Simple Granola

If you’ve been looking for a simple recipe for granola, here it is! This version is really basic with oats, pecans, melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. When it’s baking in the oven, the whole house smells like autumn. Not only is this granola easy to make, but it’s also tastier and more affordable than anything you can buy at the store. I made cookies over the weekend and my oldest daughter chose to eat this granola instead. I get where she’s coming from, it’s addictive!

We like to eat this granola sprinkled on yogurt, drizzled with almond milk, or just by the handful! If you like raisins or dried cranberries you can add them, but I’m not a huge fan of dried fruit so I like granola best like this.

Make the Granola Yours!

This is a basic recipe that you can customize to be your favorite! For example, if you like coconut more than pecans, you could switch the ratio in the recipe. Or if you don’t like coconut at all, you could substitute in your favorite dried fruit instead. Just keep the overall ratio of liquid ingredients to dry ingredients the same as in the recipe so it sets up properly.

Baking the Granola

This post is going to be short because granola is SO easy to make. The only important thing to remember is to mix the wet ingredients before adding to the dry ingredients, so the flavors are evenly distributed throughout the granola.

Here is the granola right when it comes out of the oven.

As it cools, it will form amazing little clusters of oats and nuts that are perfect for snacking.

We love this granola!

Simple Granola

6 cups old fashioned oats (not quick oats)
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

Place oats, pecans, and shredded coconut together in a large bowl. Mix honey, butter, oil, vanilla extract, brown sugar, kosher salt, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Pour the honey and butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir until well combined.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (I used a 3/4 sheet pan, but you could alternately use 2 smaller jelly roll pans). Bake at 300 for 45 minutes*, without stirring. Remove from oven and let sit for 30 minutes because breaking granola into small pieces for serving. Keep in mind the granola continues to cook and harden after being removed from the oven. Store in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to a week.

*The difference in ovens makes a big difference in the baking of this granola. If you have an oven that bakes unevenly, you may want to stir the granola once during baking to keep it from burning in spots. If you have an oven that cooks slowly, you may want to let the granola bake up to 15 minutes longer. Just keep an eye on things and remove it from the oven when it’s toasty and amazing!