Eat dessert for breakfast with these healthy apple pie overnight oats. You’ll love the cozy cinnamon apple flavor and that they can be made ahead of time.
I always start my day with a well-rounded breakfast. I know it’s kind of a cliché health tip, but it’s cliché because it’s really important! When I start my day feeling satisfied from a balanced breakfast, I’m much more likely to make better choices for the rest of the day.
Have you ever started your day with a donut and craved sugar the rest of the day? Or have you ever skipped breakfast and then felt ravenous all afternoon/evening? Yup, that’s what I’m talking about. Start your day “on track” and you’ll be more motivated to stick with your healthy eating. Want the best of both worlds? These apple pie overnight oats taste like dessert but won’t derail your health goals!
Ingredients Needed For Apple Pie Overnight Oats
rolled oats – rolled oats are the best for overnight oats. Instant/quick oats and steel cut oats don’t work well because they don’t absorb liquid the same way rolled oats do.
apples – the star of show here. I like using Honeycrisp or Pink Lady apples, but any variety will work!
milk – I like using unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but any type of milk will work.
yogurt – you can use regular or non-dairy yogurt. I like using plain, but I recently tried using Siggi’s vanilla & cinnamon yogurt in this recipe and it was amazing. Highly recommend!
maple syrup – pure maple syrup is the perfect natural sweetener to use because it’s liquid so it blends in nicely with the oat mixture and I personally love the flavor. Honey or another natural liquid sweetener will work as well. If you want to reduce the sugar in this recipe, feel free to use a sugar alternative like stevia or monk fruit
vanilla – just a touch for added flavor!
cinnamon – or apple pie spice.
Cinnamon Apple Topping
The most important part of this recipe (in my opinion!) is the cinnamon apple topping. It’s an extra step but 100% worth it! Here’s what you do:
Chop up your apples into bite sized pieces.
Mix the apple pieces, maple syrup and cinnamon to a small microwave-safe bowl. Stir together to coat the apples.
Heat in the microwave for 30-60 seconds or until the apples have softened a bit and look like baked apples.
Overnight Oats Ratio
The base “recipe” for overnight oats is so simple! The hardest part is getting the right ratio of oats to liquid. I aim for a 1:1 ratio of rolled oats to milk, plus half as much yogurt. So for 1/2 cup of oats, I use 1/2 cup of milk + 1/4 cup of yogurt (or an additional 1/4 cup of milk). This seems to give the oats the perfect consistency, not too thick, but not soupy. For the liquid, I usually go for non-dairy milk like almond milk, but you can use whatever milk you have on hand and if you really want to experiment you can try using different liquids like fruit juice.
How Long Do Overnight Oats Need to Soak?
Given the name, you’d assume overnight oats need to soak overnight, but you can actually make them in 2-4 hours if you’re in a rush. While it does take some time for the oats to absorb the liquid, they don’t necessarily have to be soaked overnight.
I recommend at least 8 hours for true overnight oats, but there have been mornings where I decide I want overnight oats for breakfast even though I didn’t prep them the night before. When this happens I’ll make them the morning of and let the oats soak for just 2-4 hours. With this quick soak, they’re not as soft as overnight oats that have soaked longer and they’re a bit more liquidy, but they’re still delicious.
How Long Do Overnight Oats Stay Fresh?
When stored in an airtight container in the fridge overnight oats should last for up to 5 days. They will soften more the longer they sit so I find they’re best on days 1-3, but they’re still safe to eat on days 4 and 5. With this said, overnight oats are great for meal prep. Feel free to make a whole batch for the week on Sunday. I like prepping them in wide mouth 16 oz mason jars.
If you try these apple pie overnight oats be sure to leave a comment and star rating letting me know how it turned out. Your feedback is super helpful for me and other EBF readers who are planning to try the recipe.
Apple Pie Overnight Oats
4 from 137 votes
Eat dessert for breakfast with these healthy apple pie overnight oats. You'll love the cozy cinnamon apple flavor and that they can be made ahead of time.
Prep cinnamon apples: Add chopped apple pieces, maple syrup and cinnamon in a small microwave-safe bowl. Stir together to coat apples. Heat for 30 - 60 seconds, until apples have softened a bit and look similar to baked apples. Let cool and reserve 1/4 cup of the apples to use as a topping.
Mix remaining ingredients: Add oats, milk, yogurt, maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon into a dish with a lid (a mason jar works great!).
Stir in apples: Add 1/4 cup of the cinnamon apples to the oat mixture and stir. Place lid on jar and shake to combine a bit more.
Refrigerate: Place in the fridge overnight (or just 30-60 minutes if you’re making these the morning of).
Serve: Remove lid from jar, add more yogurt or almond milk if the mixture seems too thick. Top with extra 1/4 cup apples and your favorite overnight oat toppings. I love adding a little nut butter or chopped nuts.
Notes
Milk: I like using unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but any type of milk will work.
Yogurt: You can use regular or non-dairy yogurt. I like using plain, but I recently tried using Siggi's vanilla & cinnamon yogurt in this recipe and it was amazing. Highly recommend!
Maple syrup: Honey or another natural liquid sweetener will work as well. If you want to reduce the sugar in this recipe, feel free to use a sugar alternative like stevia or monk fruit
Hi EBF crew! Have never made overnight oats and am unsure how the fam will like them.. but summer is a few months from being over in my area and well, our regular oatmeal is almost always with apple, cinnamon, and a sprinkle of brown sugar. So, here we go.. will make this on Sunday for next week. Here’s the question.. I want to add flax or chia to the mix for health benefits, but just KNOW my kiddos will not enjoy it ‘raw’ so I need to add them to the mix prior to refrigeration. How might this alter the consistency? Would you have a recommended change to the recipe to include a little more moisture to a specific amount of flax or chia?
Hey Melissa, I love adding chia seeds and/or flax to my overnight oats! You shouldn’t need to make any changes to the recipe if you’re just adding 1-1.5 tsp, but if you want to add more you might want to add a splash more milk. Can’t wait to hear how these turn out for you and if your kids enjoy it!!
Hi Brittany! We had this for breakfast this morning with the following changes… Made 6 servings and to that larger batch, I added about 2 Tablespoons of ground flax and 1/4 cup of raisins. I also used brown sugar in place of syrup in the oat mixture.. 12 teaspoons is 4 Tablespoons and since I was using sugar, I cut that in half, knowing that the sweet, syrupy apples on top would add to the flavor as well. Well, it was a hit with all three kiddos this morning. Two of them really loved it while my youngest and I love the flavor, but found a certain textural thing we didn’t dislike but didn’t love. The oats are good and creamy but there’s some kind of powdery residue in the post-swallow mouthfeel. This being my first venture into overnight oats, I am not sure if this is an oat thing or a ground flax seed thing. Perhaps you could enlighten me? If I knew it was the flax, next time I would just use whole seeds, but if the powdery mouthfeel is common to overnight oats due to the ‘cook’, or lack thereof, of the oats, then perhaps my little one and I just prefer cooked oats. Either way, the recipe is delicious and too easy on busy weekday mornings! 😀 I’m sure we’ll have it many times this season.
Lastly.. for anyone unaware, there is an apple cider syrup that can be made or purchased as ‘boiled apple cider’. I can’t get good apple cider where I live, so I buy the syrup bottled.. but if you dear readers can get good cider, simply boil it down until it is heavily reduced to a nice syrupy consistency. I’m out of boiled apple cider atm but Fall approaches, so I have two bottles on the way. This cider syrup is tart and strong.. a PERFECT way to use just a little and bring A LOT of bright apple flavor. I cannot wait to make these overnight oats again with the addition of boiled apple cider!
It was a yum recipe. Sweeter than I expected, but just perfect for my taste. It did taste a bit different from basic oatmeal with apple, definitely like a dessert. Also, It was creamy and I think the Greek yogurt gave it an interesting flavor.
Thank you so much for all these recipes! I am so thrilled to try out more!
YAY! I am so happy that you enjoyed this recipe, Denisa. I can’t wait to hear what else you try. Thank you for your star rating + review, I so appreciate it!
Delish! I have been searching for an overnight oats recipe that I like and isn’t super high in points and this hit the mark. I will definitely make again!
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Hi EBF crew! Have never made overnight oats and am unsure how the fam will like them.. but summer is a few months from being over in my area and well, our regular oatmeal is almost always with apple, cinnamon, and a sprinkle of brown sugar. So, here we go.. will make this on Sunday for next week. Here’s the question.. I want to add flax or chia to the mix for health benefits, but just KNOW my kiddos will not enjoy it ‘raw’ so I need to add them to the mix prior to refrigeration. How might this alter the consistency? Would you have a recommended change to the recipe to include a little more moisture to a specific amount of flax or chia?
Hey Melissa, I love adding chia seeds and/or flax to my overnight oats! You shouldn’t need to make any changes to the recipe if you’re just adding 1-1.5 tsp, but if you want to add more you might want to add a splash more milk. Can’t wait to hear how these turn out for you and if your kids enjoy it!!
Hi Brittany! We had this for breakfast this morning with the following changes… Made 6 servings and to that larger batch, I added about 2 Tablespoons of ground flax and 1/4 cup of raisins. I also used brown sugar in place of syrup in the oat mixture.. 12 teaspoons is 4 Tablespoons and since I was using sugar, I cut that in half, knowing that the sweet, syrupy apples on top would add to the flavor as well. Well, it was a hit with all three kiddos this morning. Two of them really loved it while my youngest and I love the flavor, but found a certain textural thing we didn’t dislike but didn’t love. The oats are good and creamy but there’s some kind of powdery residue in the post-swallow mouthfeel. This being my first venture into overnight oats, I am not sure if this is an oat thing or a ground flax seed thing. Perhaps you could enlighten me? If I knew it was the flax, next time I would just use whole seeds, but if the powdery mouthfeel is common to overnight oats due to the ‘cook’, or lack thereof, of the oats, then perhaps my little one and I just prefer cooked oats. Either way, the recipe is delicious and too easy on busy weekday mornings! 😀 I’m sure we’ll have it many times this season.
Lastly.. for anyone unaware, there is an apple cider syrup that can be made or purchased as ‘boiled apple cider’. I can’t get good apple cider where I live, so I buy the syrup bottled.. but if you dear readers can get good cider, simply boil it down until it is heavily reduced to a nice syrupy consistency. I’m out of boiled apple cider atm but Fall approaches, so I have two bottles on the way. This cider syrup is tart and strong.. a PERFECT way to use just a little and bring A LOT of bright apple flavor. I cannot wait to make these overnight oats again with the addition of boiled apple cider!
Hey Melissa – I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for sharing your substitutions you made. That’s super helpful!
It was a yum recipe. Sweeter than I expected, but just perfect for my taste. It did taste a bit different from basic oatmeal with apple, definitely like a dessert. Also, It was creamy and I think the Greek yogurt gave it an interesting flavor.
Thank you so much for all these recipes! I am so thrilled to try out more!
YAY! I am so happy that you enjoyed this recipe, Denisa. I can’t wait to hear what else you try. Thank you for your star rating + review, I so appreciate it!
Delish! I have been searching for an overnight oats recipe that I like and isn’t super high in points and this hit the mark. I will definitely make again!
Woo!! So happy to hear these overnight oats were a hit, Kate! Thanks so much for the review and star rating. I so appreciate it!
am really amazed to know this recipe with nutritional values, and am really trying every recipe, its yummy and easy to make
So glad you enjoyed these overnight oats! Thanks so much for the review 🙂
This is my favorite overnight oat recipe! The yogurt mades it very creamy and I like to top it with walnuts!
Woo!! So pumped you love this recipe, Katie! Thanks for the review. I so appreciate it!