Whether you are wrangling kids, heading off to work, or work from home, weekday mornings aren’t typically leisurely. So it’s nice to have a healthy breakfast waiting in the refrigerator for no-fuss nutrition. These banana nut bread overnight oats jars are just the thing. They’re whole grain, wholesome, delicious, and loaded with sustaining nutrients.
Dairy-Free Banana Nut Bread Overnight Oats for Make Ahead Mornings
Here are some tips and options to help create your perfect jar of dairy-free overnight oatmeal.
- The Best Nut: We like walnuts in this recipe, because they’re high in omega 3 fatty acids, and are a natural in anything banana bread. But if you can’t do nuts, we have a nut-free option below.
- Sweetener Options: Maple syrup keeps this recipe strictly vegan, but honey is delicious, too, if you are “just” dairy-free or plant-based. You can also substitute coconut sugar or brown sugar, or simply omit the sweetener if you find the oats sweet enough.
- Essential Sodium: I love that they remembered to add salt! So many overnight oat recipes skip salt, which is essential (IMO) to round out the oats. If you want a lower sodium recipe, you can use 1/4 teaspoon salt, but I don’t recommend eliminating it altogether, unless you need to.
- Lightly Spiced: I love cinnamon, but the original recipe used 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon per serving! There are risks with consuming too much cinnamon. Experts recommend no more than 1 teaspoon of cinnamon per day, and often less. Depending on the cinnamon, no more than 1/2 a teaspoon per day would be advisable. I prefer to use no more than 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon per serving, which is still quite a bit in terms of flavor.
- Fresh is Best: Because you are adding mashed banana to the oats, this isn’t a great recipe for freezing. Fortunately, it’s very fast and easy to prepare. If you are feeding one, you can make a half batch. The banana nut bread overnight oats hold up pretty well for a day and a half, to cover two mornings.
- Single-Serve: For one serving, use 1 small banana, 1/2 cup oats, 3 tablespoons walnuts, 3/4 teaspoon maple syrup (or sweetener of choice), 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 3/4 cup dairy-free milk beverage.
This Banana Nut Bread Overnight Oats recipe with photo was shared with us by California Walnut Board, and created by Crowded Kitchen. It has been adapted slightly.Â
Special Diet Notes: Banana Nut Bread Overnight Oats
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, optionally gluten-free, peantu-free, soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian.
For nut-free banana bread overnight oats, you can substitute raisins or other dried fruit for the walnuts, or simply omit them.
- 3 ripe bananas
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats (use certified gluten-free oats, if needed)
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts, divided
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups unsweetened dairy-free milk beverage (your choice of type)
- Put the bananas in a large bowl, and mash them until relatively smooth. Add the oats, half the walnuts, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt, and stir the mixture to combine. Stir in the milk beverage until combined.
- Cover and refrigerate the oat mixture overnight.
- To serve, divide the overnight oats between four canning jars or bowls and top with the remaining walnuts.
More Dairy-Free Overnight Oat Recipes
Maple Pecan Overnight Oatmeal
Easy Overnight Oats with Quinoa Crumble, Chocolate, and Coconut
Cinnamon Roll Overnight Oatmeal with No Cook Option
5 Comments
Made this for the first time last night. I’m based in the UK so used some cup measurement bowls I had. It turned out delicious, surprisingly it was actually sweeter than I thought it would be even though it’s only a small amount of maple syrup. I used jumbo oats (which I guess are similar to old fashioned oats?) and loved the texture they give. I would use very slightly less oat milk next time, I like my overnight oats slightly more ‘dry’ but that’s just my personal preference and nonetheless it was soooo yummy. I made two portions but I use a slightly smaller jar so it made three portions. added a tsp cacao nibs and peanut butter to the top of each portion and it will definitely be one of my go-to recipes from now on!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the feedback!
Hello there! Thank you for sharing your recipe; I cannot wait to try it. If it is not too much trouble, would you let me know the size of jar you used per serving? By the photos they look like 8 oz jars, but I would hate to assume.
Many thanks!
I couldn’t say for sure, but I believe it is 8 ounce jars.
Thank you so much, Alisa! Please, have a lovely day and an even better tomorrow!