Gluten free, grain-free, refined sugar-free paleo granola recipe. This simple recipe incorporates nuts and seeds, plus – bonus points – you end up with huge granola clusters!
Do you ever get such a massive hankering for something crunchy that it can’t be contained, quenched, or satisfied with anything other than granola?
This happens to me regularly.
I go about my business eating my veggies and rice and salmon on a weekly basis, then all of a sudden, BOOM!
When these savage cravings occur, I head to the bulk bins at the store and buy up all the nuts and seeds to make my own paleo granola that is free of refined sugar and grains.
I have been making this homemade paleo granola recipe since because 2014! I have the ultimate control over how much added sugar goes in, plus, I enjoy experimenting with various nuts, seeds, and flavors.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
- It’s super straight-forward, incorporating ingredients you can buy in bulk from any grocery store.
- Virtually all nuts and seeds work here! Use this as a base recipe for all your homemade granola recipes.
- We end up with huge granola clusters with the perfect crispy crunch! Largely-sized clusters are a major highlight of granola.
- Sweetened with a natural sweetener (pure maple syrup) for a refined sugar-free option.
I love eating this grain-free paleo granola with splash of almond milk or coconut milk and fresh seasonal fruit.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for paleo granola!
Paleo Granola Ingredients:
Wet Ingredients: Egg white, avocado oil, pure maple syrup, and pure vanilla extract. The purpose of the egg white is to help the ingredients stick together for large clusters.
Dry Ingredients: Cashews, walnuts, shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds, ground cinnamon, dried cranberries, and sea salt. Change these base ingredients for any combination of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. You will need 6 cups total.
Optional Customizations:
- For sweeter granola, add more pure maple syrup or mix in some coconut sugar. For me, this is just the right amount of sweetness, but I imagine others may prefer sweeter.
- Melted coconut oil or olive oil work as replacements for avocado oil.
- Make it egg-free by swapping the egg white for 3 tablespoons of almond butter.
Tips For Preparing This Recipe
- Use a variety of nuts and seeds. Raw walnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds…toss it all in!
- Use dried fruit and unsweetened coconut flakes. Both add natural sweetness and flavor without having to add processed sugar. Just be sure to use juice-sweetened dried fruit in order to keep this recipe paleo-friendly.
- Give your ingredients a good chop or run through the food processor. This helps the ingredients stick together easily.
- Use an egg white and water. I know, it sounds strange. But it helps hold all of the ingredients together, and makes for a crispy granola with large clusters. We want the biggest clusters we can get.
- Don’t swap out the pure maple syrup for honey. Honey burns at a relatively low temperature and causes the ingredients to get too crispy or even burn.
How to Make Paleo Granola:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk together the egg white and water in a bowl.
Add the walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and shredded coconut to a blender or food processor, and process for just a couple of seconds. The goal is to grind some of the nuts finely, and leaving many of the nuts chopped or whole.
Transfer the nutty mixture to a large mixing bowl with the egg white mixture. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the avocado oil, pure maple syrup, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and sea salt until combined.
Pour this mixture into the mixing bowl with the rest of the granola ingredients and mix everything together until well combined.
Spread the granola mixture out on the prepared baking sheet, creating a relatively thick even layer. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.
Allow the granola to rest at least 30 minutes before breaking it into clusters using a spatula or wooden spoon. This is what causes large granola clusters, so don’t skip this step!
Break the grain free granola into large chunks using your hands! Enjoy your homemade granola with fresh fruit, yogurt, or any kind of milk.
Other Variations:
- Cinnamon Raisin: Add another teaspoon of cinnamon and swap the dried cranberries for raisins.
- Blueberry: Use dried blueberries instead of dried cranberries.
- Chocolate Chip: Mix chocolate chips in with the granola after it has finished cooling completely.
- Lemon Poppy Seed: Add 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds to the granola base. Stir 2 tablespoons of lemon zest into the finished granola (after cooling).
- Cranberry Orange: Keep the dried cranberries as is and mix 2 tablespoons of fresh orange zest into the finished cooled granola.
Storage Options:
- Room Temperature: Store grain free granola at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
- Refrigerator: Refrigerate in an airtight container (such as a mason jar or a zip lock bag) for up to 2 weeks.
Ideal for meal prep, this easy paleo granola recipe is a great way to replace breakfast cereal. It makes a big batch, so you’re set for days on end!
Drop a comment below letting me know which wholesome ingredients you use in your own granola!
More Healthy Gluten-Free Granola Recipes:
- Walnut Granola Clusters
- 5-Ingredient Healthy Granola Bars
- Grain-Free Tahini Granola
- Coconut Sunflower Seed Paleo Granola
Paleo Granola Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 egg white lightly beaten, see note*
- 2 tablespoons water see note*
- 2 cups raw walnuts
- 2 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds pepitas
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup dried cranberries see note**
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil see note***
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup or honey****
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the egg white and water in a bowl until slightly foamy. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the avocado oil, pure maple syrup, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and sea salt until combined.
- Add the walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and shredded coconut to a blender or food processor, and process for just a couple of seconds to chop the ingredients smaller.
- Transfer the nutty mixture to a large mixing bowl along with the egg white mixture and the oil/maple mixture. Mix everything together until well combined.
- Spread the granola mixture on the parchment-lined baking sheet into an even layer. It will be a somewhat thick layer, and this is normal! Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden-brown and crispy.
- Remove granola from the oven and allow it to sit at least 30 minutes without stirring it – this is where the clustering happens, so be sure to not skip this step!!
- Use a spatula or wooden spoon to break the granola into clusters.
- Once cool, store the granola in a 2-quart sealable glass jar or zip lock bag.
- Eat granola with your favorite non-dairy milk or yogurt and fruit
Delicious! And easy! I don’t have a big food processor, so I use my immersion blender and put everything in a deep bowl. Works fine to switch out nuts and seed, keeping the volume of ingredients the same. By the way … when to the cranberries get added?
Hi Sharon! I’m thrilled to hear you enjoy it! I’ve added the cranberries before baking the granola (so with the rest of the ingredients) and I have also added them after. I feel it tastes great both ways, but I think I prefer adding the dried cranberries after baking so that they stay chewy rather than drying out 🙂
I rarely write comments however this recipe is so good that it deserves attention. This granola is the best I have ever had. It is just as described, crunchy and delicious. Once you have made it once you will find it easier to make the next time. I used 1/4 maple syrup and that was enough. I baked it for double the time suggested, it was a dark golden. I store it in a ziplock bag and it lasts my hubby and I 4 days. We have it with almond milk and a banana. It is filing and satisfying.
This recipe is amazing. I never made granola before this and it turned out perfect. I can’t eat eggs, so I added more honey and omitted the cocoanut flakes (personal preference). I think next time I’ll make it the same but try a little less honey. It’s not super sweet which I am ok with. I also threw in Himalaya Sea Salt (coarse) and it added a perfect balance!
I’m so happy you like it, Debra! I prefer my granola less sweet too…I figure I can always add some honey or pure maple syrup when I’m looking for something sweeter. Thanks so much for your sweet note! xo
Hi, would this work without any added sweetener? I have chronic SIBO and have been told to avoid even naural sweeteners ? maybe some extra vanilla would do the trick?
Hi Jennifer,
You can definitely omit the sweetener as long as you’re okay with the granola not being very sweet. As someone who doesn’t consume very much sugar myself, I find things like unsweetened granola to still taste sweet, because my taste buds are used to it now. I hope you enjoy the granola, and good luck fighting SIBO! I know first hand how difficult it can be, yet how rewarding it is to be rid of it!
This is so delicious! Wondering if this would freeze well? I don’t want any to go to waste!
Hi Liz,
I think it would freeze well, although I’ve never tried. I think it would be worth a shot! 😀
Hi, do you have the nutritional information for this recipe? 🙂
Yesss, tried this today as I was looking for another grain free breakfast option. I substituted almonds and pecans for the other nuts and added in an additional cup of hazelnuts and raw buckwheat. I upped the oil (a blend of extra light olive oil and avocado oil) slightly but decreased the maple syrup to 1/4 cup, added in dried unsweetened cherries and raisins and baked for about 26 minutes. It is absolutely perfect!! I will add it to homemade almond milk yogurt or almond milk for more of a cereal 🙂 .
Hi Stef, I love the sound of all of your adaptations! I love that you took creativity into your own hands – so awesome! Thank you so much for the kind note! xo
Delicious! Such an easy and amazing recipe. Thanks so much, Julia!
You’re very welcome! I hope you love it!
Thanks for the post. Good ideas for breakfast. Keep post Julia
LOVE this stuff so much! It has great flexibility with the nuts that you can add. I have made it before as written, and today I am making it for a Crossfit baby shower. I added 1 cup each of: cashews, almonds, walnuts, and pecans. I also used dried cherries instead of cranberries! So good! Thanks for a great recipe!:-)
Just found this little gem of a recipe and followed it exact. All I can say is I am NEVER buying granola in the store again! Absolutely amazing! I recently (about 2 months ago) turned to the paleo way of eating (although I do add some cheese here & there), and this recipe was just what I needed to satisfy my need for CRUNCH! Thanks a ton!
Wahooooooo SO happy to hear it! And you’re very welcome! 😀
Thank You for the recipe! I made it with the addition of hemp seeds for protein, swapped almonds for cashews, and used coconut oil for extra coconut flavor! So delicious with some yogurt and berries! My batch took more like 40-45 mins with frequent stirring to reach desired brown-ness. I was concerned when it came out of the oven that it still seemed soggy but was happy to find it crisped up as it cooled! Yay! Just a questions though, did anyone else find that their granola seemed to lose its sweetness after it was baked? I tasted the granola before I baked it and thought it was sweet enough with the amount of honey I used, but when it was all baked and ready it tasted like I hadn’t used any sweetener! Anyone have the same issue? Thanks!
Hi Audrey, thanks for all your feedback! I find the granola to be not very sweet either, so I typically eat it with a drizzle of honey or pure maple syrup on top. I usually eat it with almond milk or yogurt. Hope this helps and thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience! 😀