Peanut butter and banana overnight oats (only 6 ingredients!)

This six-ingredient Peanut Butter and Banana Overnight Oats recipe is so, so decadent. This overnight oatmeal tastes like oatmeal cookies, y'all!

Creamy, satisfying Peanut Butter Banana Overnight Oats are the breakfast that practically makes itself. Just mash, mix, and chill.

Table of Contents

• Overnight oats FAQ
• Basic overnight oats formula
• Recipe notes
• Peanut butter and banana overnight oats recipe

Need more breakfast inspo? Check out my guide to easy vegan breakfasts!

Overnight oats FAQ

New to overnight oatmeal? No worries. Here are some answers to common questions.

What are overnight oats?

If you're new to overnight oats, they are what they say they are: oats that you soak overnight in the fridge. No cooking required!
Instead of standing over the stove to cook them, you can eat these straight out of the jar in the morning. 

What type of oats should I use?

When you're making overnight oats, you want to use rolled oats. Quick oats (like 1-Minute Oats) will not give you the best results.

Steel cut oats need cooking, though soaking them overnight does reduce the cooking time dramatically. The Kitchn has a great piece that demystifies the difference between rolled, old fashioned, steel cut, quick, and instant oats.

How do you store and reheat them?

Once you mix up your ingredients, spoon them into a pint jar, and refrigerate for at least six to eight hours. Overnight is even better.
The oats will keep for around three days in the fridge.

If cold oatmeal seems like a travesty, stick these in the microwave for about a minute to take the chill out or let them stand on the counter until they come to room temperature. You can warm them in a pan on the stove, if you prefer.

Basic overnight oats formula

I love the peanut butter and banana version below, but if you're like me, I bet you also like to mix up your flavors. Here's the basic overnight oats formula that I like to use:

• ¾ cup rolled oats – As far as I know, steel cut oats will not work in this recipe. Let me know if you try and succeed!
• ¼ cup dried fruit of your choice or ½ cup fresh fruit of your choice, cut into bite-sized pieces, if needed
• 1 cup liquid - Water or your favorite vegan milk will work. You can also use juice for part of the liquid. If you use a thick medium, like yogurt, up this to 1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups.
• 2-4 tablespoons nuts, seeds, or nut/seed butter of your choice
• sweetener of your choice, optional and to taste
• ¼ teaspoon to 2 tablespoons additional mix-ins: coconut flakes, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, etc.

As you can see, you can really mix and match these elements to create infinite flavor combinations!

Recipe notes

Making these couldn't be easier. Just mix, mash, and spoon into your overnight containers.

Grab a large bowl, and combine a couple of bananas with rolled oats, vegan milk, cinnamon, and peanut butter. Mix and mash until the ingredients are incorporated.

You don't need to get the banana fully liquefied. A few chunks of banana add some nice texture to the mix.

Now, it's time to sweeten (or not!) with maple syrup. The amount of maple syrup you need will depend on a number of factors:

• Your bananas. The riper the banana, the sweeter it is. If your bananas are super ripe, you may not need any extra sweetener.
• Your milk. I used regular soy milk, which is a little sweet on its own. With unsweetened milk, you might want to compensate with more sugar.
• Your peanut butter. Some peanut butters contain added sugars, and some don't. You may need less maple syrup if you use sweetened peanut butter.
• Your personal tastes. I tend to like things that are less sweet, but I know some folks need more sugar before they can taste the sweetness. That is totally okay. Follow your tastebuds!

If you're watching your sugar intake, you can also sweeten these overnight oats with stevia. Like with the maple syrup, start with just a touch, and go from there.

But enough about sugar. Let's make some oats, y'all!