Breakfast recipe · make ahead

Berry & walnut overnight oats

Name: Berry & Walnut Overnight Oats
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 8 h 10 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 100 g rolled porridge oats; 200 g plain natural yoghurt; 160 ml semi-skimmed milk or unsweetened fortified soya milk; 150 g fresh mixed berries; 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts; 1 tablespoon chia seeds; 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Creamy rolled oats with plain yoghurt, berries, chia seeds and walnuts. This is an ordinary make-ahead breakfast that fits the site's wider Mediterranean-style meal-planning approach — not a treatment for fatty liver.

10 minprepOvernightchill2servingsVegetarianpattern

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Overnight oats topped with mixed berries and walnuts in a white bowl. — A photographic serving suggestion of berry and walnut overnight oats.

Why this combination

A useful breakfast pattern, without making it medical

Current European MASLD guidance recommends improving overall diet quality in a Mediterranean-style direction, with more foods such as wholegrains, fruit, nuts and seeds, while limiting ultra-processed foods rich in sugars and saturated fat and avoiding sugar-sweetened drinks. Oats are a wholegrain, berries provide fruit, and walnuts/chia add nuts and seeds to this breakfast pattern.

The NHS also uses oats with plain yoghurt and fruit in healthier breakfast recipes, and its general carbohydrate guidance specifically lists whole oats with fruit and lower-sugar yoghurt as a breakfast option. That does not mean overnight oats cure, reverse or directly treat MASLD; it simply explains why this combination fits the broader food pattern used across this site.

Personal needs differ. If you have diabetes medication, kidney disease, advanced liver disease, allergies, swallowing problems, unplanned weight loss or another condition that changes what or how much you should eat, use the advice from your own clinician or dietitian.

The complete recipe

Berry & walnut overnight oats

Make two jars at once: one for today and one for the next morning. Keep the oats covered and chilled until you are ready to eat them.

Ingredients

100 g rolled porridge oats
200 g plain natural yoghurt
160 ml semi-skimmed milk or unsweetened fortified soya milk
150 g fresh mixed berries
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
1 tbsp chia seeds
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Method

1
Divide the oats, yoghurt, milk, chia seeds and cinnamon between two jars or bowls. Add the vanilla if using. Stir until evenly combined.
2
Fold in half of the berries, cover, and refrigerate overnight (or for at least 6 hours).
3
In the morning, stir each portion. Add a small splash of milk if you prefer a looser texture.
4
Top with the remaining berries and chopped walnuts, then serve chilled.

Using frozen berries? Follow the packet's storage/defrosting instructions before adding them; the recipe is written for fresh berries so we do not make a blanket food-safety assumption about every frozen product.

Three easy variations

Keep the method; change the flavour

The basic oat-to-yoghurt-to-milk method is deliberately reusable. These variations help prevent a useful breakfast from becoming monotonous without creating three thin near-duplicate recipe pages.

Apple & cinnamon

Swap the berries for finely chopped apple and add an extra pinch of cinnamon. Keep the walnuts.

Pear & pumpkin seed

Use chopped pear and pumpkin seeds instead of berries and walnuts for a nut-free version if the seed option is suitable for you.

Berry & almond

Keep the berries, swap walnuts for chopped unsalted almonds, and add vanilla if you like.

Use it in a real week

Do more than save one recipe

Add this breakfast to a week using the Meal Planner, or use Recipe Finder when you want another breakfast that matches your time and eating pattern.

Build a 7-day plan Open Recipe Finder

Sources & evidence

What informed this recipe page

EASL–EASD–EASO Clinical Practice Guidelines on MASLD — diet-quality and Mediterranean-pattern guidance.
NHS: Starchy foods and carbohydrates — wholegrain/fibre context and breakfast examples.
NHS Healthier Families: Porridge with yoghurt and berries — an authoritative example showing oats, plain yoghurt and berries as a practical breakfast combination.
Mayo Clinic: Fatty liver disease (MASLD) diet — current Mediterranean-style food-pattern guidance.

Recipe quantities and method on this page are original to Fatty Liver Meal Planner; the sources inform the broader dietary context, not the exact recipe formulation. Reviewed 18 August 2026.