How to Make Homemade Granola

Granola is a delicious breakfast in the morning, a nice snack in the afternoon, and sometimes a good dessert too! Homemade granola is really easy to make, and the best part is that you can adapt the ingredients to your personal tastes! Granola from the grocery store is usually laden with extra fat and refined sugars, but you can make your homemade granola anyway you like. Use this guide to assist you in making your own granola, and experiment with different ingredients, combinations of spices, dried fruits, protein rich nuts and different sweeteners.

Basic Homemade Granola Recipe

Dry Ingredients:
2 cup rolled oats
1 cup grape nuts
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
Sweeteners:
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
¼ cup fruit juice

Adapting this Basic Homemade Granola Recipe

Granola is very adaptable and can be made in a limitless number of ways. For different types of granola, use the following ingredients to adapt the basic recipe above when making your homemade granola.

Extra Healthy Homemade Granola
Replace some oats or grape nuts with 1 cup puffed rice or puffed millet
Add ½ cup textured vegetable protein (TVP)
Add ¼ cup milled flaxseeds
Add Oat germ or wheat germ

Sugar Free Homemade Granola
Replace brown sugar with ¼ cup honey or ½ cup agave nectar
Replace brown sugar with ½ cup applesauce and add extra fruit juice

Nutty Homemade Granola
Add 1+ cup chopped or sliced nuts: great granola nuts are almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans

Spicy Homemade Granola
Add ½ teaspoon ginger
Add ½ teaspoon all spice
Add ½ teaspoon cloves

Fruity Homemade Granola
Add 1/3 cup dried cranberries (craisins)
Add 1/3 cup raisins
Add 1/3 cup dried fruit- blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, apricots, etc.

Extra Sweet Homemade Granola
Add ¼ cup honey or agave nectar
Add ¼ cup maple syrup
1/8 cup vegetable oil (canola, almond)
Add 1/4 cup coconut flakes

Seedy Homemade Granola
Add ¼ cup toasted pumpkin seeds (de-shelled)
Add ¼ cup sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Feel free to mix and match these different additions when making your homemade granola-granola is very forgiving and you really can't go wrong unless you burn it. Feel free to combine nuts, seeds, and dried fruit to make extra the granola extra hearty and filling-- also experiment with proportions.

Oven Temperature: 250 Degrees

Instructions:

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients, including spices. In a small bowl, mix wet ingredients (different sweeteners). Be sure the brown sugar has dissolved. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Do NOT add any fruit or nuts at this point.

Place homemade onto a greased baking sheet and spread granola into a thin layer over the sheet. Stir granola in the oven every 10 minutes for about 30 minutes, or when all moisture has dissolved and granola looks crispy.

Remove granola from the oven and stir in chopped nuts and dried fruits, if desired. Let the granola cool on the baking sheet so it can crisp up. Store homemade granola in an airtight container or plastic bag.