Easy Chocolate Granola (Gluten Free & Vegan)
This Easy Chocolate Granola is a simple, gluten-free and vegan recipe that’s made with just 8 ingredients! It’s perfect served with dairy-free milk, sprinkled over yogurt, or eaten by the handful. Thanks to Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post.
Granola is one of life’s simple pleasures. It was one of the first things I started making from scratch when I fell in love with baking, and honestly, it’s not something I buy from the store very often, because I so prefer baking it from scratch in my own oven.
Granola is infinitely customizable. The flavor varieties are endless, and you can always switch in different nuts or seeds without messing up the recipe. A little extra or this or that won’t do damage in a granola recipe the way it will with a cake, so your measuring can be a little more lenient too.
Oh, and the smell of it baking, wafting through your house? Just that is worth the tiny bit of effort. Someone needs to make it into a candle. Especially this particular Easy Chocolate Granola, because it is seriously dreamy. A true delight for the sense.
This Easy Chocolate Granola Recipe will be your new staple.
It’s deliciously simple, the way granola should be. The granola, of course, uses rolled oats as the base. The oats I use, as usual, are from Bob’s Red Mill. I use their gluten-free rolled oats and they’re the perfect texture for this recipe. They’re not too thin, so they provide a nice toothsome texture and I can always count on them to be certified gluten-free.
For crunch, I love adding some nuts. I used pecans for this batch, but I also love sliced almonds and cashews here. For a nut-free alternative, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds would be delicious as well.
To help hold together our nuts and oats, we whisk together coconut oil (which helps with crunch – and sorry, forgot to include it in the ingredients photo above!), pure maple syrup to sweeten, vanilla extract, sea salt, and cacao powder. We stir the chocolatey mixture into the dry ingredients and bake until dry and crispy.
While the granola is still warm, sprinkle on some chocolate chips. To keep things refined sugar-free, I love these coconut sugar sweetened chocolate bars (just chop them up before using), or for a sugar-free option, these chocolate chips are great. A quick and gentle stir will help coat the granola with a little bit of dark chocolate. I like sprinkling on a little bit of flaky sea salt too, but that’s totally optional.
Once the chocolate is on there – hands off! I recommend letting the chocolate granola cool completely on the baking sheet. This helps big clumps and clusters form, which we all know is the best part of granola. Once cool, transfer to an airtight container for storage!
I love snacking on this Easy Chocolate Granola by the handful or serving it up with some dairy-free yogurt and berries for breakfast or lunch. It also makes a great ice cream topping. However you serve it, I doubt it will last long! Enjoy :D
Easy Chocolate Granola
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Breakfast, Snack
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Easy Chocolate Granola is a simple, gluten-free and vegan recipe that’s made with just 8 ingredients! It’s perfect served with dairy-free milk, sprinkled over yogurt, or eaten by the handful.
Ingredients
- 4 cups (384g) Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Rolled Oats
- 1 cup nut of choice (I love almonds, pecans, or cashews)
- ¼ cup (50g) coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup (168g) pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons cacao powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- Flaky sea salt, to sprinkle on top, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300ºLine a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the rolled oats and nuts. In a measuring cup, whisk together the coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, and sea salt. Pour over the granola mixture and stir until all of the dry ingredients are coated. Spread the granola in an even layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and press down with a spatula or your hands.
- Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through to help the granola bake evenly. When it is browned and feels dry to the touch, remove from the oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let sit for about 2 minutes until chocolate chips have melted, and gently stir in the chocolate chips to coat the granola. If desired, sprinkle a bit of flaky sea salt on top. Let the granola cool completely.
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container.
Can I change the maple syrup to raw honey?…
Yes, absolutely!
Cacao powder = cocoa powder? Or are they different?
Hi Jeniffer – technically yes, but only in their processing: cacao is made from raw cacao beans, whereas cocoa beans have been roasted. They can be used interchangeably, but note that cacao powder is more nutritionally dense.
Just baked up a batch tonight and my husband who doesn’t even like chocolate that much tried it and asked for some to be packed in his lunch. Simply delicious
★★★★★
So thrilled that it was a hit with you and your husband, Carmen! Thanks for the feedback.
I tried to give this recipe a 5-star rating but it won’t let me. Anyway, thank you for posting this, it’s everything I’m looking for in a recipe: quick, healthy, delicious : )
Oops, now the rating works. So here, 5 stars! Also, I forgot to mention the most important criteria: it has to be vegan ; )
★★★★★
Hi Christine, thank you so much for the kind review!! I’m so glad you’re loving the recipe :D
I made this granola a few times already, found out that pecan nuts work beautifully, whereas walnuts tend to get burnt quicker (or maybe I left it in the oven for too long). :D I still prefer the original recipe without changing it too much. I also brought this granola to work one time and let my coworker try it – she was so impressed that she asked me for recipe :) (I gladly shared your link). I love it!
★★★★★
So glad you loved it and figured out your preferences!! If you find the walnuts are burning, you can always bake on a lower temp which definitely helps :)
I love how easy Rachel’s granola recipes are. I literally made two pans of granola from two different recipes in less than 30 minutes. I love how the melted chocolate chips give you a little boost of chocolate here and there when eating it. I will be making this again, especially on our meal prep days so breakfast is taken care of for the week.
★★★★★
So glad you’re loving it, Brenna!! Sounds like you’re in granola heaven over there :D