Cherry overnight oats are a delicious, fast, nutritious and filling breakfast. Fresh or frozen cherries, along with cherry jam sweeten the oats and give it tons of flavor. These low calorie overnight oats are vegan, dairy-free and low in sugar.
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Convenient and easy, overnight oats are great for busy weekday mornings, camping, road trips, traveling or anywhere where you can't cook.
These cherry overnight oats are a variation on our vegan basic overnight oats recipe!
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🧄 Ingredient notes
- Cherries - fresh cherries are sweet, tart, full of antioxidants and low in calories. They are delicious and healthy topping or mix-in for overnight oats. Frozen cherries are even better, in my opinion, though. They are already pitted, which saves you time. And, when the cherry juice thaws, it is so delicious! It flavors and sweetens your oats for you.
- Cherry jam - Instead of sugar or maple syrup, we're going for double cherry flavor by using a bit of cherry jam to sweeten our oats.
- Old-fashioned rolled oats - do not use quick oats for this recipe, they turn out mushy. Don't use steel cut, they don't get soft enough to enjoy with this method. Use old-fashioned rolled oatmeal for this recipe.
- Plant-based milk - any vegan milk you enjoy should work here, like almond milk (pictured), soy milk, oat milk (for that double oat flavor!), coconut milk, cashew milk and rice milk. You can use unsweetened or sweetened original varieties, if you like. Vanilla milk works great, too.
- Ground flax - adds health benefits of added fiber, along with omega-3. Flaxseed also thickens the oatmeal slightly.
- Plant-based yogurt - amps up the creaminess and protein. Vegan yogurts made from cashew, soy, coconut, almond and oat will all work here.
📋 Substitutions and variations
Here are some suitable substitution options for the ingredients:
- Cherries - use frozen cherries instead of fresh (add them the night before, so they can thaw overnight).
- Plant-based milk - Use any plant-based milk you enjoy. Unsweetened, sweetened and vanilla-flavored milks all work in this recipe.
- Cherry jam - Instead of cherry jam, sweeten your cherry oats with maple syrup, agave nectar or sugar. Or omit altogether.
- Flax - use chia seeds instead of ground flaxseed. Or, omit them (your overnight oats will be thinner if you omit one of these options).
- Nut-free - make this nut-free by using a nut-free plant milk and yogurt, such as products made using soy, rice or oat.
- WFPBNO - make this whole food plant based no oil by using plant-based milk, yogurt and jam with no added oil or refined sugar.
- SOS-free - make this salt-, sugar- and oil-free by using a plant-based milk, yogurt and jam with no added salt, sugar or oil.
Here are some variation ideas for these cherry overnight oats:
- Cherry Almond - add sliced or chopped almonds and a drop of almond extract to the oats
- Cherry Chocolate - add vegan chocolate chips
- Black Forest - add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the oats, top with extra vanilla yogurt for your cream layer and then finish with a combination of maraschino cherries, sweet and sour cherries and shaved chocolate for a black forest cake overnight oats recipe
- Cherry Berry - add fresh or frozen mixed cherry berry blend for a cherry berry overnight oats. Cherry berry hot oatmeal porridge is delicious also.
🔪 Instructions
Step by step instructions for how to make cherry overnight oats.
Add rolled oats to a pint-size mason jar or container that holds at least 2 cups.
Pour in plant-based milk.
Add ground flaxseed (or chia seeds) to jar.
Add plant-based yogurt to jar.
Add cherry jam to jar and stir everything together.
It will look like this when you've combined all your ingredients.
Place fresh or frozen pitted cherries on top of oats. Place jar in refrigerator overnight or at least 2 hours.
When you're ready to eat them, pull it out of the fridge and eat cold or warm up in microwave for 30-60 seconds.
⭐️ Expert tips
- If you want to make your overnight oats look pretty, mix them up in a separate container. Then, once mixed, spoon into a jar, glass or bowl and carefully add other toppings to create clean layers. Then, refrigerate. Or, create layers just before eating or serving.
- Use a wide canning funnel to add ingredients to jars without making a mess
🍳 Equipment
- a container to hold your overnight oats that holds 1 pint (about 2 cups, 16 ounces or 550 milliliters). I recommend using wide mouth pint size mason jars.
- measuring spoons and cups
- paring knife for slicing the cherries and pitting them (a cherry pitter would make this even easier). For easiest method, use already pitted frozen cherries!
🥡 Make ahead and storage tips
Overnight oats are perfect for meal prep and batch cooking. Make them Sunday night to have breakfast ready to go all week long. Store overnight oats in the refrigerator, combined, for up to 5 days.
This recipe does not stand up well to freezing.
❓ FAQ
Yes! Add frozen cherries to overnight oats the night before and it will thaw overnight. I prefer them to fresh cherries because they are already pitted and when they thaw the cherry juice flavors and sweetens your oats. So good!
For one serving of cherry overnight oats using 1 cup of cherries, ½ cup rolled oats, ½ cup plant-based milk, 2 tablespoons yogurt, 1 teaspoon flaxseed and 1 tablespoon cherry jam, the calories are 344.
You can use all kinds of fruit for overnight oats. But, some stay fresh and good for longer and are better to use when you prep overnight oats for a few days. The best fruit to use for overnight oats are: frozen cherries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or strawberries (they defrost overnight in the fridge and also have sweet juice that flavors and sweetens your oats). For fresh fruit, the best is berries of all kinds, cherries or peaches.
💜 More recipes you'll love
If you love this cherry overnight oats recipe, check out these other plant-based breakfast recipes!
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📖 Recipe
Cherry Overnight Oats with Jam
Equipment
- Glass jar, pint-sized or bowl, container with cover
Ingredients
- ½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- ½ cup plant-based milk almond milk, soy milk, oat milk, etc.
- 2 tablespoons plant-based yogurt cashew yogurt, soy yogurt, coconut yogurt, etc.
- 1 teaspoon ground flaxseed or chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon cherry jam preserves or jelly
- 1 cup cherries pitted (fresh or frozen)
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a glass jar, bowl or container that will hold at least 12 and up to 16 ounces (this allows space for the oats and any toppings you add later). Stir everything together.½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats, ½ cup plant-based milk, 2 tablespoons plant-based yogurt, 1 teaspoon ground flaxseed, 1 tablespoon cherry jam
- Add pitted cherries to jar on top of oats now or when you are ready to eat it.1 cup cherries
- Place a lid or cover on the container. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
- Eat cold or microwave for 30-60 seconds to warm up. Prepared overnight oats will stay good stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
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