This homemade granola recipe with honey and rolled oats is healthy, vegan and refined sugar-free. Oats and honey combined with chopped nuts, seeds and dried fruits give you the very best granola for weight loss and healthy living. Here I will give you the ultimate granola recipe with tonnes of alternates and variations so that you can make the best healthy granola with whatever you have in your pantry!
This easy homemade granola recipe with honey and instant oats is perfect for a nutritious breakfast or a mid-day snack. Top a bowl of fresh yoghurt or milk with a handful of this crunchy granola and you will have a delicious yet filling meal for yourself. Plus homemade granola instead of buying means saving a boatload of money! Once you start making granola at home, you will realize that it is absolutely easy to make a week’s worth in no time and why haven’t you started making it already!
Why you should try this granola recipe at home?
Contrary to the perception of few, eating granola is healthy. Of course, you need to keep a check on several factors here. Since it is naturally sweetened using honey, skip adding sugar to your milk or yogurt. Also, if you like to top your breakfast bowl with loads of fresh fruits then that might also needs a check. Weight watchers should use low-fat milk or yoghurt to go with their granola. So if you see here, its not always the granola in itself which is causing trouble to your diet!
Buying granola from the supermarket is like offering yourself for a daylight robbery! I am not kidding. Once you see the ingredients and how easily you can put them together to make healthy homemade granola, you will be surprised. All it takes is some rolled instant oats, a handful of chopped nuts, seeds and dried fruits mixed with a sweetener and some fat.
Each and every element of a granola recipe is completely customizable. Here, I will list out the ingredients I have used to make this crunchy homemade honey & oats granola with dried fruits, berries and seeds. Plus, I will give you all the possible alternates and variations that you can bring to this simple granola recipe.
Eating granola made at home gives you another major advantage and that is having control over all the ingredients that go into your breakfast bowl. Store-bought granola is often laden with a ton of sugar which often makes it unhealthy.
How to make healthy homemade Granola – Ingredients list
Every granola recipe, more or less, follows a standard formula. If you stick to it then you will get a perfectly balanced and delicious homemade granola for yourself. here’s how I roughly sum it:
3 parts Oats + 1 part Chopped Nuts + 1 part Dried Fruits + 1/2 part Seeds + 1/2 part Sweetener + 1/2 part Fat
I have given you a rough estimate of what goes into the making of a classic granola. You can substitute the word ‘part’ with any standard measurement of your choice. Then only thing to keep in mind is to stick to it for measuring all the elements of the granola recipe. Let’s check out what I used here to make my version of Honey and Oats Vegan Granola.
- Instant Oats
- Nuts like Almonds, Cashew, Walnuts, etc.
- Seeds like Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Flax Seeds, etc.
- Dried Fruits & Berries like Raisins, Cranberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Strawberry
- Honey
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt
- Spices like Nutmeg, Cinnamon, etc.
As you can see, this is a no-sugar granola recipe using EVOO as a fat, thus making it a vegan sugar-free granola recipe. Oats and honey give us a classic combo where both are extremely healthy for our body. Oats are naturally occurring gluten-free, and extremely rich in terms of protein, iron and dietary fibres. When combined with nuts, seeds and dried fruits, it gives us nutrient-packed healthy granola which is most often a better substitute for most other breakfast dishes.
Various alternatives to this homemade honey & oats granola recipe
- Oats – This forms the base of most of the granola recipes you see out there. So, here you can add to oats or totally replace it with corn flakes, rice flakes, wheat flakes, etc.
Oats are gluten-free, however, during processing they might come into contact with gluten allergens, which might cause troubles to those who are intolerant to gluten. So, make sure that you use certified gluten-free oats for a gluten-free granola recipe. - Nuts – They pack a punch with a ton of nutrients to this healthy homemade granola recipe with honey and other ingredients. You can use any combination of nuts here such as almonds, cashews, walnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pistachios, etc. Those who are allergic to nuts can totally skip adding it and go for seeds and dried fruits instead.
- Seeds – Again the sky is the limit when it comes to adding seeds to your homemade granola recipe. You can use any combination of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds, cacao nibs, etc.
- Dried Fruits – You can use raisins, dried berries, dried mango, dates, dried orange or orange peel, etc. It is best to add the dried fruits after baking the granola while it is still warm.
- Sweetener – The best part of making granola at home is that you can avoid refined sugar completely. You can adjust the level of sweetness as per your taste. So, using healthy alternatives is our priority here. For that, we can use honey, maple syrup & agave syrup. Brown sugar is another alternative here.
- Fat – Again we can skip using butter here and instead use neutral flavoured oil such as extra virgin olive oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil, canola oil, etc.
- Spices – This is totally upon you to add or skip a little touch of spice into your homemade crunchy granola recipe. Personally, I am a big fan of nutmeg in baking, So I have added that along with a pinch of cinnamon.
- Salt – Again a must in every baking recipe. It brings out all other flavours and kind of balances the sweetness.
How do you make homemade granola?
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C
- Combine the oats, chopped nuts, seeds, olive oil and honey in a big mixing bowl. Give everything a good mix so that everything gets coated with oil and honey evenly. Pro tip – measure the oil first and then honey so that the honey comes out completely without sticking to the cup!
- Line your baking tray with parchment paper and spread the mix evenly. You can bake it in two batches if you think its too much for one go!
- Bake it for 25-30 minutes while giving it a stir midway, say at 15 minutes of baking. It should turn golden-brown once it is ready.
- Once done add the dried fruits to the warm baked oats and nuts and give everything a stir. Allow it to cool down completely before storing it in an airtight container.
- You can have it with some milk or yoghurt. In case you would like to know how to make yoghurt at home, there is a detailed Blogpost here on my Blog.
Make ahead or Storing Options
This recipe for honey & oats, mixed berries granola with dried fruits will give you enough to serve a week for 2 people or somewhere around 8-10 servings. Top your bowl of yoghurt or milk with this for a super healthy meal. Use an airtight container to store the crunchy granola to preserve its texture and flavour.
You can make this couple of days ahead and give it away as edible gifts over holidays. This can be an amazing party return gift favour. Make sure to use airtight packaging material.
Have you tried this recipe? I would love to hear about it.
Tag me on Instagram @priyankabhattacharya.sa or Facebook @hashdiaries and I will share it further.
This homemade granola recipe with honey and rolled oats is healthy, vegan and refined sugar-free. Oats and honey combined with chopped nuts, seeds and dried fruits give you the very best granola for weight loss and healthy living. Here I will give you the ultimate granola recipe with tonnes of alternates and variations so that you can make the best healthy granola with whatever you have in your pantry!
- 3 cups Instant Oats
- 1 cup Chopped Nuts Cashew, Almonds, Walnuts
- ½ cup Seeds Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Flax Seeds
- ½ cup Olive Oil
- ½ cup Honey
- 1 cup Dried Fruits Raisins, Dried Berries
- A Pinch of Salt
- A pinch of Nutmeg powder
- A pinch of Cinnamon powder
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Pre-heat the oven to 180C
-
Combine the oats, chopped nuts, seeds, olive oil and honey in a big mixing bowl. Give everything a good mix so that everything gets coated with oil and honey evenly
-
Line your baking tray with parchment paper and spread the mix evenly. You can bake it in two batches if you think its too much for one go!
-
Bake it for 25-30 minutes while giving it a stir midway, say at 15 minutes of baking. It should turn golden-brown once it is ready.
-
Once done add the dried fruits to the warm baked oats and nuts and give everything a stir. Allow it to cool down completely before storing it in an airtight container.
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