Break Out of Your Oatmeal Rut With This Healthy Whole Grain Breakfast

If your nightly routine of make-ahead oatmeal jars is feeling monotonous, then it’s time to revamp your breakfast game.

Instead of turning to your trusty overnight oats, try muesli, the uber-nutritious mix of rolled oats, nuts, seeds, and fruit. This healthy whole grain breakfast far surpasses oatmeal in flavor and texture—and it's far easier to make using the overnight method. Chewy, crunchy, luxurious, and slightly sweet, muesli (pronounced myooz-lee) is more than worthy of a spot in your morning mason jar.

RELATED: 10 Delicious Ways to Eat Whole Grains for Breakfast

Invented by Swiss physician named Maximilian Bircher-Brenner during the early 1900s, muesli was a staple meal for patients at his health clinic in Zurich. Clearly ahead of his time, Dr. Bircher-Brenner dedicated himself to the idea that a diet rich in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables could lead to better health when combined with exercise. (Turns out, he was right!)

Muesli is lesser known in the U.S., but it’s still a popular healthy breakfast in Switzerland and Germany. Hop over the Atlantic and you’ll see it typically enjoyed as a cold breakfast. The traditional “Bircher” method requires soaking the muesli overnight in milk, yogurt, or fruit juice with grated apple. Come morning, the grains are soft and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. It’s great eaten right out of the jar, or topped with additional fresh fruit. You can also cook muesli on the stovetop like oatmeal—simply simmer it in milk or water for a few minutes.

Muesli is easy to make from-scratch, but stocking all of the ingredients can quickly turn expensive. Luckily, you can never go wrong with anything from Bob’s Red Mill—and when it comes to muesli, they’ve hit a home run.

Bob’s Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli boasts a delicious mix of whole grain oats, wheat, sunflower seeds, raisins, dates, almonds, walnuts and flaxseeds. One serving packs 4g of fiber and protein, plus 6% of your daily iron needs. When softened, this muesli packs a nutty, comforting, and mildly sweet flavor. You also still get plenty of crunch, thanks to sunflower kernels and flaxseeds.

While there are three delicious ways to enjoy this muesli (hot, cold, or the overnight method), we prefer to soak ours in yogurt (we love Siggi’s 4% whole-milk yogurt) for an extra blast of protein. When packed into mason jars, it’s an effortless grab-and-go breakfast when you’re flying out the door to work. If you have the time for hot muesli, you’ll love this Spiced Warm Muesli with Honeyed Ricotta recipe.

If you’re ready to ride the overnight muesli bandwagon, here’s what you need to do:

Step One: Snag Bob’s Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli on Amazon (stock up and order four 18-ounce bags for $35).

Step Two: Before you go to bed, combine one serving muesli (about ¼ cup) with your favorite yogurt in a 16-ounce mason jar or medium-sized bowl.

Step Three: Cover and refrigerate, then get some sleep.

Step Four: Rise and shine to the easiest breakfast you’ll ever make.