Oil-Free Chia Granola – Chunky and Crunchy

This oil-free granola is clumpy, chunky, crunchy, lightly sweet, very nutrient dense and delicious! Why on earth do we need another granola recipe? Well I’ll tell you.

Most people think of granola as a health food. We believe we doing ourselves a big favour when we grab it for a snack, or have it for breakfast. It’s made out of oats and oats are healthy, right? The problem is, the typical granola formula is oats + sugar + fat = hyper palatable, super delicious, extremely caloric, and not actually all that nutritious. In essence, most granolas take a few nutritious, whole-food ingredients like oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruits, and then undermine their health benefits by dousing them with oil and sugar. Laaaaame.

This granola recipe forgoes the use of oil completely, and instead relies on chia to create mega crunch, and nut butter for satisfying, fatty flavour.

Why use nut butter instead of oil? Without going too far down the rabbit hole of whether or not to use oil (I still do use it by the way, just sparingly) I’ll just say that nut butters offer fiber and other nutrients that oils just don’t. This recipe is still adding fat to oats, but it’s also adding the nutritional benefits of whole, plant-based sources of fat. Chia seeds, for example, are an excellent source of Omega 3 fatty acids.

I live in Quebec where we’re fortunate to have access to very affordable maple syrup. If that’s not the case for you, trying using date syrup, brown rice syrup, or even agave syrup instead. You’ll need to taste as you go and adjust the amounts as necessary. My only advice would be to err on the side of less sweet – sweeten it up at the end with some dried fruit, or in your bowl with some chopped apples or berries.

On to the recipe!

Oil-Free Chia granola

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup chia
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup peanut butter or nut or seed butter of your choice
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (see head notes for substitutions)
• 1 large, very ripe banana. Mashed.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 5 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup seeds of choice (hemp, sesame, pumpkin, sunflower…)

Optional (recommended!) to add after baking is complete: 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries

Method

Active time: 15 minutes. Baking time: Approximately 45 minutes. Makes 2 pounds

• Preheat oven to 350 and line one large baking sheet or two small ones.
• Mix the chia and water together in a small bowl and set aside while you get your other ingredients together.
• In a large bowl combine nut butter, mashed banana, maple syrup, salt, and cinnamon.
• By now your chia should have absorbed all the water, add it to the nut butter mixture and stir until well combined.
• Add the oats and seeds of choice and mix until the oats are all incorporated. It’s going to be THICK
• Dump the mixture onto your prepared baking pan(s) and spread out evenly.
• Bake until crunchy, here’s how:
  • After approximately 25 minutes, remove from the oven and flip everything, in the process you’ll be breaking it up into some smaller chunks.
  • Bake for another 20 minutes and then check it. Is it dry? If you break a clump apart does it still have moisture in it? If it’s dry, take it out. If not, go to the next step:
  • At this point, I usually have a wee bit of moisture. I turn off the oven and walk away. Leave the granola in the warm oven to continue dehydrating as the oven cools. When you come back in a couple of hours, it’ll be perfect. Of course ovens vary on how long they hold heat, so you’ll have to pay attention and pull your granola when it gets to the right crunchiness.
• After the granola has cooled, add the dried fruit and store in airtight containers for up to 3 weeks. Enjoy!

I like to serve it up with this easy peasy Silken Tofu Yogurt.