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Granola is a staple in my house and I make it often. Healthy granola is a great snack to have around and this recipe is super cinchy! And for more meals you can make with inexpensive pantry staples, check these out.
I’ve been making granolafor years, but a few years ago, I got a recipe I really loved from my friend Fairlight. She’s married to a friend from high school and I met her on Facebook. She’s a homeschooling, stay at home mom who is amazing!
A week or so ago someone called me a granola-eating tree hugger, and I was so touched. I told them that was the nicest thing I had been called in a while.
So what do I and my Little Sprouts do with granola? We use it in our yogurt parfaits, click here to read about how we make them. We eat it for cereal (Mr. Kent especially loves that), top fruit crisps with it, make it into granola bars, and just eat a handful for a snack.
Healthy granola
I have some issues with milk, so I use rice milk as a substitute. I make sure my diet has a lot of calcium from dark leafy greens and seeds. Nuts are a great source of calcium too, but I am also allergic to nuts, so I stick with seeds.
Sesame seeds are very high in calcium and I add them to our food whenever appropriate. They also contain magnesium which you need to absorb calcium. And a host of other nutrients. They are great for you. Granola is a great place for them! Click here to see other high calcium foods you can supplement your diet with if you can’t consume milk.
I am also allergic to cinnamon. It’s hard to find granola without cinnamon, so that’s just one more reason I enjoy making my own.
Granola is a filling, high-protein snack that can also be taken on the go. Mr. Kent keeps granola at work for when the hungries hit. Each recipe makes a lot of granola and it’s fairly simple to make.
You can either bake it in the oven at 225, stirring every 15 minutes for a couple of hours or if you are going to be home all day, you can even make it in the crockpot. It takes about 7 hours to dry it out, but you use the same recipe listed below for the oven, you just dump all the ingredients in the crockpot and put the lid ONLY HALF WAY on to let the steam escape. Stir it thoroughly every 30 minutes, and voila, granola.
Mix all ingredients together (Fairlight uses her hands to incorporate it)
Spread mixture on shallow baking pans, the thinner the better
Place the pans in the oven and reduce heat to 225
Bake 1-2 hours, stirring well every 15 minutes.
Notes
Granola can be made in the crock pot. See post for how to do that.
Adapted from Granola Recipe by Fairlight Kloxin
A great tip for recipes that you use over and over again like granola is to print them out and place them in page protectors and tape to the inside of your cabinets where your baking ingredients are.
This saves a ton of time getting the recipe out each time, it’s always right there. I have my granola recipe posted there along with my wheat bread recipe and other staples in our household.
Granola bar recipe
For some yummy granola bars packed with energy, check out this post about how to make nut free granola bars.
You can make this granola organic by buying organic oats and other ingredients to make it. It’s much less expensive than store-bought organic granola and again, you can control the ingredients that go in it.
Granola is healthy in small amounts, especially because oats, nuts, seeds and dried fruit in granola provide some fiber that's good for heart and gut health. However, granola can also be a rich source of calories, saturated fat and sugar, depending on the brand you buy.
Homemade granola bars are a great alternative to store-bought ones. Because they typically use minimally processed ingredients and very little added sugar or salt, they're often more nutritious than packaged versions.
Try adding it to your favorite smoothie to give it an extra boost of fiber from the whole grains, healthy fats and added flavor. It's also an easy way to increase calories in a smoothie. Personally, I think it would be a delicious addition to my Strawberry Peanut Butter Smoothie!
Which One Is Better for Breakfast? Both oatmeal and granola make for a healthy, nutritious breakfast, but the winner for us is granola—the added nuts, seeds, and dried fruits give you a source of fiber and healthy fats that oatmeal can't quite compete with.
High-fiber foods, like the oats and whole grains found in granola, fill you up and keep you feeling fuller longer. Dietary studies have found eating a high-fiber diet can help you lose weight.
Chia seeds are often praised for their binding powers. In fact, they secure ingredients so well that they can even be used as an egg replacer. Adding just a spoonful of chia seeds to your favorite granola bar recipe will make a huge difference in its texture.
They save well (wrap and freeze them for up to two months), are more affordable than store-bought bars, and don't contain the long list of unpronounceable ingredients. Plus, your kitchen will smell like a bakery while these granola bars bake. Ahhhh.
Higher temperatures can cause ingredients like nuts, seeds, and coconut to burn before the batch has a chance to properly dry out and crisp up, Perry says. Stick with a low temperature, keep an eye on your mixture, and stir it from time to time to help it brown evenly.
Roll strawberries or bananas in nut butter (or a nut-free substitute) and top with Chocolate Granola for a sweet treat. Jazz up a pudding cup with your granola of choice. Top baked fruit, such as apples, with a generous handful of granola. Mix granola into muffin, brownie or cake batter.
Serve it with either dairy milk or dairy-free milk like almond milk, soy milk, or oat milk. Yogurt: make yourself a yogurt bowls with some fruit and granola for crunch. Since going vegan, I like to serve it with a non-dairy yogurt. Reduce your added sugar intake by serving with an unsweetened yogurt.
Without anything added to it, muesli is healthier than granola in the sense that it has less fat and sugar. However, if it's prepared with juice or contains a lot of dried fruit, muesli gains the sugar, calories, and carbohydrates that already exist in granola.
Granola is a significant source of important vitamins and minerals. It is typically made from oats, which contain micronutrients like Vitamin E, folates, zinc, iron, selenium, copper, manganese, choline and more. These all play crucial roles in the human body. Vitamin E is vital for immune function and skin health.
How much granola should you eat a day? The prevailing belief is that you should consume 45-50g of granola daily. This is frequently the recommended portion size on the granola cereal package. Suggested portion sizes are often 45g, only about three tablespoons full.
What is a serving size of granola? The serving size for granola can differ by brand, but a typical portion of granola is 1/3 cup, says Sass, “about the size of one-third of a tennis ball.” That means sitting down to a big bowl of granola for breakfast is excessive.
When stored properly at room temperature, fresh homemade granola can last for up to four weeks. Preserve its quality by letting it cool completely before storing. Packing it while it's warm leads to condensation and, consequently, unnecessary moisture.
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