Paleo Granola
Granola
Probably the question I get asked the most is “But what do I eat for breakfast if I can’t eat grains (cereal and bread)?” I used to be a huge cereal addict and could eat the stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I no longer think of needing “breakfast foods” anymore though and often I just have left overs. Most people are still stuck in the breakfast frame of mind when they start out on their paleo journey and they start out by eating lots and lots of eggs. Well, when you need a break from eggs or you are just simply craving a bowl of cereal, bake up a batch of this granola and it’s guaranteed to hit the spot. It’s also great for snacking on and throwing in your backpack or lunch box.
Ingredients
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons almond butter
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil or butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
Place almonds and pecans (or any other nuts of your choosing) in a food processor and pulse a few times (but not too much). In a medium saucepan, melt the coconut oil (or butter) and whisk in the honey, vanilla, salt and almond butter. Pour this mixture into the food processor with your nuts and pulse a few more times to combine. Add cranberries (or dried fruit of your choosing) and the shredded coconut and pulse one last time. Spread mixture out on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 150 C (300 F) for 20-30 minutes. Watch closely for browning as ovens vary. You can eat this dry as is, covered with coconut or almond milk like cereal or as a topper for fresh fruit.
Not Just for Breakfast
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Awesome recipe! I’ll have to try this. Good granola is one of those things that I just can’t give up. It’s such a good treat. But I would love to find a great paleo version!
Hi Carrie,
Thanks for stopping by. This recipe is totally flexible and you can throw in whatever nuts or dried fruit you have on hand. Cereal was a huge addiction in my pre-paleo life!
This looks awfully close to my cereal recipes…even some of the verbiage…
Dear Cavegirl,
I just looked at your site and saw 3 cereal recipes…honey bunches of paleo, cinnamon pecan crunch and choco hazelnut paleo cereal. They all look delicious but none of them are the same as the recipe we posted. I’ll be the first to admit that there are a gazillion paleo granola recipes out there and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if my recipe and yours are similar to many others. We just happened to make a recipe with the nuts and dried fruit that we had on hand. I do try to give credit if I’ve taken inspiration for a particular recipe from a cookbook or website and will always add a hyperlink to my posts. The picture is also totally ours and taken on my dining room table.
**UPDATE**
Hi, Incase any of you are following this…I just recieved a lovely apology e-mail from Cavegirl Cuisine (look for her original comment above). This is what she had to say:
“Lisa ~ I never thought that you took my picture, just really closely
used my recipe. I apologize if you didn’t use my recipe as
inspiration. Recently, I’ve been in a couple of situations where
someone has taken my recipes (word-for-word) and it was just annoying.
I suppose I’m a little hyper-sensitive to it and jumped to the wrong
conclusion.
You are welcome to delete the comment on your webpage, of course. It
was typed in the heat of the moment and I sincerely owe you an
apology.”
I am not going to delete her post though. We welcome any and all comments at Swiss Paleo and I respect Cavegirl for actually checking on my recipe (after the heat of the moment), seeing that she had jumped to conclusions and then being big enough to apologize when she realized she had been mistaken. Her granola recipes (and many of her other recipes) look delicious. I hope my readers will also pay her site a visit.
You both won extra respect in my eyes for how you handled this – mutually respectfully.
How much does this typically yield? Looks so yummy! And is it a good protein source? Low carb? Looks high in healthy fats which is good for breakfasts! Can’t wait to try
Hi Amylou! Thanks for stopping by. This recipe yields 4 servings. I always debate whether or not I should make a double recipe and I usually don’t because I look at this as more of a treat than anything I should be eating on a regular basis. I just ran it through a recipe calculator for you and it has 9 grams of protein per serving and 28 grams of carbs (nuts, honey and dried cranberries all have carbs). If weight loss is your goal, I would save this for a once in a while treat. Enjoy!
I’ve been making this every week… it’s so yummy!! I divide it into 6 small Ziploc containers and it’s the perfect amount :). I top it with sliced banana and almond milk!
That’s a great idea to set aside portions as soon as you make it. I don’t make this very often because I’m too tempted to eat it for breakfast, morning snack, dessert after lunch, afternoon snack, pre-dinner nibbles and dessert after dinner. You can see why it doesn’t last long in my house 😉
Oh gosh, you may think it’s a no-brainer, but thanks for sharing this 🙂
Hi Moo! You can change this up any way you like. Experiment with different nuts and seeds and dried fruits to find a variety that you like best. Enjoy 🙂
Hi Lisa, can you use activated nuts for this recipe and not bake? As once they’re activated it defeats the purpose when putting into the oven.
Thank you,
Untony
Hi Untony,
I’m not sure what you mean by activated…are you talking about roasted nuts? or maybe sprouted nuts? It’s kind of sticky with the honey and the almond butter so even if your nuts are pre-sprouted or pre-roasted, it might need to spend some time in the oven. Try it without the oven, see how the consistency is, and then bake if you need to.
Thanks Lisa
dear lisa
i made this recipe this morning, pretty religiously following it. after about ten minutes in the oven i had to put alu foil over the sheet because the granola was browning so much and after 15′ i had to remove everything out of the heat. still the granola burnt quite a bit. are you sure about the temp. of 185C or should it be F(ahrenheit?)
xoxoxo ayse
Hi Ayse,
I’m so sorry it was cooking too fast for you 🙁 I think I put the right temperature down in the recipe, but I might adjust it. I had a look around at other recipes and saw temperatures that varied from 130 C to 180 C all for the same time as I had. Although, I often forget to pre-heat my oven and the stuff goes in cold which might account for why it doesn’t burn or brown too quickly 🙂
Thanks for pointing it out…I think I’ll change the temperature to an average of what I’ve seen elsewhere.
… yes, i did preheat my oven… maybe this was the point… thank you anyways, it still tastes good!
This is great! Really delicious. Thanks!
Hi Ruby,
So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I am so in LOVE with this! I made mine with no dried fruits (I like fresh, like me ;)), sunflower seeds and pepitas. It turned out great! I just tried it with blueberries and vanilla almond milk…there’s just no going back to boxed cereal! Thank you thank you thank you for taking the time to make this recipe and sharing!
Hi Stephanie,
So glad you like it! I can’t make it very often because I have no self control and eat way too much of it when I do make it 🙂 It would be great with fresh fruit!
I jumped on the Paleo wagon about a month ago and was seriously missing my morning cereal this morning. So I made your granola and it’s soooo good! It’s also surprisingly very filling, so your designation of 4 servings seems pretty big.
I’d also like to mention that it took about 15-20 minutes in a preheated (300F) oven…at 20 minutes it was pretty browned. Keep an eye on it! I believe next time I make it (and there will DEFINITELY be a next time, and another and another) I will leave the cranberries/fruit until after baking, then toss in with the baked granola. In the oven, dried fruits turn into unidentifiable crunchy, pebble like things, and lose their robust flavor. I’m also going to pinch a bit of cinnamon for depth.
This is going to be a Go-To for me. Thanks a bunch!!
Hi Martha,
Congratulations for jumping on the paleo bandwagon!! It’s a very worthwhile journey. Yes, oven times vary considerably. I’m sure my little Swiss oven is different than others. I have a friend who skips the dried fruit all together and she adds fresh fruit (also delicious). It’s a very adaptable recipe and I’m glad you enjoyed it and are finding ways to change it up and make it your own 🙂
I found this recipe through chowstalker yesterday and made it up this morning. I have been craving cereal like crazy and this really hit the spot. I did omit the honey because I’m watching my sugar but it still tasted great! Thanks for a new cereal recipe. I had one I was using before but it was made with dates and was very high in sugar.
Hi Jen,
I’m glad you liked it and were able to satisfy your cereal craving 🙂 You can totally adapt it to include any seeds and nuts that you enjoy. You can add dried fruits like raisins, apricots or cranberries (dried fruit is pretty sugary though) or you can just add some fresh fruit before eating it. Isn’t it nice to know that we can still eat stuff that tastes like cereal? 🙂