homemade granola

Homemade Granola, delicious crunchy, sweet, crispy and fruity.

I remember eating granola as a kid; my mom made the most amazing granola.

Doused in chilled milk or snatched from a bag in my tiny fist, my mom’s granola was better than any boxed version.

As an adult and admitted food and recipe obsessed person, it’s somewhat embarrassing to admit that homemade granola is one thing I’ve never tackled. (until now

One of my favorite go-to recipe blogs, fellow redhead and all around favorite people ever, Heather of Home Ec-101, posted the Easiest Homemade Granola Ever recipe and I must admit, I was inspired.

Y’all know me though, I can’t leave a recipe alone; I am compelled to tweak and twiddle and mess with every recipe that I come across.

I now have what I believe to be the MOST amazingly delicious homemade granola recipe ever.

Mixing the ingredients for this ridiculously easy, filling and delicious granola takes less than 5 minutes, baking it to crispy, golden heavenly perfection takes about an hour to an hour and a half.

Mix Oats, coconut, walnuts and almonds* together in your largest mixing bowl

pouring oats

Top with your binding mixture of honey, vegetable oil, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon and applesauce

honey, applesauce, oats and spices

Mix together until all ingredients are perfectly blended.

Divide and place on two baking sheets (your cooking time will differ if your baking sheets are dark or light)

Bake at 250 for 1 hour 20 minutes on light or 1 hour 10 minutes on dark non-stick, stir and mix every now and then, you want the granola to turn a lovely golden color, they will crisp up after they’re out of the oven. ( 20 minute intervals works well)

Remove from the oven, allow to cool.. add in dried cranberries, raisins, dried cherries (I would have added dried apples and nectarines if I’d had them)

homemade granola 2

This is amazing served in a bowl cereal style with ice cold milk

homemade granola with milk

or by the handful.  It’s healthy, chock full of anti-oxidents and all that yumminess without the preservatives and cost of the store bought kind.

Seriously, $4ish dollars for less than a pound of store bought granola or $4 for 2 gallon size bags (if you make two batches like I did) chock full of homemade healthy granola[/donotprint]

Recipe: Homemade Granola

Ingredients

  • 6 C oats (NOT the quick cooking ones)
  • 1 C sliced almonds
  • 1 C chopped walnuts
  • 1 1/2 C shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 1 C applesauce
  • 1/2 C honey
  • 2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/2 C light brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 C raisins
  • 1 C dried cherries
  • 1 C dried cranberries
  • or dried apples, nectarines etc….

Instructions

  1. In your biggest mixing bowl, mix together; oats, almonds, walnuts and coconut
  2. In a small bowl mix together: 1/2 C honey, 1 C applesauce, 2 Tbsp vanilla, 1/2 C brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
  3. Pour the applesauce mixture over the oat mixture and combine thoroughly. Use your hands (preferred) or a spoon and mix until thoroughly combined
  4. Spread the mixture over two baking sheets and bake at 250 F for about 1 hour 20 minutes.
  5. If the baking sheet is light it will take about 1 hour 20 minutes, if it’s dark/non-stick it will take about 1 hour (these are {abouts} it will depend on your oven, you want the granola to have turned a lovely golden brown.  It will get crispy after it’s removed from the oven and allowed to cool
  6. stir the granola every 20 minutes
  7. remove from the heat and allow to cool, this is when it will crisp up
  8. add in dried fruit: cranberries, raisins, cherries, apples etc…
  9. this recipe will yield 1 gallon sized storage bag

 

psssssst: I’m nominated for the Tastiest Blog Award and I’d REALLY appreciate your votes! I’m up against some really major competition!

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I'm a deep-fried Southern belle, married to a cowboy boot wearin', Harley ridin’ Texan Prince Charming. I am the always proud and frequently exhausted mom to two 8th generation Texans My childhood was spent at my Granny's side learning to cook with cast iron, butter and that special southern ingredient -- love Today, I share my passion for food, family and photography with thousands of monthly readers on my blog, A Southern Fairytale. I love cute boots, my Canon camera, belly laughs with friends, the beach, my family and ellipses..."

34 Comments

  4. I love making my own granola! I don’t get too very often anymore (gluten free oats can be expensive) but I definitely have fond memories of it 🙂 I love how packed with flavor and different textures yours is!

    ~Aubree Cherie

    Reply

    1. Thank ya ma’am! I didn’t realize GF oats would be so much more expensive 🙁 boo 🙁
      The different flavors and textures are what make this granola so delicious!

      Reply

  6. I have used the handy-dandy printer friendly thing and printed, baby! This looks awesome and I can’t wait to try it! My family loves things like this! I am off to make a grocery list!
    Thanks for sharing, Rachel!

    Reply

    1. YAY! So glad the printer friendly worked for you!

      I love the WP print because it puts the print button right above the formatted recipe and only prints that but, for some reason today when I used it.. it deleted the recipe from the post 🙁 GRRRR someday I’ll get it all worked out!

      Enjoy! Thank you for visiting and commenting! YOU ROCK!

      Reply

  7. This granola looks wonderful! I may have to cut down the recipe because when it comes to granola, I CANT stop eating until it is all gone. This would be delicious over yogurt!

    Reply

    1. Hey Natalie!! It’s SO yummy! This recipe makes 1 gallon sized baggie a bit more than 3/4 full 😉 It is AWESOME over granola which is totally my favorite way to eat granola! Can’t believe I didn’t put that in the recipe (this is why I shouldn’t write recipes late at night!)

      Reply

    1. The applesauce gives it such an amazing sweetness and means that I don’t have to use as much oil as in other recipes 🙂 which rocks!

      Reply

  9. I love homemade granola…if it weren’t so darn hot here I would make some, but with 95+ degree days, I don’t want to turn on my oven. It’ll have to wait until it cools down a bit. I like the addition of the applesauce. I have never done that before.

    Thanks for the carnival.

    Reply

  13. We are granola fanatics at my place! This is going to be our road trip snack (TX to MD). Can a family live on granola alone?

    Reply

  18. Oh my gosh, this looks SO good. We love granola at our house. And it is expensive. I’m putting this at the top of my must-make list.

    Reply

  19. Thanks for the link. Now, I won’t forget it. I check these meatless dishes, whenever I can. You must know how many good recipes, we get this way.

    Reply

  20. Love the applesauce – will be adding that to my tried and true granola recipe. Did you know you can do the cooking part in your crock pot – helps ease the oven+summer heat combo! Hope your trip is FUN!

    Reply

  21. Ohhhh, I’m not much of a cook (AT ALL), but this sounds tasty, and something that MAYBE I can handle. 🙂 I just might give this a shot. 🙂

    Reply

  25. I’ve been on a granola kick lately and yet I’ve never made my own instead paying a ridiculous amount of money for a store bought version. Must make ASAP!

    Reply

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