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Piña Colada Overnight Oats

Piña Colada Overnight Oats

This healthy and delicious recipe shows you how to overnight – and optimize – your heart-friendly oatmeal.

Written By Jim Stoppani, PhD

Updated September 28, 2023

As mainstream as low-carb diets have become, many people falsely believe that carbohydrates are an evil macronutrient – the one that makes you fat!

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Carbs are not evil; you just have to make smart choices when it comes to this highly critical macro. And fewer carbohydrate sources are smarter than oats.

In this article, I’ll show you a delicious, more convenient, and possibly healthier way to eat your oatmeal.

Health Benefits of Oats

Oats are a staple of traditional bodybuilding diets. They provide slow-digesting, low-glycemic carbs, which provide longer-lasting energy throughout the day and better satiety than high-glycemic "fast" carbs.

Oats are also rich in the oat fiber beta-glucan. This form of fiber has been shown to offer cardiovascular benefits, like reducing cholesterol levels; this is why virtually every oatmeal product touts itself as being "heart-healthy."

Cooked Oats vs. Overnight Oats

Most people eat their porridge hot, but you don’t have to cook your oats. In fact, it may be a better idea not to cook them.

Overnight Oats Are More Convenient

First off, there’s the convenience factor. Who wants to take the time every morning to cook oatmeal? Not me. The cleanup involved with cooked oats is also sort of a hassle, particularly if you’re heating them on the stove and having to wash a pot and a bowl, with sticky oatmeal pasted to the sides.

The solution to these minor inconveniences is “overnight oats.” Overnight oats are simply when you soak uncooked oats for several hours, like literally overnight, in the liquid of your choice (milk, almond milk, juice, water). Through the soaking process, the oats absorb the liquid and soften up, making for a great way to eat your porridge.

Overnight oats generally require less prep time than cooked oatmeal. And if you made them the night before, you’ll have exactly zero prep time in the morning, when you’re scrambling to get ready for work or the gym and/or getting the kids off to school. Not only does this provide a quick and immediate meal (especially when combined with a protein source like eggs or a Pro JYM shake), but it keeps you from grabbing less-than-optimal food choices for breakfast. That can make a huge difference in your dieting results.

Overnight Oats May be Better for Health and Fat Loss

Aside from convenience, overnight oats may also be better for your health than cooked oats. One problem with oats is that they contain phytic acid. This “anti-nutrient” interferes with the body’s absorption of minerals like iron, zinc, and calcium. Cooking oats helps to break down the phytic acid, but maybe not enough. If you notice stomach problems after eating cooked oats, try overnight oats. There’s evidence that soaking oats overnight reduces the effects of phytic acid better than cooking.

Another benefit to non-cooked overnight oats is that they contain more resistant starch than cooked oats. (The heating process causes the oats to lose much of their resistant starch.) Resistant starch functions similar to soluble fiber in the body and has been shown to offer many health benefits, including better insulin sensitivity and lower blood sugar levels. It also helps with fat loss because it digests very slowly and releases digestive acids that reduce appetite and ramp up calorie burning.

How to Make Overnight Oats – Piña Colada Overnight Oats Recipe

First of all, don’t shy away from overnight oats because you think you don’t have the necessary containers for it. Most overnight oats recipes you see online use either a Mason jar or Tupperware, but neither is required. As you see in the photo above, I use a plain glass and cover it in the refrigerator with Saran Wrap. Of course, if you have a sealable jar/container, go ahead and use it.

One of my personal favorite overnight oats concoctions is what I call Piña Colada Overnight Oats. It's an amazing combination of pineapple and coconut, with the added texture (and health benefits) of raw oats and creaminess from whole milk. Make this recipe the next time you want something different from your oats and have the foresight to think ahead the night before. ;)

Enjoy the Piña Colada!

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw oats
1/4 cup organic whole milk
1/4 cup pineapple juice*
1/4 cup pineapple chunks
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 tsp. brown (or white) sugar

*If you want to skip the juice, double the amount of milk.

Directions

In a glass, Mason jar, or other sealable container, add the oats and your liquid (usually milk or other high-acidic fluids like pineapple juice or orange juice). Then, add the sugar and coconut and mix in the glass/container.

Cover the glass/container and leave in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours and a maximum of about 24 hours. When you’re ready to enjoy the oats, add the pineapple, mix it all up, and enjoy. To bump up the protein in the meal, accompany your overnight oats with eggs and/or a Pro JYM shake.