These Almond Joy Overnight Oats make for a great nutritious and filling breakfast. These oats taste like an Almond Joy®, complete with chocolate, coconut, and nuts! Make them the night before and have a delicious breakfast ready in the morning.

Almond joy overnight oats in a bowl, deliciously topped with almonds, shredded coconut, and chocolate chips.

Almond Joy Overnight Oats

Announcing the return of overnight oats, and right in time for your New Year’s Resolutions! Overnight oats are one of the best ways to stay on track for eating healthy breakfasts. They are ready when you wake up, so no excuses!

Although you likely wouldn’t want to make any excuses waking up to this dessert-esque breakfast. Almond Joy® Overnight Oats taste like a candy bar–and that makes breakfast anything but boring!

They’ve got all the delicious flavors from an Almond Joy candy bar: coconut, chocolate, and almonds! We’ve got flaked coconut and coconut extract, cocoa powder, and almonds to top off  the oats.

All the ingredients for the recipe displayed, including almond milk, greek yogurt, oats, cocoa powder, and more.

Ingredients

  • Milk. Any type of milk works in overnight oats. We like to use unsweetened vanilla almond milk best in this recipe.
  • Oats. I recommend old-fashioned oats for best results. Steel-cut oats are overly chewy and don’t soften enough; quick oats absorb more liquid, leaving you with less overall texture.
  • Special Dark® Cocoa Powder. This cocoa powder from Hershey’s contributes deep and intense chocolate flavor to these oats. I highly recommend using Special Dark cocoa powder (which is a Dutch-process cocoa powder) as opposed to plain (natural) cocoa powder. Any Dutch-process cocoa powder will work, but Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder is readily available at most grocery stores.
  • Unsweetened coconut flakes. Along with the oats, the coconut softens a great deal overnight. If you’d rather have crisp coconut flakes, leave them out of the overnight mixture and use them as a topping the next morning.

Quick Tip

Make them thicker. I’m obsessed with creamy oatmeal — the creamier the better! I’d say these overnight oats are fairly creamy (even after thickening overnight). If you’d like them thicker, add in a few tablespoons of chia seeds or a few additional tablespoons of oats.

Ingredients for the overnight oats almond joy being added to a bowl, mixed together, and then transferred to a jar for setting.

Ingredients, continued

  • Maple syrup: This is my favorite sweetener to add to overnight oats. Depending on how sweet you like your breakfast, you can scale this amount up or down. I’d recommend at least 1 tablespoon and up to 2 tablespoons for a sweeter breakfast. Liquid stevia drops can be used in place of maple syrup for a natural zero-calorie sweetener.
  • Almond and coconut extracts: These extracts add subtle flavor to the oats. While they certainly increase the “Almond Joy” flavor, these extracts aren’t entirely necessary, so don’t worry if you don’t have them on hand. I find both almond and coconut extract to be fairly strong, so one or two drops is plenty. If you’d like a stronger flavor, increase to taste preference.
  • Salt:  This ingredient helps intensify flavors and balance all the ingredients in Almond Joy Overnight Oats.
  • Yogurt. We love Greek Gods® Honey Vanilla Yogurt in these overnight oats. Whatever yogurt you choose to use, I recommend using a yogurt you enjoy eating plain. If you don’t like eating it straight out of the container, you likely won’t like the flavor it gives these oats. Make sure to get a Greek yogurt that doesn’t have an overpowering flavor, or that’s pretty much all you’ll end up tasting.

Quick Tip

Almond Joy, Hershey’s, and Greek Gods are trademarked names for some of the ingredients used in this recipe. While you can use any similar brand when we say names like Oreo and Hershey’s you know exactly what we’re referring to. We respect trademarks and
brand ownership and would never intentionally infringe on them.

Almond Joy Overnight Oat toppings

These oats are still amazing without any toppings at all. That said, if you’d like to add some toppings these are our favorites:

  • Miniature chocolate chips or coarsely chopped dark chocolate bar
  • Dryroasted almonds (full or coarsely chopped)
  • A swirl or spoonful of almond butter
  • Unsweetened coconut flakes

Finished breakfast of both delicious and healthy, ready for enjoyment.

Almond Joy Overnight Oats variations

  • Amp up the coconut flavor. For an even stronger coconut flavor, use a coconut yogurt in place of the Greek yogurt.
  • Add some chia seeds. For thicker oats, add 1-2 tablespoons chia seeds the night before. The chia seeds will gel as they absorb the liquid — more info on chia seeds here.
  • Add almond butter. A lot of overnight oat recipes I’ve shared include almond or peanut butter for more satiating power, healthy fats, and flavor. Add 1-2 tablespoons of a good roasted almond butter if desired.

More nutritious breakfast recipes

5 from 9 votes

Almond Joy Overnight Oats

These Almond Joy Overnight Oats are a perfect nutritious breakfastโ€”prep them the night before and enjoy a delicious meal in the morning.
Prep Time: 8 minutes
Chill Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 8 minutes
Servings: 2 servings

Equipment

  • small bowl

Ingredients 
 

Instructions 

  • In a small bowl, jar, or plastic container, stir together the yogurt, milk, oats, coconut flakes, cocoa powder, salt, and maple syrup. Add in the optional almond extract and coconut extract if you're using them.
  • Stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. Taste the mixture and add any additional maple syrup if needed.
  • Cover the container and place in the fridge overnight or until sufficiently cooled and thickened. Sometimes I'll even make them in the morning, get ready, and then go eat them, they are great even after just 30 minutes in the fridge.
  • Just before serving, top oats with some roasted almonds, coconut flakes, miniature chocolate chips, or a drizzle of almond butter. If desired, lightly toast coconut by placing it in a small skillet over medium heat. Stir constantly until lightly colored, golden brown, and fragrant.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: Any milk will work, but vanilla almond milk is my favorite.
Note 2: Scale up or down to personal preferenceโ€”you may not want any sweetener at all! One tablespoon of maple syrup is what I prefer, but you can use two tablespoons for more sweetness. Alternatively, use 1/4 teaspoon liquid stevia drops for a zero-calorie sweetener.
Note 3:ย Use one, both, or neitherโ€”coconut and almond extracts simply intensify the flavors.
Note 4: Toppings are optional, but I enjoy a handful of roasted almonds, toasted coconut flakes, miniature chocolate chips, and almond butter.
Heating: As they soak overnight, the oats become soft, luscious, and creamy. That said, if you prefer them warm, you can certainly warm them up in the morning on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Set Time: You can make overnight oats in the morning to enjoy. I actually prefer them this way! Nowadays, I usually make them first thing when I wake up, and enjoy them after my morning workout, so theyโ€™ve sat about 30-45 minutes.
ย 
ย 

Nutrition

Serving: 2servings | Calories: 224kcal | Carbohydrates: 30.8g | Protein: 7.7g | Fat: 5.8g | Sodium: 63.3mg | Fiber: 5.6g | Sugar: 0.7g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Meet Chelsea


Hi there! Iโ€™m Chelseaโ€“the recipe developer, photographer, writer, and taste tester behind Chelseaโ€™s Messy Apron (although my little ones help me out quite a bit with the taste testing part!). I LOVE getting creative in the kitchen and then posting my creations here for you to enjoy.

Thanks again for stopping by!

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5 from 9 votes

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Recipe Rating




20 Comments

  1. Meg says:

    Seriously what is better than a {healthy} candy bar for breakfast?! Yes please!

  2. Arman says:

    I love making oats taste like candy bars (the beauty of protein powders, nuts and textures) and this looks so good- adding coconut is one of my favourite things!

  3. Carol at Wild Goose Tea says:

    5 stars
    My favorite candy bar combo. I eat some form of oatmeal a least 4 mornings. Perfect!

  4. Jess says:

    With overnight oats like this, how can I even complain about being healthy this year?! ๐Ÿ˜€ Love this recipe, Chelsea. Almond joys are one of my favorite candies, so having them for breakfast sounds amazing.

  5. Chineka @ Savor the Baking says:

    Love the idea of almond joy flavored oats.

  6. Angie says:

    5 stars
    I was not a big overnight oats fan until I tried your peanut butter cup overnight oats. They are amazing. I can’t wait to try this recipe.

  7. Caralyn says:

    yum! anytime i can have dessert for breakfast i’m totally in!

  8. Jennie says:

    There’s no saying no to something as tasty as this recipe. I mean, it’s oatmeal that tastes like a candy bar. It’s a no brainer.

  9. Mira says:

    5 stars
    Great healthy breakfast, I love how chocolatey these are! Love overnight oats!

  10. The Blonde Chef says:

    Overnight oats are one of my favorite morning “cheats” and these look positively sinful! Can’t wait to try them out for myself, Chelsea!