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Carrot cake for breakfast? Why yes! These Carrot Cake Overnight Oats are a simple, hearty way to start your morning. Prep your oats at night and breakfast is ready on the go. So easy!
This recipe was originally posted February 2015. Photos and copy were updated April 2020 to include process and ingredient photos.
Carrot Cake Overnight Oats
Overnight Oats are my THING--literally. They are my go-to favorite make ahead breakfast.
If you are a carrot cake fan, then you NEED these Carrot Cake Overnight Oats in your life. The best part about them is that your breakfast is ready and waiting for you as soon as you wake up in the morning.
You can even prep several servings and have breakfast for days. A lot of payoff for just a small amount of work.
Simple to make, super tasty and tastes like carrot cake? Yes, like I said, you 100% need this overnight oatmeal recipe in your life STAT.
Ingredients to make this recipe:
- Oats! That obvious?? But what kind of oats is the question. I use rolled oats. I have also made these, adjusting the milk slightly to taste, with quick oats and have found they work really great when I want the same recipe but right now.
- Milk: You can very easily make these Carrot Cake Overnight Oats dairy free by using almond milk or another dairy free option. I have made them with almond milk, whole milk, vanilla coconut almond milk (pleasantly surprised by this one!) and more.
- Maple/Sweetener: Sweeten to your own liking. You can honestly even wait until serving to add sweetener. Everyone has a different taste for sweetness in recipes like these overnight oats. I find it to be the biggest feedback on oatmeal recipes. I love maple syrup the best.
If you are brand new to overnight oats, I have lots of information in this Easy Overnight Oats post. Feel free to check it out if you need a place to start with overnight oatmeal.
How to make these Carrot Cake Overnight Oats:
- There really is nothing to it once you have all the ingredients out and the carrots shredded. I honestly prep my overnight oats right in the jar, but for easier viewing, I prepped in a bowl this time. But seriously, just use the dish you plan to put in the fridge overnight.
- Toss all the ingredients into a bowl or jar that you can seal overnight. Stir ingredients well to combine. (steps 1, 2 and 3)
- Cover and place in the refrigerator and allow to chill for at least 4 hours. When ready to serve, warm up if desired in the microwave. Add an extra splash of milk at this point if desired.
Notes:
- You can use steel cut oats for this recipe. I don't like the chewiness of steel cut oats in overnight oatmeal, but some prefer it.
- I like to toast the coconut in the oven before adding it to the oats sometimes as well. Highly recommend!
- Feel free to toss in some optional add ins: chia seeds, ground flax, protein powder. All of these are great ways to give your breakfast a nice boost!
IF YOU LOVE OVERNIGHT OATS AS MUCH AS I DO, THESE ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITES:
- Coconut Cream Pie Overnight Oats
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Overnight Oats
- Banana Bread Overnight Oats
- Cinnamon Roll Overnight Oats
- Lemon Poppy Seed Overnight Oats
- Strawberry S’mores Overnight Oats
DID YOU MAKE ONE OF MY RECIPES? LEAVE A COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW! I ALSO LOVE TO SEE YOUR LEMONS + ZEST RECIPES ON SOCIAL MEDIA–TAG ME @LEMONSANDZEST ON INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK!
Carrot Cake Overnight Oats
Ingredients
- ½ cup rolled oats regular or gluten free
- 1 ½ T coconut shredded or flaked
- ½ large carrot shredded
- ⅔ cup milk of choice
- 1 T chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 T raisins
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Dash of sea salt
- 1 - 2 tsp maple
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a container that can be sealed and stir well.
- Refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours. Add a bit more milk before serving if oats seem a bit dry.
- Enjoy hot or cold!
Notes
- You can use steel cut oats for this recipe. I don't like the chewiness of steel cut oats in overnight oatmeal, but some prefer it.
- I like to toast the coconut in the oven before adding it to the oats sometimes as well. Highly recommend!
- Feel free to toss in some optional add ins: chia seeds, ground flax, protein powder. All of these are great ways to give your breakfast a nice boost!
Because the zucchini bread overnight oatmeal was so fabulous, I plan to make this one next. I have printed nearly every overnight oatmeal recipe in here! I would love to see Lorie put together a Cherry Almond overnight oatmeal using almond extract. It would be awesome!! I trust Lorie's taste in spices.
I actually can't decide between this one and the Banana Bread overnight oats for my favorite. Cherry Almnod? I will get to work on that one. I am always happy to take requests!
I had this wonderful oatmeal this morning. Lorie gives us the choice of Steel-cut oats or Rolled oats. I chose the steel-cut, but next time I will use the rolled oats. I really do prefer those in my cold overnight oatmeals. Spices are perfect and this will easily become a staple in my home. I am sending Lorie's recipes for this to all my cooking friends.
Cathy, you are too sweet! I agree with you, rolled oats are my preference. Thanks so much for sharing and I'm so glad you liked the recipe!!
What do you mean by maple? Like maple syrup?
Hey there! Yes, maple syrup. Sorry about the confusion!
What do you mean by maple? Like maple syrup?
Do you not cook this at all? Don't the oats need to be cooked first?
Hi Ginnie! The soaking overnight is essentially the secret to this. It's sort of the "cooking" I guess you could say as the oats soften and absorb the liquid. You can still heat it up just a tad in the morning though!
Do you know the nutritional breakdown?
Hi Lacey! I don't count calories as it was once an obsession of mine so I don't collect the nutrition info on my recipes. However, it is really easy to just copy and paste the ingredients into a counter and get it all! Thanks!
I plugged it in to see about the sugar content. I omitted the raisins and flax but added about 1T of cream cheese. I mixed warm almond milk with the cream cheese and maple syrup and then heated it through. Because carrot cake must have cream cheese, right? It was delicious. As far as healthy? Not bad on the sugar, really high in carbs, could stand to have some protein powder added if I was really inclined. But sometimes, you just want to have the carrot cake oatmeal and a cup of tea.
Great recipe.
Here's what I got:
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Per Serving % Daily Value*
Calories 326
Total Fat 11.9g 18%
Saturated Fat 2.8g 14%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 184mg 8%
Potassium 512mg 15%
Total Carb 48.2g 16%
Dietary Fiber 8.2g 33%
Sugars 13.1g
Protein 8.6g
Vitamin A 120% · Vitamin C 4%
Calcium 30% · Iron 17%
Thanks Kestrel!
Just finished making this recipe. No flax seeds so substituted with chia seeds. Can't wait to hace some "cake" for breakfast!!!
Chia seeds will be great as well! You may need to add just a bit more milk in the morning as the chia may absorb more of it. Cake for breakfast is always a win for me!
Hi Lorie. I'm new to your page. My wife sent me this recipe so i could make it for us a couple of weeks ago, as I am in charge of breakfasts, and I have to say it's delicious. I also love carrot cake and in fact anything with carrots in it usually, so I was thrilled to try this and very happy when it was this good. Thanks for that! 🙂
This is so good to hear, Marco. I am also carrot cake obsessed. And breakfast obsessed. So I gladly take over breakfast duties around our house as well. Thanks so much for sharing and have a great day!
I left out the nuts because my son is allergic, but it was absolutely delicious! I can't wait to make this again, everyone in my family loved it!
So glad you loved it!
Made these all week. Delicious hot and cold. Might be my favorite overnight oat recipe yet!
Yay Betsy!!!! So love hearing this! ?
INCREDIBLE
So so happy to hear this! Thank you xoxo
I've never tried overnight oats, but I have been a bit curious about them since I first heard about them a year or so ago. That being said, I think this looks like the perfect recipe to start with to give them a try. I love oats and I love carrot cake, so this is perfect. Looking forward to trying these.
Hope you love them as much as I do!