This Vegan Granola recipe is quick and easy to make; it's crunchy, healthy, and highly customizable to add your favorite nuts and seeds.
Ahh, Granola. The ideal breakfast, snack, or even dessert! Not only is it easy to make, but it’s ready in about 35 minutes and is made from only 9 healthy plant-based ingredients.
Granola munching hippies!
It all started at the Woodstock festival back in the 1960s!
I first discover granola when I was in my early twenties living in California. Growing up in the west of Ireland it was all about the porridge and Weetabix. I have to say, I go for Porridge or Birchers 85% of the time, but I do LOVE a good bowl of hippie granola with homemade plant milk, nut butter, berries, coconut yogurt, and banana.
Let's face it, the store-bought granolas are not healthy at all. They are loaded with cheap sugar and oil. This is what gives granola the satisfying sweet crunch!
In this post, I will explain how you can make your own healthier granola at home. It's cheaper, tastier, and far more satisfying! Impress your friends and family with your own jar of homemade vegan granola.
Jump to:
- Granola munching hippies!
- Star ingredients for vegan granola
- Kitchen equipment you will need
- Vegan granola step-by-step pictures
- Recipe variations
- Can I make vegan granola oil-free
- Best vegan granola mix ins
- Storage suggestions
- Chefs Top Tips
- Ingredient Inspiration: Are oats gluten free?
- Vegan Granola gift idea
- More breakfast recipes to try
- 📋 Recipe
- When was granola invented?
- FAQ
- Community
Star ingredients for vegan granola
The ingredients for making granola are versatile. I will discuss recipe variation below. Here are the ingredients I will use in this recipe:
- Oats (certified gluten-free)
- Walnuts
- Pumpkin seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Ground flax seeds
- Cinnamon
- Coconut oil
- Maple syrup
- Salt
- Raisins
See the recipe card below for quantities.
Kitchen equipment you will need
You will not require any fancy equipment to make your own granola. All you need is:
- Weighing scales
- Small saucepan
- Mixing bowl
- Oven tray (and oven!)
- Baking parchment
- Glass storage jar
Vegan granola step-by-step pictures
Here we go then, check out my easy vegan granola recipe. Weigh out all the ingredients and off we go...
Add the oats, seeds, walnuts, cinnamon, and ground flaxseed to a tray or mixing bowl.
Add the maple and coconut oil to a small saucepan, bring to a gentle simmer.
Pour the hot maple syrup mix over the oats and mix well, making sure to coat all the oats and seeds with the sweet mixture.
I like to use a couple of spoons to mix well. Make sure all the grains are nicely coated.
Transfer the raw granola mix to a tray lined with baking parchment.
Pack the raw granola down well and layout so it's nice and even. Keep it packed in together well to have nice clumps of granola.
You are ready to bake. Pop the granola in the pre-heated oven at 165c / 330f. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
Do not mix throughout. If it is browning unevenly - take out the tray and put it back in the opposite way to bake evenly.
Allow the granola to cool. As it cools it will form nice big chunks!
When cool, you can add the dried fruits.
Transfer it to a storage jar.
Allow to cool fully before closing the jar.
Recipe variations
In place of oats, you can use the following grains for making granola:
Make sure to use rolled grains for making granolas. You can use a mix and play around with ratios.
Gluten-free grains
- Quinoa
- Buckwheat
- Millet
Gluten-rich grains
- Rye
- Spelt
- Barley
Can I make vegan granola oil-free
Yes indeed! Substitute the coconut oil in this recipe for your favorite nut butter. Heat the nut butter with the syrup and proceed with the rest of the recipe.
You may need to adjust the cooking time, keep an eye on it. The granola will cook quicker with the nut butter.
Best vegan granola mix ins
There are many options for customizing your granola.
- Nuts: Cashew, macadamia, pistachio, pecan, hazelnut, walnut.
- Seeds: Pumpkin, sunflower, watermelon and sesame seeds all work well. I never use chai seed in granola.
- Dried fruits: Prune, apricot, cranberry, goji, fig, date, cherry, raisin all work well. Keep in mind that adding lots of dried fruit to a granola will take the crunch away.
- Spice: Nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, anise, clove, cardamom, and fennel add interesting aromas.
- Chocolate: Add cacao nibs to your finished granola or add a spoon of raw cacao powder to the raw granola mix before baking.
What to serve with your vegan granola
- Sauces: Nut butters, coconut yogurt or try my vegan tahini spread recipe.
- Fruits: Banana, kiwi, pomegranate, or mixed berries are my favorite.
My favorite plant-milks to serve with granola
- Pumpkin seed milk
- Black sesame milk
- Walnut milk
- Almond milk
- Cashew milk
- Rice milk
- Soya milk
Now that you have a good base recipe, you can play around with the ingredients and spices to make your own signature granola.
Storage suggestions
You can keep this granola in a glass jar or an airtight container for up to 1 month (mine lasts about 1.5 days!) Keeping it in the fridge helps with keeping it nice and crunchy.
Chefs Top Tips
My Secrets for the Perfect Vegan Granola
- Use baking parchment: it prevents the sweetener sticking to the tray rather than the oats.
- Pack the granola into the tray: This allows all of the ingredients to stick together, and will result in larger clusters.
- Don’t bake the granola too long: just until it’s lightly golden on top, It might not seem like it’s done yet, but it will continue to crispen up as it cools.
- Let the granola cool completely before breaking it up: This keeps the clusters nice and big.
- Store your granola in the fridge: for maxiumum crunch.
Ingredient Inspiration: Are oats gluten free?
- Yes, oats are gluten free. The oat grain, on its own does not contain gluten.
- What causes gluten issues with oats is that there is often cross contamination in factories where the oats are produced. If you are making this gluten free granola for someone with celiac disease be sure you are using certified gluten free oats
Read more about Oats and their highly valuable nutritional content in my ingredient library
Vegan Granola gift idea
This recipe makes a lovely personalized gift for a friend's birthday. Invest in a nice mason jar, fill it up with homemade crunchy granola and write the recipe on a gift card so your friend can make it again.
I do this regularly as I try to avoid consumerism as much as possible and a homemade gift like this is more memorable!
More breakfast recipes to try
I hope you enjoy this recipe. I'm very happy to share it with you. If you do make this recipe please let me know in the comments below what you think. I love seeing your recreations. You may tag me on Instagram #holisticchefacademy and join me on Pinterest, Facebook, or Instagram for more healthy recipes and videos.
Good health wishes my friends.
📋 Recipe
Vegan Granola
Equipment
- Weighing scales
- Oven tray
- Parchment paper
- Wooden spoon
- Saucepan
- Mixing bowl
- Glass jar
Ingredients
To make the syrup
- 60 ml Coconut oil
- 140 ml Honey or syrup of your choice
For the granola
- 270 g Oat
- 100 g Walnuts
- 50 g Pumpkin seeds
- 50 g Sunflower seeds
- 20 g Flax seeds ground
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon powder
- 1 pinch Pink salt
To add when cooled
- 100 g Raisin
Instructions
- Assemble al the ingredients.
- Pre-heat oven to 165c / 330f
- Add the oats, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, ground flax, pink salt and cinnamon to a bowl.
- Add the coconut oil and sweetener to a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Pour the warm mixture over the dry oat mixture and toss well to coat all the grains and seeds.
- Line the baking trays with parchment paper and lay out the granola flat on the tray.
- It's important to lay the granola mix flat so that it cooks evenly.
- Bake in pre-heated oven at 165c / 330f for about 20 minutes (it will depend on your ovens heat distribution)
- Check throughout, take the trays out and turn the opposite way so the granola bakes evenly.
- Do not mix while baking - allow granola to bake until golden brown.
- When nice and golden brown, take out the trays and allow to cool for 30 minutes. It should have nice clusters of crunchy granola. As it cools, it will become more crunchier!
- Add the raisins or what ever dried fruits you like at this stage.)
- Transfer to an airtight glass jar and store at room temperature for up to 10 days. (allow to cool completelybefore closing the jar)
Nutrition
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
When was granola invented?
I love learning about the history of recipes and food. Here is what I discovered about the origins of Granola and Granula
Granola was invented in Dansville, New York by Dr. James Caleb Jackson at the Jackson Sanitarium in 1863. The Jackson Sanitarium was a prominent health spa that operated into the early 20th century.
Kellogs came along and created a similar recipe, they called it Granula to avoid legal problems!
During Woodstock festival in the 1960s, a soon-to-be hippie icon known as Wavy Gravy popularized granola as a means of feeding large numbers of people during the festival. Granola was revived in the 1960s, as it became popular with the nature-oriented hippie movement!
Read more about the history of Granola
FAQ
Not always. Make sure to use certified gluten-free oats or buy granola that is certified gluten-free. Although oats are a gluten-free grain, they can become contaminated throughout the factory processing stage.
Yes, you can, try using good wet nut butter in place of the oil.
This is very tricky. It's the sugar that provides the characteristic crunchy granola texture. If you want to avoid sugar completely, best to try muesli. For a vegan sugar-free granola recipe, you can try using whipped aquafaba (the high protein water from tinned chickpeas)
Thara
Wonderful! So many explanation and easy to follow. Thank you for sharing this!
Jamie Raftery
Happy you enjoy it, it's a lovely recipe 🙂