Homemade Vegan Granola is so easy to make and especially so easy to adapt to your diet or liking!
Put in whatever you like. Make. It. Yours!! Whether super healthy, gluten-free, beegan (haha, for those vegans who do eat honey), oil-free, nut-free, with or without sultanas/raisins or dried fruit or chocolate chips or coconut or spices, really: whatever! Everyone likes something else or prefers it in a different way, so why not make it the way you love it?
Contents
How do you make it? You simply chuck all the muesli ingredients in a bowl, mix, drizzle syrup over it, bake, done… Um, right? I certainly was a little unsure at first, if it was that easy.
But, yeah… Seriously, it’s that easy.
Ingredients
OK, this is my favourite, basic homemade vegan granola recipe. However, feel free to adjust it to your liking! It’s just to give you an idea of how much you’re using (see recipe card for quantities)!
- oats
- almonds
- pumpkin seeds
- sunflower seeds
- walnuts
- coconut flakes
- cinnamon
- coconut oil
- rice malt syrup
- dried fruit
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Other ingredients you could add (you may need to add more syrup/coconut oil, though): Chocolate chips (or white, to be added once your granola has cooled completely!), freeze-dried berries, banana chips and fresh lemon or orange zest.
Read on below for a complete ingredients list, substitutions and variations and how to achieve clusters, if you prefer your granola that way!
Substitutions & Complete Ingredients List
Oats and Grains
I love oats and traditionally, that’s what we use for granola and toasted muesli anyway. But feel free to use any other grain, like rolled spelt flakes, quinoa flakes, puffed amaranth, puffed rice, or coconut flakes (for low-carb).
Gluten-free
If you’re on a gluten-free diet, make sure the oats are certified gluten-free. Though, depending on how much you’re intolerant, regular oats might be OK for you as well.
Technically, oats are gluten-free but most companies normally produce other grains as well and store them in the same place. Thus, they can’t guarantee them to be gluten-free (except for the certified ones, of course).
You can use quinoa flakes (or puffed quinoa), puffed amaranth, puffed rice, puffed millet or shredded coconut or coconut flakes instead, too.
Nuts and Seeds
Almonds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia, hazelnuts, cashews, peanuts, or pistachios are great for your homemade vegan granola.
For nut-free, you might wanna stick to seeds like sunflower, pumpkin seeds/pepitas, flax or chia seeds.
Dried Fruit
I like adding sultanas/raisins to my homemade vegan granola. Usually, I add them after baking so they don’t dry up too much.
Other dried fruits you can add (you might just need to chop the bigger ones): Cranberries, apples, apricots, dates, dried cherries, figs, tropical fruit or even dried ginger!
Spices & Flavours
I love cinnamon and always add it to my homemade vegan granola! Or sometimes pumpkin pie spice (a blend of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove/allspice)!
For enhanced flavouring, you can add a teaspoon vanilla or about ½ teaspoon fine salt.
And then,...well, for all those chocolate lovers out there: cacao! A tablespoon (or two) will make a very delicious, chocolatey, homemade vegan granola!
Oils and other oil-free options
Oil-free Toasted Muesli: I don’t use any oil in my recipe because I’m convinced we don’t need any. However, if you loooove clusters, you might wanna add it. It’ll help your ingredients stick together for sure.
Oil-free Granola: I’m sure you can simply skip it. Maybe you need to add more honey or syrup then to make clusters. Alternatively, you can also add applesauce. I’ve never tried it but my friend loves using it instead of the oil and swears it tastes really good!
What oils to use? I reckon any cooking oil will do, like coconut oil, light tasting olive oil, avocado oil (for a more savoury tasting granola), sunflower oil, or canola oil.
Syrup
Some options: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup (for less sweet).
You might be able to use regular sugars too but then you’ll need oil for sure! Also, these natural sweeteners listed above simply add a lot of flavour to your granola and therefore, I recommend using them!
For beegan: use honey instead!
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 175°C/350°F. Grease or line a large casserole/lasagne or a rimmed baking sheet. I find a casserole dish easier (for later) to stir the granola without spilling it everywhere.
2. Place all your ingredients except for syrup, oil and dried fruit, and mix well.
3. Add syrup and oil and spread your granola evenly in your greased casserole dish or on the baking sheet.
4. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, stirring it once after 10 minutes. For clusters, press the granola back down lightly with the back of a wooden spoon or a spatula.
5. Once lightly golden, remove the dish and add your dried fruit (if using). Allow your granola to cool for about 1 hour. The stickiness will dry up once it’s completely cooled.
6. Store in an airtight container or a jar (I keep mine in a reused, 1L coconut oil jar) at room temperature for several weeks. My granola is now 2 months old and still perfectly fine, and crunchy!
Variations for your homemade vegan granola
Chocolate: add 1-2 tablespoons of cacao powder and vegan chocolate chips (at the end, when your granola is cool).
Apple Cinnamon: add dried apple cubes (after baking) and 1-2 additional teaspoons of cinnamon.
White Chocolate Cranberry: after baking and after your homemade vegan granola has cooled down, add vegan white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Just take a few handfuls.
Banana Bread: Add banana chips, 1 additional teaspoon cinnamon and one mashed medium banana (ripe).
Tropical: add dried tropical fruit like pineapple, papaya (pawpaw), banana and coconut flakes.
How to get Clusters in your homemade vegan granola?
- I reckon you want to slightly “undercook” them (but still be golden on the top). Maybe rather between 20-22 minutes.
- Only stir the granola once, after 10 minutes, making sure it gets browned evenly. You can use the back of a wooden spoon or a spatula to press them lightly to make them stick together more.
- Wait until your granola is completely cool, otherwise the clusters fall apart because they’re still too soft. Once cooled, the granola crisps up.
- My granola sticks together in one big piece (the size of my casserole dish). After it’s cooled, I simply break it apart.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 200g / 2 cups rolled oats
- 60g / ⅓ cup almonds chopped
- 50g / ⅓ cup pumpkin seeds
- 40g / ⅓ cup sunflower seeds
- 40g / ⅓ cup walnuts broken into small pieces
- 20g / ½ cup coconut flakes
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- a hand full dried fruit
- 90g / ¼ cup rice malt syrup
- 60ml / ¼ cup coconut oil melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175°C/350°F. Grease or line a large casserole/lasagne or a rimmed baking sheet. I find a casserole dish easier (for later) to stir the granola without spilling it everywhere.
- Place all your ingredients except for honey or syrup, oil and dried fruit, and mix well.
- Add honey/syrup and oil and spread your granola evenly in your greased casserole dish or on the baking sheet.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes, stirring it once after 10 minutes. For clusters, press the granola back down lightly with the back of a wooden spoon or a spatula.
- Once lightly golden, remove the dish and add your dried fruit (if using). Allow your granola to cool for about 1 hour. The stickiness will dry up once it’s completely cooled.
- Store in an airtight container or a jar (I keep mine in a reused, 1L coconut oil jar) at room temperature for several weeks. My granola is now 2 months old and still perfectly fine, and crunchy!
