How to Make Granola at Home
Store-bought granolas are often loaded with preservatives and high levels of sugar and sodium. Instead, try making your own granola at home, with our easy granola base recipe and tips to customize each batch to make it your own.
Granola is a very versatile morning go-to, as delicious as it is easy to prepare. Sadly though, most store-bought granola is full of processed foods, added sugars and sodium, and doesn’t always have the kind of healthy ingredients we want for our first AM munch.
Making your granola at home helps fill in those gaps, gives you control over your morning intake of ingredients, and is also incredibly easy! Whether you eat your granola as a smoothie bowl topper or as a quick and delicious cereal, this how-to is for you.
Base Ingredients
- Oats (1 cup) or Buckwheat (1 cup soaked overnight and rinsed)
- 2 tbsp. almond butter (or any nut butter of your choice)
- 2 tbsp. honey
- 1 tbsp. coconut oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tsp. flax seeds
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 tsp. hemp seeds
- Salt (just a pinch)
Oat-Base Granola
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit.
- In a bowl mix all ingredients minus any fruit or non-dry ingredients.
- In a small saucepan heat coconut oil until it is liquid with vanilla. At the very end add your nut butter. Don’t let boil just mix. Warm not hot.
- Pour over dry ingredients and mix them all, adding the honey as well.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Spread granola mixture onto the parchment paper while making sure to leave as many clusters as you’d like.
- Bake for 10 minutes
- Add any berries after ten minutes then bake for another 6-10 minutes. Bake time equates to texture. The longer you bake, the more crunchie your granola will be.
Let cool and store in an airtight jar!
Buckwheat-Base Granola
- Soak buckwheat overnight and rinse in the morning
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- In a bowl mix all ingredients minus any fruit or non-dry ingredients
- In a small saucepan heat coconut oil until it is liquid with vanilla. At the very end add your nut butter. Don’t let boil just let combine. Warm not hot.
- Pour over dry ingredients and mix them all together + honey.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Spread granola mixture onto the parchment paper while making sure to leave as many clusters as you’d like.
- Bake for 10 minutes
- Add any berries after ten minutes then bake for another 6-10 minutes. Bake time equates to texture. The longer you bake, the more crunchie your granola will be. The buckwheat gets crunchier as it cools so best to undercook it your first time!
- Let cool and store in an airtight jar!
Personalizing Your Granola
Some things I like to add into my granola recipe for added benefits include:
- Protein powder
- Maple syrup
- Cardamom
- Lots of Seeds! Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and chia seeds are all great in granola
Buying some of these ingredients right away can be an expensive taste-test. Looking at the ingredients in granolas you already like is a great way to hone in on the ingredients you should buy to make your own. I like adding seeds because of their amazing health benefits, especially when it comes to regulating hormones. Ingredients like maple syrup and cardamom are more for taste. For our at-home granola without any preservatives, I’ll do one recipe with an oat base and another with a buckwheat base.
This granola base recipe is a good go-to to try new granola recipes, so be sure to make it your own! Every time you make a new granola recipe remember what you liked or did not like. If you want it to be sweeter, add maple syrup or more honey. Since you are making it on your own, take the time to think about how you want it to taste!
Also- if you like a chocolate morning granola, add cocoa nibs for a healthy alternative to chocolate with loads of benefits!
If you’re craving something sweet and satisfying first thing in the morning, few foods compare to granola. And with these recipes, you can bypass all the preservatives and added sugar that’s usually found in store-bought varieties for a truly nutritious, heart-healthy granola.
