Perfect Peanut Butter Granola
Perfect Peanut Butter Granola is a healthy peanut butter granola recipe with no refined sugar, minimal oil and big peanut butter flavor. It’s naturally vegan and gluten-free!
The past several years I’ve been trying to buy less processed food. That said, it’s next to impossible for me to make everything from scratch when my two teenage boys inhale everything that I make in minutes!
I do the best that I can, but I need to be realistic and pick and choose to make the things that are most important to me and supplement with quality store bought items here and there.
This Perfect Peanut Butter Granola has become a staple in the house lately and while it goes quickly, it only takes minutes to prep so I have no problem cranking out batch after batch.
I’m kind of a granola snob because I like nice, big clusters and I can’t stand when it’s too sweet.
I was buying KIND Peanut Butter Granola but it wasn’t peanut buttery enough, and it’s about $5-6 a bag. I decided to work on making my own peanut butter granola that would be more cost effective and give me the big peanut butter flavor that I crave.
And let’s not forget about those big clusters that I love!
How to make this recipe
What’s the secret to this Perfect Peanut Butter Granola? It’s not really a secret, but there are a couple of tricks to achieving granola that’s perfectly golden brown with those big chunky clusters.
- Baking the granola at a lower temperature like 325 degrees is a must for perfectly golden brown granola. Do not stir the granola during baking for reasons that I’ll address next, so baking it at a lower temperature is necessary or the granola will burn.
- The trick to achieving big, crunchy granola clusters is to avoid stirring it during baking. I pack the granola down into a 1/4″ thick layer and pack it into a nice rectangle on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake the granola for 25 minutes or until golden, remove from heat and cool completely. Don’t stir it once it comes out of the oven either!
- Once the granola has cooled, break it into large clusters and stir in some add-in’s if desired. See Notes for ideas.
Is granola healthy?
- This peanut butter granola recipe is healthier because I’ve used unrefined sugar and less of it. This recipe is just sweet enough, which results in big peanut butter flavor!
- I’ve also used a quality all natural peanut butter for this recipe that contains no hydrogenated oil, which results in lower saturated fat. Natural peanut butter is also is generally lower in sugar and sodium, unlike some brands. All peanut butter brands aren’t created equally, so check the label to see how your favorite brand stacks up.
- This peanut butter granola recipe is low in oil with only 2 tablespoons, compared with some granola recipes that call for twice that amount. There are 8 grams of fat per serving, but it’s low in saturated fat and the rest are heart healthy fats!
Peanut Butter Granola ingredients
The best part about making homemade peanut butter granola is that you control the ingredients and there are no preservatives.
This peanut butter granola recipe only contains 6 ingredients, all of which you probably have in your pantry:
- old fashioned rolled oats
- peanut butter
- maple syrup
- canola or coconut oil
- cinnamon
- salt
Does salt even really count as an ingredient? Probably not, which means this granola is actually only 5 ingredients.
And you can even pronounce all of them! 🙂
Recipe notes
- This recipe is naturally vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free if you use certified gluten-free oats.
- Customize your peanut butter granola with your favorite sweetener or throw in a few add-ins like chocolate chips, roasted peanuts, dried fruit or coconut flakes.
See all of my Breakfast recipes for more inspiration.
More granola recipes you’ll love:
- Almond butter granola
- Banana chocolate chip granola
- Breakfast fruit tarts
- Chocolate granola
- Grain free granola by Iowa Girl Eats
- Honey almond granola
If you make this recipe I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment and rating below, or tag me at @flavorthemoments on Instagram!
Perfect Peanut Butter Granola
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter creamy or crunchy
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or sub with your favorite
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place the peanut butter and coconut oil in a large microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds or until melted. Add the maple syrup, cinnamon and salt, and stir well to combine.1/2 cup natural peanut butter, 2 tablespoons coconut oil, 1/3 cup pure maple syrup, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- Add the oats and stir until well coated with the peanut butter mixture.3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- Pour the oat mixture onto the prepared pan and spread in an even layer, about 1/4" thick, packing it down well. Packing it down will help give us those big clusters!
- Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25 minutes or until golden….do not stir! Remove from heat and cool completely without stirring.
- Once cooled, break the granola up into chunks and place in an air tight container at room temperature. Enjoy!
Notes
- Using all natural peanut butter with no hydrogenated oil is recommended to keep this low in saturated fat, sodium, sugar and preservatives.
- Add some fun add-ins like chocolate chip, dried or fresh fruit, coconut flakes or roasted peanuts to change up this recipe!
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
34 Comments on “Perfect Peanut Butter Granola”
This looks fabulous. I have yet to try peanut butter in granola but it is on my list of things to do.
Thank you Balvinder — I think you’ll love peanut butter granola! 🙂
Hi
When or at what point can I put the add ins. Like flaked coconut or walnuts.
Thanks
Hi Cindy — I normally toss the add-ins in once I break the granola into chunks.
This really does look like the perfect peanut butter granola! I love those bigger chunks and simple ingredients in here. Granola is one of my favorite things to make, so I have to try your version!
Thanks so much Gayle! One can never have too many granola recipes right? 🙂
I hear ya on buying less processed food. I try to stay away from it too, and in the same regard, it can be so nice to just pluck something off the shelf, especially now that products are becoming higher quality. Still, NOTHING beats a good homemade granola in my book! You hit this one out of the park…I’m LOVING the peanut butter infusion! I want it for breakfast right meow!
I agree…nothing beats homemade granola! They’re either awful for you or in a bazillion pieces. lol Thanks Julie! 🙂
I adore homemade granola, and peanut butter is my favourite flavour! I also use your no stirring technique when I make granola, but your clusters are next level fantastic! A bowl of this right now with almond milk and bananas would be perfect!
Peanut butter granola really can’t be beat can it?? Thanks so much Leanne! 🙂
This granola looks perfect to me! I’m not a fan overly sweet granola either. Naturally, sweetened granola is the way to go, for sure! Good for you for buying less processed foods. I can only imagine it’s hard to refrain when you have children living in your house!! I do my best to avoid processed foods too. I’m also cutting WAY back on my refined sugar intake so this recipe is right up my alley 🙂
Cutting back on processed foods is hard but necessary — I feel so much better eating foods without ingredients that I can’t pronounce. 🙂 Thanks Christina!
You already know I”m a big lover of peanut butter granola 😉 I love the tips for making those big clusters! I am all about the big clusters. Isn’t it wonderful having a homemade recipe to replace something that you once bought so often??
Yes I do! It is really nice to have this recipe to go to in a moment’s notice — it’s become a staple!
Processed food is so bad for us so limiting it is the best thing we can do. Thanks Puja!
Homemade granola is my favorite – I actually just tested out a batch last weekend for a freelance project. My only problem is that I find it addictive 😉 Peanut butter granola is one of my favorite kinds, and I love how easy this recipe looks! I buy KIND PB granola sometimes as well.
It’s addictive for me too Nicole, which can be a problem! 🙂
I just made this; added 1/4 cup chocolate chips when almost cool. Delicious!!
I’m so glad you like it and chocolate chips are always a good idea! Thanks for the feedback. 💛
I just made this and HOLY SMOKES the whole house smells amazing now! I can’t wait to put this on my greek yogurt.
Love this granola! I’m obsessed! Tastes like oatmeal cookies. I would like to add raisins before I cook it. I’ll let you know howthat goes.
Thank you for the feedback Rhoda, and I’m so happy that you love this granola! I’d love to hear about the raisins. 🙂
Just thought I’d share that in the past when I add raisins to granola they turned very hard & almost crunchy when they cooled (after cooking), I was so disappointed. That doesn’t happen with other dried fruit like dried cranberries, not sure why (I’m not smart enough to figure that one out lol). But I started adding the raisins after the granola was finished cooking, hope this helps anyone else out there that wants to add raisins!
Thanks for sharing!
When you measure the coconut oil, do yo7 melt it first? Love this easy, delicious granola recipe.
You don’t have to melt the coconut oil first. Thanks Rhonda — I’m glad you like it!
Would you recommend a best used by date?
Mine never lasts longer than a week, but I’d say two weeks is a good estimate!
Thank you for this recipe!
I think this is probably my favorite granola that I’ve had 🙂
Ever since I made this for the first time I’m constantly re-making it whenever I see I’m about to run out! Obsessed!
Thank YOU for the awesome feedback! I’m so glad you love this as much as I do! 🙂
This recipe is fantastic! I’ve made many batches always 2 at a time. I give one and keep one. Usually I add chopped peanuts or cashews. Thank you!
Thank you for the feedback and I’m so glad you love this as much as I do!
Deeeeelicious! My husband said it reminded him of crunchy peanut butter granola bars his mom used to buy when he was little. Since my husband and I have different tastes (I prefer less sweeet/natural sweeteners; he prefers more sugary stuff lol) I added 1 TBSP sugar to final recipe and just mixed it in. But imo the recipe was perfect as is!! The only other change I made was doubling the salt. Thanks so much for a recipe that turned out awesome on the first try 🙂
Thanks so much for the review Rachel! I’m so glad you love the granola!