Start your day with a bowl of healthy granola. This batch is made with dates and seeds along with honey and maple syrup for natural sweetness. And, it takes just five minutes to prepare and less than thirty minutes to bake.
If you love granola, you must try to make homemade granola. It is the best thing you can do for yourself. Most commercial granolas are loaded with sugar, but homemade healthy granola recipes like this use the natural sweetness of honey or maple along with wonderful additions of nuts and seeds. It's not just healthy, it's also wholesome and hearty.
I love making small batches of fresh homemade granola every week. Once you get used to homemade, you will never buy at the supermarket again. I promise you.
About this granola
This recipe is based on my granola with a variation. It's made with old fashion rolled-oats, plump dried dates, and wonderful selection of pumpkin and sunflower seeds. As a result, this granola is healthy, wholesome, and nutritious. In fact, often, I also like to use it to make my homemade low-sugar granola bars.
Like all my recipes, this is one of my easy granola recipes. It takes just 5 minutes to combine the ingredients and about 30 minutes to bake until crisp and golden.
We love to serve granola with milk and blueberries for breakfast, and also as a granola yogurt parfait with yogurt and fruits for dinner. In addition, I also use granola to make my granola bites for mid-day snacks.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Rolled oats - Good old fashion oats is the way to go when making granola. The liquid ingredients soak into each individual grain, which then gets toasted beautifully on its own. If you use quick-cooking or other type of oats, you may end up with a soggy mess.
- Honey - I prefer natural sweetness when it comes to my granola. That way, I can snack on it guilt-free. If you don't want honey, you can use maple syrup or agave syrup. Often, I even like to use silan, which is a natural date honey. It's very delicious, but has a darker color, so the final granola is a bit darker.
- Dates - This amazing fruit is packed with lots of nutrition and good health benefits. Therefore, I highly recommend adding it to your diet. It is also a great way to add natural sweetness.
- Seeds - I've used sunflower and pumpkin seeds. These are great sources of good nutrition and health benefits, which is why you get them in all healthy snacks. I usually always have them toasted and in a jar and also sprinkle them over salads and soups.
- Coconut oil - You can also use canola oil in this as well. Coconut oil is considered to be more easily absorbed by the body. The added benefit is that it does give a nice color to the granola. And, it helps toast those individual grains of oats beautifully.
Step by step instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 C / 320 F.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the juice, honey, oil, salt, and cinnamon - combine well - and set aside.
- In another larger mixing bowl - combine the rolled oats and seeds.
- Next, pour the mixture of liquid ingredients over the mixture of dry ingredients.
- Mix well to combine. You want every grain of oat to get soaked with the liquid ingredients. This will help them toast nice and crisp.
- Pour the mixture into a baking tray. I like to line my baking pan with parchment paper.
- Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the oats are lightly golden.
- When you take it out of the oven, add the chopped dates. Stir well to combine. The heat from the granola will soften it up and make it more delicious.
- Cool completely before you transfer to an airtight container. I like to store mine in these glass storage containers.
- This batch will last for a month at room temperature.
Frequently asked questions
Ideally, granola has a long shelf life of about 4 to 6 months. It must be stored in an airtight container. Having said that, nuts in granola can go rancid after a while, which is why I always recommend using my granola recipes in about a month.
Well, the truth is it all depends on the ingredients you use. If you use granola loaded with sugar then it's probably not as healthy as it can be. My granola contains nuts, dried fruits, and oats, which on its own is a great diet, especially when combined with fresh fruits and yogurt.
I like using coconut oil or a flavorless oil, like canola or grape seed, for all my granola recipes.
It is important to toss the granola at intervals. As the nuts, seeds, and oats start to toast the kitchen will start to smell of granola. And, if you bite into a grain of oat it will be nice and crisp. Don't over bake them, so the nuts/seed and oats from becoming too brown. Remember, rolled oats can be eaten raw and they don't need a long cooking time.
Always use old-fashion rolled oats. Never use quick-cooking oats. The rolled oats will absorb the liquid but still hold their shape while the quick-cooking will get mushy and clump up.
Absolutely!! You can use granola and my method with egg whites to make low-sugar healthy granola bars.
The combination of nuts, fruits, and sweeteners you use will create a variety. For example, cranberry, almonds, maple, and pecans, or dates, walnuts, and blueberries. You must check out my other flavors for granola recipes.
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Healthy Granola Recipe with Dates and Seeds
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Ingredients
- 4 cups (350 g) Rolled Oats
- 1.5 cups (200 g) Dates chopped
- 1.5 cups (100 g) Pumpkin seeds pepita
- 1 cup (150 g) Sunflower seeds
- ½ tsp (½ tsp) Cinnamon
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) Honey (⅓ cup) or agave
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) Apple juice (⅓ cup)
- 4 tbsp (0.25 cups) Coconut Oil
- 2 tsp (2 tsp) Vanilla
- ½ tsp (½ tsp) Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 C / 320 F.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the juice, honey, oil, salt, and cinnamon - combine well and set aside.
- In another larger mixing bowl - combine the rolled oats and seeds.
- Next, pour the mixture of liquid ingredients over the mixture of dry ingredients.
- Mix well - to combine. You want every grain of oat to get soaked with the liquid ingredients. This will help them toast nice and crisp.
- Pour the mixture into a baking tray. I like to line my baking pan with parchment paper.
- Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the oats are lightly golden.
- When you take it out of the oven, add the chopped dates. Stir well to combine. The heat from the granola will soften it up and make it more delicious.
- Cool completely before you transfer to an airtight container. I like to store mine in these glass storage containers.
- This batch will last for a month at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
Â
- Gluten-free granola – to make gluten-free granola use gluten-free oats
- Nut-free granola – to make it a nut-free granola use seeds such as pepita and sunflower instead of nuts
- Vegan granola – to make a vegan granola use maple syrup instead of honey, and coconut oil instead of canola oil
- Granola is delicious on its own, with milk or with yogurt for breakfast or snacks.Â
- Try yogurt granola parfait with yogurt and fresh fruits as we did in this granola parfait or  breakfast parfait
Equipment
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
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Pris
Looks so simple to make and delicious! I really like that we can choose only healthy ingredients when making at home. Thanks for the recipe!
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Pris
Sue
I love homemade granola but never tried it with dates before - it's a great addition! This recipe is a winner!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Sue
Lata Lala
Hearty wholesome and healthy home-made granola is looking fab. The recipe is easy and worth making at home.
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Lata
Irina
I love your healthy granola recipe. I am also amazed by the list of ingredients: you included dates, and I am going to make it!
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Irina
Alexandra
Granola is a family favourite. We love dates, and can't wait to try this delicious version.
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Alexandra
Dannii
We always make our own granola. So easy to adapt with different flavours too.
Veena Azmanov
Absolutely Dannii
Adrianne
Veena this looks amazing!! I love homemade granola and this recipe with dates and seeds is perfect. So easy looking also. Yum!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Adrianne
Alexandra
This is so delicious and makes for a lovely breakfast. Ideal for meal prep too!
Veena Azmanov
Absolutely, Alexandra.
Jess
Loves this granola. Delicious, healthy and super simple.to make!
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Jess
Jacqueline Meldrum
This would make a nice change to my usual porridge for breakfast.
Veena Azmanov
Absolutely Jacqueline