Strawberry Shortcake Overnight Oats Recipe

These strawberry shortcake overnight oats are like eating a healthy dessert for breakfast. What could be better?! Sweet, chopped strawberries and nutty old-fashioned oats combine to make this deceptively healthy breakfast option. These overnight oats are a great way to start your day, and they couldn’t be easier to make!

Why I Love This Simple Overnight Oat Recipe

I keep riding this overnight oat train to all sorts of delicious destinations. And since we're in strawberry season, the latest stop is this amazingly decadent but healthy strawberry shortcake overnight oats.

It’s a simple recipe that is so delicious it even has my boys asking if there’s any in the fridge. When the whole family loves it, that’s when you know the recipe is a winner!

This easy breakfast recipe is made in just a few minutes, and the clean up is so easy. You can also add all sorts of delicious options to customize the overnight oats to your personal tastes.

• Less than 5 minutes to prep the night before
• In the morning, breakfast is served!
• Cold oats have an amazingly creamy texture
• Great use for strawberries
• My entire family loves this delicious breakfast
• Great for when guests are over (let them adjust to their liking & you get to sleep in a bit in the morning!)

Recipe Ingredients

This recipe uses fresh, basic ingredients you probably have in your kitchen already. Adjust to any way you like!

Milk - use your milk of choice. any variety from whole regular milk to almond milk or other dairy free milk.

Oats - use rolled oats for best results

Yogurt - Plain Greek yogurt or regular yogurt. Or go with a flavored variety for added flavor

Strawberries - fresh or frozen will both work for this recipe

Jam - this adds a nice extra punch of strawberry flavor

Sweetener - pure maple syrup tastes SO GOOD, but honey or agave nectar can work too.

How to Make Strawberry Shortcake Overnight Oats

These strawberry shortcake oats are so, so easy to make and great for meal prep! Add all sorts of delicious additions. I’ve left a few suggestions in the section below.

Step 1

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. 

Step 2

Transfer the oat mixture to a 12- to 16-ounce mason jar or other small glass jar with a lid and seal tightly. 

Step 3

Place in the refrigerator overnight.

Step 4

Top with some extra strawberries just before serving.

Recipe Notes

• Leave a little room in the jar so the oats have some space to expand overnight.
• If the oats get too thick overnight, add a little additional milk before eating.
• Use rolled oats instead of quick-cook oats or steel cut oats.
• Add a little pure vanilla extract or almond extract to the batch
• Fresh or frozen strawberry chunks can be used.
• Try this recipe with other fresh fruits
• Use dairy free yogurt and milk like cashew milk or coconut milk to make vegan strawberry shortcake oats.

What To Add To Strawberry Overnight Oats

Use your favorite toppings and mix-ins to add a personal touch to your oats. The options are almost limitless. These are just a few of my favorite additions.

• Crunchy or creamy peanut butter, almond butter, or other nut butters
• A little shake or two of ground cinnamon or nutmeg is a great addition
• Nuts - crushed cashews, peanuts, or almonds are great add-ins to go with your overnight oats 
• Seeds - sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds or flax seed, etc
• Add a little vanilla protein powder for an extra protein boost

Overnight Oats vs Oatmeal

Overnight oats are soaked in milk or water and stored in the refrigerator overnight, as the name would imply. This softens the oats without breaking them down as much as cooking does, resulting in a creamier and chewier texture than cooked or boiled oats, which have a soft, smooth texture

Overnight oats are also generally considered healthier than cooked oatmeal because they retain more of their “resistant starch”, a natural carbohydrate that acts as a prebiotic fiber and can help with digestion and weight loss. Overnight oats are usually served cold, but can also be served slightly heated if you like.

Can You Make Overnight Oats with Instant Oatmeal

Rolled or “old-fashioned” oats are best for this recipe. Rolled oats seem to absorb the perfect amount of liquid to achieve the best texture. 

Using instant oatmeal in an overnight oats recipe usually results in an almost pasty result like oat porridge. The quick oats become very thick and somewhat gloopy. On the other hand, steel cut oats end up not absorbing enough of the liquid and have a chewy, kind of dense texture the next morning.

Can You Use Frozen Strawberries in These Overnight Oats

Frozen strawberries will work great in these overnight oats. A lot of people even prefer using them instead of fresh, saying they add a sweeter flavor. Some people avoid using frozen berries because of their tendency to change the color of the oats. It’s entirely up to you.

How to Serve Strawberry Shortcake Oats

This overnight oat recipe makes for the perfect grab-and-go breakfast for busy mornings or weekly meal prep option.

You can also serve it as part of a larger breakfast with some billionaire bacon and fluffy pancakes or rich, olive oil scrambled eggs.

How to Store Overnight Oats

Store overnight oats in a well-sealed mason jar or other airtight container in the coldest part of your refrigerator. (That’s usually in the back of the fridge.)

How Long Do Overnight Oats Last?

Overnight oats can be stored up to 5 days when kept in the coldest part of your refrigerator. 

That’s a whole week of easy breakfast meal prep done in just a few minutes! 

How to Cut Strawberries

• First, wash your strawberries well and pat them dry.
• Hull the strawberries by placing the tip of a small knife into the berry just under the leafy portion on the top and rotating the strawberry slowly in a circular motion.
• Slice the hulled strawberries to the size you prefer.

More Oat Recipes

Mulberry Overnight Oats
Mixed Berry Oatmeal Bars
Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies
3-Ingredient Oatmeal Pancakes