Is granola a staple at your house? It is at ours! For a long time I have made my own granola. I started soon after finding out that I could not have nuts anymore. It’s amazing how many delicious foods have added nuts to them. Once again, I needed a customized granola recipe that I knew would be nut-free.
Granola is so easy to make and a cinch to modify for your preferences and needs. I’m calling this a granola recipe guide, because, as you’ll see, you get to pick and choose and customize this for your family! If you’re looking for a specific granola recipe, check out my Paleo Coconut Granola recipe.
Base Ingredients
When making granola, I generally stick to about 6 cups of dry ingredients which creates the base for the granola. These dry ingredients can be whatever you want and in any combination that sounds good to you. Here are some of my ideas AND favorite combos.
Dry Ingredients:
- Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (certified gluten free or otherwise)
- Sliced Almonds
- Coconut (shredded) – if using with rolled oats, add this toward the end of baking
- Sunflower Seeds
- Pepita Seeds
- Cashews (chopped)
- Peanuts (chopped)
- Walnuts (chopped)
- Pecans (chopped)
- Other favorite nuts
- Pretzels (chopped)
- Plantain Chips or Banana Chips (chopped)
Favorite Combinations:
- Traditional: 4 cups of oats, 1 cup coconut, 1 cup almonds slices
- Traditional II: 4 1/2 cups oats, 1 cup almond slices, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
- Grain Free: 2 cup almonds, 1 cup walnuts, 1 cup coconut, 1/2 cup cashews, 1/2 cup peptic seeds, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
- Grain Free + Nut-Free: 2 1/2 cups coconut, 2 1/2 cups plantain chips, 1/2 cup Pepita seeds, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (check seed labels for nut oils if that is a concern)
The options are endless! Get creative!
Mix-Ins
Okay, all those dry ingredients look boring right now, but we’re not done. Want to add a healthy ingredient that is also delicious? Or maybe just some yummy component to add visual interest as well as flavor? Here are some of my “mix-in” ideas divided into two categories: “add to mix before cooking” and “add to mix after cooking and cooling.”
Add to Mix Before Baking: **Keep it to 1/4-1/2 cup for these ingredients.
- Cocoa Nibs
- Ground Flax Seed
- Chia Seeds
- Cocoa Powder or Cacao (could be added to the liquid mixture instead)
- Collagen Peptides (could be added to the liquid mixture instead)
Add to Mix After Baking (and let mixture cool): **Use one or a combo of these up to about 2 cups in all.
- Craisins
- Dried Cherries
- Raisins
- Any dried fruit that sounds good to you
- Mini Chocolate Chips
- Mini M & M’s (Hmmm, Monster Cookie Granola anyone? Might be a future recipe creation)
Spices
This is where you can get creative! I usually stick with cinnamon and vanilla, but I’m sure there are people out there that might like spicy granola? I mean, I’ve enjoyed sweet and spicy candied almonds a time or two so it wouldn’t be that far off.
Spice Ideas: **Use 1-2 tsp of cinnamon and vanilla. I would start with less with the other spices and add as you go by flavor preference. Put spices together before adding them to the dry ingredient mixture to determine what combo you would like.
- Cinnamon
- Vanilla
- Turmeric
- Lemon Zest
- Orange Zest
- Chili Powder
- Cayenne
- Pumpkin Spice
- Edible Essential Oil of choice (just throwing out ideas here people!)
Tested Flavor Comonations:
- Traditional: Cinnamon and Vanilla (2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla)
- PSL: Pumpkin Spice, Vanilla (2 tsp PS, 1 tsp vanilla)
- Holiday: Cacao Powder, Cinnamon, Orange Zest (3 Tbsp cacao powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp fresh orange zest)
- Southwestern: Cinnamon, Chili Powder, Cayenne (2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper)
- Lemon Cookie: Lemmon zest, lemon juice, vanilla (2 tsp fresh lemon zest, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp vanilla). This would be exceptionally delicious using butter as the liquid element.
- PBJ: Nut/seed butter of choice and jam (1/2 cup seed/nut butter, 1/2 cup jam). You will need to cook much longer as this is a much softer batter. You could also take down the amount of oil and honey but isn’t necessary.
Liquid Ingredients
After combining ALL the dry ingredients (base ingredients, supplemental, and spices). You’re ready to combine with the liquid ingredients. For the 6 cups of dry ingredients, I suggest using 1 cup of oil/butter/etc. So, let’s talk about your options:
- Coconut Oil: It’s my go-to as it has a naturally sweet flavor and it’s incredibly good for you with all of the MCT’s and healthy fats.
- Butter: If you use grass-fed butter, you would be within “Paleo” principles and we all know butter is DELICIOUS. It definitely adds a rich and incredible flavor to the granola. If you brown the butter a bit before adding your sweetener, you will not be disappointed!
- Ghee: I would only use this if I were out of butter or coconut oil.
- Avocado Oil: This too would make a great substitute if you were out of Coconut oil or Butter.
**For health reasons, I would suggest avoiding vegetable oil, canola oil, soybean oil, or other seed oils, if possible.
Sweetener
You’re going to combine your oil with your sweetener and heat it in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Once it starts to bubble, you have two choices: (1) remove from heat right away or (2) let it simmer for a minute. The longer it bubbles, the harder your granola will set once it has cooled.
Here are some sweetener options:
- Honey – 1/2 cup
- Coconut sugar (from the sap of the coconut palm tree) – 1/2 cup
- Brown sugar – 1/2 cup
- Cane sugar – 1/2 cup
- Maple Syrup – 1/2 cup
- Molasses – 1/4 cup (I would combine with another 1/4 cup of sugar or honey).
- Jam or other preserves.
- Erythritol – check labels, your discretion
- Stevia – check labels, your discretion
- Combination of low glycemic sweeteners (Trim Healthy Mama has a delicious combo called Gentle Sweet that has great sweet flavor. My SIL raves about it!)
I use honey and sometimes coconut sugar. For lower glycemic sweeteners, they are so variant and often provide way more sweet per spoonful than a natural sweetener does per cup. You will have to experiment with those to find what works for you, it’s likely you will still get crunchy, baked granola but it will probably not cluster and clump together like a natural sweetener will allow.
Nut Butter
If I could have nut butter in my granola, it would be almond butter or cashew butter! I can’t have nut butters (read more about that here) and I try to avoid seed butter but I know that they add so much natural flavor and sweeten the whole mess to perfection!
Add your nut butter to the warm liquid mixture. I would add it AFTER you remove it from the heat. According to this granola guide, I suggest you use 1/2 – 1 cup depending on your preferences. Along with nut-butter, don’t forget about sun-butter and tahini. They will make excellent creamy additions to your homemade granola.
Homemade Granola Recipe Guide
Instructions
- Choose 6 cups worth of dry ingredients in all. Put into a large mixing bowl.
- Choose what you will use for "mix-in" ingredients, if any. Determine if you will add them to the dry mixture or after baking is completed (obviously, you don't want to melt any chocolate or bake dried fruit).
- Choose which spices you would like to try (1-2 tsp depending). Add to the dry ingredients. ADD A PINCH OF SALT AS WELL.
- Choose 1 cup of your selected oil or butter.
- Choose your sweetener. I recommend 1/2 cup for most sweeteners, but you can check the list above.
- Bring the oil and sweetener to a gentle boil and turn down the heat a little. Let it bubble for a few seconds or a minute, depending on how hard you would like your granola to set. Remove the oil and sweetener from the heat when you are ready.
- Add your nut butter (if using) to the oil and sweetener mixture. Stir together. Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
- Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 18-25 minutes. Stir every 7-10 minutes and remove from oven when it has reached your desired "color." It will not necessarily be crispy until after you let it cool but you will notice everything getting nice and toasty brown as it bakes.
Notes
Wow! That sure looks really complicated when I type it all out like that BUT I promise it is so easy. My hope is that this granola guide helps you feel free to create and develop your own granola recipe just using this as a guide. Let me know if you like this format and if it was helpful for you in creating your own granola recipe!
-Suzi