Classic Granola Recipe

Granola is definitely one of my favorite breakfast meals, but quality granola can be expensive when buying it at the store. I never knew how easy it was to DIY it until about a year ago, and I haven't bought the kind from the store since. There are a ton of different various you can try, but here is a very high quality, nutritious, classic granola recipe.


I love making this granola from scratch because I know exactly what's in it, and what's going into my body. This recipe if full of flavor and loaded with energy to keep you going all morning. It has lots of nuts, seeds, and oats, giving you a good balance of healthy fats, carbs, and protein. The base of this granola is rolled, oat-fashioned oats. These oats are significantly better for you than instant oats. Instant oats are processed oats that basically have all their nutrition removed. Oats are probably my favorite whole-grain since research has many good things to say about them. They are particularly known for lowering cholesterol, as well as a host of other health benefits.

The nut/seed/oats ratio in this granola is super forgiving, so you can basically use any nuts and seeds you have or like and omit the rest, or replace them with something else.

I use coconut oil and maple syrup as my wet ingredients in this recipe. Coconut oil is having an amazing moment these days. It is the new go-to healthy oil. The health benefits are endless, so I'm not even going to begin the list here. I am also using maple syrup because it is a pure natural sweetener, and totally delicious.

Here are the ingredients I used...

Base ingredients

• 2 cups rolled old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup of cashews
• 1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Extra flavor

• 3/4 cup mixed dried fruit
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Wet ingredients

• 1/4 cup of coconut oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

2. Combine oats, nuts, and seeds in a large bowl. Set aside. 

3. Heat coconut oil on the stove just long enough to melt it. This should only take a few seconds. Turn off the heat and stir the maple syrup into the melted coconut oil. 

4. Pour the maple syrup and coconut oil into the bowl of oats, seeds, and nuts. Stir the mixture until the oats, nuts, and seeds are thoroughly coated with the wet ingredients. Lay the mixture on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, stir the granola a little bit on the tray and bake for another 5 minutes. 

5. When the granola is done, stir in the dried fruit and chocolate chips. The reason you shouldn't bake them with the rest of the mixture is because the dried fruit with get very hard and the chocolate chips will melt. If you stir in the chocolate chips while the granola is still hot it slightly melts and spreads little into the mixture, which I enjoy. 

6. Eat plain as it is, or as a breakfast cereal. I like to pour in some milk and add some fresh fruit on top. Fresh chopped apples go particularly well with this granola.