It’s heeeere!
When I asked you on Instagram if this recipe needed to be revealed to the world, there was a resounding “yes!” response. Not one to disappoint you guys or save a good thing only for ourselves, here we’re sharing this easy recipe that’s on heavy rotation at our house.
I was really getting into eating granola after my second daughter was born. There’s just something about this simple, delicious and highly customizable treat after you’ve had a baby. I craved granola after my oldest was born, too.
My husband, however, isn’t a fan of traditional oat-based granola, so he developed this recipe based on several others he’s tried over the years, primarily one by the wonderful Paleo Cupboard. This grain-free granola is a great choice if you’re like him and don’t like “normal” granola, or if you are avoiding grains. This is esentially a trail mix gone to the next level with flavor and texture. We eat this granola treat as a snack by the handful – my toddler loves it, too – or on top of yogurt. Or you could even sprinkle it as a boost on top of cereal and milk, which is how my parent’s always enjoyed granola when I was a kid.
How do we make this paleo granola recipe “zero waste?”
We buy all of these ingredients in the bulk or loose bins at our local health food store. Yes, everything from maple syrup and shredded coconut to raisins and salt. We get coconut oil and vanilla extract in glass packaging. Make your own vanilla extract if you can, though! Easy and inexpensive.
If you don’t have access to bulk bins or the prices aren’t as good as what you can get in packaging (it happens! It’s silly/ridiculous, but true), try to get the largest container or bag your budget allows. This might be especially true for nuts and seeds. Your packaging to product ratio will be lower (meaning, you’ll still be reducing your overall waste) when you get a larger size. Share with a friend if that’s better for your needs and budget.
We can get nuts and seeds for a good price at our local health food store and in the exact amounts we need, but if we couldn’t we’d try to find them first in plastic-free packaging and then we’d get in the largest quantity we could reasonably afford and store. You know I rave about getting spices in bulk for the cost savings alone so if that’s the only thing you track down in bulk for this recipe, I’ll be psyched!
Now onto the main event! Get the ingredient list and full instructions on how to make this tasty nutty granola.
Ingredients:
Combined 2 1/2 cups of nuts
…We prefer almonds and cashews but anything you have on hand will do, as long as the total volume is 2 1/2 cups
Combined 1/2 cup of pumpkins and sunflower seeds
3/4 cups shredded coconut
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
Salt
1/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries (or, really, add as much as you want)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 300° F
- Pulse nuts and seeds in the food processor until combined and roughly chopped
- Melt coconut oil, syrup, cinnamon and vanilla extract in saucepan over medium heat
- Add nut and seed mix to pan and gently stir to combine
- Add shredded coconut and stir to combine
- Spoon and spread evenly onto a parchment-lined, rimmed baking sheet
- Bake for 25 min, stirring once
- While mixture is still hot, sprinkle with salt and press in raisins
- Let cool completely in the baking sheet
- Once cool, break into rough pieces and store in an airtight container like a tall mason jar
Granola will keep for 3-4 days in the pantry. But really, it’ll only last a few hours if you’re like us!
Hope you enjoy making this much-anticipated recipe at home. Please let us know how you like it. We’ve experimented a lot with different nuts, we’ve even tried chopping and adding different dried fruit and we’ve used honey (and raw honey) instead of maple syrup, but the combination above is what we like best. Feel free to use this recipe as a guide for your own experimentations, though! Come back and share if you uncover an awesome combination and we’ll gladly try it too.
Meredith Tested 