A glass jar filled with pumpkin spice overnight oats sits on a marble countertop. The oats are garnished with a cinnamon stick, and a spoon dips into the jar.
Jump to Recipe

Overnight oats are a gloriously nourishing way to satisfying your morning sweet tooth—and this breakfast riff on pumpkin pie is no different! These healthy Pumpkin Overnight Oats have the comforting spiced and sweet flavor you expect from pumpkin pie, but in the form of a satisfying, nourishing bowl of oatmeal.

What are overnight oats?

Never heard of overnight oats before? Overnight oats are oatmeal that you make by letting them rest overnight (hence the name!) in the fridge instead of cooking on the stove. In the morning, you can eat it cold like a pudding, or you can heat it up if you prefer. If you’re new to making overnight oatmeal and want a full primer (plus lots of other easy-to-make recipes), check out our Overnight Oats 101 post.

Eight different flavors of overnight oats, each in its own glass jar.

What makes overnight oatmeal so special?

Overnight oats are in regular rotation in our house, and they frequently show up in my weekly meal prep session. Here’s why we’re such big fans of this no-cook oatmeal:

  • Overnight oats are tailor-made for meal prep. Spend just a few minutes in the evening mixing up your oats, and you’ll have a grab-and-go breakfast in the morning!
  • Overnight oats are easy to make in bulk. They are a staple of many meal prep menus for good reason—you can mix up an entire week’s worth of breakfast in just a few minutes.
  • You can customize them to fit your dietary preferences. It’s easy to make these oats gluten-free, vegan, super healthy, or super decadent. Make them your own! We’re covering pumpkin overnight oats in this post, but once you get the idea of overnight oats down, you can go on to discover your own favorite combination.
  • They can be as healthy (or as decadent) as you’d like. You are in control of how nutritious or rich (or both!) these oats become. Reduce the added sweeteners, mix in some protein powder or collagen peptides, or add in some superfoods like hemp seeds or chia seeds. The possibilities are endless!
  • Overnight oats are just delicious! The oats soften up in the fridge to make a thick and sweet pudding that is totally yummy, decadent, and rich. Even my kid devours overnight oats!
A hand pours milk from a glass jar into a white bowl. The white bowl is filled with other ingredients, including yogurt, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, chia seeds, and rolled oats.

Can you make substitutions to these overnight oats?

One of the glorious things about overnight oats is that they are super customizable! You can easily make swaps to suit your preferences. It’s simple to make these oats vegan, gluten-free, and low- or no-sugar. We cover all the substitutions you can make in our in-depth overnight oats post, but here are some specific swap ideas for these pumpkin spice overnight oats:

  • Make it vegan: Use plant-based milk, plant-based yogurt, and maple syrup for sweetener.
  • Make it sugar-free: Drop the sweetener and add 1/2 mashed ripe banana. Or use stevia or monk fruit sweetener in place of the maple syrup or honey if you prefer.
  • Make it gluten-free: Make sure to use certified gluten-free oats.

Do you eat overnight oats cold?

Most folks choose to eat them cold (that’s part of the grab-and-go appeal of them). If you’re not into cold oatmeal, just warm them in the microwave for 30-60 seconds, stirring frequently, or in a small saucepan on the stove until heated to your liking.

Where can you find more overnight oats recipes?

We’ve got you covered when it comes to simple and easy overnight oats recipes! Here are some of the most well-loved recipes on Wholefully.

 
A glass jar filled with pumpkin spice overnight oats sits on a marble countertop. The oats are garnished with a cinnamon stick, and a spoon dips into the jar.

Healthy Pumpkin Overnight Oats Recipe

Yield: 1 large serving or 2 small
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

Celebrate the flavors of fall with Pumpkin Overnight Oats! Packed with comforting spices, this oatmeal tastes like you're eating pumpkin pie for breakfast.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup (heaping) rolled oats
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened milk of choice
  • 1 tablespoon chia seeds or ground flax meal
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • 0–2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup plain pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions

  1. Whisk together all ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Spoon into a jar with a tight-fitting lid.
  2. Close and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before eating.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 284Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 8mgSodium: 131mgCarbohydrates: 47gFiber: 7gSugar: 27gProtein: 11g

At Wholefully, we believe that good nutrition is about much more than just the numbers on the nutrition facts panel. Please use the above information as only a small part of what helps you decide what foods are nourishing for you.

© Cassie Johnston
Cuisine: American / Category: Meal Prep Ideas

Cassie is a holistic nutritionist, cookbook author, and all-around food lover. She grew up cooking dinner with her parents every evening, and her passion for home cooking has been strong ever since. Cassie is the author of two published cookbooks (Cooking with Greek Yogurt and Chia, Quinoa, Kale, Oh My!) and dozens of recipes published in major magazines and newspapers. Cassie has been sharing her award-winning recipes on Wholefully since 2010. She loves dark chocolate, homegrown tomatoes, motorsports, and anything that sparkles. She lives in Indiana with her family on a small homestead.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

6 Comments

    1. Hi Laramie! If you don’t have yogurt or don’t want to use it, you can leave it out. The yogurt does add to the richness and texture of the finished oats, but they’ll still be great without it. I often make the chocolate peanut butter overnight oats without yogurt. I just replace the 1/3 cup yogurt with more milk (so 1 cup milk for every 1/2 cup oats). You might need to play with the amount of liquid to get it to the consistency you want. But overnight oats are perfect for substitutions and customization!

      Reply

  3. The instructions say to put all the contents in “a jar,” implying one jar. Then later it says the yield is 2 and serving size is 1. So is the full batch of what we make 284 calories, or is half of it 284 and the full batch of what we make actually double?

    Reply

    1. Hi, Bee! The recipe makes one large serving or two smaller servings—the nutritional information is automatically calculated in our system and it’s for the two smaller servings.

      If you’re looking for the most accurate nutritional information, we recommend a copy and paste nutrition calculator such as this one: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076

      This way you can put in the exact ingredients you use (which type of milk, which type and how much sweetener, etc.), instead of wondering which ones our system used to calculate. Hope this helps!

      Reply