Healthy Chocolate Granola (Oil-free)
This Healthy Chocolate Granola is super healthy, nutritious, oil-free, gluten-free and made with wholesome ingredients and a boost of cinnamon for extra flavor! No need to ever buy store-bought granola again!
Servings: 5 cups
Calories: 473kcal
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 3 cups (300g) old-fashioned oats
- 5 tablespoons (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/3 cup (50g) sliced almonds
- 1/3 cup (40g) sunflower kernels or chopped pecan pieces
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (200g) pure maple syrup (see NOTES below)
- 4 tablespoons (64g) roasted creamy almond butter
- 2 tablespoons (30g) water (OMIT if doing 3/4 cup syrup)
- 2 teaspoons (10g) vanilla extract
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 325°F and Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the oats, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt and stir well. Stir in the seeds and nuts.
- In a small bowl, combine the syrup, almond butter (water if using) and vanilla). Whisk well. Pour over the dry and stir until evenly coated. This will take a couple of minutes.
- Spread the granola out evenly onto the lined pan and press down with the back of the spoon to make the granola stick. It should be about 1/2 inch high for nice size chunks.
- Bake on the LOW rack for 15 minutes. Remove and stir the granola around well, then return back to the oven on the MIDDLE rack and bake another 10 minutes.
- The granola will be soft upon removal but will harden as it cools over the next 15 minutes or so.
- Store in a ziplock bag or sealed container.
- Tip: As a sweeter/dessert option you can throw in some chocolate chips. Do this as soon as you remove the granola from the oven by just dropping them over the cooked granola. It will slightly melt into the granola.
Notes
Using the 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons of syrup makes the granola just mildly sweet (this makes a lot of granola!) so if you prefer yours sweeter, use 3/4 cup and omit the water. I liked it more bitter but my daughter prefers it with the full 3/4 cup.
GRANOLA SUBSTITUTIONS
- Sweetener: Sub the syrup for agave if needed. It will work beautifully.
- Nut-free: Sub the almond butter for sunbutter if allergic. Do the same with the almonds.
- Spices: Feel free to sub the cinnamon with my homemade pumpkin pie spice for a fun new flavor!
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup serving | Calories: 473kcal | Carbohydrates: 76.9g | Protein: 13.3g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 2.1g | Sodium: 56mg | Potassium: 558mg | Fiber: 11.4g | Sugar: 25.5g | Calcium: 117mg | Iron: 5mg