Smoothie bowls, porridge, yoghurt, fruit salad - the list of delicious breakfast creations that become a culinary delight in the morning with crunchy granola is long. Because the baked muesli variant ensures a healthy crunch and can be integrated into a varied, balanced, vegan diet. But what exactly is granola and how do you prepare it at home? With us you will find answers and can be inspired according to your taste: From the simple basic granola recipe to unusual variations.
What is granola?
When we post healthy toppings for our smoothie bowls introduce and recommend our homemade granola, we get a question more and more often: What actually is granola? And because the delicious crispy crunch should really have a permanent place in the pantry of every foodie, we are happy to answer this question in more detail today.
- Definition
- Crunchy muesli in a healthy diet
- Granola ingredients and preparation
- Granola basic recipe
- Here's how you can use granola
- How to keep Granola
Granola Definition
Granola consists of baked cereal flakes, usually oat flakes, which are combined with other ingredients such as nuts, seeds or dried fruit to create an exciting oven-baked muesli variant. Mixed with oil and syrup and refined with cinnamon and a pinch of salt, the cereal flake mixture develops a wonderful aroma during baking and becomes a crunchy experience. In terms of taste, granola is also a great contrast to our fruity smoothie bowls or creamy, plant-based yoghurts. Fresh fruits complete the simple but delicious breakfast.
Granola or Muesli: What's the Difference?
It's actually quite simple: the way it is prepared. Granola is baked in the oven with oil and honey or other sweeteners, while you mix together the ingredients for your favorite homemade granola, almost raw, ready to eat with plant-based yoghurt or milk alternatives.
Is granola the same as crunchy muesli?
You can use the terms crunchy muesli and granola as synonyms with a clear conscience. How a product is finally called depends on the brand and not on the manufacture. Some definitions describe granola as flakier, while others describe the sticky bits as the heart and soul of granola.
Why the name Granola?
You must have guessed it: the name granola has its origins in the English-speaking world. As early as 1863, James Caleb Jackson developed and sold his baked whole wheat flour product under the name "Granula". In 1978, a certain John Harvey Kellog launched a similar granola under the same name. After being sued by Jackson, he changed the name to "Granola". In the meantime, the English expression has also established itself in many cafés, which often also Make your own granola.
Is granola actually vegan?
However, not every baked muesli is inherently vegan. In addition to nuts and flakes, some ready-made mixes also contain chocolate, which is often made from dairy products. If you get a crunchy muesli as a gift, depending on the recipe, it could also contain honey, which also has no place in a vegan diet. When in doubt, ask what ingredient was used to sweeten it.
If you make granola yourself, you can decide for yourself which ingredients end up in your breakfast.
How do crunchy muesli and healthy eating go together?
A delicious, simple topping that you can enjoy for breakfast or as a snack might seem too good to be true. You are probably asking yourself the question: is granola healthy? Our answer: It depends! Products packed with sugar, which you often find in the supermarket, should be enjoyed in moderation. If you want to buy healthy granola, pay close attention to what kind of sweetener and oil and how much of it is used. If you value healthy eating, you should always keep an eye on the list of ingredients anyway.
Wo finde ich Knuspermüsli ohne raffinierten Zucker?
The Wholey Crunchy Granola is available in three different flavors. We have searched for the best balance between crunch, taste and hight quality ingredients - and found it! The difference to other crunchy mueslis: We do not use refined sugar and instead of palm oil we rely on high-quality coconut oil in organic quality.
If you want to make granola yourself, you can use our recipe to bake a healthier alternative without refined sugar.
Make granola yourself: ingredients and instructions
Another question that we often get: what do you need for granola? Basically, not much - or a lot. Because you can decide for yourself how many and which ingredients you refine your granola with. Incidentally, this is where we come to another advantage of homemade granola: By preparing it yourself, you can use high-quality plant-based ingredients - and avoid refined sugar, flavor enhancers and other artificial additives, which unfortunately are still far too often on the ingredient lists of supermarket products find.
Besides, it's a lot more fun to get creative yourself and to start the day with a delicious but above all healthy breakfast, isn't it?
To relieve you of a little work, we have listed the most popular ingredients for you:
The base:
- Oatmeal or other cereals
- coconut oil
- Agave nectar, maple syrup, or any syrup of your choice
The sophistication:
- Nuts: Almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, peanuts
- Kernels and seeds: Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and Co.
- coconut chips
- salt
- cinammon
- chia or flax seeds
- Dried fruit: apple, banana, mango, dates, cranberries
- Puffed Amaranth
- Quinoa
- Ground Vanilla
- Kakaonibs
Our basic vegan granola recipe:
Good recipes are like good holiday tips: people prefer to share them with friends – or in our case with our Wholey community. Our recipe is the ideal basis for a healthy crunch and at the same time offers you the opportunity to refine your homemade granola as you wish.
Ingredients for 1 baking sheet:
- 400 grams of rolled oats
- 100 ml maple syrup or agave syrup
- 6 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 pinch of cinnamon
- Optional: other ingredients at will
This is how the granola recipe succeeds:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Mix all dry ingredients together.
- Melt coconut oil in a saucepan over low heat. Then pour it over the oatmeal mixture together with the agave syrup or maple syrup and mix well until all the ingredients are moist.
- Spread your granola on the baking sheet and bake for about 25-30 minutes.
Our tip: Turn the granola after about 10 minutes. This way it gets nice and crispy on all sides. Take a look at it from time to time and test just before the end of the baking time to see whether a few more minutes are needed or whether you are already satisfied with the result.
How does my granola get crispy?
Our tip: If you like your granola crispy, bake the oatmeal mixture at a slightly lower temperature for longer. Because if you set the temperature of the oven too high, the granola muesli will burn.
How can I use granola?
How you want to enjoy your crunchy muesli is entirely up to you. We want to give you a few tips on how to make the most of this crispy alternative to muesli.
How do you eat granola?
Granola mueslis are a delicious and easy vegan breakfast. Also as vegan breakfast dish to go the crispy cereal flakes are suitable.
- If you're in a hurry, simply mix creamy plant-based yoghurt or plant-based milk with fresh fruit, nuts, seeds and your granola.
- Use granola as a topping for your smoothie bowl or hot bowl. Fruit, nuts and seeds or nut butter complete the taste experience here as well.
- Do you crave something sweet and at the same time you need something with a bite? You can also enjoy granola as a snack between meals or on the go.
- You can also use granola as a quick layered dessert for festive occasions, along with plant-based yoghurt and fresh fruit.
- Granola Cups with a creamy filling are not only delicious and quick to prepare, they can also be healthy with the right ingredients!
caution: Your breakfast meal should not consist solely of granola and milk. Crunchy muesli should be a tasty addition to a healthy diet rather than the main ingredient for your breakfast.
Tasty gift from the kitchen
Old screw-top jars are ideal for storing your granola. With a pretty bow and a personal inscription, homemade granola is also a wonderful gift or as a small gift for your favorite colleague's birthday. In any case, it is worth baking several batches of granola in advance. So you always have the opportunity to conjure up a small gift quickly.
How does my granola stay crispy?
Airtight and resealable containers are the be-all and end-all if you want to enjoy the crispy pieces on your breakfast or as a snack for a long time. Also make sure that you let your granola cool down and dry thoroughly after baking before you transfer it.
Tip: If you line the container with kitchen paper, this constantly absorbs the remaining moisture and also ensures that the homemade granola stays crispy longer.
The homemade granola should be consumed within two weeks. If you haven't just produced gigantic quantities for stock, there is little risk that some of the crispy delicacy will remain for too long.
Source:
Honert, Moritz (09.11.2015): Making granola yourself, In: tagesspiegel.de. (accessed March 23, 2022)
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