Eating like a royal doesn’t mean topping every dish with caviar or gold leaf. According to former royal chef Darren McGrady, a princess’ breakfast might even look strikingly similar to your own — albeit with a few delicious suggestions and one surprising ingredient you can incorporate at home.
McGrady served as the private chef for Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Princess Diana, Prince William, and Prince Harry for 15 years, a career that’s led him to write two cookbooks, start his own catering business in Texas called Eating Royally, and divulge insights from his time with the royals.
This summer, McGrady shared one recipe on his YouTube channel that surprised home chefs with the inclusion of an unexpected ingredient. As he demonstrated how to make Princess Diana’s favorite overnight oats — the chef says she told him, “I want these for breakfast every day” — McGrady explains that the recipe starts by soaking oats in orange juice overnight.
If you’ve made overnight oats before, you’ve probably soaked the grain in your milk of choice or maybe water in a pinch. Although using orange juice as the base ingredient for this popular dish might seem strange or new to us, it’s neither. This recipe existed long before Princess Diana, and it’s so delicious you might want it every morning too.
This breakfast recipe hails from Switzerland
McGrady notes that Diana learned about this particular overnight oat recipe while at a health clinic in Switzerland, which hints at the dish’s origin. The royal chef and many home cooks online refer to this meal as “overnight oats,” which it technically is — but this particular version of the dish would more appropriately be called muesli.
Also called Birchermüesli or Bircher muesli, this renowned Swiss breakfast was invented around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Brenner. The doctor’s original version — which was intended to be an appetizer, not a breakfast — called for soaking the oats in water overnight, but using other liquids, such as fruit juice or milk, eventually became common.
It’s not just the soaked oats that make Diana’s breakfast similar to Bircher muesli. The ingredients she asked her private chef to stir into the dish also a nod to the original recipe.
How to make Princess Diana’s overnight oats
Start with steel-cut oats — not quick-cooking oats, as McGrady points out — and mix them in a bowl with just enough orange juice to cover the grain. Let the oats soak overnight, and by morning, they will have absorbed most of the liquid.
Diana’s recipe calls for stirring some Greek yogurt into the oats (as opposed to the condensed milk typically used in Bircher muesli), along with a touch of lemon juice and honey to taste, both of which are traditional additions.
Fresh apple and nuts are also typical of traditional Swiss muesli, and you’ll find those in the royal breakfast as well — McGrady stirs in grated Honeycrisp apple and walnuts shortly before serving. He explains that you can make this dish your own with any fruits you prefer, and the version he made for Diana incorporates fresh blueberries.
There are endless ways you could customize this breakfast. Adding dark chocolate chips would complement the orange notes, or you could swap in pineapple juice and sprinkle coconut flakes on top for a tropical flavor profile. Just make sure you soak the oats in something fruity and juicy to emulate the breakfast that Princess Diana loved.
