This homemade granola recipe is a great start to any day! And, it's packed with tons of nutrition to fill your day with energy. Also, the best part is it takes 5 minutes to combine the ingredients and 30 minutes to bake.
Table of Content
Granola is one of my favorite breakfast meals. I have been eating lots of granola all my life. Especially, during my study years, I practically lived on granola!! And, a yogurt parfait with granola is a healthy meal in less than 3 minutes. Always a winner!
And, did you know that most store-bought granolas are loaded with a lot of sugar and oil? I didn't know that until I saw a documentary about all the added sugar and oil. In fact, that's when I started to make my own granola at home. Kinda feels good to know you are in control of what you give your family. Isn't it?
About this recipe
I have shared many homemade granola recipes with you and they are all based on this basic easy granola recipe.
And, this recipe will give you full control. In fact, as long as you use the same proportion of wet and dry ingredients you will have no unpleasant surprises. Try any of your favorite dry fruits or nuts. For example, sometimes I add pistachios and pine nuts because they are good for you. I also love adding cranberries and dates for natural sweetness. And, often, I will use silane or date syrup instead of honey or maple syrup.
And, 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 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
- Oats - Always use rolled oats and not the crushed variety. Those do well when cooking. And yet, the quick-cooking or crushed variety soak up the liquid and become messy.
- Dry fruit - Choose fruits your family loves. We love figs, apricots, cranberries, dates, raisins. However, we are not big fans of currents and plums. But, you can definitely add them as well.
- Juice - You can use cranberry, orange, apple, grape, etc. But, stay away from perishable juices. Sounds weird, but carrots or supermarket brand of mixed juices don't do well when kept in the jar.
- Flavoring and spices - I currently just use the juice as a flavor. And yet, you can also add vanilla. In addition, I love adding cinnamon, pumpkin spice, nutmeg, apple spice depending on the season.
Step by step instructions
- Preheat the oven to 340 F/ 170 C.
- In a small mixing bowl combine all wet ingredients – juice, sweetener, and oil. Set aside
- In a larger mixing bowl combine oat, nuts, and salt.
- Next, pour the mixture of liquid ingredients over the mixture of dry ingredients.
- Mix well - you want every grain of oat to be coated with the liquid ingredients (this will help toast them beautifully)
- Pour the mixture into a baking tray. I like to line my baking tray with parchment paper for easy clean-up
- Bake for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes until the oats are lightly golden
- Remove from the oven and cool completely before you store it in an airtight container. I like to use these glass containers.
- This batch will last for up to a month at room temperature.
Frequently asked questions
Ideally, granola has a long shelf life of about 4 to 6 months. However, it must be stored in an airtight container. Having said that, nuts in granola can go rancid after a while. Therefore, 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. Having said that, 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 flavorless oil for all my granola recipes like canola or grapeseed.
It is important to toss the granola at intervals. As the nuts and oats start to toast the kitchen will start to smell of granola. If you bit into a grain of oat it will be nice and crisp. Don't over bake them to prevent the nuts and oats from getting too brown. Remember, rolled oats can be eaten raw and they don't need so long to cook.
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 pecan pie granola bars
The combination of nuts, fruits, and sweeteners you use will create a variety. For example, Cranberry almonds, maple, and pecans like pecan pie, date and walnuts, blueberries. You must check out my other flavors for granola recipes
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Printable Recipe
Homemade Fruit and Nut Granola
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Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 4 cups (300 g) Rolled oats
- 1 ½ cups (200 g) Nuts almonds, pecans, walnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, pistachios,
- 1 cup (200 g) Dry fruit raisins, figs, apricots, cranberries, etc
- ½ tsp Salt
Wet ingredients
- ¼ cup (60 ml) Canola oil
- ¼ cup (60 ml) Honey
- ½ cup (120 ml) Juice cranberry, orange, or apple juice
Optional
- ½ tsp Spices cinnamon, pumpkins spice etc
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 340 F/170 C.
- In a small mixing bowl combine all wet ingredients – juice, sweetener, and oil. Set aside
- In a larger mixing bowl combine oat, nuts, and salt.
- Next, pour the mixture of liquid ingredients over the mixture of dry ingredients.
- Mix well - you want every grain of oat to be coated with the liquid ingredients (this will help toast them beautifully)
- Pour the mixture into a baking tray. I like to line my baking tray with parchment paper for easy clean-up
- Bake for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes until the oats are lightly golden
- Remove from the oven and cool completely before you store it in an airtight container. I like to use these glass containers.
- This batch will last for up to a month at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
- 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.
- Try yogurt granola parfait with yogurt and fresh fruits as we did in this granola parfait or breakfast parfait
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
Laura
It certainly looks like something I would enjoy having a few times a week in the morning. Delicious, great looking and, I am sure, as delicious as granola can be.
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Laura. Yes, it is really so easy to make Granola
Alison
This is a fantastic granola recipe. The dried fruit and nuts add some sweetness and crunch.
Veena Azmanov
They sure do, Alison. A nice cruch with yogurt parfait