Almond Vanilla Granola with Big Clusters

Almond Vanilla Granola is loaded with goodness - oats, almonds, cashews, and seeds and spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg!  This high protein granola has those big delicious clusters, with honey and a pinch of salt for that salty-sweet flavor that is sure to become a breakfast staple! Homemade granola is easy and the difference is incredible, you may never buy store-bought granola again!  

Why We Love It!

• Homemade Granola is Seriously Amazing! - This is the best granola I've ever had! It's been a favorite in our house for years and we never let the granola jar run dry! We always have it on hand to top many variations of breakfast. Yogurt, Crockpot Steel Cut Oatmeal, and a my favorite trick - add protein to plain old cereal with milk, like Cheerios or Chex! My kids request this almost every day! Once you've made homemade granola, you may never go back to store-bought. It truly is just that much better!

• It's Easy and Kids Love to Help! - Homemade granola is not hard! Mixing up a batch only takes 10 minutes (unless of course the kids are helping, then it can take a little longer!).

• Healthy High-Protein Breakfast Staple! - With homemade granola you can control your ingredients. Healthier too, check the label of your bag from the store, often full of unnecessary sugar and mostly oats, with only a few nuts. Homemade granola is only sweetened with honey, and the nuts and seeds make it nutrient dense!

• If you Love this Recipe, be sure to check out my Maple Pecan Applesauce Granola and my Morning Glory Freezer Muffins!

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Rolled Oats - Oats are the base of granola, use regular rolled oats, not quick or steel cut oats. I like to buy them at the bulk bin at the grocery store. You can make this an organic granola by using all organic baking ingredients.

• Almonds and Cashews - Making a high protein granola starts with lots of healthy nuts! Any nuts can be substituted in this recipe to make different variations. Try almonds, cashews, walnuts or pecans. Use raw nuts for this recipe since you are baking the granola. You can decide to chop them, buy them pre sliced, or leave them whole. If you love almonds, try my Almond Cherry Scones!

• Coconut Flakes - Add sweetness, texture, and flavor.

• Pumpkin, Sunflower, and Flax Seeds - Another big protein source comes from the seeds. Again these are interchangeable, and you can also try subbing chia, sesame, or hemp seeds.

• Cinnamon, Ginger, and Nutmeg - This almond vanilla granola is made super delicious from the spice combination. Dried cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg bring warm and bold flavors!

• Coconut Oil - Granola needs a bit of oil as it bakes to give it the nice big clusters. Coconut oil adds flavor, but even olive oil or substituting a portion of the oil for applesauce is an option.

• Honey - Honey is the sweetener, and a better alternative to the high amount of sugar or corn syrup in store-bought granola. Local raw honey can also have some health benefits, so find a local supplier to support, check the farmer's market! Real maple syrup can also be substituted.

• Vanilla - The vanilla almond granola flavor marries perfectly with the honey and spices.

• Salt - Don't skip the salt! The salt in this recipe really brings out the flavor in all the ingredients. It also gives you that deliciously amazing balance of salty sweet, making this granola so tempting to eat by the handful!

• Raisins or Any Dried Fruit - Dried fruit should be added AFTER the granola is baked and cooled. Again, do not bake the raisins, they will be as hard a rocks! Try different combinations of raisins, craisins, chopped apricots, dried cherries or blueberries, golden raisins, or apple chips.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 - Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix.

Step 2 - Combine the coconut oil (you can melt it in the microwave before measuring it), honey, vanilla and salt in a glass measuring cup.

Warm in the microwave or on the stove until you can whisk it together with a fork.

Step 3 - Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix really well with a spatula.

Transfer to 2 parchment paper lined baking sheets (I save and reuse my parchment paper over and over several times just for making granola--go green!).

Step 4 - Bake at 250°F for 75 minutes. When the 75 minutes is up, turn the oven off but leave the granola in the oven for a few hours or overnight until cool, this gives you nice clusters!

Step 5 - Sprinkle with raisins or any dried fruit and store in jars.

What to Eat with Granola

• Granola with Yogurt - We love a big bowl of granola with yogurt for breakfast, topped with berries, kiwi or pomegranate seeds! With the sweetness coming from the granola, you can buy healthier plain yogurt instead of flavored. Plain yogurt is super versatile and can be used in Protein Pancakes, Pumpkin Waffles, Avocado Bean Dip, Mediterranean Hummus, or in place of sour cream when topping tacos, Southwest Chicken Chili or Loaded Baked Potatoes.

• Granola with Oatmeal - Granola is the perfect topping for my Overnight Crockpot Steel Cut Oatmeal! Or ditch the packet and try my Homemade Instant Oatmeal!

• Add to Plain Cereal - Serve granola with milk to add extra protein to a bowl of Cheerios or Chex. Add berries or pomegranate seeds for a hearty breakfast, my kid's favorite!

• Granola Smoothie Topping - Add a scoop of protein to your morning smoothie, and check out my method for never wasting fruit and easily making everyday smoothies with The Smoothie Bucket!

• Ice Cream Topping - Add a sweet and crunchy bite to vanilla ice cream or ice cream sundaes. Make it a healthier treat with berries too!

• Add-In to Trail Mix - A quick trail mix made with a few handfuls of peanuts, cheerios, other nuts and seeds, raisins, M&M's and a big scoop of granola is a great on-the-go snack!

• Kid's Snack - Sprinkle granola over apple or banana slices with peanut butter for a quick snack.

Chef Tips

• Don't Open the Oven to Stir the Granola! - I used to stop and stir my granola, but I think it is a common mistake! Not stirring it while it bakes gives you better clusters.  When the timer is up, turn off the oven, but leave the granola in the oven for a few hours until it is cooled.  Leaving your granola alone is what gives you the nice big clusters!

• Bigger Clusters - Honey Vs. Maple Syrup - Both honey or maple syrup can be used as the sweetener for granola, and both are delicious! However, granola made with honey holds together better in bigger clusters. So if you are going for big clusters, use honey!

• Don't Bake the Raisins! - Add them at the end, after the granola is cooled. Baking the raisins will turn them into little rocks, totally inedible! Don't make this mistake!

• You Can Decide How Big or Small to Chop the Nuts, depending on how you like them.  You can also sub some extra oats for some of the nuts or seeds to make the recipe more affordable. Or you can use more nuts in place of some of the oats to make it healthier. You can substitute walnuts or pecans or really any nuts. Just keep the wet to dry proportions the same.

• Use Parchment Paper! - Parchment paper is so important in keeping your big clusters and not letting the granola stick to the pan.  I reuse my two sheets of parchment paper over and over several times for granola, go green!

• Granola Makes the Perfect Gift! - Every Christmas we make batches of granola and Homemade Almond Biscotti and gift them in pretty jars. Grandparents, teachers, everyone loves Almond Vanilla Granola!  It's more useful than the cookie giving, and the kids really feel like they contributed to the gift.   

Tips and Lessons for Cooking with Kids

Granola is the perfect starter recipe to have the kids help, no matter how young or old they are.  Even at one or two years old, they love to measure, stir, smell and taste!  

• Let kids do it all!  They can measure, count, add, smell, stir.  You don't have to worry about them leaning over the hot stove with this recipe.
• Your kids are never too young or too old to start, as long as they can sit on the counter or pull up a stool.  
• Check out kid's cookbooks at the library, my kids were super excited about them.
• Think of all they can learn beyond the recipe.  Teach them where food comes from, and where does it go (garbage, recycling, compost).  Math and measuring, family heritage and grandmother's recipes.  Safety skills like teaching little kids to stay away from a hot stove and use a knife safely.
• Clean your counters really well before you start.  If they stir like crazy and half your oats end up on the counter, just scoop them back in the bowl.
• Allow extra time!  Consider this a fun kid activity, not we need dinner on the table in 20 minutes!
• All messes can be cleaned up, and a failed recipe is not the end of the world.
• Teach your kids to cook and to eat right, learn which foods "help us grow big and strong and which foods are just for fun."  Cooking is an important life skill that is taught very little in school.  It is as important as teaching them to swim, ride a bike, manage their money, and get along with others.  It will serve them well when they are under their own roof.
• Have fun and take pictures of them!

If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it!  Be sure to leave a star rating by clicking the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below!

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