The Best Easy Homemade Granola Recipe

5 from 9 votes

The Best Easy Homemade Granola Recipe

This recipe for healthy homemade granola is so easy that there's no way to mess it up! Bake a couple of weeks' worth of granola and then enjoy it with yogurt, fruit, ice cream, or just munch on it as a snack! Granola that's cost-effective, easy, and healthy? Sign me up!

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 1 15

Total Time 1 20

Servings

Calories 326kcal

Author Caitlin Self, MS, CNS, LDN

Ingredients

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
⅓ - ½ cup liquid sweetener such as date puree, raw honey, maple syrup, prune puree*
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats look for certified gluten-free
3 cups nuts and seeds sliced almonds & sunflower seeds are usually cheapest, I like 1 c pecans, 1 c sliced almonds, and 1 c sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg if you have it optional
½ teaspoon salt more to taste if desired
optional add-ins: ground flaxseed hemp seed, shredded coconut

Instructions

Melt the butter on the stove or in the microwave. Remove from heat and stir in the liquid sweetener and vanilla until well combined.
In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients - oats, nuts, seeds, cinnamon, salt, and any optional ingredients. Stir well.
Add the liquids to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir well.
Spread the raw granola out on one or two large baking sheets, preferably lined with parchment or silicone, but not required.
Bake on about 200ºF/90ºC for 60-90 minutes or until crunchy.
If you cook this low and slow, say 180ºF for 2+ hours, and then let it cool in the oven until it reaches room temperature, you will get the crunchiest results.

Notes

If you are fine with sugar and you want to use brown sugar or coconut sugar, just melt it into the butter before mixing.

You can replace up to half the oats with steel cut oats if preferred.

FOR BIG CLUMPS: Cook low and slow for up to 2 hours, then turn the oven off and let the granola cool in the oven for several hours or overnight.

FOR PALEO: Omit the oats and double the nuts and seeds. You can also use coconut oil or ghee.

FOR NUT-FREE: omit the almonds and pecans and replace with pumpkin seeds & sunflower seeds. Can also incorporate hemp seeds and uncooked quinoa.

OATS ARE NOT GLUTEN FREE unless otherwise marked. If you cannot tolerate gluten, always purchase certified gluten-free oats.

This recipe as written makes about 7 cups of granola.

Nutrition