How to Make the Easiest, Budget-Friendly Cluster Granola
This delicious, easy budget-friendly granola will become a family favourite. It is so easy to whip up your own for a fraction of the cost of store-bought. Trust me you are going to want to try this recipe.
Why Make Your Own
Making your own granola is super easy. I buy my nuts, seeds, and dried fruit in bulk. This makes it extremely cost-effective to make my own.
I have only just recently started to make my own. I decided to during my USE IT UP OCTOBER | A low-spend month
I had so many nuts, seeds, and rolled oats. I was afraid they would start going to waste. I just wasn’t using them up fast enough. So my granola recipe was created and tried and it was a hit the first time. I love cluster granola but it is so super expensive to buy in the supermarket now.
The other thing I now love about making my own is I know exactly what is in it. It has no preservatives or nasty numbers.
Storing Your Granola
I find the best way to store my granola is in a big glass jar. It has a great seal on it. You want to keep it well sealed. This ensures it stays nice and crisp.
It will also keep out any pantry moths or other pantry nasty bugs.
Other Useful Tips and Links
I explain in the recipe card how you can make clusters or granola. I love big clusters in mine as you get a bite of everything all at once. Follow my step by step instructions to achieve the best cluster results. Of course, if you don’t enjoy clusters. Just skip this step and you will have just normal free-flowing granola.
Mix and match any of the nuts and seeds to suit your own tastes.
Here is the video showing how I made it THE BEST HOMEMADE GRANOLA
How to Make the Easiest, Budget-Friendly Cluster Granola
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 4 cups Rolled Oats I like to use Quick Oats
- ⅓ cup Sunflower Seeds
- ⅓ cup Pumpkin Seeds
- ⅓ cup Chopped Walnuts
- ⅓ cup Chopped Pecans
- ½ cup Dried Cranberries or any dried fruit
- 2 cups Coconut Flakes Use any type if you have no flakes
- 2 tbsp Flax Seeds
- 1½ tsp Salt
Wet Ingredients
- ¼ cup Sunflower Oil or your choice of oil
- ½ cup Honey
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 tbsp Maple Syrup
- ¼ cup Butter melted
Instructions
Dry Ingredients
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.If you don't have quick oats you can blitz rolled oats in a food processor but don't turn it into flour. Just a couple of pulses will do. You could try just using rolled oats but I am unsure if you will need more or less of the wet ingredients.Mix and match the dry ingredients. I added a little more dried fruit to mine. If you can not eat nuts leave them out and add extra coconut or seeds.Feel free to add chocolate chips. Wait until the granola is fully cooled before adding them.
Wet Ingredients
- Combine all the wet ingredients into a pot and slowly heat until everything is warmed through and combined. Do not simmer or boil this mix. Just a gentle heat is needed.
Instructions
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and thoroughly mix until well-coated. You can use a stand mixer if you like but be careful not to break up the mix too much.Place the mix onto a tray. I used two trays lined with a silicon mat. You can use one tray but you will need to bake it longer and stir more often. I haven't tried using baking paper, so I am unsure if it will stick. Otherwise, you could just lightly oil a baking tray.
- Bake on Fan bake at 150℃Stir the mix every five minutes, until nice and golden.Each oven will be different so keep an eye on the mix. You want everything nice and golden but not too brown.
- Place the warm trays on a heat-resistant surface and using the back of a spoon or spatula press down on the hot granola. This will give you the clusters if you like granola clusters.Once fully cooled, break the granola up into the size clusters you like.If you don't want clusters then skip the pressing down step.Please watch the video for full instructions.
