Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

Crunchy – Healthy Homemade Granola loaded with goodness. Vegan and made with all organic and natural ingredients. No sulfured fruit in this granola.

This page contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click a link, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

As a teenager, I spent several summers living with and working for a favorite aunt and uncle in Seattle. My uncle would purchase granola in bulk for the Nursing home they owned. It was lightly sweet with a hint of maple syrup and a crunchy texture with clusters of oats loaded with nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. My favorite breakfast cereal that I ate every morning before going to work at the Nursing Home. This recipe I created tastes like I remember granola tasting all those years ago.

How Do I Make Crunchy Homemade Granola?

This granola is quick and easy to mix up, but toasting it – to achieve a perfect crunch with clusters of oats – takes a while.

Mix the dry ingredients, rolled oats, seeds, and nuts. No need to pre-roast the seeds and nuts. Add the maple syrup and a little coconut oil. Mix all together until the dry ingredients are evenly coated.

Slow roast/toast in a 225-degree F oven until the granola is lightly browned and crunchy. After the 1st hour of roasting, beat an egg white until it is foamy. You want to beat it with a mixer not a fork. If the egg isn’t foamy it will form small clumps of egg white in the granola. Drizzle the egg over the granola toss to evenly coat and then compress the granola into the pan.

The egg acts as the glue to stick the granola into crunchy clusters. If you are vegan, skip the egg. The granola will still be delicious but have fewer crunchy clusters. It will have lots of crunchy flavors. Toast for another hour and then stir to break up the large clusters—Roast for a 3rd hour or until it is the perfect golden color with lots of crunch. Once the granola is toasted, it is ready to eat. Munch it up as is, or add your favorite combinations of dried fruit.

Here is where you get to give your crunchy homemade granola some personality. Will it be a tropical mix of bananas, pineapple, mangoes, and papaya? Will it be Very Berry Granola? With dried strawberries and blueberries. Or maybe you like to stick with the craisin, raisin, or dates for your mixins. Lastly, consider some peaches, apples, and apricots for extra YUM.

Anything goes, so mix it up, and don’t forget to throw in plenty of large coconut flakes. Farmer Fred makes coconut flakes from fresh coconuts in Florida. He infuses the flakes with maple syrup and dries them until crispy. So Delicious.

What Do I Put In My Granola?

One of the reasons I love to make granola is that every time I make it, I add different items.
The core or base of your granola is the oats, maple syrup, and oil. Use the old Fashioned Oats for crunchier granola. This is one time when you need to use real maple syrup. The imitation maple-flavored syrup loses its flavor in the long roasting process.

Purchase raw nuts and seeds, and add them to the granola before roasting; the maple syrup sweetens the nuts slightly and makes them extra crunchy.
The rest is mixins: let your imagination run wild if it is dried fruit add it in. Look for unsulfured fruit. It is much better for you and way tastier. Other mixins are coconut flakes, dates, craisins, and raisins. Get a bowl out, add your favorite milk, and give your day a sweet and crunchy start.

Pop on over to my social media sites where you’ll find exclusive Doctor Jo’s pictures of what’s new in my gardens. Also, what new recipes I’m creating in my kitchen. I love your comments. So let me know what you think in the Leave a Reply section at the end of this blog. Please leave your first name at the end of your comment so I can reply to you by name.

Crunchy Homemade Granola

Crunch Homemade Granola is gluten-free, vegan, so easy, and super healthy.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 1 30

Total Time: 1 40

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy, gluten-free, granola, healthy, vegan

Servings:

Calories: 180kcal

Equipment

This page contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click a link, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you

Ingredients

2½ cups rolled oats old fashioned gluten-free
⅓ cup almonds sliced
⅓ cup pecan halves or pieces
⅓ cup sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds
3 tbsp oil coconut oil liquid or melted (see notes)
½ cup maple syrup use real maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
1 egg white add 1/4 tsp oil and beat until frothy. (omit for a vegan recipe)
1/2 cup coconut flakes unsweetened and toasted
2 cups dried fruit a mixture of fruit cut into small pieces. see notes.

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 225-degrees F.
Mix together the rolled oats, nuts, and seeds in a 2 qt. bowl
Mix together the coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla and salt. Add the liquid mixture to the oats mixture and stir to coat the oats, nuts, and seeds.
Spread on a lightly greased sheet pan. and bake for 30 minutes.
Stir the granola and drizzle one beaten egg white over the granola. (see notes) if vegan. Beat the egg with a mixer, not a fork. The egg should be frothy. Toss the granola after adding the egg.
Press the granola together on the pan into a dense layer that is about 1/2 inch thick.
Bake another 30 minutes and stir being careful to not break up the clusters of oats.
Bake a final 30 minutes. Once the granola is cooled it should be dry and crunchy. If it is soft for lacks crunch bake an additional 30 minutes.
Add the toasted coconut and dried fruit. Stir to mix.

Video

Notes

The egg white will stick the oats together in clusters. If you are vegan, don't add the egg white, the granola will still be delicious, but won't have as many crunchy clusters of oats.

If you don't have coconut oil use vegetable oil.

Use real maple syrup. The imitation maple syrup won't give the maple flavor and crunchy texture the real maple syrup gives.

Add a combination of dried fruit and berries in the granola. For a healthier granola, use unsulphured fruit.

Visit the SHOP MY KITCHEN page for small appliances, tools, and hard to find pantry items like the dried fruit and berries mix.