I love this maple honey granola because it is a great crunchy snack or an easy side for breakfast. It’s good on its own or mixed in with smoothies and yogurt. My husband likes to eat it for breakfast with milk.
However, I shied away from regularly buying granola because it can be costly, or I didn’t like the ingredients included, particularly the oil. I finally decided to just make my own, and now we have granola prepped and on hand all the time! It’s easy to make, and you can have a large batch prepared in under 30 minutes—most of the time is baking so you are free to do other things!
The maple honey granola is easy to make and full of flavor. Store-bought granola will lose its appeal once you make a batch of your own and customize it exactly the way you want!
Oats
I use 100% whole grain, old-fashioned oats for this recipe. That said, if you have friends or family who need gluten-free granola, you might consider oats certified as gluten free to avoid contamination from wheat, barley, and rye during processing.
Nuts and Seeds
Customizing your own granola is fun! You can use a variety of nuts and seeds to suit your tastes and preferences. I typically use raw sliced almonds and pumpkin pepitas, but I added chia seed to my recent batch of this recipe as well, and it’s delicious. If you would like to add chia seed to this recipe, add about 1 tablespoon in step 2 of the recipe below.
Sweetener and Spice
I use pure maple syrup and honey as natural sweeteners. I find that this is enough for the granola, and the oil is not required—it tastes great without it. My husband and I love how this granola turns out, and oil, which seems to be favored in many granola recipes, doesn’t seem necessary to me—so we omit it entirely!
I use vanilla extract for additional flavor and a bit of sea salt. You can also add ground cinnamon to this recipe. If you would like to add cinnamon to your granola, add 1 to 2 teaspoons in step 2 of the recipe below.
Dried Fruit
I love all natural dried blueberries, and I use them in this recipe for the dried fruit. I feel like this is a little different and unexpected. The blueberries go well with the maple and honey and the blend of nuts and seeds. If you can’t find dried blueberries you can substitute dried cranberries or raisins instead, it will still be delicious!
How to Make Granola
I bake my granola in the oven, and I find that 20 minutes at 350 F produces consistent results. I use parchment paper for easy clean up and to prevent the sticky maple syrup and honey from sticking to my baking sheet. It’s also helpful when you break up the pieces of granola at the end and you can easily transfer the last remaining bits to your container for storage.
When I transfer the granola to the parchment paper for baking, I like to make sure I have used my spatula to spread the granola into one even layer with no space between the individual ingredients. Pressing down on the ingredients with the spatula creates nice solid chunks of granola after it has finished baking.
I recommend checking your granola at the 15 minute mark. If your oven is running hot you want to be sure you keep an eye on it and remove the granola when it develops a nice golden color.
If you need to, because of baking sheet size constraints, you can bake this quantity of granola in two batches. Just spoon half of the mixture onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and proceed as normal. Once the first batch is complete and transferred to a storage container, you can bake the second batch using the same baking sheet.
Storing Granola
I store my granola in a glass container with an airtight lid in the refrigerator. It keeps well in there, and we always eat all of it before it goes bad. In fact, I make this recipe about once a week, or at a minimum, every two weeks for our family.
How to Eat Granola
We eat our granola in a variety of ways, most of which is determined by who is eating it. I tend to eat the granola as a snack by itself or in my smoothies and as a topping for my overnight oats. You can enjoy your granola a number of ways:
- as cereal with milk
- with a side of fresh fruit
- mixed with yogurt
- as a trail mix
- as homemade granola bars
- in smoothies
- as topping for parfaits
These are just some of the ways to enjoy this delicious granola!
Maple Honey Granola
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Makes about 6 cups of granola
Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing bowl (large)
- Spatula
- Baking sheet(s)
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- 4 cups of whole grain old-fashioned oats
- 2 cups of raw sliced almonds
- 1 cup of pumpkin pepitas
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (optional)
- 1/2 cup of dried blueberries
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, almonds, pepitas, and sea salt and mix to evenly distribute the ingredients.
- Add maple syrup, honey, and vanilla extract and mix to combine all of the ingredients.
- Carefully transfer the mixture to the parchment-lined baking sheet and spread into an even layer. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes.
- Remove baking sheet from the oven and let the granola cool completely.
- Break the granola into chunks and stir in the dried blueberries. Transfer the granola to an airtight container. Enjoy!
