Crunchy Granola

Total Time

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 30 min. + cooling

Makes

8 cups

Updated: Jul. 25, 2023
This crisp, lightly sweet mixture is great just eaten out of hand or as an ice cream topping. —Lorna Jacobsen, Arrowwood, AB

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 cups old-fashioned oats
  • 1 cup sliced almonds
  • 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
  • 1/2 cup sesame seeds
  • 1/2 cup salted sunflower kernels
  • 2 cups raisins

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 300°. In a small saucepan, combine honey, oil and brown sugar; cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla.
  2. In a large bowl, combine oats, almonds, coconut, sesame seeds and sunflower kernels. Add honey mixture, stirring until evenly coated. Spread onto 2 greased 15x10x1-in. baking pans.
  3. Bake 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in raisins. Bake until lightly toasted, about 10 minutes longer. Cool completely in pans on wire racks, stirring occasionally. Store in an airtight container.

Crunchy Granola Tips

How can you make this crunchy granola recipe healthier?

Try using unsweetened coconut flakes instead of sweetened, to avoid extra sugar in your homemade granola. Also: instead of canola oil, consider using avocado or sunflower oil. Here's why avocado oil is better for your health.

What else can you add to this crunchy granola recipe?

Craving chocolate? Add semi-sweet or dark chocolate morsels to the recipe once the granola is cooling on wire racks (to avoid melting chocolate into the mixture). You can stir any dried fruit into this recipe as well, or replace the almonds with your favorite kind of nut. Mix it up completely with this recipe for great granola.

How can you get perfect granola clusters?

To make clusters, stir homemade granola occasionally when it’s baking and slowly fold over the granola to keep it in bigger chunks. You can also compress the mixture together on the sheet tray to help form clusters. Bake on parchment paper to avoid over-baking and burning. Use the same tricks for this delectable granola recipe next.

—Sarah Fischer, Taste of Home Associate Food Stylist

Nutrition Facts

1/2 cup: 366 calories, 18g fat (3g saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 51mg sodium, 50g carbohydrate (30g sugars, 5g fiber), 6g protein.