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This easy recipe for Homemade Granola is delicious as written, but it’s eager for your customizations, too! It keeps for months in the pantry, so make a big batch.
There are certain things that I will absolutely never buy from the store, and granola is one of them. Maybe my expectations are too high, but store-bought granola is typically dry, brittle, and small. I prefer a crunchy granola with chewy bites, ample large clusters, and all the mix-ins that I want.
Making granola is also relaxing (soothing for the soul, or maybe that’s just me), and makes your house smell amazing. If you have the time and the energy, making Homemade Granola might be the best decision you make all week.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Olive oil: You can use a different neutral oil (grapeseed, avocado, canola, coconut) if you prefer.
- Spices: I love cinnamon and nutmeg, but ground ginger, ground cloves, or allspice are all warming and fragrant too.
- Rolled oats: Look for Old-fashioned rolled oats, not quick-cooking, instant, or steel-cut.
- Nuts and seeds: Choose raw nuts because they will be roasting in the oven. Pecans, pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, and almonds are all good choices. You can also add shredded coconut, chia seeds, or sesame seeds (I add these delicate ingredients halfway through baking, before I stir the oats, so they’re perfectly toasted by the time the granola is done).
Step-by-step instructions
- Adjust two oven racks to the upper middle and lower middle positions. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or foil. In a very large bowl, whisk together honey, brown sugar, olive oil, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- Fold in oats, nuts, and seeds.
- Divide between two prepared baking sheets (about 7 cups granola per baking sheet) and spread evenly.
- Bake 40 minutes, stirring the granola after 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Store covered in an airtight container at room temperature.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes a big batch, about 14 cups of homemade granola. If you eat ½ cup serving every day, that’s almost enough for a month!
- Storage: Keep the homemade granola in an air-tight container in the pantry for 4 to 6 months.
- Dried fruit: To keep it from turning rock-hard doing roasting, stir in dried fruit after the granola has cooled.
- Chocolate: Chocolate chips or raw cacao nibs should be added to the granola after completely cooled.
- Orange zest: Zest a whole orange over the wet granola before baking.
Recipe FAQs
When granola is baking, your nose knows! Take the granola out of the oven when it is lightly toasty looking, evenly browned, and deliciously fragrant. For some batches, that may be a little longer than 40 minutes.
For the clumpiest granola, use parchment paper to keep the sugar from sticking to the baking sheet. At the halfway baking point, use your spatula to push down on the granola after stirring, pressing the oats and nuts together. Also, let the granola completely cool on the baking sheet before breaking it up.
If you bake the granola at a high temperature, the nuts will scorch before the oats have browned. This recipe uses a 350-degree temp, hot enough to crisp up the ingredients over the course of 40 minutes, but low enough to prevent scorched nuts. Also: Be sure to start with raw nuts, not roasted!
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Homemade Granola
Ingredients
- 1 cup honey or maple syrup
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup olive oil (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (see note 2)
- 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 pounds rolled oats (about 10 cups, see note 3)
- 4 cups raw nuts or seeds (pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, see note 4)
Instructions
- Adjust two oven racks to the upper middle and lower middle positions. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or foil.
- In a very large bowl, whisk together honey, brown sugar, olive oil, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- Fold in oats, nuts, and seeds. Divide between two prepared baking sheets (about 7 cups granola per baking sheet) and spread evenly.
- Bake 40 minutes, stirring the granola after 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Store covered in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
- Olive oil: You can use a different neutral oil (grapeseed, avocado, canola, coconut) if you prefer.
- Spices: I love cinnamon and nutmeg, but ground ginger, ground cloves, or allspice are all warming and fragrant too.
- Rolled oats: Look for Old-fashioned rolled oats, not quick-cooking, instant, or steel-cut.
- Nuts and seeds: Choose raw nuts because they will be roasting in the oven. Pecans, pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, and almonds are all good choices. You can also add shredded coconut, chia seeds, or sesame seeds (I add these delicate ingredients halfway through baking, before I stir the oats, so they’re perfectly toasted by the time the granola is done).
- Yield: This recipe makes a big batch, about 14 cups of homemade granola. If you eat ½ cup serving every day, that’s almost enough for a month!
- Storage: Keep the homemade granola in an air-tight container in the pantry for 4 to 6 months.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Excellent recipe. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Sum! So happy you enjoyed it! – Meggan
I tried this granola today and the only change I would have made would have been to make more. It’s already gone! Thank you so much for this. Definitely a keeper!
You’re so welcome, Georgia! Glad you loved it! Take care! – Meggan
These recipes are great would love alot more.love being in the kitchen thanks so much for sharing your wonderful and delicious recipes.
Absolutely loved the addition of honey, more people should do this!