Elimination
Reintroduction
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Breakfast
Snack

Strawberry and Maple Overnight Oats

Name: Strawberry and Maple Overnight Oats
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup (90 g) rolled oats; 1 cup (240 ml) lactose-free milk; 150 g lactose-free plain yoghurt; 10 medium strawberries, sliced; 2 tbsp pure maple syrup; 2 tbsp chia seeds; 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon; 10 walnut halves, roughly broken

Made in a jar the night before, eaten cold at your desk. The most-requested breakfast from readers in their first fortnight of elimination.

Prep: 5 min
Cook: 0 min
Total: 5 min
Serves: 2

Published January 21, 2026 · Updated April 18, 2026

A glass jar layered with creamy oats, sliced strawberries and a drizzle of maple syrup, on a pale wooden surface

Ingredients

Makes 2 servings. Each ingredient is labelled with its FODMAP status at this quantity.

1 cup (90 g) rolled oats
Low FODMAP at 1/2 cup dry per person. Use rolled, not instant or steel-cut, which behave differently.
Portion-dependent
1 cup (240 ml) lactose-free milk
Almond or macadamia milk also work. Avoid oat milk here — it stacks with the oats.
Low FODMAP
150 g lactose-free plain yoghurt
Low FODMAP
10 medium strawberries, sliced
Strawberries have no meaningful FODMAP ceiling — one of the few fruits you can be relaxed about.
Low FODMAP
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
Low FODMAP at 2 tbsp total. Do not substitute honey, which is high in excess fructose.
Portion-dependent
2 tbsp chia seeds
Low FODMAP at 2 tbsp. They thicken the mixture overnight.
Low FODMAP
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Low FODMAP
10 walnut halves, roughly broken
Walnuts are low FODMAP at 30 g. Cashews and pistachios are not — do not swap.
Low FODMAP

What the labels mean

Low FODMAPSafe at the serving size listed.
Portion-dependentLow FODMAP only up to the serving size listed — larger servings stack.

Method

Step 1: Divide the oats, chia seeds and cinnamon between two jars or containers with lids, and stir them together dry so the chia does not clump later.
Step 2: Pour half the lactose-free milk into each jar and stir thoroughly, scraping the bottom corners where dry oats like to hide.
Step 3: Spoon the yoghurt on top, add 1 tablespoon of maple syrup to each jar, and stir once more — just enough to marble it rather than fully combine.
Step 4: Seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. The chia will set the mixture to a thick, spoonable custard.
Step 5: In the morning, top with the sliced strawberries and broken walnuts. Eat cold, straight from the jar.

Notes and swaps

These keep for three days refrigerated, so Sunday night buys you Monday through Wednesday. Add the fruit and nuts on the morning you eat it, not in advance.
If it sets too thick, loosen it with a splash more lactose-free milk rather than more syrup.
Blueberries (20 per serve) and kiwi are both safe swaps. Apple, pear, mango and watermelon are not — they are among the highest-FODMAP fruits.

Breakfast is where the elimination phase tends to break down first. Most standard breakfasts are built on wheat, honey, apple or pear juice, or ordinary milk, and the convenient options in a supermarket chiller cabinet are almost uniformly off-limits. Having one reliable breakfast that you can assemble half-asleep is worth more than a repertoire of ten you never actually make.

The portion is the recipe

It is tempting to treat oats as unlimited because they are wholesome, and this is the mistake that catches people out. Oats carry both fructans and GOS, and the tested threshold sits at about half a cup dry per sitting. Below that you are fine; at a full cup you have quietly eaten a high-FODMAP meal and will spend the morning wondering what went wrong.

This is the clearest everyday illustration of a principle that runs through the whole protocol: FODMAP content is a dose, not a property. Very few foods are permanently forbidden. Most simply have a ceiling, and the diet becomes far less frightening once you start thinking in thresholds rather than in banned lists.

Watch the milk

Oat milk is the trap in this particular recipe. It is an excellent low-FODMAP choice in coffee, but pouring it over oats stacks the same FODMAPs twice in one bowl. Lactose-free dairy, almond or macadamia milk all keep the total where you want it.

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