Too Busy for Breakfast? Make These Pumpkin Overnight Oats

Healthy cooking doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, often the simpler it is, the better it tastes. In Good for You, Test Kitchen editor Rebecca Firkser shares feel-good recipes for any day of the week.I’m not going to tell you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Humans have been on the planet for hundreds of thousands of years and our ability to thrive simply isn’t rooted in whether we eat first thing in the morning. In fact, the cliché is barely a century old, stemming not from nutritional science but good old-fashioned advertising.Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, advocates for breakfast cereal used religious rhetoric and maternal guilt to fuel their marketing efforts, while public relations executives at a pork company convinced doctors to recommend a heartier breakfast of bacon and eggs for sustained energy, aimed at working families.Yet today breakfast is one of the most commonly skipped meals. So instead of wagging my finger at you about missing something so “important,” I think it’s worth asking: Why did you miss it in the first place?On a jam-packed holiday like Thanksgiving, there are plenty of reasons. You have a turkey to roast. The table has to be set. Someone needs to pick up the wine. And oh, there’s still the pie dough to roll out! Maybe you even want to “save room” for the glorious feast you’re putting so much effort into.But skipping this meal does come at a cost. Even if you aren’t ravenous, it’s metabolically valuable to eat in the morning. Breakfast stabilizes energy, and studies have shown that forgoing it leads to a reduced consumption of important nutrients like fiber, potassium, iron, and calcium, often found in morning staples like fruit, whole grains, and dairy. Without some food to start the day, you risk an energy dip, brain fog, and downright hanger. Which, let’s be honest, we don’t need in a kitchen overflowing with dirty dishes and extended relatives.I have an easy solution. Making breakfast on Thanksgiving (or any day, really) doesn’t have to be a last-minute hassle. It can be quick to assemble and still feel special—like you’re really taking care of yourself, because you are. Take this overnight oats–chia pudding hybrid, which comes together in barely 10 minutes the night before you plan to eat it.Open up a can of pumpkin purée—odds are you bought extras that didn’t become a pie. Mix it with oats, maple syrup, and whichever milk you have in the fridge. A scoop of chia seeds adds bonus nutrition and prevents the oats from turning gluey as they hydrate overnight.The next morning you’ll be rewarded with a lightly sweet, mousse-like treat that’s actually good for you. It’ll keep you full and firing on all cylinders for a day of turkey roasting, potato mashing, and vibe managing. It may not be the most important meal of the day—at least on Thanksgiving—but it will be delicious.Self-care tastes so good.View RecipeMore healthy breakfast recipes right this way.