What can you do with just five minutes? Actually, way more than you think! Introducing Food52 in 5: your cheat sheet for speedy, delicious recipes, fun mini projects, and more.
Regular oatmeal comes together in mere minutes, sure—but when you’re half asleep, halfway out the door, or all the way hungover, the difference between having to cook or microwave something versus just grabbing a jar from the fridge can be huge. (Thank you, last-night me! Really, thank you.) Enter overnight oats.
So, how to make them? Just start making oatmeal, then stop: Combine liquid (usually any milk) and old-fashioned rolled oats. Chill for 8 to 12 hours. And...that’s it! Whereas making hot oatmeal calls for a 2:1 liquid-to-grain ratio, the overnight kind is an easy-to-remember 1:1. Here's how to play around from there:
Oats
Start with ½ cup per serving as a baseline. If you want to flesh that out with a spoonful of toasted wheat germ, chia seeds, or flax meal—watch out, world!
Liquid
If you’re including a lot of mix-ins (see below), you’ll probably want more than ½ cup. First combine your oats, mix-ins, and ½ cup liquid. Then add more, splash by splash, until the result is slightly thinner than you like your oatmeal. Keep in mind, it will thicken as the oats absorb the liquid and release their starches. Some favorite milks: cow, any fat content; soy; almond; cashew; even oat (so meta). If you want to power up, cut the milk with ultra-strong coffee or espresso.
Nut (or Seed) Butter
Peanut, almond, cashew, pecan, sesame, sunflower. The world is your jar of nut (or seed) butter. Preferably unsweetened and salted. Start with a spoonful, then build from there. If you want some texture, incorporate roasted, chopped nuts, too—match with the butter or mix it up, like peanut butter with pecans or tahini with cashews.
Fresh or Dried Fruit
Be careful with fresh fruits. Because we’re soaking here, anything that leans toward mushy will only get mushier. Try firm blueberries, pineapple chunks, or finely chopped pear. With dried fruit, anything goes: raisins or currants, chopped apricots or dates. Just check the ingredients to see if there’s any added sugar. If there is, that’s fine, but you’ll want to cut back on your...
Sweetener
Steer toward liquid sweeteners versus anything grainy that needs to dissolve, like white or brown sugar. Think honey, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, agave syrup, molasses, pomegranate molasses, even chocolate syrup. Jams and preserves are a great way to sweeten and add flavor, too, from syrupy strawberry to seedy fig.
Bonuses
Customize your oats to taste: Add a pinch of kosher salt, black pepper, citrus zest, vanilla extract, cinnamon, ginger, or chocolate chunks.
Toppings
In the morning, if you want to treat your overnight oats to a quickie garnish, sprinkle on top: any fresh fruit that wouldn’t have wanted to soak (think blackberries, raspberries, strawberries), chopped nuts, or granola (oats on oats!).
Need some more concrete ideas? A few pairing suggestions:
- Almond milk + almond butter + strawberry jam, with freeze-dried strawberries on top.
- Soy milk + pumpkin butter + toasted pecans + crumbled graham crackers.
- Coffee-milk + chocolate syrup + toasted hazelnuts on top.
Or my most recent creation, which thinks it’s an oatmeal-chocolate chunk cookie, but it’s breakfast. (Actually, what’s the difference?) Get the recipe below, and share any combinations you come up with in the comments!
| 1/2 | cup rolled oats |
| 1/2 | cup whole milk or soy milk, plus more as needed |
| 1 | big spoonful well-stirred tahini |
| 2 | tablespoons chocolate chunks, preferably bittersweet |
| 1 | teaspoon (or more) maple syrup |
| 1/4 | teaspoon vanilla extract |
| 1 | pinch (or more) kosher salt |
| 1/2 | cup rolled oats |
| 1/2 | cup whole milk or soy milk, plus more as needed |
| 1 | big spoonful well-stirred tahini |
| 2 | tablespoons chocolate chunks, preferably bittersweet |
| 1 | teaspoon (or more) maple syrup |
| 1/4 | teaspoon vanilla extract |
| 1 | pinch (or more) kosher salt |
Written by: Emma Laperruque
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12 Comments
I find it a really great breakfast, a heavy ratio of dried fruits makes for something other than 'cold' soggy oats (honest) I mix in a load of chia and flax and linseed as well, I also add yoghurt as well as my soya milk, why not just give it a go :)
(This general idea is not original to me. I have been doing this in my office since reading David Allen’s “Getting Things Done,” which was published the year I started my own law practice. It’s one of the most useful business books out there. But I digress . . . .)
I’ve added this overarching suggestion to the linked Google Doc about a month ago:
When I plan / review my menus for the following week to lay out my prep activities for the weekend and weeknight evenings, I create a list of every small food prep or other task that will eventually need to be done. I put it on a medium index card, which I keep handy to consult whenever I have a few minutes of "downtime,” or to include in my longer prep sessions.
Also, there are quite a few good suggestions of 5-minute tasks in this Hotline thread started last month:
https://food52.com/hotline...... I’m guessing that many of these ideas will be the subject of separate posts in the near future . . . . . . .
;o)
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