Thai Iced Tea Overnight Oats Recipe

Thai tea is an iced black tea flavored with spices like star anise, cardamom, and tamarind and sweetened with sweetened condensed milk or a mix of evaporated milk and sugar. It has a striking orange color that comes from reddish spices and orange food coloring diluted by milk. Thai tea is popular in Thai restaurants around the world, and though it's different than what you might find on the streets of Thailand, it's a popular creation nonetheless that sweetly entices the taste buds of North American drinkers. Thai tea can be made from scratch with natural ingredients or it can be made with an imported Thai tea mix.

While Thai tea is usually enjoyed as a cold beverage, we think that overnight oats can benefit from its sweetness and the flavor of the warm spices. Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe for Thai iced tea overnight oats that merges these seemingly unrelated recipes to create something new. Black tea bags are simmered with spices before being combined with sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, turmeric for color (to avoid the use of artificial food coloring), chia seeds and, of course, oats. This creamy, rich breakfast dish can be prepped ahead, making it very easy to have several days of filling, refreshing, and unique morning meals ready to go on busy days.

For this recipe, you will need black tea bags, cardamom pods, a star anise pod, and water. Have sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, and turmeric on hand to add to the flavored tea. Rolled oats, chia seeds, and salt are the final ingredients. Sugar or maple syrup are optional ingredients you can use if you like your version to be sweeter.

These overnight oats are delicious as is, but you can choose to add optional toppings before serving if desired. Our recommendations are coconut flakes, cinnamon, and sliced banana, but your imagination is the limit if you prefer other toppings.

Cut off any tags from the tea bags if applicable and place them in a medium saucepan with the cardamom pods and star anise pod.

Pour the water into the pan, heat it on medium until it comes to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. You should have 2 cups of liquid at the end.

Strain the tea into a large bowl.

Add the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, and turmeric and stir well. Set aside to cool for 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in the oats, chia seeds, and salt and mix well. Taste the mixture and add optional sugar or maple syrup to taste.

Divide the mixture evenly into 3 to 4 individual glasses, jars, or containers.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving cold with optional toppings like coconut flakes, cinnamon, and sliced banana.

The Thai tea portion of this recipe is made from scratch in a more natural way, but if you prefer you can use Thai tea mix, an imported commercial blend of black tea, spices and flavorings, sugar, and food coloring that can be found online, in Asian grocery stores, and in Thai restaurants. The robust flavors of Thai iced tea found in the mix include combinations of cardamom, tamarind, star anise, vanilla bean, cinnamon, and orange blossom.

You can expect your tea to have a much more vivid orange color than it will have when you use turmeric like this recipe calls for. You'll also get much closer to the taste and aroma of the Thai iced tea served in restaurants. However, if you're concerned about food additives and colorings, we don't recommend trying the commercial mix.

When you use the mix, you won't have to simmer tea bags with whole spices. Just bring 2 cups of water to a boil and steep 2 tablespoons of Thai tea mix in the hot water for 3 to 5 minutes until the water is dark and flavorful. You can place the tea mix in a tea strainer or strain the pieces out before you add the tea to the mixing bowl. Then follow the rest of the recipe as directed.

If you're concerned about certain ingredients in Thai tea overnight oats, it's possible to not only make them dairy-free, but refined sugar-free as well. The dairy in the recipe comes from sweetened condensed milk, a very thick and concentrated product made by evaporating over half of the naturally occurring water from milk and sweetening it with sugar. There are other options if you prefer not to use it.

Note that not all sweetened condensed milk substitutes are dairy-free. One vegan option is store-bought vegan sweetened condensed milk, usually made from oat milk or coconut milk. Alternatively, soy milk powder or other non-dairy milk powders can be mixed with boiling water, sugar, and a fat like oil or margarine to form a thick substitute. Creamy canned coconut milk is a more natural alternative that doesn't require any mixing with other ingredients. Just make sure to buy a full-fat version so it's thick enough. It does have a noticeable coconut flavor, but we think it works in this recipe.

The sweetened condensed milk is also a source of refined sugar. To avoid that, you can substitute maple syrup, honey, or agave to taste, which are all liquids like the original. Other sweeteners for cooking that aren't sugar include date sugar, monk fruit, stevia, and coconut sugar.