Easy Homemade Vegan Granola Recipe (Make it Oil or Sugar Free)

Oh, crunchy granola! This easy homemade vegan granola is perfect for a healthy breakfast, breakfast topper, a snack, healthy dessert, so many things!

It’s so easy to make and such a fun, versatile recipe! You can almost add whatever you want sweeten with natural sugars or no sugar and replace with a plant oil instead. This homemade granola can be made nut free or gluten free. The world’s your granola! The hardest part is not eating it all up all at once.

Choosing Plant Based Granola over any other Cereal

I LOVE granola!!! I’m not a cereal fan as I find it too sweet, not filling but mostly because I don’t like the taste of milk. Any milk. Dairy or plant based milk.

Granola is perfect because you don’t need milk! One can mash up a banana, mix it the granola and YUM! Or make homemade pear cream and use that instead of yogurt. Make your own easy coconut yogurt, or use any plant based yogurt. Simply add any fruit and your granola! No milk necessary. It suits my fancy so well.

But as a frugal mama, I didn’t want to invest the money in buying healthy granola. It’s so expensive. Especially at the rate my family goes through it! I also don’t like all the additives and the amount of sugar and oil most granola’s have. So I just didn’t buy granola very often and only as a treat.

I put off making granola for so long because I thought making homemade granola was hard. Well I’ve got news, when I finally just tried it I found…

This Granola Is SO EASY to Make!

Vegan Granola Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients (~12 cups total):

• 8 cups slow rolled oats
• 1 cup coconut flakes (or shredded, unsweetened)
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (chop for littles)
• 1 cup raw almonds (chop in blender)
• 1 teaspoon Himalayan salt
• 2 Tablespoons spices (opt)
• 1-2 cup chopped dried fruit any combination of your choice

Wet Ingredients (~1 cup total):

• 1 cup maple syrup OR liquid coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla (opt.)
• 1 Tablespoon maple flavouring (opt.)

Tools You May Need:

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• Nut chopper
• Wooden mixing spoon
• large mixing bowl
• baking pan
• measuring cups and spoons
• gallon mason jars
• mason jar plastic lids

Shop Bulk & Organic

You can purchase organic bulk nuts and seeds at your local bulk store, or online at Azure Standard (USA) or Organic Matters (Canada) or Rancho Vignola (Canada).

Brain Food – The Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds, in my opinion, are a super food! They are high in iron, zinc, magnesium, B vitamins, and other minerals. They are high in healthy fat.

Pumpkin seeds are great brain food as well, being high in tryptophan and can improve mood! Tryptophan is an amino acid that has positive effects on mood, anxiety, sleep, appetite and even pain.

Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower seeds are power packed as well, they provide the body with a significant amount of vitamin E, B6 and antioxidants.

Sunflower seeds also contain thiamine which is significant on improving brain health as well. They also contain a moderate amount of a variety of minerals and vitamins such as magnesium, selenium and manganese. Sunflower seeds even have small amounts of zinc, iron, copper, and many B vitamins as well!

Instructions: How to make Easy Vegan granola from scratch

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl measure out all the dry ingredients, oats, coconut, seeds, nuts, spices, salt.

I like to chop the almonds and pumpkin seeds so they aren’t so large for my littles to eat. This is totally a preference, you don’t have to.

Mix the ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients next, the maple syrup, and optional vanilla extract & maple flavouring.

Mix until the oats are well coated. Place in a deep baking dish.

Bake at 250 degrees F for 1 hour or until the oats are dry. If the oats aren’t dry they will not keep properly.

Stir every 15-20 minutes until oats are dry or golden brown to keep from burning.

Chop the dried fruit of your choosing. The fastest is to add some raisins or cranberries. But You can chop other dried fruit as well and experiment with different combinations.

Once cooled they can be stored in an air tight mason jar with a lid for a few months, providing the oats are dry, otherwise mold will grow.

Variations for VEGAN Granola

This homemade vegan granola recipe is so adaptable that you can almost change up whatever you want to suite your taste or dietary needs. The typical recommendation is to keep the ratio of dry to wet ingredients, but I’ve found you can adjust this suggestion and it turns out delicious still.

Sugar Free/Low sugar Granola: Instead of using the maple syrup you can simply leave it out, or use less and the granola will turn out great. Many times I will use only 1/2 cup or less of maple syrup or none and we love it.

Use Coconut Oil: You can swap the maple syrup out for 1/2 cup of liquid coconut oil. Or do a half maple syrup / half liquid coconut oil combo to lower the sugar.

Switch up the dried fruit: Keep it simple with just raisins or experiment with different combinations such as goji berries & apricots, or dates & mango, cranberries & papaya.

Try dehydrated berries: If you have dried berries on hand simply add any combination of raspberries, blueberries, strawberries or saskatoons.

Switch up the Nuts and Seeds: you can use really any combination of nuts and seeds your family likes best. Seed options: pumpkin, sunflower, chia, flax, sesame. Nut options: almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts, pecans, or walnuts.

You can make this recipe Nut free as well, just add more seeds or not.

Experiment with spices: think pumpkin spice blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, or try just fenugreek and or cinnamon, are all great flavours to try!

See how adaptable this granola recipe is! YUM!

Tips: name of recipe FAQs

What do you eat recipe with?

Enjoy this healthy homemade granola served on top of some vegan yogurt or smoothie bowl, with creamy pear cream, fresh fruit or plant milk.

How do I know if the granola is done cooking?

You want to be checking the oats for a dry almost crispy texture. Sometimes the oats will still feel a bit soft so then I pay attention to the seeds and nuts. Look to see if the nuts and seeds are nicely roasted, if they are then the oats will be dry enough.

How do I store granola?

Store in gallon mason jars with an air tight lid or other air tight container.

How long does granola keep?

Not long in our house as we eat it up so fast, so make a double batch if your family loves granola! However, it should keep in a cool dry place for at least a few months or more.

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Easy Vegan Granola

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

This crunchy healthy granola is oil free & made with natural sugars. This recipe is so adaptable, make it sugar free or oil free. Packed full of brain healthy seeds.

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Ingredients

• 8 cups slow rolled oats (gluten free)
• 1 cup coconut flakes (or shredded, unsweetened)
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup chopped raw almonds
• 1 teaspoon Himalayan salt
• 2 Tablespoons spices (opt)
• 1 cup maple syrup OR liquid coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla (opt.)
• 1 Tablespoon maple flavouring (opt.)
• 1 cup chopped dried fruit any combination of your choice

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl measure out all the dry ingredients, oats, coconut, seeds, nuts, spices, salt.
3. Optionally, grind the almonds and pumpkin seeds.
4. Mix the dry ingredients.
5. Add the wet ingredients next: maple syrup (or coconut oil), vanilla extract & maple flavouring (if using).
6. Mix until the oats are well coated. Place in a deep 9" x 13"baking dish.
7. Bake at 250 degrees F for 1 hour or until the oats are dry.
8. Stir every 15-20 minutes until oats are dry or golden brown to keep from burning.
9. Add the tried fruit, chop any large pieces.
10. Once cooled, store granola in an air tight mason jar with a lid.

Notes

• Make this recipe gluten free by using gluten free oats.

• Make sure the oats are completely dry & cooled before storing. If they aren't they will not keep properly and could mold.
• Make sure to use raw seeds and nuts.
• Avoid the rookie mistake, only add the dried fruit once the granola is done baking.
• Be more efficient, double recipe and bake at the same time.

Nutrition Information:

Serving Size: 12
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 639Total Fat: 20.65gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 222mgCarbohydrates: 94.49gFiber: 13.8gSugar: 19.21gProtein: 23.65g

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