Homemade granola is one of life’s little treats. It’s healthy, tasty and easy to make in big batches. It’s also a world away from the commercial brands of granola that you buy in the shops! This roasted buckwheat and coconut granola is crunchy and nutty with a deeply roasted flavour and bursts of sweet and sour from the dried berries. It works beautifully with some coconut yoghurt and fresh berries and a drizzle of coconut nectar for breakfast or even as a crunchy topping for a dessert or, if you’re like me, by the handful as a snack whenever you pass the kitchen…
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Why make your own granola?
Now before we go any further, you need to banish all preconceptions of granola from the shop-bought variety which are usually desperately sweet, too sugary to be considered healthy (despite being marketed as a health food!) and often not gluten-free either.
The beauty of making your own is that you are in complete control of what goes into your perfect bowl of goodness.
Here are some reasons why you will love making your own granola!
- Control over ingredients! For me, I’m not particularly keen on having a tonne of raisins in my granola and commercial brands often have far too many for my liking (I guess because it bulks it out cheaply!).
- Sensitive to allergens. Commercial brands often contain gluten (or charge extortionate amounts for the gluten-free version). With this recipe, you can include only the ingredients you want or like and leave out the others. If you have a nut allergy, or just don’t want to eat nuts, by all means leave the nuts out completely! Just add more oats and buckwheat groats or you could also include other grains like millet and amaranth.
- Less sugar. Homemade granola doesn’t need much sugar to make it tasty! Slow roasting brings out so much natural flavour that you really don’t need to add much additional sweetness at all.
- Healthy. It's also good to hold back on the sweetness so that it gives a little more flexibility on serving, to sweeten depending on what it’s going with and who it’s going to (my children like a lot more sweetness than me!).
But it has buckwheat in it – is this granola really gluten-free?
Yes, in case you’re wondering, buckwheat is gluten-free. It’s a confusing name really because it is actually not related to the wheat family at all!
Like quinoa and amaranth, buckwheat is known as a pseudocereal since it is used as a grain but it does not grow on grasses. So it is completely safe for anyone avoiding gluten!
Main Ingredients
- Nuts and Seeds - whichever nuts and seeds you like best!
- Oats - just plain rolled oats are fine here. Make sure to choose the oats clearly marked as gluten-free if you are coeliac. (Oats are not gluten-containing grains BUT farmers often rotate crops and the oats can sometimes contain gluten from the wheat that previously grew in that soil.)
- Buckwheat Groats - this is the raw dried buckwheat that are small little pieces, a little bit like barley.
- Dried Fruits - as I mentioned above, I'm not a fan of using lots of raisins so I just add a few dried fruits like some chopped up dried apricots and a small amount of raisins or dried cranberries. The beauty of making your own granola is that you can choose whichever ones you like best!
- Coconut Oil - if you're not a fan of coconut oil, you could substitute with grapeseed or any other flavourless oil you prefer.
- Coconut Flakes - optional but I rather like the texture of the coconut flakes.
- Chia Seeds & Ground Flax Seeds - these provide essential Omega-3 fatty acids that are harder to come by on a vegan diet so it is very important to incorporate these little seeds whenever you can. You can of course leave them out though if you do not want to include them. The recipe works just as well without them!
- Blackstrap Molasses - I use this as the sweetener because it is the least refined sweetener and contains a load of iron and other minerals. It is very strongly flavoured though so add it sparingly! Alternatively, you could swap to whatever is your sweetener of choice.
- Ground Cinnamon
- Vanilla Extract - it is important to use a good quality vanilla extract rather than the vanilla essence that is usually just synthetic flavouring. Omit it all together if you can't find a good quality extract.
- Salt
Please see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for full list of ingredients and their quantities.
Basic Instructions
It's super easy!
- Chop the nuts roughly;
- Mix everything together in a large mixing bowl;
- Then pour it in a roasting tin and put in a low oven and stir every 15 minutes for an hour until it is deeply toasted and crunchy.
I find the best time to make this is on a weekend morning when I’m often pottering around in the kitchen anyway so it can just be roasting away while I get on with other things. It also gives off a wonderful smell that permeates throughout the house!
This is a summary only. Please see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this page for full detailed instructions. Thermomix instructions are also included in the recipe card.
Serving Suggestions
Granola with coconut yoghurt, berries and a drizzle of coconut nectar has to be one of my all time favourite breakfasts. It is so tasty and a lovely light dish to start the day whilst being filling enough to keep you going for the whole morning. If you want something warming for colder mornings, then this vegan oat and chia porridge would be perfect too!
This granola will serve you well with desserts too though! You could use it as a crunchy vegan and gluten-free topping for an apple crumble or with stewed plums or berries. Or use as a base, bound with a little more coconut oil and perhaps some dark chocolate, for plant-based cheesecakes or tarts.
FAQs
As long as you cool the granola fully before storing, then store in a fully airtight container (tupperware), you will find your granola keeps well for up to 3-4 weeks. After that, the flavour is not as good.
It depends what you put into it! If you buy store-bought granola, it is often desperately full of sugar. The beauty of making your own granola is that you can control what you put into it and use far less sugar or even it make it completely sugar free if you want. This vegan granola recipe is about as healthy as granola gets. The whole grain oats, buckwheat, and nuts provide protein (as well as many other nutrients) for long-lasting energy, and this is free from refined sugars, gluten and dairy too.
This granola recipe is completely plant-based and is designed for a healthy start to the day for those on a plant-based menu. However not all granola recipes are plant-based (or vegan). In fact, most will contain some form of dairy, especially those pre-prepared granolas bought from the shops.
📖 Recipe 📖
Roasted Buckwheat and Coconut Granola
Ingredients
- 400 g unsalted nuts and seeds, (e.g. hazelnuts, almonds, macadamias, walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds)
- 150 g raw buckwheat groats
- 100 g oats
- 50 g virgin coconut oil
- 50 g coconut flakes
- 50 g chia seeds, (optional)
- 20 g ground flax seeds
- 2 tablespoon blackstrap molasses, (or maple syrup)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon himalayan pink salt
- 100 g dried fruits, (e.g. dried berries and diced dried apricots)
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 150°C.
- Roughly cut the nuts into large chunks. (Thermomix: 8 secs / sp. 4)400 g unsalted nuts and seeds
- Add the rest of the ingredients (except the fruit) and mix together really well. It might be best to do this with your hands to ensure everything is really mixed in, (Thermomix: 3 secs. / REV. sp. 4).100 g oats, 150 g raw buckwheat groats, 50 g virgin coconut oil, 50 g coconut flakes, 50 g chia seeds, 20 g ground flax seeds, 2 tablespoon blackstrap molasses, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon himalayan pink salt
- Pour into your largest roasting tin and spread out to as thin a layer as it will go. Put in the oven for 1 hour at 150°C, taking out and stirring well every 15 minutes to ensure that it all browns evenly.
- For the last 5 minutes, add the dried fruits, stir and put back in the oven (for 5 minutes).100 g dried fruits
- Leave until fully cooled and then pour into sealed containers.
Notes
- You can mix and match this granola recipe as you please – use more or less of any of the ingredients or even add grated orange zest, cacao nibs or chocolate chips (to the cooled granola). I like to use almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews and macadamias for my granola mixture.
- This stores well in the sealed container for a few weeks, provided you make sure not to store it away until it is properly cooled. If it is even slightly warm, it will sweat in the container and go soggy or may also go mouldy so you really do need to wait until it is fully cool!
- I like to serve this granola with some coconut yoghurt and fresh berries and maybe a drizzle of coconut nectar on top. You could also use it for desserts as a crunchy topping or base for fruity or chocolatey treats!
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a ⭐ star rating ⭐ on the recipe card!
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