Banana granola with coconut makes a healthy, hearty, delicious breakfast, and is great for guilt-free snacking.
Granola is a nice thing to have around the house. It’s easy to make, it keeps well, it makes a healthy, hearty breakfast, and it’s great for guilt-free snacking. The grocery store variety is, health-wise, probably better than Fruity Pebbles, but I was surprised to find the sugar levels between the two are not as different as you’d think.
Back when I was a kid we were blissfully unaware of this health stuff, and I seriously doubt my mom ever once looked at a nutrition label (did they even have those back then?). The evolution of attitudes about nutrition is fascinating, right?
Anyway! It’s just one of those things that I find to be vastly better homemade, in both healthiness and taste. The flavor possibilities with granola are virtually endless, but if you love bananas and banana bread you will love this banana granola recipe. I’ve been making it whenever I have a brown banana sitting around, which is often. The rest of the ingredients are almost always on hand, and there’s breakfast for the week! As an added bonus the house smells like banana bread.
The one trick I would recommend is to puree the banana before mixing into the dry ingredients, because even a thorough mashing will leave enough banana lumps that some parts of the granola will not fully dry out in the oven. If you have an immersion blender, this takes all of a couple of seconds.
We especially love this banana granola stirred into vanilla yogurt, or made into little parfaits.
Banana Coconut Granola
Ingredients
- 300 grams (3 cups) rolled oats
- 100 grams (1 cup) chopped walnuts
- 50 grams (1/2 cup) unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 large very ripe banana
- 57 grams (1/4 cup) coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine oats, walnuts, coconut, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
- Puree banana with an immersion blender or mash thoroughly with a fork.
- Combine banana, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Add to oatmeal mixture and stir until well coated.
- Spread evenly onto a large baking sheet lined with a baking mat or parchment paper. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until lightly golden and fairly dry, stirring once, halfway through.
- Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet. Will keep in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
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