How to Make Granola

Published on Friday, September 18, 2009, by Roxanne Webber / Edit Post

Granola is basically toasted oats. It’s incredibly easy to buy for exorbitant prices, yet incredibly easy to make at home. Here is a super-basic granola base to which you can add whatever dried fruit, nuts, or other tasty bits make you happy. Feel free to tweak this recipe if you like other spices, a little less honey, more salt—it’s pretty forgiving, and customizing your own blend is fun.

Here’s how to make your own granola:

View these steps as a photo gallery


  • 1. In a large bowl, stir together three cups of old-fashioned rolled oats, three tablespoons brown sugar, a quarter teaspoon kosher salt, and a half teaspoon cinnamon.


    2. In another bowl, stir together one-third cup honey, a quarter cup canola oil, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Dump this over the oat mixture and combine thoroughly. Get your hands in it to mix everything well, and to coat the oats evenly with the honey mixture. Heat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.


  • 3. Spread the mixture in a thin, even layer on a baking sheet and place on the center rack of the heated oven. Bake, stirring after 15 minutes, until the granola is a very light golden brown. It should take 20 to 30 minutes. If you like your granola crunchier with a toastier flavor, bake it a little longer, keeping a close eye on it—if it gets dark it will taste burnt.


    4. Cool the granola completely, stirring it around so it doesn’t stick together. (It hardens as it cools.)


  • 5. Once the granola’s cool, get creative: Now is the time to stir in all your extras like dried fruit, raw or toasted nuts and seeds, toasted coconut, etc. (See our sidebar for variations.) Store in an airtight container (this is very important—the granola goes stale easily) and eat within two weeks.
    • Mix It Up!
    • • Try adding in other rolled grain flakes with the oats such as spelt, kamut, or brown rice.
    • • Tropical: Add toasted coconut, macadamia nuts, and dried mango.
    • • Apple-Cinnamon: Add dried apples and toasted almonds to the mix, and additional cinnamon if you want.
    • • Date-Nut: Add dried dates and toasted pecans.
    • • Berry: Add dried mixed berries and toasted cashews.
    • • Experiment! Use other dried fruits (apricots, plums, raisins, cherries, currants) and toasted or raw nut-seed combos (sunflower seeds, mixed nuts, pistachios) and whatever spices you want.
    • • Check out how Chowhounds are making granola.

Roxanne Webber is senior features editor at CHOW.

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POST A COMMENT |39 Comments

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  • Mine came out great!! teste good looks good and I'll do it again.
    Used Mixed nuts cherries ,Blueberries and rasins the big ones.

  • good recipe! i cut the salt portion in half and eliminated the brown sugar. it was still extremely sweet and yummy

  • How much do you think one should charge for, say, a forty-pound bag of high grade 'nola? I'm talkin' real pure shit, here. Also, do you know where I can buy 5 tons of oats whole sale? On an unrelated note, how similar does horse meat look to beef? Urgent matter. Thanks.

  • For clumpy granola I weigh down the pan for the first 10 minutes or so of cooking (a sheet of foil, and a sturdy baking dish work well), and don't stir during cooking. I also add all the nuts and fruit before cooking. This gives me a granola that's chunky enough to eat with my bare hands.

    Raw millet is fantastic in granola, and adds a wonderful crunch. My usual ratio is 3 cups oats, 1 cup...+READ

    For clumpy granola I weigh down the pan for the first 10 minutes or so of cooking (a sheet of foil, and a sturdy baking dish work well), and don't stir during cooking. I also add all the nuts and fruit before cooking. This gives me a granola that's chunky enough to eat with my bare hands.

    Raw millet is fantastic in granola, and adds a wonderful crunch. My usual ratio is 3 cups oats, 1 cup millet, and 2 cups nuts and seeds.

    For other flavours, finely shredded orange zest (add before cooking) makes a wonderful addition. I do one with shelled pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds, pie spices (powdered ginger, cinnamon, clove) and the orange zest, with honey and molasses as the sweetener - the end result is holiday spice granola.

    Almond milk powder is another good flavour add in. I like almond milk, dried cranberries and a bit of vanilla for cranberry-almond granola.

    Homemade granola is one of those perfect do-it-yourself foods. It's easy to make, significantly cheaper than buying it in the store, and tastes better than even the expensive gourmet stuff from the store.-COLLAPSE

  • sugarglider, you're right. But I'm not even vegan and I know that agave nectar is a perfect vegan substitute for honey in almost any situation (and it's great for diabetics too).

  • Very good recipe. I've probably eaten my weight in oats (enjoyed every bite of it) since I first came across it. Toasted coconut (shaved not shredded) or roasted pecans really sets it off.

  • seriously? screw vegans. Meat is good

  • Looks fantastic and I'll try it, but it ain't vegan with honey in it

  • Looks cool. I love the way you mix it with brown sugar. You can get more vegan/healthy recipes from the following site.
    http://www.fourgreensteps.com/community/recipes
    Check it out, I find this site very useful for me to choose my food.

  • what does this have to do with being vegan? i'm confused.
    tasty recipe tho!

  • Ha ha ha!!! This is a funny thread. Thanks for making me laugh! I will try this and I bet my kids would love it as morning cereal, since they definitely react to artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives.

  • Delicious and easy to make! I added craisins while still warm...yummy!

  • i make this granola at least once a week, i sub the honey for agave nectar. i also add walnuts and raisins after it cooks and when its still hott. YUMM its soo good!

  • "I'd love to see this re-worked to be vegan. Healthier for folks; kinder to animals."

    Seriously, how long have you been a vegan that you could not figure out how to adapt this recipe? I'll assume it's the honey you object to since it's simple enough to specify sugar that's produced according to vegan methods. Anyhow, it would be simple enough to substitute maple syrup, brown rice syrup, agave...+READ

    "I'd love to see this re-worked to be vegan. Healthier for folks; kinder to animals."

    Seriously, how long have you been a vegan that you could not figure out how to adapt this recipe? I'll assume it's the honey you object to since it's simple enough to specify sugar that's produced according to vegan methods. Anyhow, it would be simple enough to substitute maple syrup, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, or even corn syrup here if you prefer them to the honey. I use maple syrup myself when making granola and like it a lot.-COLLAPSE

  • Great recipe, tasted wonderful with my yogurt...added some mixed nuts and dried berries

  • If you want the granola to clump, try using applesauce instead of oil.

  • I put it on a Silpat on my baking sheet pan so it does not stick. You must buy one of these; they are fantastic!

  • Krinda-- just use cane juice or agave syrup instead of honey, and use a slightly reduced amt of vegan sugar, or fruit purees as suggested above for the brown sugar called for.

  • I'd love to see this re-worked to be vegan. Healthier for folks; kinder to animals.

    Thanks!

  • I love this. I just used this recipe to make some homemade cereal. So much less expensive than buying it by the box. Just added some dried bananas, cranberries & plain cornflakes to make it more interesting. I'm eating it now :p

  • i just made this like 5 minutes ago, its cooling now. its delicious and if your like me you tasted it as soon as it came out of the oven, its warm crispy, and full of flavor!
    i didnt' have vanilla so i just skipped it and it still taste great! and i just added walnuts.
    ok back to my parfait, enjoy!

  • I made some and it came out great! A lot of it was clumpy.
    I used muscavado sugar, vegetable oil, 5 spice and vanilla vodka.

    That's all I changed I mean. The oats were 59p.

  • I'm gonna try this with apple sauce like suggested but I'm sure it won't taste the same. And finding rolled oats will be a mission in Japan, but i'm on it!

  • I've been making my own granola lately, using the recipe for the honey granola on the Williams-Sonoma website. It's a pretty standard recipe too, the only thing different besides the measurements is that you actually bake the granola with the dried fruit (raisins) already added. I like this recipe because, like the one above, there's lots of room to experiment with other ingrediants. I can add my...+READ

    I've been making my own granola lately, using the recipe for the honey granola on the Williams-Sonoma website. It's a pretty standard recipe too, the only thing different besides the measurements is that you actually bake the granola with the dried fruit (raisins) already added. I like this recipe because, like the one above, there's lots of room to experiment with other ingrediants. I can add my own pumpkin seeds, or change the small amount of butter to a nut oil/butter mixture. I use the honey that the recipe calls for, though, it just tastes like something store bought without the expense. Check it out on their website, but practice discretion when eating it - I think the calories can easily add up with this one. I have this granola with some yogurt and 1/2 of a cut up apple for a nutritious light lunch. It works for me!-COLLAPSE

  • The best way to get your granola clusters to clump is by using applesauce rather than oil. It works perfectly and you get delicious clusters of granola. Here's my recipe of clustered granola: http://www.theroadforks.com/recipearchives/tropicalgranola

    I am a huge fan of clumpy granola and this way really works. We make it all the time.

  • I was making my own granola the whole time. The only problem I have was that it stuck to my non-stick cookie sheet. When I tried to scrap it off from the cookie sheet it was flying all over the place. Hence I decided it wasn't worth the effort. Plus if you take into account of all the costs of ingredients and time and effort you spend, all of the sudden $4.50 a pound doesn't look all that bad.

    ...+READ

    I was making my own granola the whole time. The only problem I have was that it stuck to my non-stick cookie sheet. When I tried to scrap it off from the cookie sheet it was flying all over the place. Hence I decided it wasn't worth the effort. Plus if you take into account of all the costs of ingredients and time and effort you spend, all of the sudden $4.50 a pound doesn't look all that bad.

    However, I did NOT put a drop of oil while I was baking. This could be the reason why it was sticking. Maybe I should give it another go.-COLLAPSE

  • ramonasaur, you can also add liquid to make it clump. I've used unsweetened blueberry and cranberry juice and it worked well.

  • behemoth, thanks!

  • clumping can be achieved by adding a little flour to the mix -- I would say about a quarter cup, and you might need to up the liquids a little. (Whole wheat flour is fine.)

  • For extra flavour and subtle sweetness, try molasses!
    Great with chopped dates or prunes.

  • I like to use the same nut and nut-oil. Makes the flavour more unified... So I often use walnuts and walnut oil. Sometimes almonds and almond oil. Nifty trick! (I also use this technique on salads.)
    Yum!

  • This recipe is quite similar to Tyler's Ultimate, which I make frequently. He uses whole almonds, which really boot up the crunch factor as well as the nutty taste, and dried banana chips which is an unusual aspect to me....... it's delicious! I keep it in a nice big glass canister with a scoop in it, on the counter so people can just grab a handful when the mood strikes.

  • i also really like clumpy granola! but i can never get mine to clump properly, even without stirring. has anyone else who prefers clumps had success with this?

  • i like clumpy granola... in fact i strive for it! those clusters are so nice to crunch on.

  • High calories no problem, just eat less. You'll also know the source of all the ingredients, and have no preservatives to ingest. We've been trained to inhale cereal. It's really easy to start using it as a yogurt garnish with some fresh fruit. Oh, the health of it......

  • Try sub'ing brown rice syrup as the sweetner. Or, try letting the natural sweetness of toasted nuts convert your tastebuds. Adding a sweet isn't required in achieving delicious homemade granola.

  • This is great - no getting around the high calories - but it tastes so much better than purchased granola. I like to make this with my kids and I toast it on some aluminum foil so it doesn't stick.
    Lisa
    http:///www.snacksnoop.com

  • This is awesome.

  • Making my own granola is something I've been working on lately -- the problem is, although considered a 'healthy' food, it can become unhealthy very fast, with all of the sugar and oil that's added.
    It's possible to substitute some of the oil with applesauce to cut some fat and calories... give it a try.