Peanut Butter Chocolate Overnight Oats: Probiotic Rich Make Ahead Breakfast

This peanut butter, chocolate overnight oats is packed full of nutrients and probiotics that makes a great refreshing start to your morning. Plus if you love peanut butter and chocolate, this will give you your sweet fix without any guilt 🙂

Getting my kids to eat oats has been a struggle. But I think I’ve got them hooked with this recipe. I’m sure the chocolate chips on top help convince them to like it 😉 So, if you, too, have kids who hate oatmeal, maybe try this recipe and see what they think.

Ingredients you’ll need to make this peanut butter chocolate overnight oats

Oats – use whatever you have on hand. We typically use rolled oats, but old fashioned oats, steel cut or quick oats would be fine, too. Organic is best because oats tend to be sprayed with glyphosate to aid in drying.

Yogurt – this is where we are getting our probiotics. I love finding ways to use up our homemade yogurt and it’s so perfect in these overnight oats. If you don’t want to make your own yogurt, than any plain yogurt will do for this recipe. We always use whole fat yogurt.

Milk – You can use any milk you prefer.

If you want to make these overnight oats dairy free, then use dairy free yogurt and a nut or oat milk of choice.

Peanut butter – Natural peanut butter is so much more flavorful and better for you than the highly processed kinds. And if you are in the South, peanuts are super easy to grow! If you want a sow and forget plant, these guys are perfect.

Chia seeds – chia seeds are high in omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants and fiber. They are a great addition to your diet. And it’s very affordable. We buy a 2 pound bag at a time and that usually lasts us for more than half a year.

Cocoa powder – Cocoa and cocao are interchangeable for kitchen use. The cocao is less processed, so if you care about eating more natural foods and can access it, cocao is a great product.

Shredded coconut – sweetened or unsweetened could both be used. If you’d prefer you can leave out the coconut. We like it for the texture and the fiber and vitamins it adds to our diet.

Maple syrup – Use pure maple syrup, otherwise you’re just consuming highly processed sugar in liquid form.

Vanilla extract – as always use the real stuff. Or, if you would like to, learn how to make your own.

Salt – Unrefined mineral salt is so good for your health. We love Redmond’s Real Salt.

How to make these overnight oats

Overnight oats are one of the simplest, if not the simplest, make ahead breakfast. All you do is add all of the ingredients into a large bowl, mix, cover, and let it rest in the fridge until the next morning.

You can bulk up any overnight oats recipe so that you have breakfast prepared for the next several days. You could also make a really basic overnight oats with just oats, milk, yogurt, and chia seeds. Then when you are ready to eat it add any combination of flavors, toppings… get creative and enjoy :).

Top your peanut butter chocolate overnight oats with a dollop of natural peanut butter and chocolate chips. You could also add roasted peanuts for a nice crunch, and even a swirl of homemade chocolate syrup.

This recipe is so tasty, gluten free with the option to make this dairy free as well. It satisfies the sweet tooth without guilt and I’m sure your kids will love it as much as mine. The chocolate chips are good bribes to get picky eaters eating their oats 😀

Experimenting with overnight oats

Typically when making oatmeal you want a 2:1 ratio of liquid to oats. The chia seeds will also absorb plenty of liquid, so we add more liquid when using them. If you like your oats a bit thicker, add less liquid, if you like them runnier add a bit more.

When experimenting with different combinations of flavors and ingredients, you can err on the side of less liquid and simply add more later if you decide it’s too dry. Because we won’t be cooking these oats, we won’t be able to boil off excess liquid.

This recipe makes enough for my family for two breakfast. If you’d like you can cut the recipe in half or in thirds if you don’t have as many mouths to feed. Let me know if you try this recipe and how you liked it!