Overnight Carrot Cake Oats
Looking for a nutritious breakfast that tastes like dessert? Our overnight carrot cake oats create a delicious, nourishing breakfast.
These overnight carrot cake oats create a humble breakfast that uses a few, cheap, simple ingredients but is so nourishing and satisfying.
This recipe is great for using up those random carrots lurking in your fridge and any fresh fruit as a topping.
So, this recipe is inspired by carrot cake and tastes very much like that delicious bake – but no cake is actually involved here. Instead, we have a much healthier porridge, with spiced carrot, which you can make the night before, to wake up to a super tasty breakfast. And, the whole family will enjoy this, particularly on warmer summer mornings. But you could easily turn this into a hot breakfast porridge by omitting the overnight part and eating it straightaway.
If you enjoy hot porridge, you may also like our apple and blackberry porridge recipe in this post.
Recipe highlights
- So delicious and comforting, it’ll be hard to start your day without a smile!
- Infused with beneficial green cardamon and cinnamon
- Healthy and filling, just reduce or omit the sugar
- Great way to use up carrots and fresh fruit as a topping
- Make a double batch to keep the family going for a couple of days
- Serve with your favourite fresh fruit and nuts for a healthy, filling, breakfast
Ingredients you’ll need to make our vegan overnight carrot cake oats
Instant oats – you will need instant breakfast oats; I wouldn’t use the jumbo kind for this. Instant oats are cheap and super easy to find.
Plant-based milk – I use oat milk for this recipe. If you don’t have oat, go for soya. I find these milks tend to be creamier than others, making them perfect for this recipe. I’ve also used full-fat oat milk but you can use semi-skimmed if you prefer. But keep in mind that it won’t be as creamy.
Plant-based butter – you’ll need just a teaspoon of plant-based butter to toast your carrots in a frying pan. Go for the block butter, rather than the spreadable, type. You want that lovely, rich, buttery flavour.
Carrots – you’ll need just one large or a couple of small carrots. It doesn’t matter if you have a little more or less than what we’ve stated in the recipe. It really doesn’t matter. The carrots will need to be peeled and grated. A standard cheese grater works well.
Raisins – these are optional but they do add some lovely chewy bits and of course natural sweetness. Again, you don’t need to be precise with how many you use, but a couple of small handfuls should be enough.
Pecans – these add a lovely crunch and nuttiness to this vegan porridge. Pecans are optional – add other nuts you have or skip all together – you’ll still have a delicious breakfast!
Sweet cinnamon powder – this is really easy to find in grocery stores if you don’t already have it. Cinnamon is a great store cupboard ingredient. You can make your own cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on pancakes, waffles or mix in porridge. A few pinches also add another flavour note to some curry recipes. I highly recommend keeping a little jar of it handy. Cinnamon pairs perfectly with the carrot and porridge.
Green cardamom – not to be confused with black cardamom, which is commonly used in curries, green cardamoms are often used in south Asian desserts. They add a lovely, distinct flavour and fragrance. I love them.
Cardamom is said to have many beneficial properties such as stimulating digestion and may help with bloating, gas and indigestion.
You need just the seeds, so open up the little pods, scrap out the seeds and crush them in a pestle and mortar or with a rolling pin.
Nutmeg – just a little touch of nutmeg gives a lovely hint of traditional carrot cake flavour. If you don’t’ have it, don’t worry, it won’t impact the recipe too much.
Sugar – you can of course skip adding sugar for a really healthy breakfast but a tablespoon of sugar adds enough sweetness to make this super yummy! I’m not a fan of sweeteners but if it’s something you use, then you can sub that for sugar – just adjust the amounts accordingly as some sweeteners, such as stevia, are way sweeter than sugar.
Vanilla extract – this adds a lovely base flavour to the porridge and gives it that familiar cake-like flavour.
How to make our vegan overnight carrot cake oats
- Tip your oats into a large container, with a lid, ready to pour your milk mixture over.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the grated carrots and cook for about five to eight minutes, on medium heat, until they soften and smell gorgeous. You’ll need to move them around frequently so don’t leave the pan unattended.
- Turn the heat down and carefully pour in the plant-based milk and stir in the crushed cardamom seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract and sugar (if you’re using it).
- Cook for four to five minutes, add in the raisins and pour over your oats. Sprinkle on your smashed nuts. Once cooled, cover with a lid and place in the fridge overnight.
- The next morning, when you’re ready to serve, add some milk to your bowl before adding a heap of your porridge oats. Add extra nuts and fresh fruit if you like.
Ingredients you’ll need to make these overnight carrot cake oats
100g grated carrots
175g instant porridge oats
650ml plant-based milk
1 tsp plant-based butter
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cardamom pods (crushed seeds only)
Pinch of nutmeg
1 tbsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 small handfuls raisins
Garnish (optional)
Add a few chopped nuts (or smash them in a pestle and mortar) plus some fresh fruit if you like.
Serving and storing your overnight carrot cake oats
This porridge is best eaten within 48 hours. The oats will absorb all the milk so I like to add an extra splash of milk in my bowl before adding a helping of the carrot cake porridge.
If you prefer a hot porridge, and aren’t fussed about overnight oats, after you’ve added milk, spices and vanilla to the pan, add the porridge oats and cook for five minutes or so. Add more milk if you like and you’ll be ready to serve a hot carrot cake porridge!
Overnight Carrot Cake Oats
Ingredients
- 100g grated carrots
- 1 tsp plant-based butter
- 175g instant porridge oats
- 650ml plant-based milk (plus extra for serving)
- 1 tsp sweet cinnamon powder
- 4 cardamom pods (seeds removed and crushed)
- 1 tbsp sugar (optional)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 small handfuls raisins
- 2 pinches of nutmeg (optional)
- Chopped nuts and fresh fruit to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Tip your oats into a large container, that has a lid, ready to pour your milk mixture over.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the grated carrots and cook for about five to eight minutes, on medium heat, until they soften and smell gorgeous. You’ll need to move them around frequently so don’t leave the pan unattended.
- Turn the heat down and carefully pour in the plant-based milk and stir in the crushed cardamom seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract and sugar (if you’re using it).
- Cook for four to five minutes, add in the raisins and then pour over your oats. Sprinkle on some smashed nuts. Once cooled, cover with a lid and place in the fridge overnight.
- The next morning, when you’re ready to serve, add some milk to your bowl before adding a heap of your porridge oats. Add extra nuts and fresh fruit if you like.
