Good granola requires just a few quality ingredients like oats, a sweetener of your choice, some oil, and maybe nuts, seeds and dried fruit. Once you master that basic formula, it’s even easier to mix up a granola made just the way you like it.

Some ingredients to choose from:

Oats

• Whole-grain old-fashioned oats, slow cooking keep their shape during baking. Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats if you need gluten-free granola.

Nuts/Seeds

• I used almonds, pecans and sesame seeds to make this batch. Other options include walnuts, which are rich in Omega-3s, whole or slivered almonds, cashews, peanuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.

Oil

• I used coconut oil, but you can use olive oil, or any unrefined oil.

Natural sweetener

• I love using real maple syrup in my granola. Honey works great, too. You can use demerara or brown sugar.

Salt and spice

• Make sure not to skip the salt! I prefer using sea salt. It brings the flavour up a notch.

  I added cinnamon to this batch for some subtle warming spice. Ground ginger (use half as much) and pumpkin spice blends are other options. Savoury granola: You can make a savoury granola by combining turmeric, smoked paprika, chilli powder, cayenne, and ginger in mixed with maple syrup and oil and poured over the oats before baking.

Dried Fruit

• Dried fruit gives it that chewy and fruity texture and flavour. I used chopped dried apricots and pitted dates for this batch. I also love dried cranberries, tart dried cherries, raisins, banana chips, dried bananas, dried mangoes, dried pineapple and dried papaya. Make sure to add dried fruit after the baking process as fruit tends to burn.

Other add ons

• Chocolate chips, coconut flakes, orange zest or pomegranate seeds can be added on and enjoyed.

Ideas on how to serve and store

• Serve with plant based milk and fresh fruit like strawberries or blue berries

• Serve with your choice of yogurt and berries in a bowl or mason jar in layers

• Serve as a Buddha bowl with chia seeds, berries, yogurt and coconut drizzled with pumpkin seeds.

• Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks or freeze up to 3 months.

Basic recipe

• Yields 6 cups

• Prep time 15 minutes

• Bake time

Ingredients

• 3 cups old fashioned oats⁠ or gluten-free oats

• 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (almonds, pecans and walnuts)⁠⠀

• 1 1/2 cups coconut, fancy shredded⁠⠀

• 1/2 cup maple syrup⁠⠀

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, warmed⁠

• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract⠀

• 1/4 cup natural sesame seeds⁠⠀

• 2 tbsp Demerara sugar

• 1 tsp fine sea salt⁠⠀

• 1 1/2 tsp organic ceylon cinnamon

• 1 cup chopped apricots or pitted dates or both.⁠⠀

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Toss all ingredients together in a bowl (except the dried fruit) and spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.⁠⠀

2. Bake granola stirring every 10 minutes until golden brown (40-45mins)⁠⠀

3. Let cool and add in the chopped dried fruit.⁠⠀

Different variations you can try

• Honey hazelnut ( instead of maple syrup, use 1/2 cup of honey and add toasted hazelnuts )

• Pistachio goji ( add raw pistachios and coconut after granola is toasty and toast pistachio for 5-7 mins) then add goji berries

• Pineapple coconut ( add dried pineapple as your dried fruit after granola is toasted and then sprinkle with coconut)

• Apple pie spice (just add 1 tsp apple pie spice as your spice and add 1/4 cup apple sauce) then add dried apple chips as your dried fruit

• Cranberry orange ( just add 1 tbsp dried orange peel into oat mixture ) then add cranberries after your granola has been toasted.

• Chocolate almonds (just add 1 1/2 teaspoons of cocoa powder and add more sugar if needed) toast slivered almonds or whole almonds with the granola.

• Chai spice ( You can use honey or maple syrup here and add almond extract instead of vanilla (Just add 3 tsp chai spice mix as your spice and almonds or pecans or your favourite nuts)

• Pumpkin pie spice granola (just add 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice to the granola mixture)