Easy Homemade Snacking Granola

5 from 1 vote

Easy Homemade Snacking Granola

This is the best Snacking Granola, great for traveling on the road, afternoon snacks, and any time you need something easy to munch on with oats, nuts, seeds, and other whole ingredients.

Prep Time5

Cook Time38

Total Time43

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Servings:

Calories: 449kcal

Author: Lauren Skardal

Ingredients

4 cups rolled oats
1½ cups pecans, chopped
¾ cup pumpkin seeds look for green pepitas
½ cup sliced almonds
½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
½ tablespoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup dried cherries

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Spread the oats evenly over the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven, toss, and top with chopped pecans, pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, and unsweetened coconut flakes. Bake for 8 minutes and remove.
Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl whisk the extra virgin olive oil, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, and salt.
Add the oat mixture from the baking sheet to the mixing bowl and toss.
Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the mixture out evenly over the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, remove, stir, and bake for 10 more minutes.
Top with the dried cherries and allow to cool fully. Break the granola into clusters.

Notes

Toasting the Oats: Oats, nuts, and coconut flakes toast at different rates. To get the most out of your granola this recipe calls for toasting the oats first. This brings out the toasted oat flavor without causing the nuts and other ingredients to burn. Don't be tempted to toast them for more than 10 minutes or they are more likely to burn.
Chopping Pecans: Pecans can be quite large, so I recommend chopping them before adding them to the mix. This allows a little bit of all the ingredients to fit on one spoon (or one handful) at a time. You can also consider chopping the dried cherries before adding them, but in this recipe, I keep it simple and skip it. They are less sweet than cranberries, so one whole cherry is not as overwhelming in one bite.
Sweetened Condensed Milk: Don't be thrown off by the sweetened condensed milk. It's an unusual ingredient for granola, but it is the thing that gives the granola that sweet (but not overly sweet) crunchy consistency.
Cinnamon: It’s the one spice that makes a big difference when buying and using a high-quality version. Poor-quality cinnamon can ruin the taste of the entire recipe. I recommend Ceylon Cinnamon from a brand called Simply Organic, which you can find at Whole Foods or some specialty grocery stores.
Dried Fruit at the End: Add the fried fruit after the granola has finished baking. The fruit has already been dried, so adding it early would dry it out even further ruining the texture.
Sheet Pan Size: Use a standard half-sheet pan that is 18x13 inches and goes up about 1 inch on the sides. The size of the sheet pan dictates how much of the oats and other ingredients you can fit into the pan and still get a nice even toast on them in the oven. If you’re using a smaller sheet pan, you’ll need to scale all the ingredients back so as to not overcrowd them.
Mix and Match: Feel free to mix and match your add-ins. This is a very customizable recipe. You can add different nuts, or omit an ingredient like the unsweetened coconut flakes. The important thing is to keep the total volume roughly the same so that it doesn't end up being too sweet or not sweet enough.

Nutrition