This almond and coconut granola is not too sweet yet still perfectly clumpy and crisp and everything else you’ve ever wanted in a homemade granola. Including versatile, so add whatever ingredients you fancy.
Yes, we know, there are gobs of granola recipes out there. Yet we’re partial to this one made with almond and coconut. It’s sweet but not too sweet. It’s sufficiently healthful to make you feel virtuous rather than repentant. And it’s made with just enough ingredients to lend it intrigue rather than being crammed full with so many flavors jostling for your attention that it makes you wonder if the Mad Hatter dreamt it up.
That said, you can make Emily’s granola exactly as its written, or you can play around with it a little in terms of the stir-ins, add-ons, and mix-ins. If you subtract one thing, add another little something. Below the recipe, we’ve included a few of the more groovy granola ingredients we’ve experienced, if only in our imagination. Like sesame seeds. Crushed fennel seeds. Candied ginger that you chop with a knife blade slicked with oil to keep the pieces from sticking. We could go on although we consider this to be like a Choose Your Own Adventure book in which you can create your own ending…–Emily Mainquist
☞ Contents
Almond and Coconut Granola
Ingredients
- 4 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes or shreds
- 1 cup whole raw almonds chopped if desired
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup mild honey or light agave nectar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups chopped dried fruit (such as dates, raisins, cherries, figs, blueberries, cranberries, or apricots)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (148°C).
- In a large bowl, mix the oats, coconut, almonds, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
- Heat the oil and honey or agave in a microwave-safe bowl for 20 seconds or combine the ingredients in a saucepan over low heat until combined. Pour the honey mixture over the oat mixture, add the vanilla, and stir until combined. Working quickly, spread the granola on a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or a rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake the granola, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden and aromatic, 25 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of your baking dish or sheet and how dry and crumbly you like it.
- Place the pan on a wire rack, stir in the dried fruit, and then push the granola to one side of the pan to allow the granola to sort of stick together in clusters as it cools. We trust that you can take it from here. (You can keep the granola in an airtight container for up to 1 month.)
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Sometimes, the simplest recipe is the best. This granola is lightly sweet, and nicely crunchy. I’ve made much more complicated, sweeter, higher-fat recipes for granola, but I think this is the one I’ll keep going back to. I didn’t get many clusters, even though I piled it on the sheet pan while it cooled, but that didn’t stop me from eating it—a lot of it!
This granola has a lovely balance of flavors and is easy to put together.
I found that 40 minutes was a little too long in the oven, leaving the granola slightly dry and loose, but this is easily fixed by keeping an eagle-eye on the oven from 30 minutes onward. I used a mix of blueberries, sour cherries, and cranberries and plan on making some granola bars to have as a quick working breakfast.
I love how easily this recipe came together. The granola had the perfect amount of sweetness for me—I like a little bit of sweet but don’t want to feel like I’m getting cavities from my breakfast. I’d probably switch to slivered almonds instead of whole almonds next time and use a little less dried fruit. But other than that, this recipe is a keeper!
I make granola often, using the same basic recipe that I’ve tweaked to make everyone in my house happy (and to make me feel good about what I’m feeding us all). I’m not averse to trying something new, though, and this recipe looked pretty simple. I practically had to sit on my hands not to add some of the extras I generally use, but I managed to follow the recipe exactly. And I was very glad I did. My 11-year-old daughter was raving about the smell while it was baking, and she couldn’t wait until it cooled to try it. My husband, a big fan of my usual granola, loved this one. And my running buddy immediately picked out the vanilla in the mix (“I knew it! I love vanilla.”).
It’s so easy to make, stupidly expensive to buy, and really a lot better than most store brands. This recipe is going into our weekly rotation.
This is an easy, basic granola for those seeking an alternative to store-bought granola. Yes, it uses brown sugar and light agave, making this not as healthy as a granola made sans sweeteners. However, it serves as a good base to add your own favorite nuts, dried fruits, and other health-boosting ingredients. I prefer smaller pieces of nuts in my granola, so I chopped up the 1/2 cup of almonds. By finely chopping the quantity, twice as many pieces of almonds were now in the mix—a plus for this almond lover.
After tasting the basic recipe, which had a good flavor, I made a second batch that included ingredients found in my favorite health food store granola, including 1/4 cup flax seeds, sesame seeds, and oat bran. When the granola finished toasting, I stirred in 6 ounces of tart dried cherries, 1/2 cup apricots snipped into small pieces, 1/2 cup golden raisins, and 1/2 cup toasted, unsalted cashews. My variation didn’t set up in chunks, but that’s just fine by me. It has much more nutrition per spoonful!
Here’s a well-balanced, not-too-sweet, perfectly textured, easy granola recipe. This one’s a keeper!
I used vegetable oil, light agave, and a dried fruit mix of golden raisins, cherries, cranberries, and blueberries. The timing was perfect, though I did use a slightly larger baking dish than the one specified. It’s great to think this granola would keep in an airtight container for up to one month; however, it will never last that long at my house. At brunch, I served it over homemade Greek yogurt with just-picked strawberries. Though I offered milk as an option, everyone picked the homemade yogurt. Tomorrow morning, I’ll have this granola with milk and a sliced banana.
The idea of allowing the granola to cool in clusters also makes taking it along in a small plastic bag for a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack a viable option. Making it again, I think it also would be terrific with dried sour cherries, dates, or any kind of raisin. I also think the nut variety could be switched out—walnuts, cashews, pecans, or hazelnuts all come to mind, or even a mix of nuts. To avoid a flavor collision, I’d either mix the dried fruits or the nut option, but not both.
The simplicity of the recipe and easy execution produced wonderful results.
Originally published July 10, 2020
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
My family’s go to recipe. Not too sweet, with coconut (yum!). Its wonderful as written. Over the years, we have tweaked the vanilla (mexican is our favorite), cinnamon (prefer the spicy varieties like ceylon) and honey (local farmers market avocado) For a fuller flavored version. It’s not a clumper but perfect sprinkled over yogurt or added to another breakfast cereal or just scooped directly into the mouth !!
Wow, Angela, you really have perfected it!
I’ve been making this recipe for a few years now, it’s the best. So crunchy and nutty. The coconut can get a little too brown so watch out for that. But no matter, it’s still delicious.
Magnificent to hear, Suzie! Thanks for sharing this, so glad you find it to be a keeper.
So good. The flavor is great. Any suggestions for making it more clumpy? I added an egg white but that didn’t help.
Glad you like it, Susan! In my experience, stirring less yields better clumps. So pack the granola mixture together in a single layer before baking and then only stir it as necessary. If it’s possible, try to turn over only big chunks of the granola every 15 minutes or so and then at the end break it apart into your desired size clumps. Also, adding a little more honey may help. Let us know, please, how it goes!
Thanks for the suggestions. I just want to let you know how much I appreciate this website. When searching for recipes and cooking ideas, this site is always my first stop and always has the best choices! My thanks to you and David!
You’re so very welcome, Susan. Thank YOU for the kind words and letting us know how you feel! You made our day, our week, our month. You having exactly the experience you’ve had with our recipes is exactly why we do what we do!
I’ve just pulled this out of the oven and added the dried fruit (apricot and cranberry). I used hazelnuts and pumpkin seeds (pepitas) in lieu of the almonds because I just couldn’t find them anywhere in the pantry! I also added in some ground nutmeg.
It’s delicious, if a little hot on the tongue because I just couldn’t wait to try it! I misread the recipe and added in double the honey and oil quantities, which was particularly bad because I only had 3 cups of traditional oats to begin with! To rescue my first granola attempt, I added some quick oats and almond meal to the mix about halfway through cooking. I also changed to a larger baking pan so that it could dry out faster. It took quite a while in the oven, but this was to be expected due to the additional moisture. On the plus side, it should “clump” pretty well.
I’m so glad to have come across your recipes—-I love the clear instructions and all the humour too!
Brig, I love that you love our recipes! Many thanks for letting us know. We test each and every recipe over and again before deciding if it’s inspired enough to put on the site. And we especially like this granola recipe. That said, it’s a blueprint, as you well know! Really like your tweaks, the almond meal was a brilliant addition given your situation. Thanks, too, for the kind word about the humor—we’ll try not to let it go to our heads. In the meantime, can’t wait to hear from you on other recipes….
Thanks Renee. I just finished batch number two—the first one sort of “ran out” after a few days! It’s very tasty again, and at least I read the recipe properly so kept the honey and oil down to the prescribed levels. I threw in some golden syrup to replace some of the sugar this time. It’s so tasty!
Niiiiice….
I think this sounds lovely. Just purchased a big bag of oats. I will use coconut oil in this as it is one of the healthiest oils you can eat. Thanks for the inspiration.
Lovely, Claire. Coconut oil will not only lend health benefits to your granola but a faint sweetness as well. Let us know how it goes…and you’re welcome.