Easy Homemade Banana Walnut Granola - If you love making crunchy homemade granola, this healthy banana granola is the perfect way to use up overripe bananas. Made with crunchy banana chips, flax seeds, and honey, every bite is packed with wholesome flavor and irresistible crunch. Enjoy it as a delicious breakfast with vanilla yogurt or as a quick, satisfying snack any time of day.
Making this granola verses buying grocery store granola is the best way to control the sugar and additives. We use honey for this recipe as well as mashed banana as a natural sweetener. The large clusters that form are one of my favorite things about this delicious homemade granola recipe. The golden brown crunchy clusters have all of the comfort food flavors of banana walnut bread in a healthy delicious snack!
For more breakfast recipes try our chai spice granola, easy corned beef hash, and our pumpkin spice bacon.
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What You're Going to Need...
- Oats - we used organic quick oats for this recipe.
- Krispy Rice Cereal - I love the added crunch that the Krispy rice cereal adds to this homemade granola.
- Banana - a very ripe banana is perfect as a natural sweetener.
- Honey - my favorite honey is Colorado Wildflower honey, but your favorite honey would work well.
- Coconut oil - is just the right fat for this healthy banana granola.
- Flax seeds - add extra healthy fats and protein.
- Oat milk - extra creamy unsweetened is my favorite for everything from recipes to my morning coffee.
- Walnuts - add a wonderful flavor and crunch.
- Banana chips - the unsweetened variety add a nice crunch and natural banana flavor.
- Vanilla paste - the concentrated vanilla flavor of vanilla paste adds so much to all of my baking recipes and certainly enhances the banana bread flavors of this granola recipe. We love Nielsen - Massey pure vanilla bean paste.
- Sea salt - a touch of sea salt enhances flavor in even sweet recipes.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Banana Walnut Granola
- Combine the quick oats, Krispy rice cereal, flax seeds, walnuts, and sea salt in a large mixing bowl.
- In a small bowl mash, the large ripe banana and oat milk together using a potato masher.
3. Over medium heat in a saucepan, heat the coconut oil, honey, and vanilla paste until the coconut oil is melted and liquid.
4. Add the coconut oil mixture to the banana mixture, and stir to combine.
- Add the coconut oil and banana mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Spread the granola mixture into one even layer on a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper and lightly sprayed with pan release spray. Bake in a 350 degrees f oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and crunchy.
6. Allow the granola to cool completely on the sheet pan (at least 1 hour) then break apart the banana chips and add them to the granola.
7. Mix in the banana chips and break the granola up into large clusters.
Chef Tip
The cooling time is crucial to creating the signature crunchy clusters in any granola recipe. It's essential in this banana granola recipe because of the moisture that the ripe mashed banana adds to the wet granola mixture. For the best results allow the warm honey and cooked mashed banana mixture in the baked granola to cool completely. This step helps the ingredients bind together, creating crisp, golden granola clusters.
Substitutions & Variations
- Gluten free granola - use certified gluten free quick oats.
- Honey - if honey is not your favorite flavor you can use agave nectar for a low glycemic natural sweetener option.
- Nuts - if you have a nut allergy you can simply eliminate the walnuts and add sunflower seeds for added crunch.
- Walnuts - can be replaced with any favorite nuts including almonds, cashews, or even pistachios.
Storage & Helpful Hints
Store this homemade granola in an airtight container in a cool dark place. For longer shelf life go ahead and place the container in the refrigerator. This helps keep it fresh longer however, you do lose a little bit of the crunch.
In our home we store homemade granola in large mason jars to keep it fresh and ready to enjoy with fresh fruit, vanilla yogurt, or any favorite milk.
Recipe
Easy Homemade Banana Walnut Granola Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Combine the oats, rice cereal, flax seeds, and sea salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Preheat the oven to 350 ℉.
- In a small bowl mash, the banana and oat milk together using a potato masher or large fork.
- Over medium heat in a saucepan melt the coconut oil with the honey and vanilla paste.
- Add the coconut oil mixture to the banana mixture and stir to combine.
- Pour the coconut oil and banana mixture onto the dry ingredients and stir to combine the mixtures.
- Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper and spray with pan release spray.
- Spread the wet granola mixture onto the prepared baking sheet pan in an even single layer.
- Bake for 20 minutes then turn the pan and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the granola is golden brown.
- Place the sheet pan with the baked granola onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely for an hour.
- After the granola cools add the dried banana chips and break the granola into large clusters. I like to break the banana chips into smaller pieces however; you can leave them whole if you like extra crunch.
Nutrition
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FAQ
There are actually 3 mistakes that are commonly made when making granola, they include:
1. Stirring the granola while it bakes, not allowing the clusters to form.
2. Cooking it at too high of a temperature, burning it before it toasts evenly.
3. Not allowing it to cool completely before breaking it into clusters.
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