Date Nut Overnight Oats is the best way to jump start a frosty morning — the oats soak to the perfect creamy texture while you sleep, and chopped dates, walnuts, and brown sugar add just the right amount of decadence, am style.
A beautiful hot bowl of date nut overnight oats is one of the perks of winter, and it’s as seasonal right now as a ripe peach is in August. I’m eating as much of it as I can get lately, because before we know it spring will have sprung and delicious healthy oats will be shoved to the back of the cupboard. If you follow this easy (life-changing) overnight method, you won’t have to lift a finger in the morning to get it ready.
The beauty of this method is that not only do you get perfect steel cut oatmeal in the morning without the work, but the texture is even better than when you slave over the stove to cook it. The overnight soaking doesn’t pull out the gluey starch like cooking on the stove does, so the oats are much more appealing. I can’t say enough about this — hope you give it a try 🙂
ingredients for date nut overnight oats
- steel cut oats
- dates
- walnuts
- milk
- brown sugar
- vanilla
This overnight method is particularly great for steel cut oats, the healthiest, least processed type of oat. There are basically three types of oats you’ll find at your supermarket, here’s the lowdown if you’re confused —
- STEEL CUT (aka pinhead, on the left) are the whole oat groats (groats are the whole grain) that have been chopped into a few pieces. This is the most traditional form of oats for oatmeal. They take the longest to cook, but have the best texture and flavor of them all. Steel cut oats have a slight edge over old fashioned rolled oats in terms of nutrition. They’re both high in fiber and protein, but steel cut oats rank lower on the glycemic index, (that’s good!) because they take longer to digest, and so they are slower to convert to sugar.
- ROLLED, or OLD FASHIONED (center) oats have been steam softened and flattened, or rolled. They can be eaten as is, or cooked. You can use rolled oats to make granola and muesli as well as oatmeal.
- INSTANT or QUICK COOKING (right) oats are flattened even more, so they cook even faster, but lack the character of the other two.
Steel cut are my favorite because they have a wonderful chewy nutty texture — they never get ‘gloppy’ — the technical term for yucky oatmeal 😉 You can buy American steel cut oats from Bob’s Red Mill and even Quaker nowadays, but my favorite is McCanns, they come straight from Scotland in a beautiful tin.
how to make date nut overnight oats
- just before bed I put three and a half cups of water and a pinch of salt in a pot, and bring it to a boil. I stir in 1 cup of good steel cut oats, and then turn off the heat. I put the lid on the pot and leave it on the stove overnight.
- In the morning the oatmeal is perfect. All I do is reheat it, ladle it into bowls, and add my toppings. Sometimes for a special treat I’ll throw an old vanilla bean into the pan with the water (I hope you reuse your vanilla bean pods, they’re the gift that keeps on giving!)
more healthy breakfast ideas
- Toasted Muesli
- Perfect Egg Tartines
- Maple Granola
- Easy Oat Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar
- Oat Bran Power Bowl
- Orange Walnut Oat Bran Muffins
Date Nut Overnight Oats
Ingredients
Instructions
- Bring 3 1/2 cups water and a pinch of salt to a boil in a pot. Stir in the oats and the vanilla bean. Turn OFF the heat, and cover the pan. Let the pan sit on the stove overnight.
- In the morning, simply remove the vanilla bean, reheat the oatmeal and ladle into bowls. Top with a little brown sugar, and the chopped dates and walnuts. Add cream, milk, or half and half as you like.
Nutrition
Don’t forget to PIN IT!
I frequently make overnight oats in the fridge in the summer (just soaking them in milk/water/nut milks with added extras) and also make what I’d call porridge during the winter, but never came across this method before. Definitely giving it a try and love the date and walnut combo!
You’re gonna get laugh out of this: Glancing at the title of above recipe, I thought “What?” My take: Overnight Date Night Oats” When the date stays overnight. LOL!! Well maybe?
Haha, could be used that way too!
Steel cut oatmeal is the best, I’ve been making it for a few years now. I throw in a cinnamon stick instead of the vanilla bean but do enjoy it with dates! Delicious breakfast!
I love cinnamon sticks, I reuse them over and over again!
So I was very excited to have the oats ready when I woke up. Well I found a pot of water with oats sitting on the bottom of the pot. Very disappointed, had to turn on heat and cook them as before.
Yes I did follow the instructions exactly, but I added a cinnamon stick.
I’m so sorry this didn’t work for you Wendy ~ I hate to be disappointed when I’m expecting something delicious, especially first thing in the morning. A couple of things come to mind…it’s important to get the oats to a good boil the night before, you might even let it go for a minute or so before turning off the heat and covering. And maybe you had a little extra water in your pot this time, next time use a little less. The oats should be good to go with this method, hope you try again!
I’ve hated oatmeal my whole life like you said due to the goopy texture thing. Don’t get me wrong I love granola, granola bars & oatmeal cookies but not plain oatmeal. I decided to try your recipe, well you converted me I love steel cut oatmeal! I love the nutty, firmer texture. I also added some cardamom & cinnamon, coconut milk, drizzled w/some buckwheat honey. Wonderful recipe.
I’m so excited, one of the biggest satisfactions I get from doing this blog, Yvonne is hearing from readers like you who’ve had life changing experiences with these recipes. And I was like you, oatmeal seemed a little ‘gloppy’ to me until I found this method. Thanks for letting me know <3
I add sunflower seeds giving a little crunch. Also Mission figs are very nutritious and tasty!
What a delicious way to start the day! We just returned from the Southern California desert where I was surprised to learn how many kinds of date trees there are and had fun tasting some CA dates too 🙂 I love them and oatmeal – great combo!
Wish I had done this last night so I could be eating it now!
You don’t know how many mornings I felt that!!
Dates and nuts are some of my favorite adds-ins for just about anything so I know it would make me love oats more! Beautiful!
Dried cranberries are the default oatmeal add in here, I’m so glad I got everybody here to make a change!
This is a GREAT meal to kick start the day!
I need to make this because I know for sure my day would be great if it started off with this deliciousness.