy them cold, but some readers have told me they eat their overnight oats cold in the summer and heat up overnight oats in the winter.
What Kind Of Oatmeal Should You Use For Overnight Oats?
Obviously overnight oats are always made with oatmeal, but what kind is best? I liked rolled oats, such as the Quaker old fashioned rolled oats. I think that makes the mixture thicker and it helps keep some chewy texture in there. But for sure, you can use quick oats. Quick oats has smaller flakes, so they will disperse more in the mixture and that might make it seem more creamy compared to textured. But choose whichever you prefer.
Can you use steel cut oats for overnight oats? I haven’t tried. You could try if you want, but I suspect that this kind of oats won’t absorb the milk like the rolled types of oats, and they’d probably even still be crunchy. Steel cut oats have been chopped, but not flattened and that’s why they take much longer to cook when you’re heating them. In overnight oats, if it worked, it would probably take a lot longer. My top recommendation is rolled oats.
Do You Have To Use Milk In Overnight Oats? What About Yogurt?
Almost all overnight oats recipes use milk as a standard ingredient. It’s part of the base recipe, along with the oats, yogurt and chia seeds. I always use skim milk (or 1% low-fat) to keep the calories down.
People who don’t use regular dairy milk can use any kind (almond milk, and so on). You also see chia seeds in almost every overnight oats recipe because it acts as a thickener. It also provides fiber and healthy fats. Ground flaxseed (flax meal) is sometimes used as a substitute for the chia seeds, but chia is standard.
Greek yogurt is not seen in all traditional overnight oats recipes, but I include it in all of mine because it makes the oats thicker and creamier while also adding more protein. I used plain Greek yogurt, but vanilla would also work well here. Again I use the nonfat kind of yogurt for lower calories and higher protein.
In any overnight oats recipe, you can replace the milk with egg whites if you like. The primary reason you might do this is to increase the protein even more. If you replace the 1/2 cup of nonfat milk with 1/2 cup of egg whites, the protein will increase by 9 grams. That’s a substantial difference. Using egg whites, it tastes virtually the same and has the same texture. Using “raw” egg whites from the carton is okay because they are pasteurized.
Should You Add Protein Powder To Overnight Oats?
You could leave out the protein powder, but then you wouldn’t get full meal’s worth of protein – it would be more like a snack. Also remember that protein powder is a recipe ingredient and the flavored protein enhances the taste.
Vanilla protein works great. However, more recently I started using pumpkin protein and it is fantastic because it intensifies the pumpkin flavor even more. Many companies make pumpkin protein, usually under the name pumpkin pie or pumpkin spice. Some companies only do short runs in the fall, but other companies offer theirs year round.
Traditional overnight oats recipes do not include protein powder, but I fortify all my overnight oats recipes with protein (usually whey or a whey-casein blend). This way the protein count is high enough to count for a full meal. That’s also why we call my recipes “high protein overnight oats” instead of just “overnight oats.”
I usually use a full scoop of whey which brings the protein in this recipe 44 grams! If you want to save some calories or you don’t need that much protein, you could use only a half a scoop of protein. The calories would drop to 405 and you’d still get 32 grams of protein. Speaking of calories…
Are Overnight Oats Good For Weight Loss?
The high protein overnight oats recipe on this page contains 460 calories. That makes it a full “meal in a jar” and that calorie amount will fit into most fat loss programs. Some people with very low calorie budgets, especially women because they burn fewer calories than men on average, like to get the calories under 400.
Reducing calories in overnight oats is easy to do. One way is simple scale the recipe down slightly. The ingredients listed below will fill up a whole mason jar, but you could reduce all ingredients by 25%, then you’d have three quarters of a Mason jar and the calories would drop to 345 and you’d still get 33 grams of protein.
You can also simply play around with the recipe, reducing specific ingredients as you see fit.
How Do You Make Overnight Oats Taste Like Pumpkin?
From the base ingredients of oats, milk, yogurt and chia, overnight oats are like a blank palette. The possible flavor combinations are almost endless. In this case, we get our pumpkin flavor from three ingredients – canned pumpkin puree, pumpkin protein, and pumpkin spice.
I’ve used a few different brands. The Trader Joe pumpkin spice blend contains cinnamon, ginger, lemon peel, nutmeg, coves and cardamom. The ingredients in the McCormick brand are cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.
If you prefer, you can make your own pumpkin spice at home. There are many different pumpkin spice seasoning recipes, but here is a basic one that I have used:
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice (optional but recommended)
This makes two teaspoons, which should be enough for two servings of pumpkin spice overnight oats. (I suggest 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice for this recipe, or at least a half a teaspoon). If you like your home made spice, then you can make it in larger batches and store it in a spice jar for future use.
I also want to point out that you could use cinnamon alone if you had none of the other spices, or just 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg for a bare bones spice. (Always go easy on the nutmeg – it can be an overpowering spice).
Traditional pumpkin spice overnight oats recipes often include vanilla extract, but it’s probably not needed here because vanilla flavor can be infused by the protein powder. But go ahead and use it if you like.
Do You Need A Sweetener In Overnight Oats?
It’s not mandatory to add sweetener to overnight oat, especially because most protein powders are sweetened. However you can add sweetener if you want to. I always do. There are a lot of options include a packet or spoonful of stevia/erythritol or monk fruit, or the powdered/granular sweetener of your choice.
The protein powders I use are sweetened, but unlike bananas, pumpkin is not very sweet, which is why an additional sweetener source improves this recipe. Not only that, instead of a packet sweetener, maple syrup is a perfect match for a pumpkin spice recipe. Adding 2, or at least 1 tablespoons of sugar free maple syrup sweetens and enhances the flavor profile. If you want to use regular maple syrup, go right ahead, but you’ll have to recalculate the calories and macros. Each tablespoon will add about 50 calories.
Another option is brown sugar, which will also enhance the flavor. Many brands, including Truvia, make calorie-free brown sugar (usually with erythritol and stevia).
Are Overnight Oats Good For Building Muscle?
High protein pumpkin overnight oats are great for building muscle. The only issue is that most overnight oats recipes have about 400 to 450 calories which is a little low for muscle gaining programs, especially for men. This is easy to rectify by adding something else to your oats. A no-brainer is adding nuts. Pecans are an excellent match. You could also simply eat something else on the side like a piece of fruit
Whether you want to scale the recipe down, or you want to add toppings like nuts, I recommend using the Burn the Fat Meal Planner Software at Burn the Fat Inner Circle, so you can see how the calories and macros change when your ingredients change. I make all my recipes in the Burn the Fat Meal Planner.
Burn the Fat Meal Planner is not your typical mobile app for tracking, it was designed as a tool for meal planning and recipe creation. You can add ingredients, subtract ingredients, increase amounts or decrease amounts, and instantly see how the macros change. You can tweak it until you have it just like you want it. Then you can save it as your own custom recipe. You also get access to hundreds of fat burning and muscle building recipes.
Do You Have To Refrigerate Overnight Oats? If So How Long?
Overnight oats do need to be refrigerated. Depending on the ingredients, they might be thick right after combing the ingredients in the jar and that could be quite edible. But many overnight oats recipes, like this one, are quite liquidy at room temperature. After refrigeration they thicken to the consistency of yogurt, which is more tasty and satisfying.
You can make and serve your high protein pumpkin overnight oats in a bowl, a large glass, or any kind of jar but make sure you seal it airtight when you refrigerate it. The most popular container is the 16 ounce mason jar with a lid, or re-use any random jar you have around (peanut butter jar, pickle jar, etc)
One last tip: Most people make their overnight oats at night and refrigerate overnight, as the name implies, and they have it for breakfast. But after just 2 to 3 hours, they should be good to go!
Enjoy, and watch for even more high protein overnight oats recipes coming soon.
Train hard and expect success,
-Tom Venuto, Author of, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM)
Author of, The BFFM Guide To Flexible Meal Planning For Fat Loss
Founder of, Burn the Fat Inner Circle
PS. Did you enjoy the high protein pumpkin overnight oats? Want more high-protein recipes? If so, join us in the Burn the Fat Inner Circle Members Zone for hundreds of Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle recipes and access to Burn the Fat Meal Planner software. CLICK HERE
PPS. If you would like to burn fat, get lean and stay lean, while eating delicious food you love, then be sure to check out The Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle Guide To Flexible Meal Planning For Fat Loss
High Protein Pumpkin Overnight Oats
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 scoop vanilla or pumpkin protein powder (30g)
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (oatmeal), dry (40g)
- 1/2 cup nonfat milk (120ml)
- 1/3 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt (150g)
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree (87g)
- 1 Tbsp chia seeds (11g)
- 2 Tbsp sugar free maple syrup (30ml)
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a jar (16 oz mason, etc)
- Stir and or shake so all ingredients are thoroughly combined
- Refrigerate overnight (or at least 2 to 3 hours)
- Serve chilled (or microwave if you prefer it hot)
Awesome with the pumpkin protein powder. Awesome all year round too, not just in the fall