My “granola journey” was a bit unexpected. Store-bought granola has always been too crunchy, sending my TMJ into overdrive. Then I was introduced to homemade granola, and the ability to control the crunch level. When I decided to try my hand at making some, I found a basic recipe from Cookie and Kate. I liked the ability to customize ingredients, and it was super easy to make. In the years since, I have tweaked it to better match our granola desires, and that recipe – or formula – is what I’m sharing with you today.
Ingredients:
The gorgeous part of this recipe is you can interchange so many elements of it to match your tastes and/or the ingredients you have on hand. The only thing you have to have is the oats.
4 Cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 Cup chopped (raw) nut of choice (I used pecans)
1 Cup seeds of choice OR more nuts OR a mix of seeds and nuts (I did 1/2 pumpkin and 1/2 sunflower)
1 Cup chopped dried fruit of choice (I used dates and a sprinkle of dried cherries)
generous 1/2 Cup of olive oil
generous 1/2 Cup of honey OR maple syrup
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of fine-grain sea salt or Himalayan pink salt
1-2 tsp of vanilla (we don’t really measure)
Process
1: Mix all dry ingredients together. I feel like this helps the cinnamon and salt disperse more evenly. And you really do want the salt, it brings all the other flavors to life.
2: Add wet ingredients. Mix until everything is well coated.
3: Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, and spread granola evenly.
4: Bake 20 minutes. Remove pan and “stir” granola, before spreading out to finish baking. You can also press it down slightly, as pictured, for a chunkier crunchy granola.
5: Bake another 15+/- minutes, depending on preferred crunch level.
6: Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan on a rack. For the chunkiest granola, do not disturb for at least 45 minutes.
Note: If desired, you can add chocolate chips to your granola at Step 6: the hot granola will melt the chocolate, and you can either quickly stir it in before continuing the cooling-and-setting OR leave the chips as they are and mix them in later.
Once completely cool, break up granola into desired “chunk size” for storage and keep in an airtight container. This recipe makes enough granola to last us about a week.
Mr likes big chunks, I like smaller bits.
We have fallen in love with fruit + yogurt bowls topped with granola this Summer. It’s something light and easy but packed full of good things. Using Greek yogurt also provides more protein.
Have you ever made granola?
What are your favorite flavors/ingredients in granola?
Have you ever eaten granola with milk as cereal? I saw this mentioned on a YT video and was very intrigued, but haven’t braved up enough to try it yet.
I’ve never had home-made granola, but pumpkin seeds? Manalive, granola with those would be interesting to try. I stumbled on some roasted pumpkin seeds in a store once and devoured them. Not sure what store, though. 😦
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The pumpkin seeds are really a must-have for us! We also buy the roasted (and salted, when available) for use on salads. We’ve lucked out at Walmart sometimes, but Food Lion and Whole Foods usually have some. 🙂
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This looks so good! TMJ is the worst!!! We love pumpkin seeds and use them in our salads.
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TMJ is the worst! It’s mostly under control in this phase of life, but sometimes it flares up with drama. Yessss, pumpkin seeds on salads are the best. 😀
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That looks so good, Rebecca! My mom used to make granola about once a month when we were kids, and I loved it so much. Even with her recipe mine never came out quite as good. She had a way of baking love into every single thing she made 🙂
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Some people definitely have a special something they – and only they – bring to a recipe ❤
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I have never made granola – I don’t eat granola very often. (I’m with you on the crunchiness being hard on my jaw!) But if I were going to eat it, I would try your recipe because it sounds yummy!
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❤ ❤ ❤
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My mouth was watering just reading the recipe! I was telling my husband today that we should try out the local home baker’s granola one of these days instead of the store bought ones .. now if only I can get that oven lol
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If you can’t make your own, definitely try someone else’s homemade! It is life changing 😉 And yes: more reasons to get an oven! lol 🙂
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I love making my own granola! We also are big fans of granola and yogurt. Except we are being weird about fruit this summer – thanks Michigan. I usually put blueberries in but now I am a little nervous! I wonder if I can sub in frozen? What do you think? Lol.
I am definitely trying this recipe!
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I hear ya on being weird about fruit; we had just bought the most gorgeous selection of berries and they started saying “eh, maybe not” around here – so we tossed them (the chickens gobbled up the blueberries)… So … yeah. But it’s peach season, so we’re able to get peaches grown 35 minutes down the road, and they’re so delicious. Also cherries, we’ve been buying cherries.
Frozen blueberries might work – they’ll definitely be a cold snack! I used to eat frozen blueberries in cereal.
Yay! I hope you love this recipe 😀 It’s so much fun to tinker with the combinations of nuts/seeds/dried fruit 🙂
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[…] enjoying. While the heat limits some of my baking, I’m still managing to make batches of this easy homemade granola, to enjoy with fresh {local} fruit and Greek yogurt. And with all of that, I still managed to have […]
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I appreciate how you emphasized the importance of salt in granola—it really does make a difference. I also had trouble with store-bought versions being too hard on my teeth, so controlling the crunch by pressing it down before the final bake is a great tip. For anyone experimenting, I found that using a mix of maple syrup and honey adds a nice depth of flavor, and adding a bit of coconut oil alongside the olive oil gives it a subtle richness. Have you tried adding a pinch of cardamom or nutmeg? It pairs well with the cinnamon. And yes, granola with milk is surprisingly good—it softens just enough without getting soggy if you eat it quickly. For more granola inspiration, this resource might be worth a look.
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