Fuel your morning with high-protein, lightly-sweetened, crispy-crunch granola! Whether you enjoy it by itself or mixed with yogurt, fruit, milk, etc., this easy and versatile recipe will help you take the guesswork out of making yummy granola your way. An extra perk? Your whole home will smell delicious while it’s baking 🙂
Store-bought granola is hit or miss. Sometimes it’s too sweet, or has nuts or is too crunchy or hard. Also, with the quantity we go through, it’s both tastier and more economical to make granola at home.
Gluten-free, plant-based & vegan, nut-free, soy-free, and low FODMAP as well, this recipe is easily customizable if you want to vary the ingredients and quantities you use to create a texture, flavor and consistency unique to your preferences.
Let’s begin!
Lightly toast the oats. This is a key step to creating granola with a light, crispy crunch. I do this by adding uncooked, traditional oats to a pre-heated thick-bottomed pan. I toast them for 3-5 minutes at a medium-high temperature, stirring often to brown evenly.
This can also be done in the oven at 450F for about 8 minutes, stirring half-way through.
Set your oven temperature to 250F.
Add the wet ingredients to a medium mixing bowl, followed by the dry ingredients and combine.
I used maple syrup for the sweetener and virgin coconut oil this time around, but you can use your favorite alternatives. When using granulated sugar instead of a syrup, I dissolve it in about 2-4 tablespoons of water or unsweetened juice over low heat. Otherwise the sugar granules just rattle around separately from the oats after the granola is baked…not great.
Lastly, I use anywhere from 3 to 4 cups of traditional, dry oats with this recipe.
Spread the mixture over a parchment-lined baking pan and place in the oven.
Bake at 250 for 40-60 minutes (until browned), stirring in-between. You’ll notice that the clumps of oat-mixture begin to loosen around the 20-30 minute mark. Stirring with a metal spatula helps the clumps fall away and allows the granola to bake more evenly.
Remove the granola from heat and cool to room temperature. Store in a sealed container for 2 weeks. My guess is that the granola will be finished before then 🙂
Enjoy!
Granola
Ingredients
- 3 cups oats (uncooked, traditional style)
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (or oil of choice)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup (or sweetener of choice)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (to taste)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (to taste)
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (to taste)
- 1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
Instructions
- Lightly toast the oats. Stove top method: Heat a pan on medium-high and toast the oats for 3-5 minutes stirring often. Oven method: Heat an oven to 450F and toast the oats on a baking sheet for about 8 minutes, stirring half way through.
- Set your oven temperature to 250F
- Mix the maple syrup, oil and vanilla.
- Add the sunflower seeds, oats, salt and spices.
- Stir with a spatula to combine.
- Layer the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place in the oven and back at 250F for 40-60 minutes, until brown. Stir the mixture half-way through to allow an even bake.
- Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Store in a tightly lidded container at cool, dry location for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Actual nutrition facts will vary based on the exact ingredients and quantities used, as well as natural variations in raw ingredients.
Mel
7 Mar 2019Oh man, you weren’t kidding this is delish! Going low-FODMAP has been a bear but the serving size here is def filling and makes mornings sooo much better 🙂 Thaaanks!!
admin
7 Mar 2019Hi Mel–yay! That’s great to hear 🙂 Thanks for the comment!!
Rolando
9 Mar 2019This was delicious! I made a batch and had it with yogurt some times and milk other times. I enjoyed eating it for breakfast, pre-work out, and as an after-dinner snack. Loved the versatility! I’ll definitely be making this again! Thanks!
admin
10 Mar 2019That’s awesome, Rolando! I can totally relate–it seems we are constantly snacking on this stuff, too!