Coconut Oil Granola (Large Clump)
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This granola is a staple in our house: my children are never happier than when they walk into the kitchen to find a freshly baked batch cooling on a sheet pan. Seasoned with maple syrup, melted coconut oil, and sea salt, and loaded with nuts and seeds, this granola is not only super tasty but healthy to boot. Read below to find my tips for making excellent large-clump granola.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago in the Bircher muesli post, this granola is a staple in our house, one treat my kids never tire of, a great healthy breakfast or after school snack.
Four Tips for Making Granola that Clumps
- Don’t stir. Don’t stir while it’s baking; don’t stir after you remove it from the oven.
- Bake at a lower temperature. I bake this granola at 275ºF for 45 minutes to an hour or until it’s lightly golden all around. The lower temperature allows the granola to brown slowly and evenly without having to stir.
- Once you remove the granola from the oven, let it cool completely on its sheetpan — this allows it to crisp up further and set. Once cool, you can break the granola into big ragged shards.
- Parchment paper sheets: Parchment paper prevents the granola from sticking to the pan and therefore allows it to break away into big chunks. Save the sheets and use them again and again — store the used sheets in a bag.
Large-Batch Granola
If you’re going through the process of making granola, I don’t think there’s any point in making anything other than a large batch. With that in mind, here’s one final tip:
- Invest in a single large sheetpan: I love these 15x21x1-inch sheetpans. The below recipe yields nearly 3 quarts of granola. You can spread the granola over two standard sheet pans, but a single large sheetpan makes the process easier.
PS: Homemade muesli + Bircher muesli, another staple:
How to Make Large-Clump Granola
First, gather your ingredients. I love using melted coconut oil here but often I use grapeseed oil or canola oil (or other neutral oil) for simplicity.
Combine rolled oats, almonds, millet, unsweetened coconut, sea salt, maple syrup, and coconut oil in a large bowl. Toss to combine.
Spread onto a parchment-lined sheetpan.
Bake until evenly and lightly golden.
Let cool completely; then break into shards.
Store in an airtight vessel at room temperature.
Coconut Oil Granola (Large Clump)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 10 cups
Description
You can bake this granola on two sheetpans, rotating them halfway through the cooking. OR, bake the entire batch on a large 15x21x1-inch sheetpan.
Parchment paper sheets — can’t say enough about them. Save them and use them again and again — I fold mine up and stick them in a ziplock bag.
The recipe halves well, too. See notes below the recipe for those proportions.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (160 g) whole millet
- 4 cups (408 g) oats (not instant)
- 1 1/2 cups (100 g) unsweetened coconut flakes
- 2 1/2 cups (220 g) sliced almonds
- 2 teaspoons (7 g) sea salt, such as Maldon
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted), grapeseed oil or canola oil (often I use grapeseed oil for simplicity)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 275ºF.
- In a large bowl, toss together the millet, oats, coconut flakes, almonds and salt. Pour in the maple syrup and coconut oil. Stir to coat.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the oat mixture out on it. Place it in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to hour, or until the edges look slightly dark. Note: As soon as you start smelling it, start checking it. This may take you 30 minutes; it may take you an hour and 15 minutes depending on your oven and baking pan. Really try to use the visual cues: lightly golden throughout with slightly darker edges.
- Do not stir: As in: Do not stir during the cooking process or when it comes out of the oven.
- Let the mixture cool completely on sheet pan. When ready to store, lift up edges of parchment to loosen the granola — this will create nice big shards. Transfer shards to storage container. Pour in remaining granola — it will inevitably break into smaller pieces.
Notes
For a half recipe, use these proportions:
- 1/2 cup (102 g) whole millet
- 2 cups (204 g) oats (not instant)
- 3/4 cup (48 g) unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 1/4 cups (128 g) sliced almonds
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil (melted), grapeseed oil or canola oil
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: granola, oats, millet, coconut, coconut oil, maple syrup, sea salt
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
201 Comments on “Coconut Oil Granola (Large Clump)”
Thank you, Alexandra. This is by far the best granola recipe I have ever tried. And I have tried a ton of them. The low oven, no-stir method is perfect. I love the crunchy shards. I don’t need to look for another recipe. This one is it! I didn’t have millet so I used a combination of pepitas and sunflower seeds instead.
Wonderful to hear this AC! Pepitas + sunflower seeds sound delicious.
I make a batch for my husband and I every week and a half! It is delicious I add a 1/2 cup TraderJoe’s Hemp Seed. It is delicious!
Such a great tip! I have so many hemp seeds on hand … I accidentally “subscribed and saved” on Amazon… need recipes to use them up 🙂
Made this, thought the millet was a bit too crunchy, but after sitting in the jars for a few days, they’ve mellowed. Yum! Delicious, and the low temp bake tip is genius.
Oh yay! So nice to hear this, Julie!
Can I use quinoa instead of millet? Just wondering to make it lower carb Plus it’s what I have on hand. Thanks in advance
I have always wanted to try! Not sure if it will work, but I feel like it will. I say go for it! Or sub other seeds like sunflower or pumpkin or some sesame seeds, too.
I’m a homemade granola newbie. My question is about adding dired fruit — do you want to bake it with the rest of the mixture? Or would it be better to add to the jar alone mixed with the granola clumps? Thanks so much!
Hi Allison! I would add dried fruit after the granola is totally cooled. Keep in mind, sometimes dried fruit makes the granola go soft. I would almost recommend adding dried fruit to your individual servings to keep the granola crisp for as long as possible.
What a fantastic recipe! Substituted sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds for millet. We found it to be perfectly sweet. I never thought to use coconut oil for making granola, and used a combination of butter and honey in another recipe I made for years. This one almost has a refreshing lightness to it. Will definitely be making this routinely! Thanks so much, Alexandra!
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So nice to hear this Hina. I find the lightness of this granola to be so nice as well. So glad you like this one 🙂 🙂 🙂
Coconut + almonds = OMG!!!! Such an awesome granola!!!! The technique is perfect! This is the second time I’ve made it – but this large batch, I think I like the ratios even better! I like granola with just nuts – no dried fruits – so this is perfect for me! The millet adds such an interesting crunch, a very unique feature to a granola! (I bought my last bag of millet, Bob’s Red Mill, on Amazon, and keep it in my freezer). Thanks for another winner, Ali!
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I’m so happy to hear this Nancy! I’m the same: I don’t like dried fruit in my granola either. Smart to keep the millet in the freezer. Thanks so much for writing. Have a great weekend!
I made this delicious granola today with grape seed oil and had a big scoop while it was a bit warm. OMG! That is delicious! New favorite recipe! Thank you for sharing.
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Oh yay! So nice to hear this, Deb. Thanks so much for writing!
My family has been making this with chopped hazelnuts instead of almonds – absolutely delicious! Thanks for the recipe – I love the crunch of the millet and the no stir technique.
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Wonderful to hear this, Emma! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂 Love the idea of hazelnuts.
Just made this recipe today and I am loving it! Wondering how long you think it will hold in an airtight container (I’ve been using mason jars). Let me know!
★★★★★
Great to hear! It keeps for a long time … weeks. Truly, I don’t think it will ever go bad — I’ve never ever seen mold on it or anything like that, but after a few weeks, it might just taste a little stale.
Loved this granola! I subbed for what I had on hand, so macadamia nuts and chia seeds (bought a few bags of these for covid times, that I’m trying to get through). Also halved the maple syrup and subbed stevia to make it lower glycemic. I’ve never been able to get granola to stick together as good, but this worked really well. Thanks so much!
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So great to hear this, Krytle! Love that you were able to make this work with what you had on hand, and love that the lower-sugar version worked well! I have a friend that also makes this with half the maple syrup, and she loves it. Thanks for writing. Hope you are well 🙂 🙂 🙂
This is, hands down, the BEST granola recipe I’ve ever made. Substituted 1/2c. sprouted sunflower seeds for the millet. Also added 1/2 c. chopped pecans and 1/4c. hemp seeds. After backing, I realized that some crystalized ginger, or cinnamon would be super delish in here as well.
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Wonderful to hear this, Jillian! All of your substitutions sound lovely, and yes to crystallized ginger and/or cinnamon!
The large clump hint is genius, Ali! I use olive oil rather than coconut oil and sunflower seeds rather than millet, but otherwise it’s much the same. Delicious !
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Great to hear this, Peg! Love that you used olive oil and that your substitutions for the milled worked out well. Thanks for writing!
This recipe is sooo good! Super simple and already a family favourite after making 2 batches within a week! In Australia, the ingredients I have been using are puffed millet, slivered almonds and shredded coconut (and the rest of the ingredients are known by the same name.)
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So great to hear this, Corrie! Thanks so much for writing and for sharing your notes 🙂
Hi Alexandra
I use your book all the time and have commented on your recipes on Food 52.
I am trying even more from your site.
I would love to use Honey for the granola recipe instead of maple syrup, what do you think!
So nice to hear this, Sandi 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thanks so much. I think honey should work here. It’s a little thicker than maple syrup but I think it should work out just fine. Let me know if you give it a go!
Hi Ali!
This sounds amazing. Your thoughts on subbing Amaranth for Millet? If not, I have sunflower seeds.
Hi Cindy! I’ve never used amaranth, so I can’t say, but I am all about experimenting, so go for it 🙂 Maybe do half millet and half sunflower seeds?
So I made the granola recipe with honey and a trilogy of hemp-chia- flax seeds subbed in for the millet . Using honey instead of maple syrup. The honey was mixed with the (coconut ) oil which made it easier to coat the mix. Wow we love this and it’s nearly gone!
Will be adding to my regular lineup of recipes. Thanks.
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Wonderful to hear this, Sandi! So great to hear it worked with honey and with a variety of seeds in place of the millet. Thanks for writing and sharing your notes!
This granola recipe is magic. Simple yet so flavorful. The coconut oil and maple syrup are so delicious together. I’ve made this once a week since I discovered the recipe a few months ago. Thank you for a wonderful recipe that’s become a staple in our house!
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So nice to hear this, Michelle! Thanks so much for writing. It is a staple for us as well 🙂