Easy Homemade Granola

Easy Homemade Granola is chocked full of healthy oats, nuts and seeds. It's amazingly easy to make - just stir together the dry ingredients, drizzle on the wet ingredients and pop in the oven for the most delicious granola that you can imagine. One taste and you'll never go back to the over-priced store-bought variety.

How Do You Like Your Granola?

Granola lovers tend to fall into one of two groups. One group likes the granola to be chunky, providing prized pieces for munching - like cookies.

The other group prefers the granola to be loose with very little clumping.

My preference for the granola is the chunky type somewhat tender type. A secret to producing chunky granola is to add a beaten egg white to help bind the ingredients.

To produce granola that was somewhat tender, I used quick oats as opposed to the traditional old-fashioned variety.

Ingredients for Easy Homemade Granola

There are endless variations for this recipe for Easy Homemade Granola.

The Oats: I used quick oats in this amazing granola. In addition, I processed half of the quick oats in my food processor to break down the pieces. This contributed to the tenderness of the granola. For a more traditional granola, use old-fashioned oats.

The Nuts: In addition to the quick oats, I used chopped pecans and chopped almonds. To enhance their flavor, I lightly toasted both the pecans and the almonds.

Instead of pecans and/or almonds, you could use walnuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios, cashews or whatever nuts suited your fancy.

The Seeds: For the seeds, I used sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds which are also knows as pepitas and sesame seeds. Each of these seeds provided an awesome crunch to the granola.

If you want to focus on healthy, try using flax seeds and/or chia seeds.

The Sweeteners: I like my granola to be on the sweet side. Therefore, I used both light brown sugar and honey. You could definitely omit the brown sugar and just use honey. You could also use maple syrup.

The Remaining Ingredients: I added a small amount of Kosher salt and some vegetable oil. You could also use coconut oil or olive oil here.

I also added a beaten egg white to help bind the ingredients together.

Towards the end of the cooking, I also added some dried cranberries. Raisins would also work well here. In addition, you could totally omit the fruit!

Combining the Ingredients

I started by adding the oats to a large bowl. Then, I added the pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and salt to the bowl.

Next, I added the brown sugar, honey, vegetable oil and beaten egg white. I stirred the ingredients together until everything was well coated.

Then, I dumped the granola onto a large rimmed sheet pan that I had covered with non-stick aluminum foil. I spread the granola evenly on the pan.

Cooking the Easy Homemade Granola

I popped the granola into a preheated 300°F oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, I removed the granola from the oven and added the dried cranberries.

I tossed the ingredients together pressed the mixture to even it out. Then, I returned the granola to the oven for an additional 20 minutes.

I let the granola cool for about 45 minutes. Then, I broke it up into pieces.

This Easy Homemade Granola is my go to breakfast and snack for any time. It's absolutely delicious. I'll never buy store-bought granola again. Yum!

Other Granola Recipes

If you're a fan of granola, check out these additional recipes:

• Chocolate Granola: Chocolate Granola is super easy to make and is yummy for breakfast either on its own or as a topping for yogurt. It’s full of healthy ingredients and will keep for several weeks when stored in an airtight container.
• Almond Craisin Granola: In addition to being delicious, this Almond Craisin Granola is filled with healthy ingredients.
• Chewy No-Bake Granola Bars: Chewy No-Bake Granola Bars are chock-full of healthy oats, almonds, dried cranberries, and chocolate chips. Unlike a lot of homemade granola bars, these delicious treats hold together when cut. They’re simple to make, and stay soft for up to a week in an airtight container. 

Chula's Expert Tips

• Granola typically uses old-fashioned oats. You could definitely use old-fashioned oats in this recipe. The resulting texture would be a bit less tender with old-fashioned oats.
• Even though the granola is baked, I like to start with lightly toasted pecan pieces and almonds. I toast the pecans for 8 minutes in a 350°F oven and toast the almonds for 10 minutes in a 350°F oven.
• Rather than vegetable oil, feel free to use olive oil, melted butter or coconut oil.
• The egg white helps to bind the ingredients together, producing a granola that clumps together. If you prefer a less clumpy granola, you can omit the egg white.
• Rather than dried cranberries, feel free to use raisins or a dried fruit of your choice. 
• Serve the granola with plain yogurt, milk or enjoy it all by itself as a snack.

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