Name: Healthy Apple Cinnamon Granola
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 24 min
Total time: 29 min
Cuisine: general
Ingredients: 2.5 cups rolled oats (not thick cut! Or else it will be too chewy); 3/4 cups nuts, chopped (1 cup chopped pecans, 1/2 cup sliced almonds is the ratio I use); 1/2 cup seeds (Pepitas, sunflower, flax); 1 large apple, diced; 1/3 cup oil; 1/4 cup maple syrup; 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon; 1/8 tsp nutmeg; 1/4 tsp salt

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Packed with nuts and seeds, lightly sweetened with maple syrup, and sprinkled with fall spices and fresh diced apples, Healthy Apple Cinnamon Granola is a tasty and healthy fall breakfast. Another bonus? Your house will smell AMAZING!

It’s that time of year again! The time when we savor the fall foliage, cozy oversized sweaters, and of course pumpkin spice lattes. In our kitchen, we welcome the new season with a classic combination of apples and cinnamon.

Healthy Apple Cinnamon Granola is dairy-free, vegan and can easily be modified to be gluten free and nut free. My toddler loves “nola” on greek yogurt for breakfast, and my favorite is sprinkled on ice cream after the kiddos go to sleep!

Why you’ll love this granola

Fall flavors: Cinnamon, nutmeg and apple make for the perfect fall flavors.

Reduce waste and save money: Say goodbye to the plastic bags that store-bought granola comes in! When you buy ingredients in bulk you can make multiple batches of granola for a fraction of the price of a premade bag of granola.

-Know exactly what great ingredients are going into your granola. My favorite part of this is you get to choose what goes in and adjust it as you see fit for you and your family.

Ingredients and substitutions

Oats: You’ll want to use old fashioned rolled oats for this granola. The thicker cut won’t cook all the way and the texture will be too chewy. If all you have is thick cut, throw it in the food processor and pulse a few times to chop the oats finer.

Apples: For this granola, any type of apple will do, but a sweeter variety like honey crisp is particularly delicious. You don’t have to bother with peeling them, just dice them up and toss them in! I’ve experimented with dried apples in the past, but I never get the same great results as with fresh ones. This is because dried apples are difficult to cut into small pieces, and they tend to be too tough and chewy in the granola.

Nuts: You can use any mixture of nuts you prefer in this granola. My go-to ratio is 1.5 cups of pecans and ½ cup of sliced almonds. Macadamia and walnuts would also be great.

Seeds: Any mixture of seeds will work here as well. Pepitas, Sunflower and flax are what I use in my granola, but you can add in hemp and chia as well!

Olive oil: This is what makes the granola stick together at crisp up nicely and doesn’t add too much flavor to the granola.

Maple Syrup: To add a touch of sweetness. Feel free to scale this up or down as you desire.

Spices: To make a blend of fall spices, we use cinnamon and nutmeg.

Salt: Very important to make all the flavors pop!

How to make

Prep: Heat oven to 350 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper

Mix it til shimmery: In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients until thoroughly mixed. All the ingredients should be shimmery, this will ensure that everything is coated well in oil.

Bake: Spread onto the prepared baking sheet and press the oats down with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for 24 minutes, stirring halfway and repressing the oats. Bake until oats are golden brown. Start checking around 20ish minutes as you don’t want them to burn!

Let cool: This part is very important to form nice big granola clusters.

Variations

To make this nut-free: replace nuts with any variation of seeds
To make gluten-free: use gluten-free oats

Tips for success

Make sure to stir the oat mixture very well before cooking. The oats will all be shiny and that’s how you know you’ve incorporated the oil completely throughout the mixture.

What sheet pan to use: You’ll want to use a large sheet pan for this recipe. The oats need to be spread out enough so that they can crisp up nicely, but not too thin that they burn. If the oats are piled too thick, it will result in a chewier granola (it will still be tasty!) It’s an art and a science to get the right thickness. Aim for about 1/3 an inch thickness when baking.

Press down: Prior to baking and after you flip the oats, press down with the back of the spoon to get the oats to stick together

Let the granola cool! This will help it clump into nice clusters.

How to Store

Store in airtight container for up to 14 days.

What to eat with granola

Mixed into milk or yogurt for a breakfast or snack

Topped onto ice cream for a tasty dessert

By the handful!

Equipment Used

Large Baking Sheet

Mixing bowl

Other breakfasts you may enjoy

Chocolate Cherry Chia Pudding