Nut-Free Granola

5 from 11 votes

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This easy and customizable granola recipe will become a loved staple in your house.

Nut-free granola on a sheet pan.

Homemade Nut-Free Granola

A jar of homemade granola in your home is like a little gift you’ve given yourself that—I always feel so pleased with myself when I bake up a batch and find many reasons to walk by the jar and grab a handful.  And, if you or someone in your house is allergic to nuts, then you are in the right place for a crunchy, chewy granola with no nuts in sight.

Most store-bought granolas contain nuts, and those that don’t…well, let’s just say that as someone who is allergic to nuts, I worry about cross contamination in the manufacturing process. Making my own granola allows me to enjoy this satisfying cereal/topping without worry, and that is a big deal for those of us with nut allergies.

Lidded container of nut-free granola.

Granola is so customizable that once you start playing around with it, making granola can become almost as addictive as the granola itself. Although you will not actually be making the granola on a weekday morning, unless you plan to get up extra early, it will become a fantastic everyday breakfast staple in your home.

Healthier Nut-Free Granola

You’ve probably read all about how most store-bought granolas have so much fat and sugar in them that you’d be better off eating a slab of French toast drizzled with syrup atop a plate of eggs Benedict for breakfast. And let’s face it, that’s why those granolas taste so decadent.

You will notice that this recipe also has a bit of fat and sweetening in it, because otherwise the granola would in fact not taste so great (and it does taste great), but it is a much more tolerable amount than what you will find in most of the stuff you can buy. The granola keeps well, so feel free to double or triple the recipe.

Baking sheet of nut-free granola with oats, dried fruit, and honey.

Homemade Nut-Free Granola is so easy to make and this customizable granola recipe will become a loved staple for EVERYONE in your house.

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For breakfast with milk, delicious, but if you are a granola person, relegating granola to breakfast simply will not do. You will start to look for opportunities to work granola into different corners of the day. Here are some ideas to get you started.

What to Serve with Granola

Use this nut-free granola as a topping for yogurt, plain or flavored, and maybe some fresh fruit, too, layered up all parfait-like; on ice cream; on oatmeal for some nice contrasting texture; in a little cup, as a dip for a banana—dip, bite, repeat; as a topping for a fruit crisp—sprinkle it on, dot it with tiny pieces of butter, and bake.

Container of nut-free granola with oats, dried fruit, and honey.

Dried Fruit In Granola

The granola bakes first without the dried fruit because the fruit doesn’t need as much time to get just the right amount of done. Trial and error confirmed that cooking the fruit for the whole 1 ¼ hours made it too tough and slightly burned tasting, while about 45 minutes was just enough to make it chewy and incorporated into the mix. If you want your granola crunchier, bake the oat part for a bit longer before stirring in the fruit.  It last for three weeks in a tightly sealed container.

Read on, for how to make homemade nut-free granola.  Granola, all day, every day.

How to Make Granola with No Nuts

Preheat the oven to 275°F.

Place the honey, maple syrup, egg whites, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and orange zest, if using, in a large bowl and mix until well blended.

Whisk over a metal bowl of liquid ingredients.

Set 1⁄2 cup of the honey mixture aside in a medium-size bowl. Add the oats to the large bowl and mix with a spoon or your hands until everything is well combined and coated.

Wooden spatula stirring a bowl of oats.

Add the dried fruit to the reserved 1⁄2 cup of the honey mixture and stir to combine. Set the dried fruit mixture aside.

Woman stirring dried fruit in a bowl.

Spray a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray, or coat it lightly with oil, or line it with parchment paper. Spread the oat mixture out on the prepared baking sheet in a thin, even layer. Bake the oat mixture for 30 minutes.

Bowl of granola being poured onto a lined baking sheet.

Add the dried fruit mixture to the oat mixture and stir well with a spoon mixture or spatula to combine.

Dried fruit being poured onto a sheet pan of oats.

Spread the granola out again in an even layer.

Bake the granola until the oats are golden brown and crunchy, 25 to 30 minutes, stirring it once more halfway through the baking time but leave some clumps!

Let the granola cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack.

How to Store Granola

This granola keeps for three weeks in a cool place, well sealed (though I have never once had it last that long).

Lined baking sheet of granola with oats and dried fruit.

What the Kids Can Do

Measure and mix and spread everything out on the baking sheet. With supervision regarding the hot baking sheet, they can gently stir the granola during baking.

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5 from 11 votes

Nut-Free Granola

This easy and customizable granola recipe will become a loved staple in your house.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 12 People

Ingredients 

  • ¼ cup honey
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 2 large egg whites see Note
  • cup vegetable oil plus oil for the baking sheet (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon grated orange zest optional
  • 4 cups old-fashioned oats not quick-cooking
  • 2 cups mixed chopped dried fruit such as apricots or prunes, and/or dried cherries, blueberries, cranberries, and raisins
  • Nonstick cooking spray optional

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 275°F.
  • Place the honey, maple syrup, egg whites, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and orange zest, if using, in a large bowl and mix until well blended. Set 1⁄2 cup of the honey mixture aside in a medium-size bowl. Add the oats to the large bowl and mix with a spoon or your hands until everything is well combined and coated.
  • Add the dried fruit to the reserved 1⁄2 cup of the honey mixture and stir to combine. Set the dried fruit mixture aside.
  • Spray a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray, or coat it lightly with oil, or line it with parchment paper. Spread the oat mixture out on the prepared baking sheet in a thin, even layer. Bake the oat mixture for 30 minutes (see Cooking Tip).
  • Add the dried fruit mixture to the oat mixture and stir well with a spoon mixture or spatula to combine. Spread the granola out again in an even layer. Bake the granola until the oats are golden brown and crunchy, 25 to 30 minutes, stirring it once more halfway through the baking time but leave some clumps! Let the granola cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack.

Notes

Cooking Tip 

The granola bakes first without the dried fruit because the fruit doesn’t need as much time to get just the right amount of done. Baking the fruit for the whole hour made it too tough and slightly burned tasting, while about 30 minutes was just enough to make it chewy and incorporated into the mix.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 286kcal, Carbohydrates: 36g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Sodium: 206mg, Potassium: 250mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 14g, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 40mg, Iron: 2mg
Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!

About Katie Workman

Katie Workman is a cook, a writer, a mother of two, an activist in hunger issues, and an enthusiastic advocate for family meals, which is the inspiration behind her two beloved cookbooks, Dinner Solved! and The Mom 100 Cookbook.

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31 Comments

    1. no, you can leave them out! You will get a looser granola without clumps that way though, unless you bump up the amount of honey, which will make it sweeter (and of course add sugar). But the taste will be the same!

  1. Your granola, Greek yogurt and American Spoon stone fruit compote is my all time favorite breakfast!

  2. Thank you so much for this recipe! My husband has some not so fond memories of his mom making it years ago. He loves this recipe and so do my three young kids.

    1. so funny to get this today as I am working on granola bar recipe for next book!
      glad it was a hit in your house.