Carrot cake overnight oats are a healthy 350 calorie breakfast that tastes just enough like the favorite dessert to make breakfast seem like a treat.
This is my fourth overnight oats recipe posted to this blog so you *might* say I’m a fan. The weird part? I don’t normally prefer cold breakfasts, especially carby ones, but somehow I like these oats cold. Sure, I down smoothies, yogurt, and the likes all the time, but I crave hot breakfasts like nothing other.
Lately, I’ve been particularly obsessed with avocado toast and add a boiled egg and cajun seasoning. I know that’s kind of basic but its been my jam. I love it. This does take a good 10 minutes to prepare in the morning though and I don’t always have that time. When I’m on my A-game, I make something like these carrot cake overnight oats the night before so I can just grab and go.
That my friends, is key if you’re as in love with your snooze button as I am. Sure, you can microwave it, but I don’t mind the cold with this combo. Its invigorating.
With the spring weather and flowers starting to pop up, I’m craving everything spring-like, including carrot cake. The catch? I’m going on four trips in the next three months, two of which require bikinis. Regular intake of carrot cake doesn’t quite equate to beach bod… unfortunately for all of us.
Sooo, this carrot cake overnight oats recipe is the next best thing. A way to start your day with a treat that satisfies the flavor craving without throwing you 600 calories off base for the day. With the protein in the nuts, nut milk, and oats, this breakfast will keep you full until lunch too.
The ingredients are simple and pure. There’s nothing naughty on the list. Sure, the carrot takes an extra 2 minutes to grate, but who cares! You’re getting about a half veggie serving with your breakfast. How many grab and go breakfasts can you say that about?
Exactly. Its a rare thing to get veggies in a pre-made breakfast unless you’re using eggs. I love these mini egg quiches, but don’t always want to do that much prep work ahead of time.
One thing to note – not all of the measurements pictured below are accurate, mainly because I didn’t want to have to clean the wood backdrop board up after. One in particular though, the nutmeg, is crucial to keep to a minimum. A pinch is technically supposed to be a pretty hefty amount if you go by typical kitchen standards. This recipe calls for a tiny pinch. Like teeny tiny. Anything more and you’ll overwhelm the other flavors.
If in doubt, leave it out. I really love the little bit of depth it adds to the spice though. Makes it taste more like the real carrot cake that we’re trying to pretend it is.
Here’s a close up of the dry goods, pre milk, vanilla, and maple syrup. Pretty wholesome stuff huh?
If you’ve only got sweetened almond milk, feel free to use it. You can leave the vanilla out and reduce the maple syrup if you do. I always buy plain unsweetened but I know a lot of people go for the sweeter stuff so I figured I’d point that out.
Here’s the mixed up shot where the oats are ready to rock – yum! Aside from the sweet, earthy flavor, I love the crunch that the carrot adds. Its unique and makes it more satisfying. Texture can make or break a recipe in my weirdo foodie opinion and a little crunch goes a long way.
That and the softer crunch of the pecans. I love pecans and add them to any and every recipe that they jive well with… and some they don’t.
Although I love my creamy blueberry and honey strawberry overnight oats recipes, one thing I love about carrot cake overnight oats is that I pretty much always have a carrot on hand. This recipe isn’t dependent on fruit being good.
Although I made a plug for eating it in spring, it tastes the same any time of year. Carrots don’t vary a whole lot throughout the year so this recipe will taste the same in April as it does in September.
Its been easy breakfasts like this that have helped me slowly transition into more of a morning person lifestyle. I’ve been on any early morning workout kick lately and am absolutely loving it. I get up early 3-5 times a week and do cardio or weights for half hour to forty minutes. Its not a huge amount of working out, but it has been making a huge difference for me.
My mood has improved so much during the day and I don’t have to feel stressed about squeezing a workout in after work. Sooo glad I quit my gym membership.
Earlier I mentioned that part of my motivation is all the trips I have planned. I don’t know how it happened this way, but basically all of the trips I’m taking this year got squeezed into a two month period.
Early May I’m going to my first blogger conference in Utah and I’m so excited for it! Everything Food Conference has an incredible lineup and I’m stoked just to meet other bloggers in person. I’m kind of a hermit blogger and only really reach out here and there to the bloggers that I really connect with. There are so many other great people out there though that I either don’t even know about or just haven’t connected with.
The next weekend after I’m going to Vegas for my bestie’s bachelorette party. Woohoo! I’m a co-maid of honor for her wedding so we’re technically the ones that are supposed to be throwing this thing but she’s so on top of it, she’s already planned some fun stuff for us all. Pool parties galore. My liver quivers slightly at the thought.
After this are the big ones – 10 days in Southern Italy (Amalfi Coast and Puglia) and then a day in Dublin on the way back. Then later in June, we’re going up to Alaska for a short 5-day fishing trip. The Italy trip was his Christmas present to me and the AK trip was my birthday present to him. Yeah, we kind of overdo it from time to time.
Anyways – I’m so incredibly excited for it all that I needed to share with someone!!! I’ll be sure to share pics along the way and keep the recipes coming. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday my friends!
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- Tiny pinch of nutmeg
- 2 tsp. chia seeds
- ⅓ cup finely grated carrot (about 1 carrot, peel carrot before grating)
- 6 pecan halves, toasted and then broken into pieces*
- ¾ cup plain unsweetened almond milk
- 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp. Greek vanilla yogurt (optional)
- Place all dry ingredients into a small container with a tightly sealing lid. Put lid on and shake to mix.
- Add all remaining ingredients except yogurt, cover, and shake again until thoroughly mixed.
- Placed sealed container in refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours, preferably overnight.
- Remove lid and stir. Either microwave or eat oats cold, topped with vanilla yogurt.
** If desired, add 1 - 2 Tbsp. raisins
B-r-i-l-l-i-a-n-t. I love carrot cake. I love oats. I love convenience. Therefore, you’ve seemingly created a recipe just for me! 😉
Just for you Jessie! 😉 I love anything carrot cake-like too. Its like an all out obsession really. The only thing missing here is the cream cheese frosting. I’m going to have to think of a way to get that in here.
Hi, is there a substitute for the maple syrup? Would something like Truvia work for sweetness? I’d love to try this but don’t have the maple syrup!
I bet that would work. I don’t use Stevia much because I just can’t get used to the taste but if you’re into it, try it!
I am just getting started with overnight oats, and this recipe appeals to me, but nearly 15 grams of sugar? Where does it all come from, and how can it be cut down?
It pretty much all comes from the maple syrup. You can certainly scale that back or use stevia but I just liked the taste better of having it on the sweeter side. You can always add more after tasting the next morning so this one is easy to experiment with adding less. Try it out!
You can also use honey or agave instead of maple syrup if you prefer