My favorite homemade granola recipe

July 31, 2010 at 9:57 pm (Alma's faves, B plus (3.5 stars, like a lot), breakfast, Cook's Illustrated, Derek's faves, Monthly menu plan: brunch, Website / blog) (bulk cooking, toddler-approved)

I have made a lot of granola over the years. Sometimes it turns out really well and sometimes … not so much. Apparently I can’t just wing it and I can’t diverge too far from a decent recipe, but I tend to forget this. Below are many notes on many different attempts.

Update July 2018: Here is my most recent attempt. This is a doubled recipe so it makes a lot. It came out more than sweet enough. I think next time I will use just 1/4 cup honey + 1/4 cup date syrup. I’ll also put more nuts and coconut in. Maybe 1.5 cups of coconut flakes and 1.5 cups of whole almonds as well? It wasn’t that strongly spiced. Maybe next time I’ll use a full 2 Tbs. of cinnamon, and 1.5 tsp. of nutmeg.

Dry ingredients:

• 6 cups rolled oats (about 675g or 1.5 pounds, maybe closer to 635 or 650g??)
• 1/3 cup wheat germ (38g)
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed (26g)
• 1 cup large coconut flakes (~60g)
• 3/4 cup slivered almonds (85g)
• 3/4 cup sunflower seeds (105g)
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds (64g)
• 1.5 Tbs. cinnamon (~12g)
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• scant 1/2 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients:

• 1/2 cup honey (170g)
• 1/4 cup date syrup (84g)
• 1 Tbs. vanilla (15g)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (54g)
• 1/4 cup olive oil (54g)

Nuts added in the last 15 minutes:

• 1.5 cups pecan halves (149g), left whole
• 1.25 cups walnut halves (125g), roughly chopped

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl (except for fragile nuts). Heat wet ingredients until coconut oil and honey are melted. Mix wet ingredients in with dry ingredients. Bake everything but the pecans and walnuts at 300 F (~150 C) on a large baking sheet coated with parchment paper. Put another piece of parchment on top and another baking sheet on top. Bake for about 45 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Or divide in half and bake in two batches, each for about 30 minutes. When the granola seems crispy, add the pecans and walnuts and bake for another 15 minutes or so until they are lightly roasted.

Update Dec 24, 2010:  This time I doubled the recipe and went back closer to my first try:  3 cups oats, 3 cups 5-grain rolled cereal (including oats, wheat, rye, spelt…) , 1 1/3 cups wheat bran (2.72 ounces), 1/4 tsp. salt, 4 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. nutmeg, no coconut, 1 1/2 cups pecan halves (5.25 ounces), 1 cup whole almonds (5.04 ounces), 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 3 Tbs. dark molasses, 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup date syrup (you could use honey), 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1 Tbs. vanilla, 2-3 Tbs. water.   I cooked it at 350 for 30 minutes, but it still seemed damp rather than crisp, so I cooked it a bit longer.  I think I overcooked it again, though.  As soon as I took it out of the oven it crisped right up, despite seeming quite damp at first.  This recipe is very dark tasting, partly from the over-roasting and partly from all the molasses.  It was plenty sweet and not too salty this time.  Adding the water didn’t seem to help it clump at all–just made it take longer to cook.  It might have made the sauce a bit easier to distribute amongst the dry ingredients.  Although I increased the cinnamon and nutmeg, I still couldn’t taste them distinctively.

To try next time:  6 cups rolled oats or other grains, 1 1/2 cups wheat bran (3.07 ounces), 1/4 cup ground flax seed, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1.5 Tbs. cinnamon, 1 tsp. nutmeg, no coconut, 1 1/2 cups pecan halves (5.25 ounces), 1 cup whole almonds (5.04 ounces), 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 Tbs. dark molasses, 1/2 cup date syrup (or honey), 1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey), 1 Tbs. vanilla, no water.  Cook at 350 for 25 minutes.

Update Aug 14, 2010:  I made the “to try next time” Granola, e.g. 2/3 cup wheat bran, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1.5 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/2 cup coconut, 1 cup pecans/almonds, 1 Tbs. molasses, 2 Tbs. honey, 2 2/3 Tbs. maple syrup, 3 Tbs. oil, 1.5 tsp. vanilla.  I baked at 350 for 25-30 minutes.   I accidentally used salted almonds.  I also burned my pecans a bit again.  Pecans are so fragile!  The granola came out too salty and not sweet enough.  Derek wouldn’t eat it until I added a little maple syrup to his bowl.  I’m also not sure that the addition of grated coconut adds all that much.

I think next time I’ll not use salted almonds, reduce the salt to 1/8 tsp.,  cut the coconut to 1/4 cup, increase the pecans to 3/4 cup (rather than 1/2 cup), and increase the maple syrup and honey each to about 1/6 of a cup.  I might also try cutting the oil back to 2 Tbs. and increasing the wheat bran to 3/4 cup, but that’s maybe too many changes all at once.  I didn’t notice the cinnamon and nutmeg at all, so I might increase those amounts too.  Finally, I wouldn’t mind it if my granola were a bit more clumpy.  I’ve heard that adding water can help with the clumping.  If I get ambitious I might try adding some water in with the oil and sweeteners.  Or maybe it’s the brown sugar + water that creates clumping?  Maybe instead of increasing the honey/maple syrup I should add back in some brown sugar?  To increase the iron levels maybe I should try subbing some of the almonds/pecans for pepitas/sesame seeds or dried mulberries?  So many things to try!

Original post from 7/31/2010:

Is low calorie granola possible?

I really like granola, but I usually don’t eat it because it’s very high calorie and doesn’t fill me up at all.  I could easily down 800 calories of the stuff for breakfast.  So I stopped  buying “Knüspriges Muesli” (crunchy muesli, which is what they call Granola here in Germany).  But then when I went to visit my friend Sarah in Israel last month I enjoyed eating her homemade granola for breakfast every morning.  It’s calorie dense but very filling. But when I went to make it I just didn’t want to put that much oil in. So I made up my own recipe based on a number of  random granola recipes I’ve come across this month.  Bittman posted a no-oil recipe at the New York Times,  I came across a pretty basic recipe at Chow.com, Martha Rose Shulman posted her own healthy granola recipe, and I came across a granola recipe on the blog Smitten Kitchen.  I didn’t follow any one of the recipes, but used them collectively for inspiration.  Here’s a table comparing the ingredients and cooking times/temperatures.  All the recipes are normalized for 3 cups rolled oats:

Ingredient	My recipe	Smitten Kitchen	Bitten	Rose Shulman	Chow.com	Cook’s Illustrated	Sarah’s
Bran/Germ	1/4 cup wheat bran + 1/4 cup germ	–	–	1 cup oat bran	–	–	3/8 cup wheat bran + 3/4 cup wheat germ
Salt	3 small pinches	pinch	dash	1/4 – 3/8 tsp. (optional)	1/4 tsp. kosher	–	–
Spices	1 tsp. cinnamon	pinch cinnamon	1/2 tsp. cinnamon	1 – 1.5 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 – 1/2 tsp. nutmeg	–	–	–
Coconut	–	1 cup	1/2 cup (opt)	1/4 cup (opt)	optional	1/2 cup	–
Nuts	1.5 cups pecans/almonds	1/3 cup sliced almonds (1 oz) + 1/2 cup chopped walnuts	1 cup mixed nuts, seeds	1/2 cup chopped almond, pecan	optional	1 cup walnuts + 1/2 cup blanched almonds	3/4 cup sliced almonds
Seeds	–	1/3 cup pepitas (1.5 oz)	–	1/4 cup ground flax	optional	1/4 cup sesame  + 1/4 cup sunflower	3/4 cup sunflower seeds + 3/8 cup sesame seeds
Sweetener	1/3 cup light brown sugar + 1 Tbs. molasses + 2 Tbs. honey + 2 Tbs. maple syrup	1/3 cup dark brown sugar + 1/4 cup mild honey	1/4-1/2 cup honey or maple syrup	1/4 cup honey	3 Tbs. brown sugar + 1/3 cup honey	4 Tbs. honey, 4 Tbs. maple syrup	1 Tbs. molasses + 3/8 cup honey or date syrup + 3/8 cup water
Oil	1/4 cup	1/4 cup	–	1/6 cup	1/4 cup	1/3 cup	1/2 cup
Vanilla	1 tsp.	–	–	1.5 tsp.	1 tsp.	–	3/4 tsp.
Dried fruit	–	2 3/4 cup	1/2 cup (opt)	1/2-1 cup raisins (opt)	optional	1 cup raisins	–
Cooking temp & time	375, 20-30 minutes	375, 30-35 minutes	350, ~30 minutes	325,45-60 minutes	300, 20-30 minutes	325, 15 minutes	??

A few comments from the authors of these recipes:  The nuts are sometimes added after baking, sometimes before.  Shulman and Cook’s Illustrated say to heat the liquid ingredients in the microwave.  Shulman says she stopped using wheat germ because it cooks quickly and thus burns and sticks to the pan. She also suggests lining the baking sheets with parchment. Smitten Kitchen says that adding too much oil gets in the way of clumping.

In all the recipes any dried fruit is added after baking, to keep it from getting dried out. But apparently the moisture in the dried fruit makes the granola soft after a couple of days. The Smitten Kitchen recipes says that in the freezer it stays crispy for months.  Bittman, however, says to store the granola in the fridge. Personally, I’d rather just add fresh fruit to my granola and skip the dried fruit altogether.

When I tried out my version of granola I stupidly just poured the liquid ingredients right into the dry ingredients, without mixing them all together first.  The molasses in particular just clumped up.  As a result, some bites tasted much sweeter than others.  I cooked my granola for 15 minutes at 375, and it didn’t look very browned, so I cooked it for another 15 minutes.  Although it didn’t look burnt at that point it tasted over-roasted.  Next time I think I’d use a slightly lower temperature and make cook it for less time.

Smitten Kitchen suggests using flaky salt, but I couldn’t detect it in the granola, so next time I’d just use regular salt.

The final taste of my granola was good, but a little too sweet.  Next time I’ll leave out the sugar.  Also I think that so many nuts, while tasty, was not necessary.  I’d just use 1 cup of nuts next time.  I’ll add 1/2 cup of coconut instead.

The Alnatura brand oat granola has pretty similar stats to  my “to-try” recipe.  The ingredients:  Whole grain oat flakes 64 %, cane sugar , palm oil, coconut 6% , extruded rice flour  (rice flour , barley malt , sea salt), whole wheat flakes, sunflower oil, wheat syrup, honey, sea salt.  I wonder why they add rice flour and whole wheat flakes?  I wonder what wheat syrup is?  I wonder whether palm and sunflower oil are better or worse than refined canola oil, which is what I used?

The stats for my granola are not very different than for the granola I buy here at the store.  Even for a quite small serving (about 50g, or 1/13 of the recipe), the granola has 250 calories, and is pretty high in fat and sugar.  Even when eaten with soymilk the granola is only about 11% protein.  I wish there was a way to make higher-protein granola.  Any ideas?  (I don’t really like peanuts in my granola.)