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Forget store-bought! This Homemade Granola is so delicious you’ll never want to have store-bought granola again. You can totally customize it with all your favorite granola add-ins and anything you have at home in the pantry!

A white bowl filled with granola and placed on a larger round wood plate

Let’s make granola! Granola was invented in New York in the late-1800s and served at the Jackson Sanitarium, a popular health spa. It wasn’t made and sold on the mass market until the 1970s, though. These days there’s a huge market for granola and it comes in many different forms and flavors! Our favorite way to enjoy it? Make Homemade Granola! This way it’s totally customizable and so yummy. The best part is that it’s extremely easy to make. Let’s get cooking!

How to Eat Granola

One of the reasons so many people love granola is because it’s versatile. You can eat granola for breakfast in a bowl with milk like cereal, sprinkled over yogurt or parfaits, on a smoothie bowl in oatmeal, as an ice cream topping, or eat it by the handful by itself as a snack! You can even make Spiced Savory Granola to top your soup.

Several different sized jars with tahini granola with apricots and pistachios — In our cookbook Tahini and Turmeric we made a tahini-turmeric-apricot-pistachio granola

Ingredients in Homemade Granola

Here’s why we love homemade granola: it’s flexible and so easy to make at home. You can swap ingredients based on your preferences or to adapt to what you already have in your pantry!

Oats (use old-fashioned, not quick oats!)
A liquid sweetener such as maple syrup, agave, or honey
Fat - a neutral-tasting vegetable oil such as avocado or grapeseed work great for granola. You may also use extra virgin coconut oil if you want a coconut taste, tahini, or any nut or seed butter for a nuttier taste. In our cookbook Tahini and Turmeric, we use tahini for our granola
Vanilla extract for that freshly baked taste plus your house will smell amazing
A pinch of salt or spices such as cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, cardamom, pumpkin spice, etc

That’s your base. Here’s where you can start customizing! Our favorite granola add-ins…

Labeled ingredients for homemade granola. Oats, oil, maple syrup, coconut flakes, vanilla extracts, raw pecans, dried cranberries

Variations on your basic homemade granola recipe

Nuts: Use raw nuts like pecans, cashews, almonds, walnuts, pistachios or hazelnuts.
Flax seeds: Use regular or golden or a combination of the two
Dried fruit: cranberries, raisins, pineapple, mango, or blueberries are all tasty. Just add them after the granola is cooked so they don’t burn in the oven.
For a nut-free granola use seeds like sunflower, pepitas (pumpkin seeds), or chia
Coconut: Use shredded unsweetened coconut or coconut flakes
Chocolate chips: use dark, milk or white chocolate chips, just make sure you added them once the granola is cooked and has cooled

A jar filled with homemade granola with a spoon sticking out of the jar and a small bottle of milk in the background

Tips On How To Male Great Granola At Home:

Start by using the same amount of fat as sweetener and then adjust it to your taste. We sometimes use more fat than sweetener.
Use old fashioned oats, not quick oats.
Use a liquid fat like vegetable oil we like grapeseed, avocado, or melted coconut oil. You may also use a combination of oil and nut/seed butter and even tahini.
Use a liquid sweetener like honey, maple syrup, agave, etc. Using a liquid sweetener allows the oats to get evenly coated.
Use raw nuts, like pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, etc. Make sure you use raw nuts since they will roast in the oven.
If you want to make nut-free granola use seeds like sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, flax, chia, etc instead of nuts.
Always add dried fruit after the granola is cooked, if not they will get tough and possibly burn.
Bake granola at a low temperature (275F) for 45-55 minutes stirring every 15 minutes so it cooks evenly and doesn't burn.
Watch your granola carefully while in the oven, it can go from done to burnt in a couple of minutes.
Store in an airtight container, we love to use glass jars.
Granola freezes really well, it can be kept in the fridge or on the counter if planning to finish it within a week or less

How to Make Granola at Home

Start with a large mixing bowl and add oats, sweetener, fat, vanilla, salt, and spices (if using).
We like to use clean hands for this step! Just get in there! Squeeze everything together so all the oats are evenly coated.
Add nuts or seeds, then mix well one more time before spreading the mixture evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet. You might need two sheets since you want it in a thin, even layer!
Bake at 275 Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Peek in every 10-15 minutes and give it a stir so it cooks evenly.
Let it cool a bit, then add the dried fruit. Now leave it to cool completely before storing it in a sealed container. This is necessary so your granola keeps fresh longer. Enjoy!

Storing Homemade Granola

Once baked and cooled, your homemade granola can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week. We like using glass jars for storing granola! If you aren’t going to eat it within a week, pop your granola in the freezer until you’re ready to devour.

ingredients for homemade granola. Oats, oil, maple syrup, coconut flakes, vanilla extracts, raw pecans, dried cranberries

More Granola Recipes

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