If you love granola (and lots of it), this not-too-sweet crunchy and nutty big batch granola recipe is for you!
I don’t know about you, but I adore granola!
Most of the stuff you find in the grocery though doesn’t have much taste and even less texture and can also be really high in sugar.
Store bought granola can also be incredibly pricey, which seems kind of nuts (ha!) since the ingredients are super simple:
- rolled oats
- nuts and dried fruit
- sweetener
- a bit of oil
- a little spice
Since most of these are probably already in your pantry, why not make your own granola?
I’m a huge fan of CRUNCH (this is after all a Crunchy and Nutty Big Batch Granola recipe), so I pack my granola with lots of walnuts, almonds and pumpkin seed. You can definitely cut back on the generous amounts of nuts if you like. Or substitute pecans for walnuts, sunflower seed for pumpkin.
You can also add dried fruits like dried cherries or raisins if you’re so inclined. I guess you could even leave out ALL the goodies, but why would you do that?
Making Crunchy and nutty big batch granola by the box
Stick with me long enough, and you’ll discover that I love cooking and developing recipes “by the box”.
So if I’m making lentils, I develop a recipe to use the whole bag of beans. (No leftovers to clutter up the pantry!).
For mac and cheese, I use the entire box of pasta.
And for this granola recipe, we’re dumping in the whole box of rolled oats and the whole jar of applesauce. It just feels a lot more efficient, less wasteful and very satisfying.
Even though it’s relatively low fat, I have to be careful how often I make this. It’s so yummy I grab it by the fistful (okay, double fistful) to snack on.
I adapted the recipe from David Lebovitz, who I admire because he loves ice cream so much that he wrote a book about it AND because he lives in France.
Come to think of it, this granola would be great eaten atop ice cream (preferably in France!)
This makes A LOT of granola because I like a lot of granola. It keeps really well in the freezer (or you could divvy it up for your friends). If you’d like to make less, just halve the ingredients.
Crunchy and Nutty Big Batch Granola
Ingredients
- 1 42-oz box old fashioned oats
- 3 cups pumpkin seed or sunflower seed or a mixture
- 2 cups sliced almonds
- 1 cup whole almonds I use unblanched
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1-½ cups brown sugar
- 1 tbsp powdered ginger
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 23-oz jar unsweetened apple sauce
- ½ cup canola oil or vegetable oil
- 1-¼ cup honey or brown rice syrup, agave syrup or a mixture
Instructions
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Combine all the wet ingredients in a pitcher or large bowl. You might have to heat the honey to get it nice and fluid.
- Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. I like to use my hands, but you can use a spoon if you like.
- Scoop granola out onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Spread out so that it's not all glopped up (you want it to be able to dry out thoroughly).
- Bake at 300 F for about 2 hours. Turn off the oven, and leave the oven door closed.
- Leave the pans of granola in the oven overnight. The residual heat should make your granola nice and toasty!
- The next morning, break apart the bits of granola (I like to leave large chunks-better for snacking!)
- Store this in ziploc bags in the freezer where it stays freshest.