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Granola clusters are a nutritious, energy packed snack that is great alone or on top of vanilla ice cream or your morning yogurt. While I enjoy it as a snack, trying to get my kids to eat it isn’t always an easy task which is unfortunate because it comes loaded with fiber.
Unfortunately, many of the better-tasting pre-packaged varieties of granola are loaded down with sugar and other ingredients that I normally don’t want my kids to overeat. To avoid these additional sugars, I tend to buy the plainer varieties which don’t always appease a child’s palate. While several companies do offer more nutritious granola, I recently decided to save a couple of bucks and try my hand at making my own granola clusters – ones that me and my kids would enjoy.
Not only are my granola clusters cheaper, a small store-bought bag can easily reach $5 to $6, but my kids enjoy them much more too. So if you want to create a fun, crunchy snack for yourself and your kids, give the recipe a try.
Happy baking!
Karlynn
How to Make Your Own Granola Clusters
How to Make Your Own Granola Clusters! It’s cheaper, healthier and has way less sugar than store bought granola!
4.99 from 89 votes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Course
- Snack
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 20
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/3 cup honey melted
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Add Ins
- 1/4 cup nuts of choice
- 1/4 cup dried fruit of choice
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In one large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
Once combined, add the fruit and nut combination of choice.
In a second smaller bowl, combine the melted honey, canola oil, and vanilla. Once thoroughly mixed, pour the honey mixture over the oat mixture. Mix until combined. If needed, you can drizzle another 1/3 cup of melted honey over top of the granola to bring it together more.
Place onto the baking sheet and press firmly into a layer. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until the clusters are light golden in color.
Remove and let cool completely, then break into pieces.
Store in a closed container for up to a week, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Recipe Notes
- You can make a layer of granola that you break up, or drop the mixture into little piles to make clusters and bake like that.
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Karlynn Johnston
I’m a busy mom of two, wife & cookbook author who loves creating fast, fresh meals for my little family on the Canadian prairies. Karlynn Facts: I'm allergic to broccoli. I've never met a co*cktail that I didn't like. I would rather burn down my house than clean it. Most of all, I love helping YOU get dinner ready because there's nothing more important than connecting with our loved ones around the dinner table!
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Reader Interactions
Comments & Recipe Tips Share a tip or comment!
melissa says
Replyi love this recipe!
just so happened that we didn’t have honey at home so i used 2 egg whites + 89g brown sugar as substitute.
The clusters stuck well, was chewy with a slight crunch, sweetness was just nice 🙂
mels says
Replyi love this recipe! didn’t have honey at home so i used 2 egg whites + 89g brown sugar as substitute. The clusters stuck well, was chewy with a slight crunch, sweetness was just nice 🙂
Robin says
ReplyGreat recipe! I added 2 Tablespoons peanut butter, 4 teaspoons dark chocolate cocoa and up’d honey to 1/2 cup, baked for 30 minutes. Came out amazing 🤩
Suesue says
ReplyThis is a yum recipe, the degrees is 300 F not C, my bad I didn’t click until it was 15 mintues cooked and quite brown … I will be making it again but cook at 150C not 200…
I used about 1/2 cup of honey cause comments were saying it needed more, I think I’ll stick to 1/3 cup next time.
Also another tip, I mixed it with a silicon spatular rather than my hands, worked perfectly.
and you do have to wait until it’s cold to have clusters, my first try was very churchy
Thanks again for sharing this recipe, so quick and easy and lot’s cheaper than store bought 🙂Jackie says
Replyhow much fruit and nuts?
Cbj says
ReplyGreat recipe . I did tweak it a bit and turned my oven to 250 bc my oven runs hot. I didn’t get it to cluster so I’m thinking I need more liquid but it was good none the less. Wayyyyy cheaper than buying $6 box of granola that’s way too sweet anyways. I often never buy this bc this family is on a budget and I’m the only one that eats granola cereal . Thank you .
Michelle Carter says
ReplyReally easy and good. Added some sliced almonds, pecans and walnuts. Perfect since I eat granola daily with blueberries and yogurt. This will become a staple in our house.
Claire says
ReplyHow long does it last (or when does it expire) when you store in an air tight container? And would a ziplock bag work?
Carmen Werner says
ReplyTerrific granola recipe! I followed exactly & added 1/4 c. Of minced almonds & 2 Tb of sunflower seeds. Harder to cluster, but halfway thru baking smashed all down & when done broke up to nice pieces….Delish… thx bunches Katlynn 4 super good recipe I will pass on!!!!! cw
Evie says
ReplyThis recipe is amazing!! I added 2 heaped tbsp peanut butter and it was divine so definitely add that. It also allows me to add loads of seeds that I don’t usually like the taste of without really tasting them. Also also didn’t add any sugar and made sure to add some salt to taste, which made for the perfect salty-sweet granola
Cara Cuda says
ReplyThis recepie is my favorite granola recepie, I have tried MANY AND THIS ONE IS THE BEST!
Shunda Crockett says
ReplyI made this and that turned out great! Added sliced almond, cranberries and sunflower seeds.. Delicious
cj says
ReplyMy boyfriend and I made it and it was delicious! Totally better than any store bought granola. Just sweet enough without feeling like i’m eating a crunchy sugar cube! 10/10 recommend, and will be making again 🙂
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
ReplyAwesome thanks for trying it! Glad you enjoyed it.
Ben says
ReplyMy girlfriend and I love this recipe! Not too sweet, not too crazy, simple, quick–a new breakfast go-to!
solange sharkie says
ReplySo, am I the only one here that noticed the lack of information on nuts to be added? Or is it supposed to be obvious as to how much to add? I get that it’s the fruit and nuts of choice but too many would change the ratio of other ingredients would it not?
Dex says
ReplyI was unable to form clusters because it was not sticky enough and it was falling apart easily. I just put everything on parching paper in an oven tray and baked it at 150°C (without fan), but I was taking it out every 10 minutes or so to give it a stir. It took about 40 minutes. Even without the clusters, this was down the best granola I have ever had. Sweetness was perfect, taste was amazing in general. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Zi Yi says
Replyyou can’t stir it, you will break the cluster
Lindsay Long says
ReplySame with me! I’m making it right now and I was not able to form into clusters. I put it all on the baking sheet lined with parchment and pressed down evenly. I made one batch with brown sugar and the other sugar free with monk fruit sweetener. I’ll see how it goes!!
foodiefarz says
ReplyWhat could I substitute the canola oil for?
Cam says
ReplyI’ve been using avocado oil. Any neutral flavored oil with relatively high heat would work. Peanut oil maybe.
Skindvall says
ReplyI used coconut oil.
Deb Kelley says
ReplyAmazing recipe. We spread the mixture on a parchment lined baking sheet. Once cooled, my husband helped me break into clusters. This has become our go to snack. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Barb says
ReplyCoconut oil
Cherie says
ReplyWas nothing like pictured. Read the comments and added a lot more honey but it still turned out nothing like pictured, though I did manage to get the oats to somewhat stick together.
Ximena says
ReplyThis recipe is a whole nother level. I can’t begin to explain how amazing this recipe is. I will put it in 3 words: Easy and Scrumptious. It literally took me 15 minutes since it was my first time doing it and didn’t want to mess up but if I would do it a second time I would do it like in 5 minutes; it’s that easy. The taste, just wow it is so perfect. I wanted granola but because of the whole pandemic, I couldn’t find one that I would like since I like to take the sweetness of the granola and mix it up with just natural yogurt and the flavors compliment each other so freaking well. Decided to look a recipe up and this did it for me, by far the best. ** Little Disclaimer: the recipe calls for 1/3 cup of honey and I ended up using around 3/4 cup. I read the comments beforehand so I got my whole bottle of natural honey ready to be used but yeah just keep in mind you will use a whole lot of honey. Other than that, I would marry this granola in a blink of an eye.
Valeria D'Annibale says
ReplyMade this and came out perfect! I tried many times before but they never came out like clusters, this recipe does! I didn’t even form the clusters with my hands, I just spread the mix on the tray and baked it as a whole, then broke with my hands afterwards. Deeeeelicious!
tannachtonfarm says
ReplyExcellent! and exactly what i was looking for. I linked to this page through my blog. My family loves this mix to the point they no long want to buy the commercial cereal.
Thank you!
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Meagan says
ReplyWhat would be the portion size? Like 1/4cup? 1/8?
ArianaGrande says
ReplyLove it!
Donna says
ReplyWill sliced almonds get too done if added?
Cam says
ReplyIf the slivered almonds are pre-roasted they’ll taste burnt. But its really easy to add mixins afterwards and have it mixed in storage, or mix just what you like when you serve it out, some days almonds some days walnuts! Yum!
Caitlin says
ReplyI printed out this exact same recipe in 2014, from chow.com, originally by Roxanne Webber (it’s still in my recipe binder). It’s a great recipe, bummed Roxanne isn’t getting the credit.
Karlynn Johnston says
Hi Caitlyn, This recipe has been on this website since at least 2012 – I went back and looked; it’s easy to do. Do remember that websites steal from many original food bloggers; I have been doing this since 2009. A lot of us have been around BEFORE some of the large popular food websites.
abri12 says
Replyis this recipe good possibly for making it to cereal ? Because i have milk sitting in the fridge waiting to be used for something valuable
Tyler says
ReplyI couldn’t get it to cluster…. Taste was good, but it’s just loose oats now…. How can they stay together sand find out like the picture? More brown sugar or honey to make them stick? Please help.
Mary Claire says
ReplyWhat you need is more honey. You probably have figured that out by reading the comments, but if not, yeah, you may need to add more honey. Hahaha this was written 7 months ago, but I hope it still heps.
abri12 says
Replyis this recipe good possibly for making cereal? because i have milk in the fridge waiting to get a bite at the granola
Geena says
ReplyTried this… absolutely delicious however I was not able to get the clusters stuck together. Once I added a tad more honey, it helped but nowhere near how it is in the picture or the pre-packaged stuff. Any tips on how to make the clusters?
Tiffany says
Reply@Geenaso what I did was had a little bowl of water next to me and when i picked up a cluster i dipped it quickly in water (dont soak it just a quick dip) which helped it hold together. then i put it in oven and once cooked took it out, let it cool and once it cooled it was stuck together!
Lynne says
Replyjust made this – came out great. Delicious! I’ll have to make more tomorrow. 🙂
Deb says
ReplyI would rather not add brown sugar. Any healthy substitute?
Kendra McKibbin says
ReplyLove this! This is my go to granola recipe. Thank you for sharing!
-KendraA Canadian Foodie says
ReplyEverything homemade is SOOOOOOO much better. Bet the kiddies love to help with this!
XO
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4.99 from 89 votes (70 ratings without comment)
