This Healthy Peanut Butter Granola Recipe is a tried and true family favorite in our house! We love enjoying it over yogurt or with a splash of almond milk!
This vegan granola recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, oil-free, and refined-sugar free! Perfect for any and all eaters in your life! It’s beloved by everyone who lives in my humble abode, it’s a great make-ahead breakfast for those of us who like to make the mornings as easy as possibly {i.e. sleep as long as we can}!
A great make-ahead breakfast!
Yes it’s true. I am not a “hot breakfast every day” mom. We eat lots of muffins, smoothies, breakfast bars, baked oatmeal, and yogurt with granola…..all of which have been made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator or freezer. Oh and I can’t forget…we even eat….cereal {gasp}… 😉
I like to make breakfast as easy and desirable as possible for my kids. They almost always get to pick whatever they want in the mornings, because the last thing I’m looking for is a battle royale over finishing their first meal of the day. {Truth}.
This is why I think it’s important to have a bunch of nutritious options, like this Healthy Peanut Butter Granola, on hand and ready to be chosen by hungry little tummies.
Is eating granola for breakfast healthy?
It absolutely is healthy! Just check out the nutrition facts in the recipe! One serving of this healthy peanut butter granola has lots of protein, fiber and other nutrients!
It also keeps you full for a lonnnng time, which helps get you through a mid-morning slump!
How do you make Peanut Butter Granola?
It is ridiculously easy to make this peanut butter granola recipe. Here is an outline of the steps to ensure your homemade granola making success!
- Melt together the honey and peanut butter over very low heat, stirring constantly until smooth.
- Add the vanilla and stir again.
- Add the dry ingredients & stir to combine.
- Transfer the peanut butter granola mixture to a greased baking sheet and press it onto the pan (see bottom right photo below).
- Bake!
See! It’s such an easy granola recipe! The only note I have is that if you get to the final stage (before transferring the granola from the saucepan to the baking sheet), and the granola looks crumbly and not wet, add more peanut butter or honey until you reach the consistency pictured below. This is key in achieving clumps!
How to know when your homemade granola is done baking:
The granola will look slightly golden-brown once it is done baking. See the top photo below!
Tip: In order to be extra sure your easy homemade granola is done baking, remove a piece or two from the pan and let it cool on the countertop. If it hardens relatively quickly {in 1-2 minutes} then it’s done. If not, continue baking until it is crunchy at room temperature.
FAQs about this homemade peanut butter granola!
Here are a few commonly asked questions I receive about this peanut butter granola recipe!
How do you make homemade granola crunchy?
Here are a few tips and tricks for ensuring that your peanut butter granola is crunchy (and stays crunchy)…
- Bake at a low temperature. This peanut butter granola bakes at 325 degrees F, which a lower temperature than I usually bake most recipes. The low, slow baking process ensures that the granola will dry out sufficiently to stay nice and crunchy.
- Use enough wet ingredients. The clumps are what make this peanut butter granola so amazing. Making sure the mixture is sufficiently wet before baking is very important.
- How you bake the homemade granola is key. This peanut butter granola needs to be baked in one sheet pressed to the bottom of the pan to achieve maximum crunchiness. The reason for this is that it creates clumps, which are very important to crunchy granola!
How do you store homemade granola?
I recommend storing this peanut butter granola in an airtight, glass container at room temperature.
How long does homemade granola last?
This homemade peanut butter granola lasts 3-4 weeks when stored at room temperature in an airtight, glass container (assuming it has been baked to be crunchy and not soft).
Can you keep granola in the fridge?
I recommend not storing this homemade granola recipe in the refrigerator! It’s best when stored in an airtight container at room temperature!
How do you re-crisp this homemade peanut butter granola?
If you do under bake this healthy peanut butter granola and it becomes soft the next day, no need to worry.
Simply pop it back into the oven for a few minutes to re-crisp it! Just be SUPER careful not to forget you put it back in the oven…I may have done this on more than one occasion. Whoopsies.
How to eat granola:
- On top of yogurt. I recommend eating this served on top of your favorite yogurt with fresh berries! It adds the perfect crunch!
- In a bowl with your choice of milk! You can also serve this homemade granola as a cold cereal! Simply use your favorite dairy-free or regular milk and enjoy!
- As a snack! Sometimes we like to pack individual containers of this healthy peanut butter granola when we go hiking or to the park as a delicious snack!
Healthy Peanut Butter Granola: Substitutions
- Oats: I have had great success with both quick-cooking and old-fashioned oats in this recipe! Using the quick-cooking variety produces a chunkier granola (it’s what I used in the batch pictured).
- Honey: You can easily substitute maple syrup for a vegan option!
- Peanut Butter: Any nut or seed butter can be used in place of peanut butter. If you use a firmer variety of peanut butter {not a runny, natural kind}, just be sure to melt it completely with the honey before adding the rest of the wet ingredients.
- And that’s really it folks! There’s nothing much to this deliciously healthy peanut butter granola! Serve on top of yogurt, drenched in almond milk, or snack on it pain! There’s no wrong way to enjoy this healthy breakfast!
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Healthy Peanut Butter Granola
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned or quick cooking oats*
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 6 TBS natural peanut butter
- ¼ cup honey or maple syrup for vegan
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a large cookie sheet and set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together oats, salt and cinnamon. Set aside
- In a microwave safe dish or on the stovetop, melt the peanut butter and honey (or maple syrup) together until smooth.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Stir in dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Spread mixture on prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until granola is lightly browned, stirring the granola once gently half way through. (A great way to test for doneness is to remove a small portion of the granola from the pan and set it on the counter. If it hardens as it cools the rest of the granola is done)!
- Remove from oven and let sit until cooled.
- Once cooled, break apart and eat!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on January 2, 2017 but has been updated with new photos, a video and improved steps/information.
More healthy breakfast recipes (with peanut butter)
- These healthy breakfast bars are my all-time favorite recipe.
- Start your day with aChocolate Peanut Butter Green Smoothie is so good, it’s like drinking a peanut butter cup (but it’s full of healthy ingredients)
- Who doesn’t love Blender Peanut Butter Banana Waffles that are healthy?!
- These peanut butter overnight oats are so yummy, and they’re a great meal prep recipe!
- Chocolate peanut butter baked oatmeal tastes like dessert but it’s healthy enough for breakfast!
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bran is quick, easy, delicious and healthy!
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Macy
I’ve made this twice and it’s great! As written, the recipe juuust fits on a baking sheet in my toaster oven. I’d recommend adding extra cinnamon. This granola is great on its own or on top of a smoothie bowl!
Steve
Random but does it have to be stirred halfway through cooking? We cooked it once last week and stirred and it’s not as ‘solid’ as I’d of hoped all the way through, so thinking about not stirring next time.
Laura
I usually use a spatula and “flip” it over to retain the clumps. So not so much stirring, but a flip to ensure it bakes evenly on both sides.
Maureen
I did like this granola recipe, and although I’ve made many kinds, I find using pure maple syrup in my granola so much better than honey. I added pecans, walnuts, dried cherries and unsweetened coconut to mine, but I’ll go back to maple syrup – just a better flavor for me overall.
Dominique Levert
Hi Laura,
We love this recipe! I’ve been using it to top off apple/fruit crisp instead of the usual sugar and butter packed topping. It makes for a yummy and healthy scoop and go breakfast…and who doesn’t love a breakfast that tastes like dessert!
Leslie
I made this on Saturday and it was so good I made it again on Sunday! I recommend 1.5 x or 2 x batch! I added some ground flax and hemp seeds. Plus I used a bit more cinnamon. Thanks!
Jesse Dean
Fan-stinking-tastic! My kids are granola monsters but it’s so expensive to buy the good stuff at the store. I even snuck some chia seeds into the recipe and it turned out wonderful! Great great recipe!
Laura
Your comment made my day! LOL! 🙂 Glad you found a recipe to feed your little granola monsters!
Jenna Sayman
I bought an expensive peanut butter granola at the grocery store and wanted to see if I could find a recipe to make my own.
Laura
You will LOVE this one Jenna!
Grace Blake
Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. I’m not a huge peanut butter fan (although hubby is:) but this tasted amazing. I added Chia seeds and flax seeds to it this morning as my one and two year olds really need the extra fiber along with all the other amazing nutrition found in them. It tasted great before baking so I can’t wait to eat it with some raw goat’s milk 🙂 Thanks again.
Michelle
Can you add nuts, seeds, coconut, etc to this recipe?
Laura
Yes of course!
Brandon
Tried this recipe out for the first time a few weeks ago (trying to get more into cooking). The peanut butter clumped up while heating, so I added about an 1/8 to a 1/4 cup of milk to the peanut butter and honey mixture. Added the mixture to the oats and it again clumped up very easily. After tasting it, it turned out to be a great recipe for no bakes. Been making these about once a week since and always looking forward to more.
Laura
Thank you for sharing your experience Brandon! I’m curious what kind of peanut butter you used?! It should never clump when heated!
Abbie
I used this recipe as a guide to making my own granola for the first time. I wanted a cleaner alternative to store-bought granola and had all these ingredients in my pantry. The oatmeal gives it the perfect touch of creaminess while still remaining crunchy and I would definitely make it again. Would it work the same if you use agave or maple syrup as a vegan alternative?