Simple granola recipe without nuts

For as long as I remember, my mum has made a simple granola recipe without nuts. I can still smell the honey notes filling the house. The warm granola in my hands. The taste on my tongue. 

As a hungry teenager, I went through phases where my mum’s granola was my very favourite thing to snack on. The way she made it caused large clumps to form and I would spend my days picking out the largest ones I could find. I don’t know what it is, but it’s just so satisfying to discover a huge clump of granola in what you thought was a sea of crunchy oats. 

Now that I am a mum myself, I want to introduce my children to the foods I grew up with. With schools becoming more and more strict about what kids can – and more so, can’t – bring to school, my already slim repertoire of options risked to become even more limited after the last principal’s note hit my inbox. So many foods contain nuts, eggs or other allergens and aren’t tolerated anywhere near the school grounds. Thankfully, seeds haven’t been banned yet. I took this as my sign to create a delicious, crunchy granola with all the vintage vibes in mind. Next level nostalgia right here!

Granola is a great food to have for breakfast. While I love my daily slice of sourdough in the morning, a simple bowl of granola and yoghurt can hit the spot when you‘re after a bit of a change. Try it for yourself and share your experiences in the comments.

Ingredients

• Rolled oats
• Sunflower seeds
• Pepitas
• Cinnamon
• Honey
• Vegetable oil
• Dried figs

Tools you may need to make my simple granola without nuts

Large mixing bowl

Large frying pan

Spatula

Chopping board

Sharp kitchen knife

Baking tray

Wire rack

A beautiful air tight jar for storage

How to make my simple granola recipe without nuts from scratch

This simple granola recipe without nuts is super quick and easy. To begin with, pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside for later.

Place your dried figs on the chopping board. Remove any hard bits the figs may have. Then chop your figs into small chunks, as fine as you would like to have in your granola. I personally like very small pieces of fruit to have them distributed better throughout the granola. 

Next, place your mixing bowl onto your kitchen scales. Combine the oats, sunflower seeds, pepitas, cinnamon and chopped up dried figs. 

Place a large frying pan onto the stove. On medium heat, melt honey and oil until liquid and bubbly. Add your oat mixture to it.

Now it’s time to mix and combine. Using a spatula or spoon, keep combining the ingredients to cover everything in the sticky honey and oil mixture. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan while doing this to prevent oats and seeds from getting burned. Keep combining all ingredients over medium heat for about 5 minutes. 

Turn off the stove and transfer the oat mixture from your pan to the lined baking tray.

Place the tray in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until nicely browned. 

Remove your tray from the oven and let it cool on the kitchen bench. Make sure not to touch or shake your granola while it is cooling. This will help the clusters to stick together and create the crunchy effect most of us are after. 

Once cooled, transfer your granola into an airtight jar. It will stay fresh for a few weeks, but will likely be gone in a few days. 

Keep this simple granola recipe without nuts at hand to re-make once a week.

Serving suggestions

• Fresh yoghurt and berries
• Milk and apples or bananas
• Yoghurt and honey
• Sprinkled over your favourite smoothie bowl
• By itself as a yummy morning snack

Frequently asked questions

What ingredient makes granola stick together?

Granola sticks together through a mix of sticky sweetener like honey or maple syrup and fat, like vegetable oil or butter. Heating the mixture and allowing it to slowly melt into the dry ingredients causes more room for sticky clusters to form. The key is to not disrupt your granola in the cooling stages, as the mixture needs to harden before it truly sticks together.

What can you use to bind granola?

In my experience, a mix of sticky sweetener like honey or maple syrup, and an easy to melt fat like butter or oil, are the best components to bind granola. A number of recipes ask for ground nuts but from my experience, this isn’t necessary to give the granola a nice and crunchy consistency.

What is plain granola made of?

The main ingredient in granola are oats, together with a sticky sweetener and fat to create crunchy clusters. To add more crunch and flavour variety, most people then add a mixture or nuts, seeds and dried fruits. The beauty of this is that granola is very forgiving with its ingredients and will work perfectly well with any dietary requirements you may need to keep an eye on. If your household has an intolerance to nuts, simply use more seeds and dried fruit. If you are not a fan of the commonly used raisins, simply cut dried figs, apricots or plums into small chunks. As long as your quantities somewhat balance out you will achieve a beautiful, crunchy granola. 

How to get homemade granola to clump together?

The key to clumpy granola is to use enough sticky honey and oil mixture to coat, but then to allow the clumps to harden before you transfer them to an air tight jar. In my experience, baking the granola for a few minutes after combining it in a frying pan enhances the stickiness and forms very solid clusters. So even though it will take an extra few minutes, I highly encourage you to bake your granola after mixing it up, just like I did in my simple granola recipe without nuts.

Why is my homemade granola not crunchy?

If your homemade granola is not crunchy, there may be a few simple steps to troubleshoot:

1. Storing granola in an airtight container. Not storing granola in an airtight container can cause your initially crunchy mix to turn stale very quickly. My family and I live in very humid climate, meaning even just a few hours of inappropriate storage can turn food stale and unenjoyable. Make sure to always transfer your granola to an airtight container as soon as it has cooled down to keep it fresh.
2. Using enough honey and oil mixture to combine. To bind your muesli mixture together and form granola, you will need enough binding agent. Make sure to have enough sticky mixture to cover your ingredients, otherwise you will end up with a mushy mass that won’t get anyone excited.
3. Baking your granola. I found the best granola to be the one I bake in the oven after coating. While pan roasting is a great and essential starting point, the heat of the oven evaporates any excess moisture, while roasting your granola. This not only makes it super crunchy, but also helps the nutty honey flavours to develop a bit more.

Is muesli the same as granola?

Muesli can have the same base ingredients as granola, such as oats, nuts, seeds and dried fruit. The difference is that for granola, the muesli mixed with a honey and oil mixture and then baked for a few minutes. This creates the crunchy, clumpy consistency that granola is so famous for.