This recipe is super yummy and so flexible! Below is our favorite cereal version, but there are many ways to tweak the recipe depending on your preferences. For the nuts you can put either all almonds or all cashews (or split them as listed below or even try a totally different type of nut). Also, the same thing works for the seeds – you can either put in all pumpkin seeds or all sesame seeds or put in half and half. You could easily play around with the amounts of sesame seeds and flaxseeds as well. If you can’t find unsweetened shredded coconut you can leave it out completely.
If you want granola cereal make it with rolled oats. If you want granola bars then substitute steel cut oats for the rolled oats, and I also like to add dried fruit bits before baking the bars. For the cereal, once it has baked and cooled completely, you want to put it in a gallon zip lock to break it up into small cereal pieces. If you are making granola bars just break off big chunks instead of using a bag. Don’t expect perfectly uniform rectangles for your granola bars – these are homemade after all!
Print This Recipe
Granola Bars / Cereal
Yield: 3 pounds
Recipe adapted from Anson Mills
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups rolled oats (if you want bars use steel cut oats so it will stick together better)
- 1 cup raw sliced almonds
- 1 cup raw cashew pieces (or walnuts or pecans)
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (I could only find unsweetened at Earth Fare, which is similar to Whole Foods)
- 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Also need – parchment paper
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Cover a rectangular baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix the dry oats, almonds, cashews, coconut, seeds and spices together in a large mixing bowl.
- Heat the butter and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Once the butter melts stir in the vanilla.
- Pour the hot liquids over the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula until evenly coated.
- Spread mixture onto prepared pan in one even layer. Bake for 75 minutes.
- The granola will become crisp as it cools at which point you can break into pieces (if making bars) or break it up into small chunks by pounding it in a zip lock bag (if making cereal). Store in air tight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
I see the recipe calls for “raw” seeds and nuts. Would it work if they were not raw? My twin sister and I are going to do this and are having a hard time finding raw.
My only concern is that they would get overcooked since they’ve already been roasted, but you could try it. Healthfood stores usually carry the “raw” ones. Good luck!
That’s what I was afraid of. Unfortunately, we don’t have any whole food stores close by. I will keep searching. Thanks for the reply!
I get my raw nuts at Costco. They come in a large bag, and the cost is great! They carry pecans, walnuts, and almonds. (They are in the baking section.) Most grocery stores carry raw nuts in the baking aisle if you don’t care if they are organic or not.
You should try local farmers. I know plenty of locals (in my area at least) that sell raw nuts of all varieties! Peanuts, Almonds, Pecans included. The only thing that’s difficult for me to find raw is cashews.
I found all of the raw nuts and seeds as well as the unsweetened coconut at Harris Teeter.
Delicious recipe, by the way!
[...] Real Food didn’t help. I decided I would make granola for snacking and breakfasts. I used this recipe and found it to be easier than I thought and much tastier than I expected. I omitted the [...]
We love, love, love your granola recipe! Though, I skip the seeds and do a cup each of pecans, almonds and cashews. I would make it more often, but with 3 cups of nuts, it’s a little pricey. Also, it NEVER lasts a week! I use an easy baking tip I got from a post on the heavenly homemakers website, bake the granola at 375 for 10 minutes, then turn the oven off and let the granola sit overnight. Super easy, uses less energy and the granola comes out perfect every time. I’ll stick to my own granola bar recipe though, because mine stick together better, so they are prefect for stocking the freezer
So Kristin, what would be your recipe for granola bars?
My husband LOVES Q. chewy granola bars, this recipe is a healthier substitute.
Granola Bars
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup golden flax meal
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 large egg
scant 2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil (in liquid state)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Mix dry ingredients, add wet ingredients and stir until thoroughly coated, stir in chocolate chips, pour into greased 9×13 metal baking pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Cut into bars while still warm. The bars are softer when eaten fresh, but can be frozen for long term storage.
1 cup nuts or dried cranberries or cherries can be substituted for the chocolate chips and/or add 1 tsp cinnamon if desired.
This is a great granola bar recipe! Thank you! We love it! I will have to make it with cherries next time!
I am wondering if there is a possible substitute for the oats? We just learned that our daughter is allergic to gluten and grain. These look so amazing and I am looking for some great cereal-like breakfast options.
Someone told me they used puffed rice once (1-ingredient whole-grain brown puffed rice) and that it worked!
They do make certified gluten free oats(Bob’s) that I love. I have Celiac’s Disease and am very sensitive to oats if they are not the gluten free variety.
To Lindsay:
I found a recipe that just uses nuts and seeds and no granola for a grain free bar: http://deliciouslyorganic.net/granola-bars-grain-free-recipe/
Yield 12-16 Bars
1 1/2 cups chopped almonds (dehydrated or toasted)
1 1/2 cups chopped cashews (dehydrated or toasted)
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.)
3 Tbsp coconut oil (or unsalted butter) melted
2/3 cup light honey
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 Tbsp celtic sea salt
See website for directions. I hope this helps.
[...] had our homemade yogurt sprinkled with homemade granola (here’s the recipe I used) as part of our [...]
I was wondering what the serving size for the granola is. I’ve been trying to incorporate more reall food into our diet, but also am trying to lose weight. I think “portion control” is a big issue for me personally………..
Thanks!
Julee
Yes, portion control is pretty important! A serving size is between 1/2 and 3/4 cup + milk of course.
This recipe is in my oven right now! Thank you so much for your blog and your inspiration. We are transforming our food budget and the way we eat thanks to great blogs like yours!
Oh my gosh this is so good. I was really not expecting it to taste this good. Much better than store bought
I made this for my family this weekend. It was a hit, even with my husband! The only problem I have is trying to make it last longer. They love it so much, I can’t keep them out of it!! Thank you for the recipe. I will be making it again and trying different variations of it. Thanks!
I’m wondering. I make granola ‘cereal’ for my little girlies once a week. My recipe calls for oil and I usually use coconut oil. Wow! It takes great. Now, that gets pretty spendy. If I don’t want to slpurge on coconut oil what would be the next best thing to use? Olive oil, butter? Should I pay extra for coconut oil?
Thanks for your help.
Definitely try organic butter…that’s what we use (and it’s cheaper!)
Hello,
I just recently found your website and am so glad I did. I’m looking for an alternative to store bought cereal for my boys (age 6&3). They don’t eat any nuts and I’m not sure they’d go for granola. Do you have any suggestions?
-Leslie
A couple decent choices that all are 1 whole-grain ingredient are Shredded Wheat (my daughter prefers Barbara’s “Biscuits” version) and the puffed grain cereals like brown rice, corn puffs, etc. Unfortunately there aren’t very many choices! Also FYI – You can sub additional sunflower or pumpkin seeds instead of the nuts in the granola.
I made this granola las night and it was delicious.. But for some reason a lot of the seeds and nuts didn’t clump together. I wonder if I spread it out too thin? Should I make it a little thicker?
If you use rolled oats it won’t stick together in big clumps like it does when using steel cut oats. Glad you enjoyed it.
Will it work without the parchment paper?
I wouldn’t recommend it…you might end up with a big sticky mess.
I made this yesterday and it is yummy! I just read in deliciously organic that you should soak raw nuts to neutralize the enzymes to make them easier to digest. Are you supposed to do that for this recipe?
You don’t have to…I don’t!
Just a comment about getting bars to stick together – I have another real food granola bar recipe that calls for using regular rolled oats and blending them in a food processor or blender with the nuts until they are finely ground, then mixing with other ingredients and pressing firmly into a baking pan. I haven’t tried this recipe yet, (it looks great!) but thought that technique of blending the nuts and oats might help get them to stick into bars better.
Just made this yesterday, and oh my, I am in love!! This recipe is so much better than all the the store bought granola I have had. It smelled so good baking in the oven! And tasted even better! Left out the ginger and pumpkin seeds (just used more sunflower seeds in its place) and it turned out great!! Thanks Lisa!
Thanks for posting this recipe, I have been wanting to make my own granola. We usually buy our granola from Sprouts but it may be time to switch over to homemade.
I made a batch this morning (minus the sunflower and pumpkin seeds) and it not only smelled delicious while cooking, but tasted that way too! I’ll make some more when this runs out (I’m the only one in the house who will eat it) and I think next time I’ll add in some flax and raisins. Also, I ran out of parchment paper and had no problems with getting it off the cookie sheet or clean up.
My husband is highly allergic to nuts, do you think it would be ok to add more seeds (pumpkin/sunflower) to make up for the lack of nuts? Thanks so much!
Yes, that will definitely work.
You could always just add more oatmeal!!! I LOVE oatmeal, and next time I make it, I will be adding more!
I just found this and am excited to try. Did you list the nutritional info somewhere I missed? And idea on the approx. calories? Thanks so much!
Leslie – We actually don’t count calories (on purpose)…so I am not able to share that with you. Sorry!
I made this last week, and it is great! Instead of having to put it in a ziploc bag and bang it, I actually stirred it every 5 minutes (until it cooled) after it came out of the oven. So, I didn’t have any large pieces that needed to be broken up! Worked great for me!!! (Ziploc baggies are pretty fragile, and tear easily…I didn’t want any possibility of plastic remnants in mine!!!)
Thanks for all you do!!!
Is there any way to figure out the calories and fat per serving for the granola? I can figure out the total but am at a loss to convert that to 1/2 cup serving. Thank you!
Sorry we don’t count calories/fat grams/carbs/etc. (on purpose) so I am not able to help you out with that one!
This is the BEST granola I’ve ever made!! I can’t wait for my kids to get home! I made four different kinds for them to see which one they like best. Your recipe is my favorite. Thanks for the recipe!
I just made this granola and it is absolutely delicious! My husband was even picking at it and it wasn’t even cooled yet. Thanks!
[...] making my own granola this morning and my-oh-my, this is heaven. My version is adapted from the 100 Days of Real Food [...]