Easy Customizable Homemade Granola Recipe
This basic homemade granola recipe can be customized for food preferences and allergies or to use whatever ingredients you happen to have in your pantry.
What’s your excuse for not making homemade granola? Do you think it will be hard? Couldn’t be easier! Afraid it won’t taste as good as store-bought? No way! Think you don’t have the right ingredients on hand? I bet you do!
I’m tackling those excuses head-on with this super easy, healthy, family pleasing homemade granola recipe that you can customize with whatever ingredients you happen to have in your pantry!
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Why Homemade Granola Is So Much Better
If you have an oven, a couple of mixing bowls and a rimmed baking sheet, you have no excuse for not making homemade granola! I’ve made more batches than I can count over the years and my family gobbles it up fast.
I feel good that it’s full of healthy ingredients (and no unhealthy preservatives or additives) and is better for them than most breakfast cereal (although healthier, low-sugar breakfast cereals do exist).
Here’s why homemade granola is better than store-bought:
Lower Cost – An 8 to 12-oz bag of specialty granola can easily cost $8 to $12 ($1.00 per ounce). Meanwhile, raw rolled oats cost about $.10 or less per oz. (or pay a little bit more for organic rolled oats). I suggest buying nuts and dried fruit from the bulk bins (or at Costco, Trader Joe’s or Thrive Market) for good prices. Same goes for the sweeteners and oils used in granola – grab good deals when you see them and keep them stocked in your pantry.
Healthier – Beware! Store-bought granola can be very high in sugar and may contain unhealthy oils or other surprising ingredients like corn syrup, flour, or soy protein isolates. When you make your own granola, you have control over the amount and type of sugar, the type of oil and all of the other ingredients that go into it.
Customized Recipe – With my basic homemade granola recipe, it’s easy to customize each batch based on the ingredients you happen to have in the house and your family’s personal preferences and dietary needs.
Homemade Granola Ingredients
When you make your own granola you can customize each batch based on the ingredients you have on hand and your family’s personal preferences and dietary needs.
Start with a base of rolled oats and then add whatever combination of nuts, fruits and other mix-ins you choose, plus healthy oils and sweeteners.
Dry Ingredients for Granola
Along with the rolled oats, you can mix in any of the following dry ingredients to your granola:
- almonds, walnuts, cashews or other nuts
- flaxseed meal, wheat germ, hemp hearts or chia seeds
- dried coconut, dried apricots, dried cherries or other dried fruit
Wet Ingredients for Granola
Homemade granola can be made with your choice of oils, sweeteners and nut butters.
- Oils: coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, organic canola oil
- Sweeteners: honey, maple syrup, brown sugar
- Nut butters: peanut butter, almond butter or others
Looking to add more protein to your diet? Try my Perfect Bars recipe!
How to Customize Your Granola
If someone in your household doesn’t like walnuts, divide the batch in half and use a different nut. If one persons loves apricots but the other grooves on dried cherries, you can please them both!
This recipe is perfect for using up odds and ends in your pantry. One of my recent batches included pecans, almonds and walnuts, two types of coconut, and three different types of dried fruit!
By the way, this recipe makes a BIG batch (13 cups). If your family doesn’t motor through granola like mine does, feel free to cut the recipe in half. Keep in mind that granola can be stored in an airtight container for a couple of months without a problem or freeze it in an airtight freezer bag to pull out whenever you need it.
How to Make Homemade Granola
Homemade granola is super easy to make. Here are the step-by-step instructions:
Grab the largest bowl you have. Mix together the oats, nuts and any other dry mix-ins you are using.
In a small saucepan, mix together the coconut oil, the nut butter and your sweetener of choice. Heat on low until everything is melted. Turn off heat and add vanilla and the salt.
Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly coated.
Spread mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet, roasting or broiling pan (spray with cooking spray first). I use 2 pans for this recipe.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until nicely browned. Important: stir every 5 to 10 minutes to ensure that it browns evenly. I usually give it 10 minutes to start and then move to 5 minute increments to ensure that it won’t get overcooked.
When granola has cooled, mix in the dried fruit.
Customizable Homemade Granola Recipe
Equipment
- Rimmed baking sheet
Ingredients
- 8 cups rolled oats (use organic if possible)
- 3 cups nuts, seeds or other add-ins (ideas: shredded coconut, slivered almonds, sunflower nuts, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, flax meal, chia seeds, wheat germ, hemp hearts)
- 1 cup honey, maple syrup or other sweetener (I recommend 1/2 honey, 1/2 maple syrup or brown sugar)
- 1/2 cup coconut oil or other oil
- 1/3 cup peanut butter or other nut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups dried fruit (ideas: craisins, cherries, apricots, mangos, dates, raisins, dried apples)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the oats, nuts and any other dry toppings you are using (coconut, flax, wheat germ etc…)
- In a small saucepan, mix together the coconut oil, the peanut butter and your sweetener of choice. Heat on low until everything is melted. Turn off heat and add vanilla and the salt. (I prefer to melt ingredients together on the stove, but you can skip that step and mix room temperature ingredients together in a bowl if you prefer.)
- Pour sweetened mixture over dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly coated.
- Spread mixture onto 2 rimmed baking sheets (spray pans with cooking spray first or use parchment paper).
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until nicely browned. Important: Stir every 5 to 10 minutes to ensure even cooking.
- Let granola cool, then mix in the dried fruit.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 months or freeze in airtight freezer bags. Makes approximately 13 cups or 26 1/2 cup servings.
Nutrition
What are your favorite granola mix-ins? Let us know in the comments!
Wow, these ratios are so helpful!! Thanks for such a great template! 🙂
Oh good – so glad you found it helpful!
Ahh I made granola this morning! Sooo delicious, I love homemade.
We do too! It’s hard to go back to store-bought after you start making your own granola!
Wonderful! I love that you can just put in whatever extra ingredients you happen to have around!
I know – that’s the beauty of this recipe!
Homemade granola always tastes so much better than store bought! I love how you have made this recipe adaptable to whatever you may have on hand !
Can you leave out the nut butter??
Yes you can leave out the nut butter – it’s a very flexible recipe. You might want to add a bit more oil to coat the oats.
My favorite add ins are ice Kristina cereal, chopped up dried pineapple, and raisins
My favorite add ins are Rice Krispies cereal, chopped up dried pineapple, and raisins
Oh my gosh this granola is delicious. Will taste awesome with my homemade yogurt.
So glad to hear you loved it!
I may not use 8 full cups as we are only two in our household but this is so delicious! Very easy to adapt according to your preferences. And the suggestion of doing half Honey half maple syrup? Hell yeah
So glad you liked it! You can easily cut the recipe in half.
Great granola recipe -made it again today, never fails to please!
Recipe is so easy to swap out ingredients!
I make just half batch at a time, add in half cup toasted coconut and reduce dried fruit by half.. great as cereal, topping on yogurt, on my evening smoothie, sometimes a bit on salads or just out of the jar as a snack! Thank you!
I’m so glad you love my granola recipe! We just made a batch too!