Granola Recipe: Quick, Easy, and Delicious!

This recipe, the foundation of which was initially shared by a friend, was designed to have the fewest possible steps and ingredients required for the most perfect granola. It’s so easy to make and you can easily add different quantities and varieties of fruit, nuts, or sweetener depending on what you have available or your preferences. Plus, you don’t even have to preheat the oven! This granola has been described as “life changing” and is way better than the bagged granola at the store. It's vegan and gluten free, contains no added oil, and can be made without added sugar (if you omit the syrup and raisins). This is a great granola to enjoy at home or while you’re out biking, as it can be happily enjoyed as-is or as an enhancement to your other favorite foods.

PREP: 10 minutes
BAKE: 1 hour and 15 minutes
TOTAL: 1 hour and 25 minutes
YIELD: around 6 cups of granola

Ingredients:

Required:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 3 cups of old fashioned rolled oats

Optional, but definitely recommended:

• 1 cup of raisins
• 1 cup of walnuts
• ¼ cup of (real) maple syrup
• ½ tsp of salt

Instructions:

1. No need to preheat the oven.
2. In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water, and set them aside to soak while you assemble the rest of the recipe.
3. In a large bowl, mash the 2 ripe bananas until they are the consistency of baby food.
4. Mix in the rolled oats, walnuts, maple syrup and salt.
5. Drain the raisins and stir them in.
6. Stir until the ingredients are evenly mixed.
7. On a large baking sheet, spread out the granola mixture and put in a cold oven.
8. Bake the granola for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 250 degrees F, or until your desired level of crunchiness.
9. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet.
10. Store any leftover granola in an airtight container and store at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

 

Double the batch:

• 4 ripe bananas
• 6 cups of old fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups of raisins
• 2 cups of walnuts
• ½ cup of (real) maple syrup
• 1 tsp of salt
• Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes at 250 degrees F

Serving suggestions

• Eat it straight up!
• Add to yogurt or ice cream, adding berries or other toppings of choice.
• Combine with equal parts uncooked rolled oats, add milk and berries for the yummiest cereal ever.

Other tips from our kitchen:

• Don’t have walnuts? Substitute the walnuts with another nut of choice, such as almonds or pecans. Or, combine different nuts for a different flavor!
• Don’t have maple syrup? Substitute with honey, molasses, other sweetener, or just omit all together if desired.
• To retain maximum nutrients, add the walnuts in after baking.
• Not a fan of raisins? Substitute King Arthur Baking Company Jammy Bits; sweet, soft little morsels of fruit purée, or an alternative dried fruit such as currants or dried cranberries. If you don’t like chewy raisins, you can add them in after baking as well.
• Here's an easy way to reduce the calories in this recipe: omit the maple syrup, raisins, and/or walnuts.
• On a salt-free nutrition plan? Simply omit the salt from the recipe.
• Set the oven to automatically turn off so you don’t have to pay attention and worry about burning your granola.

Enjoy!