Naturally Sweetened Chocolate Chip Granola Recipe

This naturally sweetened chocolate chip granola recipe is sure to become a family favorite. It uses only whole ingredients and is naturally sweetened with maple syrup which gives the granola a perfect crunchy texture. If you have kiddo’s who don’t want a thing to do with oats (please tell me I’m not alone here), I’m sure they will love this lightly sweet and crunchy treat.

This granola also makes a perfect, fast breakfast paired with plain yogurt or some cold milk. My kids love plain yogurt with granola, berries, and a drizzle of honey 🙂 If you love granola and yogurt, check out how to make your own homemade yogurt! Trust me, once you’ve tried homemade yogurt you won’t go back to the store bought stuff.

What you’ll need to make this granola recipe

• First off, of course, you’ll need oats. We use rolled oats since that’s readily available in our area, but steel cut oats, old fashioned oats, and even quick oats can be used if that’s all you have. Organic is best, since oats tend to be sprayed with a lot of glyphosate to aid in drying.
• Nuts. In this recipe, we will use a mix of pecans, walnuts, and shredded coconut, but really use any kind of nuts you like best. Even seeds could be used in place of nuts if that’s your preference.
• Pure maple syrup
• Coconut oil. I love the scent of coconut, so we always get unrefined coconut oil. But again, what ever floats your boat.
• Ground cinnamon. This single ingredient creates such a wonderful scent in the house. Just smelling it makes me happy 😂
• Salt. Unrefined mineral salt has a much greater depth of flavor than any highly processed salt on the market. We love Redmond’s.
• Vanilla. Please, for the love of God, use the real stuff.
• Chocolate chips. Use whatever kind you want. 🙂

The process to make naturally sweetened chocolate chip granola

This recipe is seriously so easy, it’s a great recipe to use to teach your kids basic cooking skills, like measuring, chopping, and stirring. First, preheat your oven to 375°F. Then, measure and chop your nuts into chunks. My kids don’t love nuts at this point, but don’t notice them as much when chopped smaller. So, chop them as big or small as you like.

Once they’re chopped up, add them and all other ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Mix until everything is evenly coated with the coconut oil and maple syrup.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, trust me it’s better this way, and dump the granola mixture onto the sheet. Spread it out in a thin, even layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until its golden brown. Depending on how crunchy you like your granola you can bake it for more or less time.

After it’s done baking allow it to cool completely on the baking sheet. This is important so don’t try to skip it. If you want nice chunky, crunchy granola, let it cool! (I’m saying this mostly to my younger self who thought waiting for yummy food to cool was for chumps.)

Store in an airtight container, either at room temperature or in the fridge for about 2 weeks. Ball jars are great for storing homemade granola 😀 Serve with yogurt, milk, or fruit. Or use it as a snack to calm the baby while you’re working on dinner ;).

How to make this recipe your own

The basic proportions I’m using here are as follows:

2 cups of oats

3 cups add in’s (in this case, pecans, walnuts, shredded coconut, and chocolate chips.)

1/4 oil

1/2 – 3/4 cup maple syrup. This depends on how sweet you’d like your finished product to be. 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp is just perfect for us.

Then we add about a teaspoon each of cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. The salt is a crucial part of the granola in my opinion. It simply doesn’t taste right without it.

So, get creative. Add in all sorts of things that might go well in a granola, seeds, dried fruits, various spices and extracts. Enjoy and have fun! I’d love to hear whatever combinations you come up with in the comments below 😀