This homemade granola was inspired by a few brands that I love in Cape Town, South Africa. It’s wholesome and flavoursome made fresh with seeds and all sorts of nuts and treats. It’s gluten free, naturally sweetened and dairy free.
One of the exciting things about living somewhere else in the world, is the food! That’s what is so beautiful about food, you can get inspired by cultural differences. I’ve spent the last few months in South Africa and I found a few things that I want to bring to you guys on the blog. This is a pretty simple and not so exotic recipe, but honestly it’s kind of new to me. I rarely buy or eat granola here in Canada, it’s normally loaded with sugar, too boring, or too expensive.
So, my morning routine in Cape Town consisted of a very healthy change in my life. Not having my pup around to distract me in the morning gave me time to do something different than our morning walks and park dates. Instead, I woke with the African sun, turned on some ‘morning cafe’ music from Spotify or a podcast (basically my first time listening to podcasts too) and did some stretching to get my joints and body moving. Next, I sat with a hot cup of Rooibos tea and a bowl of double cream yogurt topped with fresh fruit and all sorts of delicious granola, ready to start my day!
I’ve never seen so many flavoursome types of granola, made fresh with seeds and all sorts of nuts and treats. Granola quickly became my go to, start to the day. In a place like South Africa with its warm summer days, it’s nice to begin the morning with something light and fresh, a change up from my cold Canadian hearty breakfasts (although I still love my hearty breakfasts).
What Fruit to Pair with Homemade Granola
My favourite is adding fresh fruit to the mix like mango, kiwi, and passionfruit. Fruit that is on the softer side, but mouth watering juicy, is perfectly paired with the crunchy granola of nuts and oats. I found that a lot of the granolas in Cape Town had seeds, something I’ve never really noticed back home. I especially liked the sesame seeds in the mix.
Since I’ve been home all I can think about is that delicious granola that I’d start my day in Cape Town. On a side note, I actually took pictures of the ingredients of a few brands that I enjoyed while away. Maybe you can see where this is going.. yup, I did my best to copy and combine what I loved in my granola. And, here is what I’ve come up with. I’m actually super excited about how it turned out. I didn’t aim for this homemade granola to be so healthy, but wow is it ever! It’s gluten free, dairy free, heck even sugar free, minus the honey but that’s natural sugar and doesn’t count in my books.
I hope you guys give this homemade granola recipe a try and switch things up in your daily routine… it’s good to change things up a little, no?!
How to Make Granola
It really doesn’t get any simpler than this friends. It’s as easy as adding everything in one bowl, mixing together and baking until crisp.
Ingredients
- Large flaked oats
- Sliced almonds (or your favourite nuts)
- Unsweetened shredded coconut
- Flax seeds
- Sesame seeds
- White chia seeds
- Hemp seeds
- Ground cinnamon
- Liquid honey
- Coconut oil or good quality olive oil
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
Homemade Granola
This homemade granola was inspired by a few brands that I love in Cape Town, South Africa. It’s wholesome and flavoursome made fresh with seeds and all sorts of nuts and treats. Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Dairy Free.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 7 cups 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: South African
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 3 cups large flaked oats
- 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds (or your favourite nuts)
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/3 cup flax seeds
- 1/3 cup sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup white chia seeds
- 1/4 cup hemp seeds
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup liquid honey
- 3 Tablespoons coconut oil (melted) or good quality olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl add oats, almonds, coconut, flax seeds, sesame seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, cinnamon and salt. Mix to combine.
- In a separate bowl add honey, coconut oil and vanilla and stir well. Spoon a few spoonfuls of the liquid over the oat mixture, mix well. Do this 3 more times until the oat mixture and all of the liquid is mixed well together.
- Spoon the granola onto prepared baking sheets, making a flat layer of the granola so it bakes evenly.
- Place the pans in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Bake until the granola smells fragrant and starts to brown (the granola will be soft, not crunchy – don’t worry that’s normal).
- Let the granola sit on the pan to cool (this is where it will start to get crunchy).
- Store in a glass jar for up to a month.
Notes
I used convection bake on my oven, this way I didn’t have to switch the pans around. I found it really crisped up my granola, for a stronger toasted taste. You can play around with the time to get the right baking flavour you want out of your granola.
You can use any type of nuts that you like. Just make sure you keep to the 1 1/2 cup ratio.
You can also add dried cranberries, etc. after the baking process.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 cup
- Calories: 160g
- Sugar: 4.2g
- Sodium: 23mg
- Fat: 9.7g
- Saturated Fat: 3.9g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 15.6g
- Fiber: 3.7g
- Protein: 4.6g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Keywords: Granola, Breakfast, Trail Mix, Seeds, Nuts, Gluten Free
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FAQ’s
When making your own homemade granola remember that once you take the granola out of the oven it gets crispy as it cools down to room temperature. At first the granola will be soft as it comes out of the oven. Let it sit and cool down. Also make sure your granola isn’t layered too thick on the baking sheet. Thirdly, using convection bake on the oven will yield a crispy granola.
If you’d like to make your homemade granola clumpier add more honey to the mixture. This will clump the seeds, nuts and oats together. Also, avoid stirring the granola when it comes out of the oven. Let it sit until it’s cool. Stirring the granola will break up the clumps.
Homemade granola has a long shelf life. It will last approx. 1 month if not longer. Store granola in glass jars at room temperature.
This granola is super easy and makes a sweet healthy treat. It’s good for anytime of the day and is great to bring along on a roadtrip or walk. Delicious and I highly recommend giving it a try.
★★★★★
Loved this simple recipe and especially loved how easy it is to modify depending on the nuts and seeds you have in the house. I like clumpy granola so I think I will try adding some egg whites to the mixture or less stirring next time! Definitely going to make this again!
★★★★★
Hi Denise, happy to hear and thanks for your feedback. If you’d like a clumpier granola add a few more tablespoons of honey and don’t mix the granola half way through baking time. Just let it bake all the way through. Let me know how it turns out! Happy Baking 🙂
Decided to make this granola to complement my yogurt! Super quick & easy, I added some chocolate chips because I’m a chocoholic 🙂 really yummy
★★★★★
Haha, you can never go wrong with a few chocolatey bites, nice addition Alexandra!
I made this delicious granola to give away as gifts at Christmas. It was easy peasy to make and the recipe very forgiving (thank goodness – made a few errors 😊!). I will never buy granola from the grocery store again!
★★★★★
What a great idea Jane! Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas!