Homemade pumpkin granola makes the perfect fall breakfast, snack, or dessert. Full of flavor and made without added sugar, this recipe is a great way to start your day.
It has become a tradition in our home to make a batch of homemade granola every Saturday for our Sunday morning breakfast. Almost every other day of the week, we have eggs or sourdough pancakes, but on Sunday, we have granola!
Granola makes the best breakfast for a busy morning. It can be made ahead for a ready-to-go meal.
The addition of pumpkin gives this classic favorite a tasty fall twist! I love adding pumpkin into anything I can during autumn and this recipe is so good.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy meal: Keeping granola on hand is essential when you have a busy week because it’s so easy to make a meal out of! When the kids are hungry and I don’t have much time, I’ll add homemade pumpkin granola to milk or homemade Instant Pot yogurt for a delicious, quick meal.
No added sugar: This granola is made with just honey for sweetness! If you’re avoiding refined sugar, this is a great recipe for a sweet treat without any unwanted ingredients.
Flexible: Granola is very forgiving, so you can get creative with your ingredients! Once you make the base of the granola, you can add any nuts, seeds, and dried fruits you love.
Fall flavor: I love making homemade honey granola year-round, but it’s so fun to add pumpkin this time of year! With pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice, this is the perfect fall breakfast.
What Goes Into This Recipe
- Quick oats: Using quick oats instead of rolled oats makes for a deliciously crunchy granola.
- Coconut oil: Melted coconut oil gives the granola a nice crunch and a delicate coconut flavor. Feel free to use avocado oil instead if you prefer it.
- Honey: Honey is the secret to having sweet, tasty granola without added sugar. It is a natural sweetener that’s perfect for baked goods and more.
- Pumpkin puree: The pumpkin gives this granola some “hidden veggies” and a pop of fall flavor. Either canned or homemade pumpkin puree will work.
- Salt: It may seem odd to add salt to granola, but – trust me – you don’t want to skip it. Salt enhances the flavor of the granola and balances the sweetness perfectly.
- Vanilla extract: A splash of vanilla extract always adds a nice flavor, especially in fall recipes!
- Pumpkin pie spice: The easiest way to get a big dose of fall flavor without gathering a lot of different spices.
- Nuts and fruit: In this recipe, I use chopped pecans, raisins, and coconut shreds for a variety of flavors and textures! Check out the substitutions and variations below for more ideas.
Substitutions and Variations
Once you make the base of the granola, you can toss in just about any tasty additions!
Throwing in nuts, shredded coconut, and dried fruit is the best part about granola. Get creative with this! We have tried several different combinations, all of which are delicious.
Here are a few of our favorite toppings:
- Dried Cranberries ( I have found one brand on Amazon that doesn’t have added sugar!)
- Banana Chips
- Dried Apricots
- Chopped Walnuts
- Slivered Almonds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Shredded Coconut
- Chia Seeds
- Flax Seeds
How to Make Pumpkin Granola
Step 1. Mix all the ingredients, except chopped nuts, coconut shreds, and raisins, together in a large mixing bowl.
Step 2. Spread the mixture out on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 300 degrees F.
Step 3. Remove from the oven and add the nuts and coconut. Bake for another 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.
Step 4. Remove from the oven and add raisins. Allow it to cool completely before enjoying with milk or yogurt.
Expert Tips
- For a perfectly crunchy granola, opt for quick oats. While old-fashioned oats can also be used, they may take longer to cook to achieve the crispy texture.
- It can be tempting to up the temperature and have your granola ready quicker. However, it’s best to bake granola for longer at a lower temperature! This results in delicious, crunchy granola every time.
- Granola can burn pretty easily, so stirring it often is important.
- It’s best to add any dried fruit to the granola at the end. Baking dried fruit can make it hard and difficult to chew.
- Make a double batch so you have lots to snack on throughout the week! Granola is one of the easiest meal preps.
Recipe FAQs
Store your granola in a lidded or airtight container at room temperature. I have a large glass container in my pantry for granola. In fact, my sister gave me the container filled with homemade granola as a housewarming gift, and I have used it for granola ever since.
Homemade granola will last up to two weeks, as long as you keep it in a container with a lid.
Yes, you can! Maple syrup is another great natural sweetener for homemade granola.
This post is in collaboration with my friend Sara from the blog, The Bettered Blondie. She shares healthy, delicious recipes you will want to check out! After making this homemade pumpkin granola be sure to head over to her blog for another fall pumpkin treat. Spoiler alert: it is pumpkin donuts! I know, I can’t wait to try them either!
More Fall Recipes
- Paleo Pumpkin Bread Recipe
- Paleo Orange Cranberry Cookie Recipe
- Whole 30 Pumpkin Spice Latte
- Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes
- Easy Healthy Pumpkin Pie
If you tried this Homemade Pumpkin Granola Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Homemade Pumpkin Granola
Equipment
- cookie sheet
Ingredients
- 4 cups quick oats
- ⅓ cup coconut oil melted
- ½ cup honey
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup chopped nuts
- 1 cup coconut shreds
- ½ cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Mix all the ingredients together, except chopped nuts, coconut shreds, and raisins, in a large mixing bowl.
- Spread the mixture out on a cookie sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and add in chopped nuts and shredded coconut.
- Bake for additional 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.
- Let cool and add in raisins.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
-
- For a perfectly crunchy granola, opt for quick oats. While old-fashioned oats can also be used, they may take longer to cook to achieve the crispy texture.
-
- It can be tempting to up the temperature and have your granola ready quicker. However, it’s best to bake granola for longer at a lower temperature! This results in delicious, crunchy granola every time.
-
- Granola can burn pretty easily so stirring it often is important.
-
- It’s best to add any dried fruit to the granola at the end. Baking dried fruit can make it hard and difficult to chew.
-
- Make a double batch so you have lots to snack on throughout the week! Granola is one of the easiest meal preps.
My first batch was like oatmeal cookie batter it was so sticky and wet using quick oats. I had to break it up during cooking. Is this normal? I know the measurements were correct but the quick oats completely changed the texture. Delicious though – but wasn’t like your picture or quite like granola.
Hmm that’s interesting! You could always try the old fashioned oats and see if you like that consistency better.
Made a big batch! So delicious! Perfect for a quick breakfast!
So glad you enjoyed it!
We made this over the weekend and it was delicious! It smelled amazing too!
I am so glad you liked it!
This sounds delicious. What temp would you set your oven too?
Thank you! Preheat oven to 300 degrees, I just added that to the post. Sorry, I forgot that part.