This is the best Vegan Granola recipe! Seasoned with cinnamon and maple syrup, every bite of the golden brown oat clusters tastes so warm and sweet. It’s the perfect snack for camping or hiking and best of all it’s ridiculously easy to make!
Go ahead and skip the granola aisle on your next grocery shopping trip. This easy Vegan Granola recipe is not only a breeze to make and so delicious, but it will save you tons of money! That’s right – you’ll never have to buy expensive store bought granola or cereal again.
Granola is so easy to make at home. All you have to do is mix oats, maple syrup, brown sugar, and fun add-ins in one bowl before letting it all bake together. The finished crispy, crunchy, and comforting golden brown clusters of oats and nuts last for weeks on end.
You’ve gotta try it! Homemade granola is:
- Incredibly flexible. Add all of the nuts, dried fruit, seasonings, or chocolate you want!
- Easy to store for weeks at a time. It’s freezer-friendly too!
- A delicious healthy breakfast or snack. Enjoy some in a bowl with Almond Milk or as a crunchy topping on a Peanut Butter Smoothie.
How to make vegan granola
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
You’re going to save so much money once you learn how easy it is to make granola from scratch. There’s no fancy equipment needed either! Here’s how it’s done:
- Mix the oats, nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl.
- Pour the maple syrup, vanilla, and oil into the same bowl and mix everything together with a wooden spoon.
- Spread the granola mixture onto a lined baking sheet and bake, making sure to stir the mixture halfway through.
- Let the baked granola cool completely before adding any dried fruit or chocolate.
You can eat it right away, store it for later, or even keep it in your freezer. For easy on-the-go snacks, pack the granola in sandwich bags and keep them in your cupboard. They’re great when you’re rushing to work or when you hit the trail!
Tips and substitutions
- Let it cool – Don’t touch or stir the granola for at least an hour when it comes out of the oven. This is how the perfect granola clusters are formed!
- Add-ins – Only add the dried fruit, coconut, or chocolate to the granola after it’s cool.
- Gluten free – Just make sure the rolled oats you use are certified gluten free. My Grain Free Granola is naturally gluten free without any oats!
- Oil free – The recipe will still work without the coconut or avocado oil, but the finished granola will not turn out as crisp. Use aquafaba (not whipped) instead of oil.
- Less sweet – You can omit the brown sugar if the granola is too sweet for you.
- Serving – Enjoy some as a snack, in a bowl with vegan yogurt and fruit, as a topping on a protein shake or smoothie bowl, or in a bowl with cashew milk.
Customizing vegan granola
You can seriously add anything you like when making homemade granola. It’s such a flexible recipe! Use these ideas to get started:
- Nuts – Any nut will do! Try walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, almonds, or pecans.
- Seeds – Pepitas, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, flaxseeds, or chia seeds.
- Seasonings – Use warm seasonings, like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, or cloves.
- Dried fruit – Raisins, craisins, apple chips, banana chips, shredded coconut, etc.
- Candy – Like chocolate chips, sprinkles, white chocolate chunks, your favorite vegan candy, or peanut butter chips.
Storing homemade granola
Homemade vegan granola stores well in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 or 2 weeks. It’s also freezer-friendly! Keep the granola in a sealed container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Looking for more healthy vegan snacks?
Vegan Granola
Ingredients
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup chopped almonds
- 1 cup chopped cashews
- 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup avocado oil OR melted coconut oil
Optional add ins
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries, blueberries, cherries or raisins
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes or coconut chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, cashews, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt until mixed.
- Now pour in the maple syrup, vanilla and oil. Mix with a large wooden spoon until well combined.
- Add the granola mixture to the parchment lined pan and spread into an even layer. It should all be touching, especially if you want big granola chunks.
- Bake for 12 minutes, then stir the granola. Press it down evenly with a spatula, then bake for 12-15 more minutes, until lightly golden brown.
- Let the granola cool in the pan for an hour, and don't touch it or stir it at all.
- Once it's been at least an hour, add the dried fruit and optional chocolate chips/coconut and break the cooled granola into large or small pieces with your hands or a spoon.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 weeks or freeze in a freezer safe container.
- Enjoy as a snack, on top of noon-dairy yogurt with fruit or in a bowl with your favorite non-dairy milk.
Notes
- Gluten free – Use certified gluten free oats to ensure the granola is gluten free. For oat free granola, check out my Grain Free Granola; it’s so good!
- Nuts and seeds – Feel free to swap the almonds and cashews with other nuts/seeds, such as pepitas, sunflower seeds, pecans, walnuts, etc.
- No sugar – Leave out the brown sugar for a less sweet granola.
- Oil free – Use aquafaba (not whipped) instead of oil. It works quite well, but the granola won’t be as crunchy.
- For dried fruit and chocolate chips, make sure not to add until after the granola has cooked. For chocolate, wait until the granola has cooled before stirring in, so they don’t melt.
If you add chia seeds When do you add them? Before or after baking/cooling?
I’d probably add them after baking, but before would work.
I love this recipe. I add cardamom and cinnamon. I used walnuts and pecans. And when cooled I added flax seed, and dried raisins and craisions. Came out lovely.
Your granola sounds delicious, Donna! I love your ideas! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review and feedback!
I love it . Thank you .
All your recipes are great.
Congratulations !
What happens if you cook the dried fruit? Missed the part about adding it later
Dried fruit just gets kinda hard in the oven, which is why I add it later. Just make sure it isn’t rock hard after baking.
I have inconsistent results that I attribute to my oven. The edges burn quickly and I never cook as long as recipe says. What am I doing wrong? Even with reducing oven temp I sometimes burn the edges. Last time I made it it was great. The flavor is outstanding. I would like to make it without worry.
Are you stirring it in the middle of baking as directed? Make sure to bake in the center rack of the oven only. And consider testing your oven with an oven thermometer, so you know just how hot your oven runs. For example, one house I lived in was 50 degrees off, and I had to lower it 50 degrees when I baked.
This is really good and also highly adaptable. I did reduce oven temp to 325 degrees, kept baking time as written. I added some chopped dried banana, a mixture of dried cherries, blueberries, and cranberries. My almonds were already roasted so I added those the same time I added the fruit. Puts store bought granola to shame! Thank you for the recipe.
Love it. Added dried cranberries, dried apricot and coconut. Thank you for a quick and easy granola recipe!
You are welcome, Brenda! Your granola sounds delious! Thanks for your wonderful review!
It lives up to the name-it is indeed the best! I have 5 other granola recipes so I know. I didn’t intentionally change anything. Our Detroit Lions won the 2nd playoff game today (1/21/2024). In all the excitement plus cooking other foods I may have doubled the vanilla on accident. The still warm granola was a hit in the 4th quarter 😊.
I was given this granola as a gift and just loved it. I plan to make some and share with my family and friends.
I don’t think I’ve rated this before but I make a double batch every 2 to 3 weeks so I thought I should ? My sister also makes double batches for her family. Absolutely everyone loves and says it’s the best granola they’ve ever had. I add coconut flakes and sweetened cranberries. I’ve done raisins as well and that was great. Sometimes I throw in some chia seeds and hemp hearts too. It’s always good. Thank you!!!
Hi Shelly. I’m so happy you and your sister are enjoying the granola, and that the families love it! Thanks for sharing your wonderful feedback and review!
This is the best granola recipe I’ve ever tried! Perfect texture and flavor. I followed the recipe perfectly using the coconut oil and subbing pecans instead of cashews. I printed it and added it to my recipe book. It’s a keeper for sure!
I’m so glad you love the granola! Thanks for using my recipe, and for sharing your wonderful review and feedback!
We have a cinnamon allergy. Is there a sub for cinnamon or could it be left out?
You can simply leave it out, no problem. Enjoy!
This is delicious! Made it with Aquafaba instead of the oil and don’t feel like I’m missing anything. Did add extra cinnamon because I love the flavor.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the granola, thank you!