Healthy Homemade Granola Recipe (Crunchy & Delicious!)

Granola has to be in my top five favorite breakfast foods. Mix it with some greek yogurt and top it with some fresh fruit and you can’t beat it. However, many store-bought granolas (like most store-bought packaged food) often contain excessive sugars, seed oils, and preservatives. The good news is that making your own healthy homemade granola is surprisingly quick, easy, and guarantees a delicious and nutritious start to your morning routine. 

In this blog post, I’ll share the absolute best granola recipe that you will find yourself coming back to weekly. It’s definitely a staple in our house! If you like this granola recipe, you definitely want to check out my chocolate granola recipe, and my peanut butter granola recipe.

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The Problem With Store-Bought Granola

If you’ve read any of my other posts you are probably noticing a trend here. Store-bought = bad, homemade = good. Store-bought granolas often come with added sugars (ALOT of sugar) and unhealthy additives. These can lead to an immediate energy spike, followed by a crash later in the day. Not a great way to start your morning! Excessive processed sugar intake is also linked to various health issues, including weight gain, diabetes, and heart problems. By making your own granola at home, you can use only the best ingredients like real maple syrup, coconut oil, and organic rolled oats. 

Breakfast Is A Big Deal

A well-balanced breakfast sets the tone for the rest of your day. I think starting your day off with a protein rich breakfast can really help fuel a focused and productive day! Pairing this granola with greek yogurt or raw milk is a great way to give it a protein boost. Oats, a primary ingredient in this healthy homemade granola recipe, are rich in fiber. Additionally, nuts and seeds offer essential healthy fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, making this granola a wonderful choice for breakfast or snacks!

Reasons To Love This Recipe

Taste: Okay maybe I’m biased. But homemade granola tastes so much better than store-bought. Something about the flavor of real maple syrup and those extra crunchy clusters just does it for me. 

Unlimited variations: With homemade granola, there are almost unlimited possibilities. You can mix up the ingredients however you want, using different nuts or seeds, adding dried fruit, coconut, chocolate chips, you name it! I’m also working on a peanut butter granola recipe… say less. 

Real food ingredients: You can’t go wrong with real ingredients you can pronounce. Good healthy fats, and natural sweeteners. 

It’s almost too easy: Once you have all your ingredients, it only takes about 5 minutes to throw together (plus baking time). Bonus, your house will smell amazing after you cook up a batch.

How to Use Homemade Granola

Granola and yogurt are a match made in heaven. But other than that, here are a few ideas to use your delicious homemade granola:

1. Yogurt parfaits: Using a bowl or cup, place an even layer of granola, yogurt, and fresh berries. Bonus, add chocolate chips! 
2. Cereal replacement: Pour a little raw milk over the top for a much healthier alternative to grocery store cereal. Store-bought cereal has so much refined sugar! 
3. Granola Bars: I’ve also made healthy granola bars using this granola as a base. Mix with peanut butter, honey, protein powder, and dip in dark chocolate. They are a little messy but they honestly taste like candy bars. 
4. Toppings: Use as a topping on homemade acai smoothie bowls. 
5. Plain: This makes a great snack as is. My kids and husband love it plain too. 

Tips For Making The Best Granola

Tip #1: Use Good quality maple syrup. I’ve tried a few different kinds and it can really make or break the flavor. Opt for pure, real maple syrup.

Tip #2: Don’t skimp on the coconut oil or the cinnamon. You can’t have too much in my opinion! The coconut oil makes it super crunchy and the cinnamon really rounds out the flavor profile. 

Tip #3: For extra crunchy, clumpy granola, pack it down slightly when you take it out of the oven.  Let it cool completely and it will be in much bigger chunks when you break it up. 

Tip #4: Get creative with your variations, but remember to keep your ratios relatively the same. You don’t want to increase the dry ingredients without increasing the wet ingredients, or vice versa. Other than that, this recipe is so easy to tweak until you find your perfect combinations! 

Tools You Will Need

• Large mixing bowl
• Large wooden spoon
• Glass beaker
• Parchment Paper
• Large baking sheet

Ingredients for Healthy Homemade Granola

This simple granola recipe is so easy to whip up. You probably already have most of these ingredients in your kitchen! 

Old Fashioned Oats – Old fashioned oats give this granola great texture, but quick oats can work in a pinch. If possible, look for certified organic oats to avoid pesticides like glyphosate.

Nuts of Choice – I like to use almonds and pecans in this recipe, but you can customize with your favorite nuts or seeds.

Cinnamon – My favorite cinnamon to use in my cooking is organic ceylon cinnamon. I get mine from Azure standard in bulk, a great way to save some money! Also a pro tip.. always measure cinnamon with your heart. Can you have too much cinnamon?

Cardamom – This is an optional addition depending on your preference, but it adds a really delicious flavor!

Coconut oil – Coconut oil has so many health benefits and it’s a great oil to use in place of vegetable oils.

Maple Syrup – this granola is sweetened with real maple syrup. Make sure to use the real thing, and not pancake syrup or another cheap alternative.

Vanilla Extract

Salt – My favorite salt to use in everything is redmonds real salt

Variations: Try sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, whole almonds, cashews, or walnuts. Just remember to keep your ratios of dry to wet ingredients the same!

Some of my favorite add-ins: dried fruit, chocolate chips, coconut flakes

Note: This does make a large batch. I like it that way because we go through it so quickly!

How To Make Homemade Healthy Granola

Alright let’s get to it. Here’s how to make this easy homemade granola recipe. 

1. Preheat oven to 300. 
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 
3. In a large bowl, mix together oats, nuts, cinnamon, salt and cardamom (if using)
4. Using a small saucepan on the stove top, or the microwave, melt the coconut oil. 
5. Add the maple syrup to the melted coconut oil, and mix them together. Add the vanilla extract. 
6. Pour the wet ingredients over the oats mixture, and stir to combine. 
7. Spread the granola out over the lined baking sheet in an even layer
8. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes**
9. Once it’s done cooking, take it out of the oven and allow it to cool completely. This is where the granola really develops that nice crunch! ‘
10. Once the granola is completely cool, move to an airtight container to store. I like to store mine in a gallon ziplock bag, but you could also do a large glass mason jar or other container. 

Recipe Notes:

**The last 15 minutes can vary depending on how crispy you want your granola to be. Sometimes I take it out at 10, and others I let it go the full 15. It might depend on your oven and specific ingredients. 

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months!