Overnight Muesli – A Healthy Make Ahead Breakfast

I have lots of friends who say that they *can’t* eat breakfast.  I don’t have that problem.  I love breakfast.  I love toast, cereal, French toast, fruit salad, omelettes. There’s not a lot I won’t eat at breakfast.  And I particularly like breakfast for dinner. 

I also like variety.  My Mom has had a bowl of oatmeal every morning for breakfast for what seems like forever.  Her only variation is the frozen fruit she puts on top, raspberries or blueberries.  I don’t like eating the same thing for breakfast day in and day out for months or even years on end.  That’s why I like recipes, like this overnight muesli, that offer a lot of variations.

Muesli is one of those fabulous versatile breakfasts that you can change up to suit your mood. Traditional muesli is made by soaking oats and dried fruit in yogurt.  Even that offers you lots of options for changing texture and flavour.  Change the oats (rolled, steel cut) or go crazy and add ground flax, wheat germ, oat bran, or chia seed.  And then try different flavoured yogurts.  The combinations number at least in the hundreds, right?  Then, you add your dried fruit; cherries, cranberries, raisins, mango, coconut, pineapple.  But why stop there?  I love to throw in some chopped apples, bananas, berries.  And then, the piece de resistance, top with roasted nuts or seeds. 

Now we’ve reached infinity with the possible combinations.  So I’ll give you a recipe, but I’d use it as a guideline for ratios, nothing more.

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Overnight Muesli

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 8 hours

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked oats (quick, old-fashioned, steel cut)
• 1 ½ cup milk almond milk, coconut milk (whichever you prefer)
• 1 ½ cups yogurt plain or flavoured
• ½-1 cup dried fruit
• 1-3 tablespoons honey maple syrup, or agave (I only use sweetener if I use plain yogurt)
• A pinch of cinnamon nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, or any other spice you like or a dash of vanilla

Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. Serve with fresh fruit and toasted nuts and seeds.

The less refined the grains, the longer it needs to soak.  Overnight works for all types of grain but in a pinch, you can used quick rolled oats and make muesli in the morning.  Higher amounts of liquid and yogurt yields a more mushy consistency. If you prefer thicker texture, use less milk and yogurt.

I recommend waiting to add any fresh fruit and toasted seeds or nuts just before eating, but that’s just my preference. 

The best part about this recipe is that you can make enough to last 3 or 4 days.  It tastes better and better the longer it sits. And if you reduce the portion to half a cup, muesli makes a great afternoon snack.