My homemade granola recipe is easy to make, extremely versatile and adjustable to your preferences. It’s perfectly sweetened without being too sweet and will keep for weeks. Recipe includes a step-by-step video tutorial.
My Favorite Granola Recipe
The crispy, cluster-y, and far less chewy sister to my granola bars, this granola recipe checks all the boxes for a crave-able homemade granola.
It’s lightly sweetened and not too sweet, comes together in a hurry, and is so customizable you can likely make something in your pantry work right now for this recipe. It’s also much less expensive to make than buying a bag from the grocery store, and will keep for weeks!
Why You’ll Love This Granola Recipe
- Perfectly sweetened. One of my biggest disappointments when buying store bought granola (besides all the mystery additives) is it always winds up being a sugar bomb. Clearly I love my sugar, but there’s such thing as too much when it comes to granola. This recipe is flavorful and sweet, but it’s not overwhelmingly so.
- Practically foolproof. Follow the instructions for granola that comes out golden in color and perfectly crisp and cluster-y every time. The recipe also includes a video tutorial, if this is your first time making this!
- Versatile. This recipe is extremely adjustable and adaptable. Substitute your favorite variety of nut or dried fruit. Use your oil (oil or melted coconut oil) of choice. Swap the brown sugar for coconut sugar. It’s extremely adjustable to your dietary needs and personal preferences.
What You Need
While the ingredients that I personally prefer are shown and listed below, you’ll see that there are plenty of substitutions that you can make in order to make granola your way.
- Oats. Old-fashioned oats work best here, they’re heartier than their quick/instant counterparts and will give you a granola that’s cluster-y and substantial rather than crumbly and too dry.
- Oil. A neutral oil works well here. I personally prefer avocado oil to seed oils like canola or vegetable. Alternatively, melted coconut oil works well, just note that some coconut oils will impart a coconut flavor (a plus, if you ask me). Melted butter could alternatively be used, but the granola tends to brown faster and won’t keep as long.
- Sweetener. I use a blend of brown sugar and honey. If you don’t want to use refined brown sugar, you can substitute it with coconut sugar.
- Egg white. The egg white is essential for helping make this granola recipe crisp (it’s used for similar reasons in my candied almonds) and helping it bind together into those gorgeous, munch-able clusters.
- Dried fruit. I used dried cranberries, but raisins, chopped dried apricots, coconut flakes, dried cherries or dried apples or dried goji berries would work well, too!
- Nuts. Almonds are a popular, basic choice, but cashews, pecans, walnuts, or really basically any nut will work well here.
- Vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt all add wonderful depth of flavor to my granola recipe.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Homemade Granola
- Combine your oats, nuts, fruit, and flax seed in a large bowl. You’ll be doing a lot of mixing, so give yourself room!
- In a separate (medium-sized) bowl, whisk together honey, oil, brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk until well-combined.
- In yet another bowl, vigorously whisk your egg white until it’s nice and frothy (about 15-30 seconds of whisking). Once frothy, stir this in with your other wet ingredients.
- Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients and use a spatula to stir until everything is completely coated.
- Spread evenly onto a parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 50 minutes. Let the granola cool completely after baking (important so you have nice clumps!), then break into pieces and use as desired.
SAM’S TIP: Pay attention to the visual and scent cues when cooking your granola to tell that it’s done! The nuts should smell toasted and the granola should be a beautiful light golden color (but not burned!).
Frequently Asked Questions
Homemade granola has a great shelf-life and lasts a long time. It will keep for several weeks. Store it in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. You can also refrigerate or freeze the granola to extend its shelf life. Refrigerated it will keep for several months, and frozen it will keep for about 6 months.
Yes, you’ll have gorgeous granola clusters when you’ve followed this granola recipe properly (though you can break the pieces up as small as you’d like). You’ll notice when you finish baking, it’ll be baked together into a solid sheet. This will need to be broken up (after cooling!), and as you break it those gorgeous clusters will form.
If the recipe is followed properly it should turn out crisp and beautiful every time. If yours is still soft, most likely one of two things went awry. First, make sure you bake your granola completely. It should be turning a nice golden color and should be toasted (and smell toasted and wonderful, too). If yours is still pale or simply looks wet or not yet finished baking, just keep it in the oven longer. Second, make sure you let it sit after baking until it’s completely cooled. The granola will become crisp as it cools and disturbing it early could diminish its crispness.
I love keeping this on hand for sprinkling over yogurt or just for a quick easy snack, and with all the different add-in options my household never gets bored of it.
Enjoy!
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Granola Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups (320 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup (125 g) whole almonds (or use your favorite nut)
- 1 cup (160 g) dried cranberries (or use your preferred dried fruit)
- 2 Tablespoons ground flax seed optional
- ⅓ cup (110 g) honey
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) oil (may use avocado, canola, vegetable, or melted coconut oil)
- ⅓ cup (67 g) brown sugar firmly packed (may substitute an equal amount of coconut sugar)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg white
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275F (135C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together oats, almonds, cranberries, and flax seed (if using).4 cups (320 g) old-fashioned rolled oats, 1 cup (125 g) whole almonds, 1 cup (160 g) dried cranberries, 2 Tablespoons ground flax seed
- In a separate bowl, whisk together honey, oil, brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt until well combined and uniform.⅓ cup (110 g) honey, ⅓ cup (80 ml) oil, ⅓ cup (67 g) brown sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon salt
- In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk egg white until frothy (about 30 seconds) then stir the egg white into the honey mixture.1 large egg white
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and use a spatula to stir well until all dry ingredients are completely coated with the honey mixture.
- Evenly spread ingredients over prepared baking sheet. Transfer to 275F (135C) preheated oven and bake for 45-55 minutes. Granola should have slightly darkened in color and should appear dry.
- Remove from oven allow to sit undisturbed until completely cooled.
- Once granola has cooled, use your hands or a wooden spoon to break up into pieces. Use as desired.
Notes
How to Store
Homemade granola should be stored in an airtight container in a cool dry place and will keep for at least a month. Granola may also be frozen in an airtight container for up to 6 months.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
This recipe was published April 2019, I updated the post to include more helpful information in January 2023.
hynes jim
My wife insisted that I comment on “the best granola I have ever had”
Another winner from SSR.
Thanks again.
Paula
Hi Sam!
Your granola recipe replaced my other go to recipe! Love it! ❤️ Thank you!!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Kathie
I made something very much like this years ago. It was a big hit! I lost that recipe, so I’m really looking forward to trying this.
Kaveri
This looks amazing! I want to make it, but I am allergic to eggs unfortunately. Can I omit the egg white? Or use a substitute? As I understand, the egg white will help the granola clump up together.
Thank you!
Sam
Hi Kaveri! I’m really sorry I don’t have a good substitute here. I’m racking my brain but nothing is coming to mind. Maybe someone else can help.
Kaveri
No worries! Thank you!
Dani
Such a great recipe. I added a 1/4 of sourdough starter along with the egg white and a scoop of nut butter. Those might help it stick.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Lynne
Perhaps a ‘flax’ egg would work. 1 T ground flax seed with 3 T water; allow to sit for 10 minutes or more to become egg like. Not sure it would work. Worth a try! Wonderful recipe that our family loves. Great apple butter recipe on this site as well.
Christine
Hi! Corn starch or Tapioca flour/starch would be a good substitute as it helps provide structure and keep the granola together. Bob’s Red Mill also makes egg replacers. Hope that helps!!
Shelly
Could the honey be be left ,or a little more brown sugar added. I prefer things not so sweet anyway. Wasn’t sure if It was needed to hold things together?
Sam
Hi Shelly! The honey is needed to hold the granola together so it clumps properly, you might be able to reduce it a little bit, but the granola will be a bit more dry/crumbly.
BRIGITTE Couture
Do you think I could omit the cinnamon or replace it by something else? Hubby is not a fan of the Fall spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger…). Thanks!
Sam
Hi Brigitte! You can certainly leave the cinnamon out. 🙂
Christine
I made this granola today and I cannot stop eating it!! It is crazy delicious 😋 I’ve made a crockpot granola several times but, this is by far better. I did add some extra spices to mine. I added 1 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp allspice. This is definitely going to be my new homemade granola recipe and, I’m never going back to buying it. Thanks for sharing this recipe, I’m in love with it so is my husband.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you loved it, Christine! It is a favorite of mine too. Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting. Enjoy! 🙂
Jen
This is legit granola. I have always wanted to make granola and for some reason never got around to it. Well, enter shelter-in-place….you find the time 🙂 This was so easy, and the ingredients are normal, every day ingredients that I already had. It’s delicious! Great mid-afternoon snack, hiking snack, or breakfast mixed with yogurt and berries. Winner! I’m never going back to store-bought 🙂
Sugar Spun Run
Hooray! I am so glad that you found the time to finally make your own, Jen! I am even happier that it was better than what you’d purchase at the store. Thanks for trying my recipe. 🙂
Praise
Thank you sam❤❤❤ please can you also make traditional fruit cake🙏
Sam
You are welcome! I will put it on my list of things to bake. 🙂
Cheska
I’ve made granola before from another recipe and it was kind of average.
I made this recipe fairly plain (left out the fruit and put less nuts in it).
The flavour didn’t disappoint! My kitchen smelled delicious and the granola tasted just as good. My son asked for some extra in a baggy “to-go” when he left for school this morning.
I’m definitely going to experiment with other additions again! Thanks 😊
Olive knapp
Hi sam! my name is Olive knapp and I am 12. I like to cook and bake but I have a question. In my 1st period class we are making pizza and we have to have 8 toppings, how long should I bake the pizza for?
p.s. Sorry if this is in the wrong catigory, i just love your site
Any way, i would love to here back from you!
Olive knapp
Sam
Hi Olive! 8 toppings is a lot of topping. I usually recommend 13-15 minutes, but with that much stuff on top, it may need an extra minute or two. I hope this helps. 🙂
Willo
Roast the almonds first?
Sam
No need, they’ll be roasted with everything else in the oven. Enjoy! 🙂
Anita
Would instant oats work as well?
Sam
Hi Anita! I don’t recommend using instant oats here, they are more likely to burn in the oven. If you do it, watch it carefully when baking. 🙂
Debbie in California
Looks great!
However, I would rather not use honey , yet, I am not creative/brave when it comes to substitutions.
Would you think maple syrup might work, or a smidge more brown sugar, or, is there something about the consistency of the honey that is necessary?
Thank you in advance for your suggestion.
Sam
Hi Debbie! I think maple syrup will work fine here. Enjoy! 🙂
Blair
This granola recipe is AWESOME!
I am laughing SO hard right now that I even read through your “How Long Does Granola Last and How to Freeze Granola” sections….this batch probably won’t last the night! I should have made two batches!
I did add an extra tsp of vanilla, just because I love vanilla granola. And I left out the nuts and dried fruit since my kids don’t like those. This was such a hit, it just might replace cereal!
Sam
🤣 I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Blair! 🙂
Shelly
I am looking forward to trying this one out! Thanks Sam!
Sam
I hope you love it, Shelly! I have a feeling you will 🙂