Granola should be a staple in any healthy diet. Actually it’s so great that it should even be included in diets where health isn’t a concern. There are many possibilities for granola: It can function as a snack, a meal within itself, or even dessert. It can be eaten on it’s own, worked into recipes, or used as a topper for many foods. It’s also one of those foods that is often purchased when it can be just as easily — and sometimes, less expensively — made at home.
Making it at home is almost a necessity for those of us that are allergic to tree nuts because virtually every store-bought granola has at least one, but often two, kinds of nuts inside. Here are seven of my favorite recipes for making granola or granola bars, and as a plus all of them are either nut-tree or can easily be made that way.
Classic Granola {via ina garten}
This is a great recipe to start out with if you are making granola for the first time. It is technically supposed to be granola bars but I always just end up making loose granola because it’s more flexible. This granola isn’t going to be the healthiest granola you ever eat but it is still a better alternative than other crunchy snacks you could choose from. There are almonds in this original recipe but I replace them with 1/2 cup sunflower seeds and 1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds) to make it nut free. Feel free to leave the almonds in if you aren’t allergic, but the nut free version is just as good.
Image Credit: ree drummond
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars {via two peas and their pod}
A fall favorite, these bars are always in heavy rotation around this time of year. Hopefully now that we are a few years into our culture’s obsession with pumpkin most of us have softened on the oddness of the pumpkin/chocolate combination. What can seem strange at first is actually delicious and really is the best part of these granola bars. With that being said, dried cranberries or raisins would also be great here if you don’t want to use chocolate. And don’t be afraid to go heavy handed on the spices, the oats and pumpkin can definitely handle it.
Classic Granola Bars {via the pioneer woman}
Big, hearty, healthy-ish granola bars — that’s exactly what these are. It’s a no-nonsense recipe that makes a HUGE amount. Ree says she gets 16 servings out of this batch but I say no way; considering the recipe makes a sheet tray full of granola, I get about double the amount of bars. These are toasty, satisfying granola bars that can really be adapted to fit what you have in the pantry. The original recipe calls for pecans and almonds but I replace them with an equal amount of dried fruit to make them nut free. I can imagine that peanuts and chocolate chips would also be a delicious replacement.
Yogi Trail Mix Bars {via eat live run}
These trail mix bars have a very similar texture to those yummy chocolate chip chewy bars that we probably all ate our weight in when we were younger (at least I know I did). A mixture of dried fruit, sunflower seeds, and shredded coconut (and a lack of high fructose corn syrup) elevate these way above the afromentioned package variety. One of the best parts of these particular bars is that there is no worry about them breaking apart and not staying in bar form after you cut them, something that is at times hard to find in a granola recipe.
Small Batch Granola {via joy the baker}
If you are looking for a batch up granola under three cups (I’ve found most recipes end up making around 5-6 cups) this is it. If it’s only you eating the granola or you have a small number of people in your home, this is probably a better bet for a recipe than a big batch that risks going stale. This recipe is just as yummy, just on a smaller scale. There’s sliced almonds in this granola and because it’s only 1/3 of a cup, I usually just leave them out with no problems. But feel free to replace with any seed, peanut, or dried fruit to keep it nut-free and add extra flavor.
Image Credit: elisabet dominguez
Peanut Butter Cluster Granola {via all recipes}
The best part of granola is those big clusters, right? We’re all in agreement on this? For some reason many at-home recipes seem to forget this and don’t focus their recipes on it, but not this one! This granola is for cluster-lovers and peanut butter lovers all in one. The key is to let the granola dry out on your counter for a few hours so it can harden together and then be sure to break it into big pieces. The peanut butter works as a great glue, as does the maple syrup that is used as the sweetener, to keep those big clusters from falling apart.
Blueberry Flax Granola {via my whole food life}
This granola is strikingly similar to a store-bought granola with a similar name that is my go-to choice if I am ever to by granola in the stores. I first tried it because it was the only granola in store without nuts in it and ended up loving it so much that I needed to recreate it at home to save my wallet. This recipe comes very close to the original with the only major change being it uses dried blueberries instead of the freeze dried the store bought version uses. Both are equally yummy, and you could even use freeze dried blueberries in place of the dried if you can find them in your store.
What’s your favorite granola? Let us know in the comments below.
Featured image is from Jan Vašek.
The Hudsucker 
Thanks! So hard to find nut free granola!