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Healthy Holiday Granola {Perfect For Anytime Of The Year!}

I’m so excited to share the healthy holiday granola I am giving to friends and family this season! (If you are my friend or family member that is going to get one of these – sorry for ruining the surprise!) This granola makes the perfect breakfast to replace cereal or snack and/or holiday gift. I used my basic recipe for granola but purposely chose pistachios and red dried fruits like cherries, goji berries and cranberries for the ingredients to create a festive look.

This granola recipe is really perfect to make anytime of year – not just the holidays and sure does beat the overly processed kind you buy at the grocery store that is full of refined sugar, inflammatory oils, and added artificial or natural flavoring. 

HealthyHolidayGranola

To create the gift containers, I used leftover Luna’s Living Kitchen Juice Glass Jars and brushed off the glue gun to glue some pretty ribbon around the bottles to cover up their logo. I could have easily bought inexpensive mason jars, but was looking forward to reusing these all year long – I drink A LOT of their organic raw juice! I still have many jars left that I haven’t used and plan to use them all year round (think baby showers, bridal showers, kids parties, etc… all you need to do is change the ribbon and out comes the perfect party favor!)

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Word to the wise: Make sure you add dried fruit in after baking, this will keep them from drying out too much, keeping them yummy and chewy. This is especially true for goji berries

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Food Babe's Healthy Holiday Granola
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • 3 cups rolled oats
  • 2 cups of raw nuts of your choice (I used pistachios and almonds)
  • ¾ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 1 tbsp vanilla
  • ¼ cup coconut oil melted
  • ⅓ cup maple syrup
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon
  • ¾ cup dried cherries, goji berries or cranberries
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees
  2. Combine all ingredients except for dried fruit and mix well
  3. Place mixture on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper
  4. Bake for 1 hour (stirring every 20 mins so all sides evenly brown)
  5. Remove granola from oven and let cool
  6. Stir in dried fruit
  7. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks
Notes
***Please choose all organic ingredients if possible***

 

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Hope you share this recipe with friends and family this holiday season and all year round 🙂 

Cheers!
Food Babe

 

 

 

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131 responses to “Healthy Holiday Granola {Perfect For Anytime Of The Year!}

    1. To make bars, Just heat the maple syrup and coconut oil, pour over other ingredients in a glass pan lined with parchment paper and I think you put parchment paper over too and press down. Something like that- OhSheGlows.com may be the blog that has recipes for that. Super easy!

  1. I like a helpful information a person source for your content articles. Let me bookmark your website and analyze yet again right here often. I’m just a bit specified I’m going to practice a lots of brand-new things the following! All the best . for the next!

  2. This is absolutely delicious! My whole family enjoyed this granola. The only problem with this is, you won’t be able to stop eating it! I’m serious, it’s sooooo yummy!

  3. OMG , we absolutely love your granola recipe. I will never buy granola again and can hardy wait for breakfast. Thank you so very much for your healthy and delicious recipes.

  4. One of my littles doesn’t tolerate oats, any ideas for what I might be able to substitute? Quinoa flakes?

    1. You could, but honey is hydroscopic, meaning it absorbs the moisture in the air so you may find it a bit more sticky

  5. Hi I live in New Zealand and am looking for a gluten free rolled oat equivalent. I used to love rolled oats but can no longer eat them. I’ve tried a few other things like Quinoa and Buckwheat but nothing compares to rolled oats. Any suggestions?? Thanjs

    1. I am in the same boat with oats. I dice up apples and bananas in the morning for my husband and I. I add chia, pumpkin, and flax seeds, sometimes walnuts and raisins, with a bit of homemade almond milk (Kris Carr got me doing this, 1 cup almonds, soaked overnight, 3 cups water, cinnamon, vanilla, maybe a date or 2, blend up! I don’t always strain it either if I am using it for my “cereal.”) who needs oats if you dice the apples small enough, it is a great alternative. Cheers!

  6. Do you know you could make that even healthier by omitting the oil and substituting applesauce? YUM!

      1. saturated fat is actually good for you. But if you do choose apple sauce use organic because otherwise it is loaded with pesticides.

      2. Even organic apples can have antibiotics sprayed on them. My co-op doesn’t allow this but you have to call around because most of them are sprayed and often employees in the stores aren’t aware that organic can be sprayed with antibiotics.

    1. Coconut oil and it’s amazing fat is much healthier than applesauce. That just adds sugar. We need healthy fat to thrive

  7. Is it possible also to list the nutrient content and sugars? I prepare meals for my diabetic grandson and it would really be beneficial to those who have to watch certain things already. The Christmas granola looks delicious and loaded with good carbs and proteins! Thank you.

  8. the maple syrup adds a light flavor as oppose to honey that is overpowering hiding the other tastes.

    1. GF Oats won’t change the cooking time. GF Oats are just oats that are grown not near any wheat and not harvested near any wheat or packaged in a facility that contains any wheat. Oats are naturally GF. They only get contaminated by crossover in the fields by wind or machinery during harvest if they are grown in nearby fields.

    1. never use quick oats for anything they are overprocessed precooked then dried out artificially with additives

      1. WAPF always calls for soaking of all grains and oats to remove the phytic acid and improve digestion. Has anyone tried soaking their oats before preparing this recipe???

  9. Keep in mind that coconut oil is extremely beneficial to neurons. Our brains need good fat to remain healthy.

    If you want to know the nutritional data for a given recipe (any recipe!) enter the info into any one of the free websites that offer nutritional analysis. To find one you like do a simple google search.

    You could switch up maple syrup for honey, but you will change the flavor, of course. Honey tends to be more thick than maple syrup, also.

    To change out the rolled oats, you could substitute quinoa flakes, but I’m not sure how well that would work.

    This recipe lends itself well to adding things like organic dark chocolate bits, and changing the dried fruit. It’s a lovely recipe and one that you can make with relative ease.

  10. Everyone’s talking about the coconut oil but it’s the plain rolled oats that are actually problematic. According to Sally Fallon (author of Nourishing Traditions) oats should be properly soaked before ingesting. This breaks down the gluten (yes, oats have gluten unless you buy gluten-free oats) and adds beneficial microbes and bacteria to aid the digestion of this grain. I could see making this recipe occasionally and in a pinch, but there are wonderful soaked oats granola recipes out there which are even better for you. (Google “soaked oats granola” and I’m sure you’ll find them.)

    This isn’t a complaint, mind you–I am grateful to Vani Hari for what she does. (I don’t get why she calls herself a “babe” when she has such a fabulous name, but that’s her business. I mean, will she still be the food “babe” when she’s sixty? Has she thought about that?) In any case, I’ll soak the oats first and dry them out as I do for my other granola recipes and try this one.

    1. You do realize the difference between certified gluten free and regular oats is that the regular oats are processed in a facility that also processes gluten. So technically oats are gluten free by nature.

    2. Awesome Linore! I was thinking the very same thing! I always soak to get rid of the phytic acid and make grains, nuts and oats more digestible. More people need to learn this nourishing tradition 🙂

  11. Can I omit the shredded coconut ? I would like to make them tomorrow and don’t have any on hand ?

  12. I made granola yesterday but I do not add any oats, to cut carbs, and I do not do well on oats. I use slivered almonds, pecans, and macadamia nuts, vanilla, and a tiny bit of maple syrup. I have also made it with cut up dates instead of maple syrup. You can use all sorts of ingredients to customize this. Sometimes I do not bake it and just put it in a jar for use as cereal. Yummy.

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