Easter Feaster Detox | Coconut Oil Granola

Coconut Oil Granola | Once Upon a Recipe

So…I may have overdone it this weekend. You know, with the whole eating thing. One word: bruleedlemontartbananacreampiehotcrossbunscarrotcakechocolatejellybeans. Please tell me that your weekend was like this too.

It was?! Excellent! I have the perfect recipe to help you get back on track.

Coconut Oil Granola | Once Upon a Recipe Coconut Oil Granola | Once Upon a Recipe

After every holiday, I find myself itching to get back on the healthy eating wagon. Let’s face it – every holiday is practically an excuse to stuff your face with All. The. Things. At least, it is for me. And I’ve discovered that when I start my day with a healthy breakfast, I am much more inclined to keep eating healthy throughout the day. Likewise, if I start the day off with something unhealthy, or unfulfilling, then my habits throughout the rest of the day tend to snowball into something less than pretty. Funny how that works. I know I haven’t rubbed the following fact in your face for a while, but I’m going to Hawaii in a mere eight days.  And I intend to live in my bikini by the pool or beach for a large portion of my two week holiday. It’s time to detox from Easter Feaster.

Coconut Oil Granola | Once Upon a Recipe

One of my absolute favorite breakfasts is granola with yogurt and fruit. And dudes, granola is darn easy to make yourself! In fact, you’re likely to save yourself a bunch of fat, calories, and sugar when you make your own granola versus buying the packaged crap filled with ingredients that you can’t pronounce. I have been making this granola for a couple of years now, and it was my go-to granola recipe…until I came across the recipe you see below. I have been using coconut oil more often in my baking and couldn’t wait to try using it in granola.

Coconut Oil Granola | Once Upon a Recipe

Furthermore, the recipe comes highly recommended by two ladies that I trust when it comes to all things food. Why? Because they just know what’s up. If you haven’t already visited Megan or Cindy, get on it, STAT. I have never been disappointed by a recipe shared by either one of these lovelies, and this granola was no exception.

Coconut Oil Granola | Once Upon a Recipe

It is such a simple recipe, yet it packs so much flavor and crunch. Oh, the crunch! I seriously could not stop eating it by the handful the first time I made it. The coconut oil imparts a nice flavor, yet isn’t overpowering. Don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself! Jump aboard the healthy granola train!

Coconut Oil Granola (slightly adapted from Take a Megabite, which was adapted from Hungry Girl Por Vida)

3 cups oats

2/3 cup sliced almonds

2/3 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

A pinch of nutmeg

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup dried fruit (optional)

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, coconut, salt, and spices. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the coconut oil with the honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Pour over the oat mixture and stir to evenly coat.

Spread the mixture out evenly on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Stir and continue to bake at 10 minute intervals until golden brown. (Mine took 15 extra minutes).

Megan and Cindy suggest adding one cup of dried fruit after baking, if desired. I added dried cranberries and chopped dried apricots the first time I made this recipe, and it was delicious. Serve your granola with milk, over greek yogurt with fruit, or from hand to mouth. It will be pretty much impossible not to do the latter.

Coconut Oil Granola | Once Upon a Recipe

Sometimes I eat as though I was raised in a barn. So sue me. 

Comments

  1. Yes! I’m so glad you made this! It’s honestly my most favorite granola also. There’s something about that coconut oil that just makes this the perfect crisp-ness. I like to give it as gifts too! It’s good-lookin’ with some chocolate covered sunflower seed sprinkles in there.

  2. I love homemade granola and the use of coconut oil in this is a great idea! After Easter weekend and the amount of food I ate this will be perfect for breakfast tomorrow.

  3. I love your addition of coconut oil!! Coconut oil is theeee best! I am so glad that I started cooking and baking with it this year.

  4. I seriously adore coconut oil! I’ve gotta try this granola.

  5. Amazing, we had the exact same eating weekend! : ) I am SO full and am in dire need of this yummy granola. I’ve made granola before but never with coconut oil. Sounds delicious! I will definitely give it a try!

    • I was so full on Sunday night that I thought I would never feel hungry again. 12 hours later, I was starving, as usual. 😉
      I hope you like it Danielle!

  6. Oh man, I totally ate all the things too. All of everything, everyday of the long weekend. And with family visiting there was so much EVERYTHING to eat. gaahhh

    This granola looks amazing! I make a huge batch every couple of weeks to send with my boyfriend to work so that he can eat breakfast/snack on it during work. Definitely going to give this one a try.

    • I’m so glad to hear that I wasn’t alone in eating all the things. 🙂
      What a lucky boyfriend you have! I hope he likes this recipe!

  7. I just made your coconut granola. Oh my, it is so GOOD! Now all I have to do is keep portion control in check. This will be a challenge. Thanks for sharing such a yummy recipe.

  8. Love love love coconut oil…. have you ever tried it for omelets?? AMAZING 🙂 I’ve always thought of granola as something very laborious to make – mostly because one of my former roommates used to make it regularly and would use literally every dish in the kitchen in the process…. which generally took about 3 hours! But this is fantastic. And you can’t go wrong with coconut and almonds 🙂 I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar – don’t know if it made much difference, but the coconut taste is pretty potent 🙂 Thanks for a great detox post!

    • Nope, never tried coconut oil in omelets, but sounds like I might have to give it a shot! I want to try to incorporate in much more of my baking and cooking. The coconut sugar must have added a much stronger coconut flavor because I don’t find that this recipe has an overpowering coconut flavor at all. In your case, I hope you’re a fan of coconut! 😉

    • I make scrambled eggs with coconut oil all the time! They are the lightest and tastiest eggs ever!!!
      I adapted a different granola recipe this weekend and used coconut oil instead of some other naughty oil. Didn’t turn out exactly right – they didn’t clump up in little clusters like they should’ve which led me here this morning. I can’t wait to try this out – and maybe not stir quite as often? we will see!
      (It is crazy how many ingredients you can’t read in store bought granola, btw.)
      Can’t wait to try this!!!

      • Hi Jenni, I hope this recipe works out for you! My suggestion would be to let the granola cool completely before breaking it up into the desired size of clusters – good luck!
        PS. I really need to try using coconut oil in my scrambled eggs!

  9. Easter weekend is a free pass to eat what you want. But now thats its over I am in desperate need of this granola. It sounds so yummy!

  10. yes! I agree that the coconut oil adds something, but not super-coconut like tan lotion!

    thanks for the shout out, girl! and have the best hawaiian getaway!!

  11. I love coconut oil for cooking/baking. I have even been using it as moisturizer! It rocks! This granola sounds amazing!

  12. this looks AMAZING!! I’ve been obsessed with coconut oil for the past few months….putting it in food, on my skin, on my hair….using it as make up remover and deodorant… the possibilities are endless!!

    Thanks for sharing this great recipe 🙂

  13. HOLY BALLS AMANDA!!! Your blog looks SO good! (I refrained from using the “ef” word right there). WOW! Not that it looked bad before but it looks sensational now! …i haven’t been following up with my blogs because i’ve been so busy but i was thinking about you the other day and i wanted to tell you how much i loved the package you sent me. even if John ate all the sea salt chocolate before I got more than 1 tiny bite. 😉

    p.s. next time someone gives me shit about making up words, i’m just going to say “bruleedlemontartbananacreampiehotcrossbunscarrotcakechocolatejellybeans”…..

    • I was wondering where you went! Sounds like you’ve been a busy bee! But it sure is nice to see you around here. 🙂
      I’m glad you enjoyed the package, but too bad the sea salt chocolate got ravaged by someone else. That stuff is GOOD.
      And yes, I’m totally a fan of making up words. All the cool kids are doing it. 😉

  14. This Easter, for once I actually did not overeat… And I think this is only because I didn’t fly back to see family for Easter and realized that I’m the one who has to do all the hosting on Saturday afternoon 🙂 but detox or no detox I’d take this granola anytime 🙂

  15. This looks super yummy! I’m always looking for healthy options especially something easy for breakfast!

  16. I looooove baking with coconut oil and this granola would be gone in a heartbeat around here 🙂 Delish!

  17. Totally love the versatility of coconut oil!

  18. I think I would love this, I love coconut and granola! P.S. I sometimes eat like I was raised in a barn, too ; )

  19. Hahaha.. Your one word definition of the weekend made my stomach hurt.

    This looks absolutely amazing and crazy easy! I never made my own granola before but geeze, is it really that easy?! I’m gonna have to give this a try, I too am a sucker for that insane crunch.

    • It’s so easy dude. I no longer buy packaged granola – it’s not as good and is full of a bunch of crap. Try making it once and I guarantee you’ll be hooked!

  20. I love the idea of the recipe, sounds great however I am trying to stay refined sugar free.. I’m wondering if you have a suggestion for a substitution for the brown sugar?

Trackbacks

  1. […] recipes in the last couple of years. The latest batch I made was adapted from a recipe I found at Once Upon a Recipe. The recipe calls for coconut oil. Coconut oil is sexy. Do not be afraid of the calories or the […]

  2. […] it with blackberries. It received rave reviews. I made it again as part of the rather gluttonous Easter Feaster a couple of weeks ago, and it did not survive the Easter Feaster […]

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