Vegan Carrot Cake Overnight Oats
This easy and delicious vegan carrot cake overnight oats recipe is like having a slice of cake for breakfast! Perfect for meal prep or a quick breakfast for your busy morning but tastes like your favorite dessert and packed with tons of warm and cozy flavors.
Overnight oats are one of my favorite ways to make breakfast. For more yummy vegan breakfast ideas, check out my vegan apple pie overnight oats, simple blueberry oatmeal, or bakery style vegan chocolate chip muffins!
Ingredients
- Best Oats: Rolled oats make the best overnight oats that are rich and creamy without being soupy. Instant oats (aka quick oats) tend to dissolve into the liquid, making it more of a soup/smoothie texture. I don’t recommend steel cut oats for an overnight oat recipe.
- Plant Based Milk: Your favorite dairy free milk works in this. I typically reach for unsweetened soy milk but you use your fave.
- Carrots: 1 grated carrot per bowl.
- Sweetener: Brown sugar, chopped dates, maple syrup, coconut sugar, any sweetener of your choice! I personally find that maple syrup tastes the best in this, but it’s your bowl so you pick your favorite.
- Extras: Pumpkin seeds and raisins are my go-to! If you like to add some chopped walnuts as well you totally can.
- Spices: Cinnamon, ginger, a pinch of nutmeg, and a dash of salt
Instructions
This is for a single serving of oats, but you can easily double or triple the recipe to make oats for the whole family!
Make sure to check out the recipe card below for the full recipe and ingredient list.
To begin, you need a container with a lid that you can seal the oats in overnight. A mason jar is popular, but I just use a glass bowl with a lid. Anything you have will work great!
- Stir the oats and dairy free milk together. In the container you’ll keep them in, mix the oats with your milk.
- Add the toppings. Add in the grated carrot, sweetener, and spices. Give it a quick mix again.
- Pop it in the fridge and wait! Place your container in the fridge overnight (or at least for 5 hours) to really allow time for the oats to plump up.
You can enjoy these oats either cold, straight from the fridge, or warm them up! There is no wrong way to enjoy them.
Variations
There are so many ways to customize this bowl of oatmeal to make your perfect breakfast. Here are a few ideas to get you going.
- Nuts + Seeds: Add a spoonful of your favorite nut or seed butter (almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter) and sprinkle in some flax seeds or chia seeds.
- Vanilla extract and Almond extract make this taste even more like carrot cake!
How to Store
These oats are made to enjoy the next morning. I prefer to make up a fresh batch each night for the next day, however, you could prep a few days in advance if you need.
Fridge: these oats can be made up to 4 days in advance. Carrots don’t go bad right away but if you want to make these longer than 2 days out, I recommend that you add the seeds, carrots, and raisins the morning you enjoy them.
Freezer: You can totally freeze overnight oats! Make up a big batch of the oats and plant milk and freeze them into individual containers for up to a month in advance. Remove them from the freezer and pop them into the fridge the night before you want to enjoy them. Add the carrots, seeds, and raisins in the morning.
More Breakfast Recipes
And that’s it! This is a pretty simple recipe that is so customizable to whatever you have in your kitchen or whatever you feel like eating for breakfast. 🙂
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Equipment
- measuring cup
- measuring spoon
- Mixing bowl
- mixing spoon
- Storage container
Ingredients
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ⅔ cup soy milk or other plant based milk
- 1 carrot grated
- 3 dates pitted and chopped, can swap for 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
- 1 tablespoon raisins
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- Pinch nutmeg
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Mix. In a bowl or container, mix the oats and plant based milk of choice. Add in the remaining ingredients if planning to eat the next day. Stir well and let rest overnight, or at least 5 hours.
- Serve. The next morning, add any additional fresh fruit or ingredients. Give a stir and enjoy!
Notes
- How to Store + Make Ahead
- These oats are made to enjoy the next morning. I prefer to make up a fresh batch each night for the next day, however, you could prep a few days in advance if you like.
- Fridge: These oats can be made up to 4 days in advance. If you are adding extra toppings, make sure you don’t add them to the base mix as they can go bad more quickly.
- Freezer: You can freeze the base mix of overnight oats up to a month in advance! Remove them from the freezer and into the fridge the night before you want to enjoy them and add your fresh toppings in the morning.
