After years of baking boatloads of healthy homemade granola for my family, friends and clients, I am finally posting my recipe. Now everyone can enjoy baking their own. It's just a little sweet and whole lot of crunchy. My clients say it's the best!

Homemade granola has become a staple for many pantries. Sprinkle it into yogurt, eat a handful as a snack, or create beautiful yogurt-berry breakfast parfaits. Making your own is so easy. And the house smells incredible while it is baking thanks to the maple syrup and cinnamon.
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Recipe Ingredients
See the recipe card for measurements.
- Rolled oats: If you follow a gluten-free diet, be sure to purchase gluten-free oats. Oats can be contaminated with gluten during growing (crop rotation), processing, packaging, or shipping. Get the standard form, not the extra thick or quick cooking.
- Coconut: Buy the unsweetened shredded coconut, not the sticky, sugary sweetened stuff.
- Nuts: You'll need chopped walnuts and blanched slivered almonds. They provide, nice crunch, protein, flavor, and healthy fat.
- Sunflower seeds: By raw not roasted or flavored.
- Flax seed: I keep whole flaxseed in my pantry and grind them fresh. You can buy pre-ground if preferred. Whole seeds keep longer than ground. Use an inexpensive coffee/spice grinder like this.
- Hemp seed: Buy whole, raw seeds.
- Maple syrup: Buy the real stuff, not the fake, brown stuff made with corn syrup. Note for lower sugar below.
- Fat: Coconut oil provides healthy fat and great flavor.
- Vanilla:
- Spices:
Substitutions
- Swap pecans for walnuts.
- Swap sliced almonds for the slivered blanched.
- To reduce sugar, use this maple keto syrup made with monk fruit. It tastes great.
- Swap avocado oil for coconut oil. If you've never used avocado oil, the flavor is very light and your granola won't taste like avocado. ANother op
- Use coconut MCT oil instead of the extra virgin coconut oil.
Oats and a Gluten-free Diet
Oats are often included on the list of grains to be avoided for those following a gluten-free diet making it confusing. While the do not contain gluten, they do contain a gluten-like protein called avenin which some people with gluten-sensitivity are also sensitive to. Only you know your sensitivity level.
Homemade Granola: Maple and Coconut Oil
I use real maple syrup and unrefined extra virgin coconut oil as the binders for my granola. The difference? Real maple syrup comes from trees. The fake stuff comes from a factory. Nothing but artificial flavor and colored corn syrup. Read the labels. The real stuff is more expensive, but better tasting and better for you.
Many recipes use vegetables oil. Ick. If you have it in your pantry, throw it out; it is not from vegetables. Most are nothing more than highly processed, genetically modified soy bean oils and they are horrible for you.
Coconut Allergy?
If you are allergic to coconut, try a neutral flavored, naturally refined avocado oil like this one. Skip seed oils or poor quality oils like canola. That's another post I must write. Also skip the shredded coconut in the dry mix.
How to Make Homemade Granola
Whisk together the maple syrup and coconut oil with vanilla (or almond) extract, and your spices of choice – cinnamon, nutmeg, Chinese Five Spice or other warm spice blends. Have fun varying them to your liking.
In a medium bowl, measure out the dry ingredients. A kitchen scale makes it easier. The nuts and seeds are good sources of healthy fat.
Pour the syrup mix into the dry mix and stir until the oats feel uniformly heavy. Stir really well! There should be no white or dry areas left. Pour onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 2 hours, turning the maple granola over half of the way through. I use my hands and a metal spatula.
Cool granola after baking, then mix in dried fruit if desired. See tips on choosing dried fruit below, or skip it to reduce sugar. It's delicious either way.
Tips on Dried Fruit: Lower Sugar or None
Either with or without dried fruit, this granola is great. For reduced sugar overall, skip it or reduce the ¾ cup further. When buying dried fruit, be sure to read labels for added sugar and sulfites.
The above photo shows (at the top, clockwise)
- bright red dried goji berries
- sweet and tangy golden berries
- apple juice sweetened dried cranberries
- dried white mulberries
- dried currants
- dried blueberries
- golden raisins
- sulfite-free dried apricots (center)
- Pitted dates are another option.
Golden berries and dried white mulberries are lower sugar options and they taste terrific. Golden berries have only 2 grams of sugar per ¼ cup versus 25 grams for dried cranberries.
What About Sulfites in Dried Fruit?
If you have asthma or sulfite sensitivity, read labels and choose dried fruit without sulfur dioxide. Sulfur dioxide is used as a preservative in many dried fruits. It also keeps many dried fruits (like dried apricots) a pretty color. Sulfite-free dried apricots are usually brown. Not as nice looking, but sulfite-free.
Homemade Granola: A Gift From the Kitchen
Homemade maple granola makes a welcome gift when visiting family and friends over the holidays. Tied up in little bags with a bow, granola is a terrific hostess gift. For a fun version of granola try my chocolate chip granola bites.
📖 Recipe
Healthy Homemade Granola
Equipment
- Rimmed baking sheets 1 half or 2 quarter sheet size
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups gluten-free rolled oats 12 ounces
- ¾ cup unsweetened coconut thread 2 ounces
- ½ cup chopped walnuts 2 ounces
- ½ cup blanched slivered almonds 2 ¾ ounces
- ¼ cup raw sunflower seeds 1 ½ ounces
- 3 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 3 tablespoons hemp seed
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup real maple syrup 5.3 ounces
- ½ cup melted extra virgin coconut oil 4 ounces, or MCT oil
- 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or Chinese Five Spice
- 1.4 teaspoon fine sea salt optional
Dried Fruit Options (omit to lower sugar)
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup golden berries
- 6 pieces pitted dates chopped into small pieces
Instructions
Mix Granola
- Pre-heat the oven to 250°F. In a large bowl mix rolled oats, dried coconut, nuts and seeds. In a large measuring cup whisk maple syrup, oil, vanilla and cinnamon until smooth. Pour the maple mixture into the oats mixture and stir until well combined. The oats should feel uniformly heavy and well coated with no dry areas.
Bake Granola
- Pour granola on to a half sheet sized rimmed baking sheet (or two quarter sheets) and bake for 2 hours, stirring and turning over with metal spatula at 1 hour. Bake until dry and crunchy.
Cool and Add Fruit
- Remove from the oven and cool, then stir in dried fruit. Store in a tightly covered container in the pantry.
Lisa Lowery says
Absolutely LOVE this recipe. I make it and share it with friends. It's delicious and easy to make. It doesn't come close to store bought. Highly recommend this recipe!
Sally Cameron says
Thanks Lisa!! We love it too. Happy New Year!
Linda says
Hi Sally,
Just wanted to thank you so much for this recipe! I ended up making 4 double batches of this over the holidays and packaged them in pint sized mason jars for gifts. You get about 6 jars per double batch. Everyone loved it and said they appreciated getting something healthier over the holidays. If you ever come up to the San Francisco area, check out Rainbow Market. I found them about halfway through the process and they sold almost everything to make this in bulk, and it was organic too. Thanks again for helping us all be healthier!
Kelly says
Just made this today. It was very easy and SO good. I never thought of making my own granola, but now I can really enjoy it knowing that it is made with high quality ingredients. I'm already making plans for homemade granola Christmas gifts. Thanks for the idea and the awesome recipe Sally!
Michelle K says
Thank you! You DO make the best granola, and sealed it does last quite well in the pantry. I love it over yogurt for breakfast. It also makes a great Christmas gift. (hint-hint!) Appreciate the explanation about gluten and oats, very helpful.
Sally says
Ha! I thought of you when I posted this! I can still make it for you or now you can make it too! Actually, I have some waiting for you in the pantry...