Bake this Healthy Homemade Granola Recipe with honey and maple syrup for a nutritious breakfast that can be made ahead and eaten on the go. You can customize with add-ins of your choice, plus this baking method is sure to get crunchy granola clusters that everyone will love!
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This recipe has been developed and perfected over the last decade. Having a stash of homemade granola in the pantry has been a strategy of mine for easy, on-the-go breakfasts for a long time, but once I discovered the secret to really crunchy clusters it truly became a family favorite.
🥇 Why it’s great!
- It is filled with high fiber oats plus nutritious nuts, seeds, and fruit, and without the refined sugars used in commercially available granolas.
- With only 15 minutes of hands on time to mix up, it’s the perfect quick and easy make-ahead breakfast or snack option.
- The unusual baking method produces crunchy granola clusters perfect for a bowl of cereal or tossing in yogurt.
🍯 Ingredients
Natural sweeteners: This recipe uses honey, maple syrup, and molasses for well-rounded flavor. The molasses is optional, but it adds a depth of flavor and is full of minerals as an added bonus.
Oil: Any neutral flavored oil will work. I have made this with coconut oil, canola oil, avocado oil, and vegetable oil. They all taste the same with the exception of the coconut oil. It can leave behind a hint of coconut flavor.
Oats: Old-fashioned rolled oats provide the texture you want for this recipe. If you use quick oats the texture does not turn out the same.
Dried fruit, nuts, and seeds: This is where you can really get creative. See the options in the add-in section below.
Cinnamon: The perfect warming spice. Add as much or as little as you prefer.
🥣 Instructions
Now to answer the question of how to make this healthy granola.
- Preheat the oven to 250ºF. While it gets hot, warm the honey, maple syrup, molasses, and oil on the stove or in the microwave.
- Get out your largest bowl and mix together the oats, cinnamon, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit of your choice. If the bowl is too small it will be harder to mix, but in a large bowl everything combines easily.
- Pour the warmed liquid over the dry ingredients. Stir until everything is evenly coated. At this point you can let it sit covered for up to 4 hours, or you can bake immediately.
- Grab two cookie sheets with sides. These are my favorite ones from Sam’s Club, but anything like this will do. Line them with parchment paper for easy clean up. If you aren’t lining the pans, then I suggest spraying them with nonstick baking spray.
- Cook for a total of 90 minutes, carefully stirring each every 30 minutes and rotating the pans between oven racks every time you stir.
- Once the 90 minutes is complete, remove the granola from the oven, stir one last time, and pat it down gently. Now, here is the main secret to the crunchiest granola. Put it back in the oven that is still hot, turn the oven off, and leave it in the oven until completely cool. I prefer to bake this after dinner and leave it overnight.
- Once it is completely cool break or crumble with your hands. Store in an airtight container.
🥜 Optional add-in ideas
- Dried fruit: regular raisins, golden raisins, cranberries, cherries, blueberries, apricots, mango, apples, coconut.
- Nuts: Walnuts, pecans, cashews, macadamia, peanuts, pistachios.
- Seeds: Flax, chia, sesame, pumpkin (pepitas), sunflower.
👨👩👧👦 For a crowd
My family of 7 can go through a batch of this granola in a week. In order to make the work feel worth it, I always double the recipe. The same will work if you are feeding a crowd. This is a fantastic recipe for baby and bridal showers. There are a couple important changes if you want to double this recipe.
- Be sure you have access to three oven racks. If you only have two, it might be better to make two separate batches on different days.
- Spread the mixture onto three cookie sheets instead of two and bake for 120 minutes instead of 90. That will help the thicker layer of granola cook all the way through.
🙋 Questions and Answers
Granola that is stored in an airtight container at room temperature should last for several weeks.
Yes. Make the mixture in the afternoon (or no more than 4 hours ahead of when you want to bake), cover the bowl and allow it to sit until after dinner. Spread onto cookie sheets as directed and bake according to the recipe. This is my favorite method because by the time dinner is done I usually don’t want to do much else in the kitchen.
The easiest way is to grab some with your hand and pop it in your mouth. 😋 However, in a bowl with the milk of your choice or in Greek yogurt for a protein kick are two of our favorites.
👨🏼🍳 Tips & Tricks
- Be sure to mix until everything is evenly moist.
- The biggest tip is to follow the baking directions as directed. That is the key to crunchy granola clusters!
📖 Other breakfast recipes
For an amazing weekend breakfast, try these recipes! It will change an ordinary weekend into an extraordinary one.
- Start with this easy Oven-Baked Bacon.
- Apple Pie Biscuits will change your world! Tender biscuits covered in cinnamon sugar and baked in a perfectly spiced apple pie filling. Oh my!
👋 Connect with us!
If you try this recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below to let us know how it is! We’d also love to connect with you on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. Tag @borrowedbites or hashtag #borrowedbites to show us your food!
📋 Recipe
Healthy Homemade Granola Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup honey
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp molasses optional
- ¾ cup neutral oil canola, vegetable, coconut, sunflower, avocado, etc.
- 8 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- ¼ cup ground flax seed
- 2 cups chopped nuts and seeds any combination
- 2 tbsp cinnamon plus an extra tablespoon if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray heavily with baking spray.
- On the stove or in the microwave warm the honey, maple syrup, molasses, and oil.
- In a large bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients. Add in liquid mixture and stir until everything is evenly coated.
- Spread mixture onto cookie sheets. Cook for a total of 90 minutes, stirring and rotating the pans between oven racks every 30 minutes. After cooking for 90 minutes, stir one final time, then gently press and smooth over the top of the granola. Place the granola back in the oven, turn it off, and close the door. Allow the granola to cool in the oven until room temperature, at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Once cool, break up with hands and place in an airtight container.
Notes
- The biggest tip is to follow the baking directions as directed. That is the key to crunchy granola clusters.
- Be sure to mix until everything is evenly moist.
- Dried fruit: regular raisins, golden raisins, cranberries, cherries, blueberries, apricots, mango, apples, coconut
- Nuts: Walnuts, pecans, cashews, macadamia, peanuts, pistachio.
- Seeds: Flax, chia, sesame, pumpkin (pepitas), sunflower.
Nutrition
All nutrition information is provided by a third party and is an estimate only. Use your own nutritional calculator for more specific measurements.
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