This simple homemade granola recipe is sweet, crunchy, easy and delicious. It makes a great healthy snack or breakfast for busy mornings. Use this recipe as a base and make it your own with a wide variation of add-ins.
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Sure you can purchase granola from the grocery store, but I guarantee that granola will not taste as yummy as the one you are about to make. Store-bought granola's often have added sugar and salt and junk ingredients that we don't need.
This homemade granola recipe is so simple I promise you! Once you make it you will not want to go back to that store bought stuff. You'll also appreciate how inexpensive it is to create a yummy healthy and delicious granola, with high quality ingredients. This is the best granola recipe!
What You Need for homemade granola
Scroll down to the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Old fashioned rolled oats or quick oats- of course out to the star of the show and rolled oats is the only way to go do not try to use steel cut oats.
- Seeds/nuts- we're layering in texture with a few different types of nuts and seeds in this granola. If nuts aren't your thing or you're allergic you can totally leave these out.
- Dried fruit- we're adding more texture and balancing out the sweet with a little tartness from dried cranberries.
- Real maple syrup- layering on more flavor and adding some sweetness with one of my favorite natural sweeteners.
- Cinnamon
- Oil- we need something to bind our granola and help get that crunch going.
How to make simple homemade granola
Let's make this simple homemade granola.
Set your oven by setting it to 350°F. While your oven is heating, set out all of your ingredients.
Combine all of your dry ingredients and wet ingredients except for the cranberries in a large mixing bowl. You can use a mixing spoon but I usually wear gloves and use my hands to mix. My kids love helping with this step because it's messy and fun.
Spread your ingredients evenly on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. This will ensure that the granola cooks evenly and you get a nice crunch.
Add cranberries at the last 5 minutes of baking.
Remove the sheet pan from the oven and allow granola to cool completely before eating and storing.
Add ins for your granola
As I mentioned above the beauty of this homemade granola recipe is you can make it your own once you have this base. Here are some of my favorite add-ins and swaps:
Nuts
I like a nutty granola because of the added texture. We're using pumpkin seeds and almond slivers, and chopped walnuts for this recipe. However, you can totally take out nuts if that's not your jam. Adding walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds, and or flax seeds would be great additions for added crunch.
Oil
We’re using vegetable oil in this recipe, but any oil will do. Some other great options are olive oil, coconut oil (for added flavor), or melted butter.
Sweetener
I love the warm natural sweetness that the maple syrup gives this granola. Some other options are brown sugar, honey, or agave. If you feel like adding more dried fruit and believe that that would give it enough sweetness you can totally eliminate the sweetener.
Spices
You know we're all about flavors over here and enhancing your flavor profile with spices is the best way to do that. Add spices such as vanilla extract, ground ginger, allspice, or even pumpkin spice seasoning for a nice robust fall flavor.
Toppings
I kept it simple with the fruit in this granola and just added cranberries. However feel free to add in raisins dried, apricots chopped up, dried apples, shredded coconut flakes, or even chocolate chips. Note if you are adding chocolate chips you would need to add them to the granola mixture after it is completely cool.
If you want your granola coated with chocolate or even peanut butter I would suggest adding in those ingredients and tossing them right after you remove the granola from the oven. So they can melt.
How to store your homemade granola
Make sure your granola is completely cool before storing, otherwise you're going to end up with a soggy granola and we don't want that!
Store your granola in an airtight container. I like to store mine in glass canisters, with the little scooper easy dispensing. You can store it at room temperature and it will last for up to 2 weeks. Ours never last that long and yours probably won't either.
You can also store it in a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator or the freezer which will allow it to last even longer. I like to make a double batch sometimes.
Tips for serving your granola
I love serving mine on top of smoothie bowls and yogurt parfaits. I love to eat mine with Greek yogurt and top with fresh berries. Added to a fresh fruit salad for some crunch. You can also enjoy it with your favorite milk as a cereal. I've even added it on top of oatmeal to give it a nice crunch.
Tools to use for this recipe
Simple Homemade Granola Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Rolled oats or quick oats
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- ½ cup slivered almonds
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup real maple syrup
- ¼ cup vegetable oil You can use any oil or butter
Instructions
- Set your oven by setting it to 350°.
- Combine all of your dry ingredients and wet ingredients except for the cranberries in a large mixing bowl.
- Spread your ingredients evenly on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Stirring every 5 minutes. This is to ensure the granola cooks evenly.
- Add cranberries at the last 5 minutes of baking.
- Remove the sheet pan from the oven and allow granola to cool completely before storing.
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