Dig into a great big bowl of carrot cake overnight oats on Easter morning and savour the wonderful flavors of spring in every mouthful. Vegan, gluten-free, low FODMAP and just 300 calories per serving, these carrot cake oats make the perfect healthy breakfast or even nutritious snack you can take with you on the go.
Just as we’re bombarded with pumpkin spice everything during fall, spring is the time for everything carrot cake. From bite-sized carrot cake cookies to individual double-decker carrot cake mug cakes and back-to-basics standard carrot cake, carrot cake pops up all the time in baked goods, but rarely for breakfast. Today, that’s all about to change.
I’m all about healthy eating, so I haven’t just crumbled some carrot cake into oats. Oh, no. Instead, I’ve used a healthy overnight oat base and incorporated all the delicious flavors of carrot cake. Cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, raisins and (of course) carrots all come together in these healthy overnight oats to make a breakfast worthy of dessert.
Swap yogurt for flaxseed or chia seeds to make it vegan
Unlike most of my overnight oat recipes, these carrot cake overnight oats are vegan. I usually use yogurt to thicken the oats so they’re rich and creamy. But this time I swapped out dairy yogurt for flaxseed. The flax absorbs all the liquid from the milk, making the overnight oats almost as creamy as my regular stuff.
You can buy flaxseed from most grocery stores, health food stores and online stores. But if you can’t get your hands on flaxseed (or you just don’t like it) chia seeds work just as well.
Using flaxseed or chia seeds in these carrot cake overnight oats doesn't just make the recipe vegan, it also adds loads of awesome health benefits. These tiny tiny morsels of goodness are loaded with essential fatty acids, fiber and antioxidants which do the world of good, even in tiny portions.
Of course, you can also ditch the flaxseed and chia seeds altogether and instead use vegan-friendly alternatives to the dairy products. If you do this, replace the ½ cup milk with a combination of ⅓ cup of dairy-free yogurt and ⅓ cup of dairy-free milk.
How to mix up these carrot cake overnight oats
Before I settled on this exact recipe for these carrot cake oats, I played around with loads of different flavors. I didn’t like any of them as much as I liked this combo, but each to their own, right? Here are some ways you can make these carrot oats more exciting when you find yourself eating them for the 5th morning in a row.
- Shredded coconut: stir it into the oat mix or sprinkle it on top.
- Walnuts: chop them up and stir them into the oat mix.
- Orange peel: stir it into the oat mix.
- Cream cheese: combine cream cheese with the sweetener of your choice and scoop a dollop onto the top of the oats.
- Honey: swirl a tablespoon of honey on top of the oats.
📖 Recipe
Carrot Cake Overnight Oats
Ingredients
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seed you can substitute chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon raisins
- ¼ cup grated carrot
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla essence
- ½ cup milk of choice
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients (except the toppings) into a small bowl and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap or scoop into a container with a lid. Place in the fridge and leave to chill for at least 4 hours and up to 5 days.
- When you're ready to eat, top the oats with extra grated carrot, raisins and walnuts then dig in.
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