This homemade pumpkin flax granola recipe is loaded with good things and sweetened with honey. This homemade granola is crunchy, chewy, clustery and satisfying! We’ve recently been cutting back on our sugar intake (carrot cake excluded).
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In paying close attention to nutrition labels we noticed something that was a major bummer; our favorite organic granola had cane sugar as the second ingredient (ingredients are listed in order from the most to the least so the second most substantial ingredient in our boxed granola was sugar). Organic does not always equal healthy.
My hubby and I were so bummed because one of our go-to breakfasts is what you see above (plain Greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey, chia seeds, granola and fresh fruit.
Without the granola there was a void and the yogurt didn’t keep me full very long. I searched high and low for a healthy substituted because I wasn’t ready to give it up. Bag after bag had loads of added sugar and preservatives. So this pumpkin flax granola recipe was born ♥.
P.S. This granola stores well in an airtight container at room temperature.
Homemade Granola Recipe Ingredients:
The ingredients are simple and so good for you! No store-bought granola can touch this because everything in the store has either a mile long list of ingredients or is laden with sugar. With this homemade granola, what you see is what you get. You know exactly what goes into it! We use the old fashioned rolled oats pictured below (whole grain and Bob’s Red Mill brand). We also prefer using coconut oil because it adds great flavor.
How to Make Homemade Granola:
1. In a large mixing bowl, combined 3 cups rolled oats, 1/2 cup coconut flakes, 1 cup pumpkin seeds and 1/4 cup flax seeds.
2. In a second bowl, stir together 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup of maple syrup, 1/4 cup coconut oil and 1/2 tsp salt. They will combine easier if you heat them in the microwave 15-30 seconds.
3. Drizzle the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and gently toss/stir until evenly coated. Spread onto a large 3/4 baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 325 for 18-20 min, stirring once halfway through for even toasting. Remove from the oven and let cool completely then crumble with your hands and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Pumpkin Flax Granola Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups Rolled oats, Old fashioned whole grain*
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes, (unsweetened) or shaved almonds
- 1 cup pumpkin seeds, shelled
- 1/4 cup flax seeds
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup maple syrup, (real maple syrup)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted into liquid form (can sub with butter or oil of choice)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325˚F. In a large mixing bowl, combined 3 cups rolled oats, 1/2 cup coconut flakes, 1 cup pumpkin seeds and 1/4 cup flax seeds.
- In a second bowl, stir together 1/4 cup coconut oil,** 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup of maple syrup, and 1/2 tsp salt. They will combine easier if you heat them in the microwave 15-30 seconds.
- Drizzle the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and gently toss/stir until evenly coated. Spread out onto a really large 3/4 baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 325˚F for 18-20 minutes, stirring once halfway through baking for even toasting. Remove from the oven and let cool completely then crumble with your hands and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
**Measure coconut oil first then measure honey in the same cup. The oil coats the cup so the honey slides out easily.
Nutrition Per Serving
How do you eat your granola?
I made this today and it was still wet and limp after baking and cooling off. Maybe it needs to be spread out between two medium pans instead of one large one?? I’m going to try baking it on a large tray at 300 degrees for a bit longer. I’ll give an update later. Flavor is quite good though.
Hi Tc, if it seems damp, you can return it to the oven and dry it out for a few more minutes. I used a large 3/4 baking sheet (I have a link above in the recipe), but if you use smaller pans, it is a good idea to spread them out onto two pans. 🙂
Hi Natasha,
Have you ever added a touch of salt in your granola? Can’t wait to give this granola a try !! Thanks so much
Nancy 🇨🇦
Nancy, the recipe calls for 1/2 tsp of salt. We make this all the time, I also like to add some shaved almonds.
Is there anything to replace the honey with?
Thanks.
You can just use maple syrup but we have found the best combination to be maple syrup with honey – it’s just the right texture of crunch and slightly sticky with a combination.
Made it, loved it! My husband and kids are ready for the second round 🙂 Thank you!
Lena, thank you for the great review and you are welcome :).
This is hands down my favorite breakfast/anytime snack EVER! I have been looking for something like this. Thank you so so much!! It is absolutely delicious.
I’m happy to help :). Thanks Ashlee! I agree I could eat this any time of day.
I made this granola taste great! My only problem is its wet it does not dry fully.. it’s still moist aftet baking for 20min and cooling. If.I keep it.in longer it burns. I already have it very spread out on baking sheet.. how can I dry it up before putting in container.
That seems unusual that it’s wet after baking. Did you use the same amount of honey and oil – did you use any other substitutions?
No I did not. And yes I followed the recipe. Maybe I’ll put it back into the oven and dry it at 100 degrees.
What is the shelf life?
If you keep it in an airtight container, it stays good up to 2 weeks (we haven’t tested anything longer than 2 weeks – it’s always gotten eaten ;)).
Finally made it…Love this recipe!!! The best part is you know what goes in it and you can adjust as necessary.
I’m so glad you love it 😀. Lately, we’ve been using shaved almonds from Costco and granola tastes great with them as well.
Almonds yum! I’ll try next batch. Should I toast them first?
No need to toast them first. They are toasted perfectly on the pan with the rest of the ingredients.
This recipe looks fabulous! I’m 3 months pregnant and was looking for a cereal substitute that wasn’t packed with tons of sugar yet highly nutritious. I’ve read though that its best to avoid flax seeds because it may stimulate contractions. Would sunflower seeds would be an adequate substitute?
Tania, I never heard of that but you can just leave flax seeds out and granola would still taste great :). Blessing to you and your family.
Love your granola. What about pure maple syrup instead of honey? Is honey a better sugar substitute than Maple syrup ?
I haven’t tested it with maple but now that you mention it, I’d like to give it a try. We always have real maple syrup on hand. I don’t know if it’s necessarily better but it does have some potential benefits that maple syrup does not.
Looks good! Thanks for sharing. Our local health food store carries some pretty good quality granola mixes with little or no sugar added in their bin section, but your recipe looks so good and seems simple enough, worth trying to do it yourself.
That’s awesome that you were able to find that. On all of the ones I’ve seen in bins, sugar listed as the second or third ingredient, which means there is a decent amount of it in there.
It’s good to keep in mind what else is listed in granola mix. In your recipe, if not for generous amount of pumpkin seeds, honey would be listed as 2nd or 3rd ingredient as well. And yes, honey is better sweetener than sugar, it’s still a pure form of fructose and glucose. But at least with homemade stuff you can control how much sweetener to add, if any.
Very true. I love that I know exactly what went into this 🙂
Can you please tell me what you eat this granola with? It seems like yogurt, by the photo.
Hi Inna, yes, it is Greek Yogurt. We buy the large fat free Kirkland Signature containers from Costco 🙂
Hi Natasha. If you really want to reap benefits from honey vs. sugar, check out raw unpasteurized honey which doesn’t go through heating and all nutrients and health benefits are intact. Collected from hives and poured into containers. That is it. Other than that, I hate to say it but majority of honey sold in stores is pasteurized and not much better than sugar (however, I believe there are differences between regular beet GMO sugar and organic fair trade cane or palm sugar). I buy from a local farm near my house. It also can cure allergies.
I have an entire book written on the benefits of raw honey. The honey we use (we refilled our little store container) is a raw unpasteurized honey from our church pastor. He has honey bees 🙂 I totally agree and local honey is definitely best 🙂
All ingredients of Pumpkin Flax Granola Recipe are very nutritious and look delicious. Procedures of this recipe are long but very friendly. May be I will make it to feed for my 5 years old baby Shasha. Any suggestion ?
My son is 6 and he enjoys the granola over yogurt.
Just an FYI…I know that whole flax seeds add to the look and texture of a recipe but to obtain the health benefits, it must be ground-our bodies can’t break it down in its whole form-when ground, our bodies can utilize the healthy oils it provides 😊
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
but then there would be another concern – ground up flex seeds oxidize extremely quickly and need to be consumed withing 10-20 min.
Oh I didn’t know that! Thanks for sharing. I guess it’s not a good idea to buy the pre-ground ones eh?
Correct! You just grind flax seeds in grinder as you need them. The volatile oils go rancid rather quickly.
I made this reciperson
I hope you loved it!
Honey has quite a few benefits over refined sugar. I like granola for breakfast and you have a great recipe here. Thanks for pointing us in the right direction.
You are welcome Greg :). I have a whole book about benefits of honey and I love to use it any change I get.
Omg! I am making this tomorrow. I wanted to make this for the longest time.
awesome!!! I hope you love it 🙂
Natasha – This is a blessing as we’ve discovered a lot of sugar in our products and unfortunately excluded granola from our diet. But you have just “opened our eyes” 🙂
On another note, my husband and I are shopping for a Kitchen Aid… We don’t bake much, but like the different adjustments for grinding meat and potatoes (my son loves potato pancakes). Which one would you recommend? Thanks so much as always for all you recipes and new creations.
Yay!! I’m happy to hear that :). As far as the kitchenaid goes, I currently use the Professional 6 Qt series, but if you don’t do a ton of baking (or bread making), a 5 Qt would probably do the job.
ok, thank you…But does it include the meat and potato grinder or does that need to be purchased separately ?
The attachments are usually sold separately. We purchased ours on Amazon.
Hello Natasha! I love your recipes and your website, but recently I learned that my body can’t handle dairy and eggs and if it’s not too much to ask, can you help me find a few recipes that are dairy and oil free? I think breakfast is the most challenging for me. Anyways, God bless you and your family 🙂
Oh wow that is tough. I’m sorry to hear you can’t have those things :(. The foods that come to mind are hashbrowns, all the breakfast meats, avocado spread sandwiches: https://natashaskitchen.com/2014/05/11/open-faced-avocado-spread-sandwiches/. You might google egg substitutes because people use flax and chia seeds to create a gel that works instead of eggs (might work for pancakes and waffles). Smoothies are always a good idea for breakfast – I have plenty of those posted.
yes, it is tough because I the foods I love I can’t eat. Anyways, Thank you so much, Natasha, for your help and suggestions.
Pumpkin season is here!
I want to wake up to this every morning this Fall.
And it’s so quick to make – no cooking required! 🙂 I know it, I’m excited for Fall, pumpkin recipes, scarves, everything Fall! 🙂