Granola is definitely a multi-tasker: eat it for breakfast with yogurt and fruit, or by itself with milk; as a snack throughout the day or on trips; on ice cream or frozen yogurt for dessert. With so many brands of granola on the market, many of us would never bother to think of making our own. But it is so easy to make that once you find a combination of ingredients you love, you will probably never buy it at the store again! It will save you money, and you can probably make a batch today with ingredients you already have in your kitchen. Not convinced? Here are some other great reasons to give it a try:
Customize the Ingredients
- This can be especially important for families dealing with allergies. Any recipe can be adjusted to leave out nuts, or other allergy-causing ingredients. For example, instead of nuts, consider using sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, or even toasted quinoa grains. All of these substitutes add nutrients and great texture!
- Granola ingredient preferences (salty/sweet, dried fruit/nuts, etc.) seem to be very individualized. By making your own, you can decide where on those spectrums your granola will fall.
- Kids can help decide what goes in the granola and can help mix all the ingredients together.
Control the Quantity
- Depending on how much granola you and your family eat throughout the week, there may be some that ends up going to waste. Either make a full batch of a recipe, or make a half-batch. The only difference in the recipe will be a shorter cooking time for a half batch. Alternatively, recipes can be doubled. Homemade granola is a great snack for play dates; when packaged in a nice airtight container, it could make a nice housewarming or hostess gift.
Control the Texture
- The same recipe can be adjusted so that the granola is either crunchy or chewy. You can also search out recipes that clearly indicate if the recipe is for a crunchy or chewy granola.
Granola Recipes and Comparisons
I usually make a variation of Classic Granola Recipe from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (recipe below); it’s an excellent basic granola, but I wanted to try a few others for comparison. So, I made Ina Garten’s Homemade Granola from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and Katie Workman’s Crunchy Chewy Granola from The Mom 100 Cookbook. They were both delicious, although all three of these granolas are very different. The one important thing to point out is that they are all super easy to make! You can easily alter any of these recipes to reflect your personal tastes, but here is a quick breakdown of the differences. Ina Garten’s recipe is chewier and moister than the others — mostly because there is a little more honey and dried fruit in this recipe. Katie Workman’s recipe incorporates vanilla and cinnamon, flavors that really complement the oats and fruit. Her other interesting addition is egg white. It binds the ingredients together (giving you those yummy clusters of granola) without having to add more honey, syrup, or oil.
The basic steps to making granola are to coat the oats with honey and oil (some of the recipes add maple syrup and other flavorings, like the cinnamon and vanilla, here too) along with any seeds, nuts, or coconut. This mixture is baked anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes depending on the temperature, with frequent mixing to avoid burning. (I found that the higher the temperature, the crunchier the oats get.) Then the dried fruit is added in before the entire mixture cools. Knowing these basic steps will allow you to customize your own granola recipe.
Classic Granola Recipe from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped coarse
- 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 cup raisins
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees.
Mix the oats, walnuts, coconut, almonds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds together.
Heat the oil, maple syrup, and honey in a small saucepan until warm, then pour over the nut mixture and toss to coat. Spread the granola evenly over a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring every 5 minutes, until the granola is light golden brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in the raisins.
Let the granola cool to room temperature. Loosen the dried granola with a spatula and store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
Enjoy!
