Oats Overnight is a popular nutrition brand that describes their products as “Oats Reimagined.” The oat packets are mixed with milk or a milk substitute and left overnight in the fridge, so it’s theoretically a more convenient way to eat oats than cooking them.
But are raw oats safe and nutritious compared to cooked oats? Does Oats Overnight contain any unhealthy ingredients? How does the cost-per-meal compare to regular cooked oats? And how do real users rate the taste and health benefits of Oats Overnight?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we review every ingredient in Oats Overnight based on clinical studies to give our take on whether the product is healthier or as healthy as regular oats, or if it’s a waste of money.
We’ll explain whether raw oats are as nutritious as cooked oats, and share customer reviews of Oats Overnight.
Ingredient Analysis
We consider Oats Overnight to be significantly less healthy than regular oats. The ingredient label above is from the Green Apple Cinnamon flavor.
The good news is that this product is primarily made from oats, with the first ingredient being whole grain rolled oats.
Acesulfame potassium is an artificial sweetener found in clinical studies to have negative effects on the gut and negative effects on the brain.
Sucralose is another artificial sweetener, and is shown to have negative effects on insulin function as we documented in our review of Bang Energy.
This product also contains maca root, which is a strange choice in our opinion for a breakfast blend, as this botanical ingredient is typically used to treat sexual dysfunction, and is an indigestible starch that’s difficult to digest raw. It’s typically included in foods and supplements in gelatinized form to decrease the chance of indigestion.
Just like you wouldn’t consume raw potato powder, it doesn’t make sense to consume raw maca powder.
A Harvard Health review found that cooked oats are nutritionally superior to raw oats, stating that the cooking process “helps release some nutrients that your body can't extract from raw oats.”
Overall we do not recommend Oats Overnight and consider it to be a less healthy option than regular oats. This product is probably healthier than what a majority of Americans eat for breakfast, but it seems pointless in our opinion to use this product for convenience when instant oats can be cooked in under two minutes.
We Tried Oats Overnight Ourselves
One of our product testers named Matt Donnelly tried Oats Overnight. Here's his experience:
This product has great packaging and is very easy to use.
The package comes with a plastic shaker that has an 8-ounce fill line, so I knew how much almond milk to add. The individual packets had easy-to-open tear-away tops.
These tasted great! I wasn’t expecting to enjoy cold mushy oats in almond milk in the morning, but I was wrong! I also expected the flavors to be super sweet based on the provocative names they’re given, but they weren’t over-sweetened. The flavors were well-balanced and delicious, and I actually enjoyed the texture.
I generally have a protein shake for breakfast, and I replaced that protein shake with a package of Overnight Oats each morning. It easily got me to lunch without needing a snack, so the functional benefits were excellent.
I didn't experience any side effects or negative effects, and I plan to purchase this product again. This is a must-try for anyone looking to simplify their breakfast choices.
Overall, I'd rate Oats Overnight 10/10.
Is Oats Overnight Overpriced?
We recommend eating whole, unprocessed, cooked oats rather than Oats Overnight.
Quaker Oats sells eight pounds of rolled oats for $16.88 on Amazon. This equates to a per-serving cost of $0.19.
Oats Overnight’s “Best Value” is 24 meals for $84. Each meal is only one serving, so that equates to a per-serving cost of $3.50.
Oats Overnight costs over 18 times per serving what Quaker Oats costs.
We consider Oats Overnight to be overpriced and a waste of money.
Real People Try Oats Overnight
A YouTube creator named Nick DiRamio reviewed Oats Overnight in a series where he tries Instagram produts.
The review includes a preparation demo, an entertaining reaction to the brand’s advertising and a taste test of some of Oats Overnight’s most popular flavors:
YouTube creators Bradley and Aubrie Bromlow reviewed Oats Overnight in a video with over 100,000 views:
What’s the Healthiest Oats Overnight Flavor?
Not all Oats Overnight flavors contain artificial sweeteners.
We consider Oats Overnight Pink Lemonade flavor (ingredients shown above) to be the brand’s healthiest flavor, as it’s free of artificial sweeteners. The product is naturally sweetened with maple sugar, dragon fruit powder and monk fruit which are minimally processed, whole foods ingredients.
We would recommend this product from a nutritional standpoint if it were free of natural flavors, which is an ingredient we recommend avoiding. A medical review published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal documented toxicity concerns with some flavoring agents.
There are other Oats Overnight flavors that are free of artificial sweeteners like Maple Pancakes, Peanut Butter, Banana Bread and more. For consumers intent on purchasing from this brand, we recommend checking the Nutritional Information tab (which to the brand’s credit they make easily accessible on their website) and choosing flavors free of artificial sweeteners.
How to Make Healthy Overnight Oats at Home
For those interested in trying overnight oats, we would recommend making them at home to save money and avoid ingredients like natural flavors and artificial sweeteners.
A YouTube food channel called “Downshiftology” published a video showing you how to make healthy overnight oats at home in six different flavor variations. The overnight oat recipes are entirely free of questionable additive ingredients (and plastic):
Our Clean Overnight Oats Pick
HOLOS is our top healthy overnight oats pick.
This brand sells different flavors of overnight oats and muesli, along with a glass canister to place in the fridge.
What makes HOLOS stand out in our opinion is that it's composed of whole food ingredients, contains probiotics, and is free of artificial sweeteners.
We tried HOLOS and liked the taste of every flavor.
Real Customers Review Oats Overnight
Oats Overnight is sold on Amazon, which is a more objective resource for customer reviews than a brand’s website in our opinion.
The product has over 4,700 reviews and an average customer rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.
The top positive review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named “DAVEandCOURTNEY WAYSON” who claims that the product tastes good and is good for appetite control:
“I love these things. I ate them all week last week for breakfast while I was traveling for work. They filled me up and kept me full for quite a while.”
The top negative review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named “ValJo58” who is upset about the artificial sweetener ingredient:
“Sucralose! 😞…I wish I would have read all of the ingredients! If I could return this product I would!!”
