When the weather starts to get warmer, I suddenly stop wanting a warm bowl of oatmeal in the morning and start craving cold milk and granola. I love the crunch and complex flavors that come with a good granola recipe. Unfortuantely, granola at the store can cost SO MUCH and have a lot of added sugars. Luckily, it's pretty easy to make at home and cost effective, especially if you buy the ingredients in bulk. This Almond Vanilla granola works as a great recipe on its own, or a starting off point for granolas with different fruit and nut combinations.
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💞 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- So simple to make: If you are looking to start on making things from scratch or homesteading skills, this is the perfect recipe. It takes 10 minutes with minimal effort that makes the recipe hard to mess up. It's also very tasty and impressive to those that don't know how easy it is to make.
- Flavorful: The almonds, vanilla and maple syrup make every bite chock-full of flavor, making you look forward to breakfast when you go to bed.
- Cost-effective: Granola is so expensive at the store, especially when you want a clean granola without a lot of preservatives. This recipe makes enough granola for two people for a week for about the same cost as a small bag at the store.
- Easy to customize: I give you a base recipe and you can easily mix and match your own ingredients to make it your own.
- Dupe for store-bought granola: Are you looking for a copycat recipe that's a Trader Joe's Vanilla Almond Granola dupe or the Bear Naked Almond Vanilla Granola dupe? This is a great recipe that allows you to make your favorite granolas at home.
🍴Ingredients
- Rolled Oats: It's better to use traditioanl rolled oats than quick oats, but you can be flexible if you only have quick oats on hand.
- Maple Syrup: Feel free to use honey, date syrup or any other sticky liquid to keep things bound.
- Almonds: My husband and I like the crunch from whole almonds, but you can either chop them up roughly or use slivered almonds. You can also replace almonds for any other nuts (although then it won't be almond vanilla granola!)
- Vanilla
- Hemp Hearts: Optional, but I like to add them for some protein and they add a deliciously nutty taste to the whole thing. I get them in bulk from Costco and they last a while.
🍳 Instructions
- Step 1: Preheat oven to 375F. Take all your ingredients and combine them into a big bowl.
- Step 2: Mix, mix, mix! Once the almond vanilla granola is thoroughly mixed up, place it onto a baking sheet with parchment paper. Make the layer of granola as thin as possible.
- Step 3: Bake at 375F for 10 minutes. If you have a thicker layer of granola, baking time will increase. It will look slightly more brown than before.
- Step 4: Let it rest for 20 minutes until cool before eating or packing away.
Hint: If you don't have any parchment paper, you can use either a light spray of baking oil or thin layer of butter. Just watch the tin closely so it doesn't burn.
📋 Substitutions
This recipe is so versatile! Almost all the ingredients can be swapped out something that seems similar (different syrup, different nuts, different seeds). As long as you keep the proportions the same, it should all come together.
♨ Variations
Chocolate Lovers: Add ¼ cup cocoa powder to the dry ingredients and mix in ½ cup mini chocolate chips after cooling.
Tropical Twist: Swap almonds for macadamia nuts and add ½ cup shredded coconut and ¼ cup dried pineapple pieces.
Berry Bliss: Stir in ½ cup dried cranberries, cherries, or blueberries after baking.
Nut-Free: Replace almonds with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds for a nut-free version.
🍴 Equipment
You just need a big bowl, something to mix with, a baking sheet and an oven.
🍲 Storage
Keep your finished Almond Vanilla granola in an airtight container in your fridge. It should last two weeks. Try it with milk, yogurt or on its own.
⭐ Top tip
Spread the granola mixture evenly on the baking sheet and press it down lightly with a spatula before baking. This helps create those irresistible clumps! Let it cool completely before breaking it apart to maintain the clusters.
💭 FAQ
This particular recipes relies on a syrup to keep things together. If you have a sugar-free syrup that you like to use, it should still bind together.
This granola can be made gluten-free if you use gluten-free certified oats.
📖 The Cookbook Inspiration
I was super inspired by Kristin Cavallari's True Roots. About a year ago, I was looking through all my cookbooks to find the easiest granola recipe that I could make. There are a lot of recipes throughout so many cookbooks, but I found they often have a lot of weird ingredients and can take a long time to make for some reason. The recipe she shares in the book is so easy, and I found that it works as the perfect starting off point to make my own granola creations. Check out my review of True Root here!
📚 Cookbook Pairings
Looking for more ideas for homemade food? Check our these cookbooks:
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👩🍳 Recipe
📖 Recipe
Almond Vanilla Granola
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 4 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup almonds
- ⅔ cup maple syrup
- 1 ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup hemp hearts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Take all your ingredients and combine them into a big bowl. Mix, mix, mix!
- Once the almond vanilla granola is thoroughly mixed up, place it onto a baking sheet with parchment paper. Make the layers of granola as thin as possible.
- Bake at 375F for 10 minutes. If you have a thicker layer of granola, baking time will increase. It will look slightly more brown than before.
- Let it rest for 20 minutes to solidify before eating or packing away.
Karina Goodley says
My go to granola recipe!