Nutty Coconut Oil Cluster Granola
Healthier coconut oil cluster granola recipe that is packed with nuts. No refined sugar since this granola is sweetened with just honey. Plus, I share the secret to getting large clusters!
Shawn and I woke up to a living nightmare…
Ants.
In our bedroom.
IN OUR BED AND CRAWLING ON OUR PILLOWS!
Creepiest thing in the entire world!
Josh started stirring around 6:00am. I was feeding him, and felt a little tickly feeling on my arm. I turned my cell phone light on, and saw an ant on my arm. I moved the light a little more, and noticed 10 ants on my pillow. I moved the light even higher, and saw 100 ants on our headboard.
FREAK OUT!
If I wasn’t holding a sleeping baby, I would have screamed.
As calmly and urgently as possible I whispered, “Shawn…wake up…ants…”
That bolted him out of bed in seconds flat.
I took the baby in the living room where it was safe, while Shawn got rid of all of the ants. He followed the trail and found that they had come in through the bathroom. Some of them headed to our bedroom, attracted to the milk on the burp cloths on our headboard. The rest of them headed to our kitchen, attracted to the jar of peanut butter.
That jar of peanut butter is no longer in the house. And neither are the ants. Phew.
Thank goodness I had this nutty coconut oil cluster granola in tightly sealed mason jars, because if the ants had gotten in to them I would have cried throwing it out. This granola is too good to waste!
This is my new favorite breakfast. After having this vanilla almond overnight oatmeal with blueberries for seriously a month straight, I wanted a new quick breakfast to look forward to in the morning. And after lots of oatmeal, I really wanted something with tons of crunch. Granola!
I wanted to make my granola healthier, so I made it with coconut oil and honey. I eat it as cereal with unsweetened almond milk and fresh berries. I love it so much, I don’t even mind getting up at the crack of dawn every morning with the baby.
The best part of this coconut oil granola are the great, big clusters. The secret is to bake the granola without stirring it at a lower temperature. After it cools, it will be a great big block that you can break up with your hands into clusters.
Nutty Coconut Oil Cluster Granola
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup coconut oil
- 3/4 cup honey
- 5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped
- 1 cup raw pecans, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup raw shelled sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup flax seeds, or hemp seeds, or half of each!
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees with the rack in the middle position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small microwave safe mixing bowl, add the coconut oil and microwave for 1 minute, or until melted. Add the honey, stir to combine.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss to combine the oats, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, flour and salt.
- Add the melted coconut oil and honey to the oat mixture, stir until evenly coated.
- Spread the granola in an even layer on the baking sheet. Press it lightly. Will be about 1/2" thick.
- Bake the granola for 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown. Do NOT stir the granola while it is baking, otherwise you won't get big clusters. Remove the baked granola and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes, so it can set.
- Once the granola is cool, break it apart using your hands to desired sized clusters.
- Will keep in an airtight container for 4 weeks.
More Breakfast Recipes
Healthier Dairy Free Belgian Waffles
Vanilla Almond Overnight Oatmeal with Blueberries
14 Comments on “Nutty Coconut Oil Cluster Granola”
Wonderful! Crunchy, nutty, and lovely clusters. In my first batch, I tried putting raisins and dates in, and they burned to a crisp. I made a second batch without dried fruit, and it was perfect! I added cinnamon, powdered ginger, and a tiny bit of nutmeg, too.
Ah, sorry about your first batch! But so happy to hear you loved the second. Thank you so much!
Makes delicious chunky clusters
Love this! Thank you!
I love using coconut oil in the kitchen. Using it in granola is a fabulous idea! YUM!
Thanks Melanie! I just bought the biggest tub of coconut oil at Costco. I use it so much! Haha!
Eeek! That would be so creepy! We had ants in our basement last summer and had to put out some borax + sugar in little tupperware containers to trap them, but it did the trick!! Love love love the looks of this granola because the clusters were always my favorite part of my mom’s homemade granola. I would pick them out right off the pan :)
It was unbelievably creepy Denise. There were just way too many of them. Ew! And thanks for the tip. I’m going to try that next time! Shawn used this all natural orange oil cleaner, apparently they don’t like that. But I have to be careful with ant killing spray with the baby and the chickens. Normally we would spray all outside, but the chickens eat all the bugs and I don’t want them eating anything bad since we eat their eggs.
Ugh ants are the worst! I would’ve freaked out if they were on my pillow! Luckily you had lots of granola to calm your fears. Crunchy clusters like this is my absolute favorite! I wish I had this for breakfast!
The WORST, right?! I love this granola. I seriously had it for breakfast this morning. Yum!
Oh no! I HATE ants. We have a problem with them every spring in our kitchen. I’m impressed you didn’t scream, I probably would have! Hope they stay away!
Me too. I was paranoid the rest of the week. I felt like they were crawling all over me. eeek!
Oh no! What an episode! Thing is with some ants, take away what their after, they disappear fast. Good thing they weren’t biting ants, right or granola loving ants? Yikes!! Cooking granola low and slow and not stirring is the key to the best homemade granola. I’m always tempted to stir, tho! hehe. I love all the nuts and coconut oil you’ve packed in. Such a delicious grab and go snack to have on hand when you’re flying out the door! Delicious Natalie!
Ugh, it was the worst! Ants are so tiny and can’t really do anything, so why are they so creepy? Thanks Traci!