Low Sugar Granola

My husband really likes granola, which I do not buy very often because most of the store packages contain a lot of sugar. Well, I finally made my own granola today! I am not sure why I did not do this sonner. I have been thinking about this for awhile, and have never had all of the ingredients on hand for any of the recipes I found online. Silly me--I never follow recipes; just ideas! 

Enjoying freshly made granola on plain nonfat Greek yogurt

I am sharing my recipe below for those of you who want to see exact ingredients. I think the main thing to know is that although most ingredients can be swapped out to suit your tastes, my dry ingredients measured about 6 cups for the following liquid sauce measurements.

Dry ingredients before wet ingredients were stirred in

Ingredients

• 4 cups old-fashioned whole-grain oats
• ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• ½ cup oat or wheat bran
• 2 tablespoons flax seed - or try pepita seeds
• ¼ cup raw walnuts or pecans, or blanched almonds - I used almonds, although I think I will go with walnuts next time
• pinch of kosher salt
• ¼ cup no-sugar-added pineapple juice - any low sugar juice should work well
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar blend
• 2 tablespoons liquid sweetener--raw Stevia or natural honey
• ¼ cup dried fruit, optional - I included craisins in my ingredients photo because I thought I would add this to the granola after baking. I liked the taste so well when I tried it without fruit that I decided not to add it!

Directions

Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray and set aside. Preheat oven to 325°F.

Combine all dry ingredients except dried fruit in a bowl. Add salt and mix well.

Heat juice, brown sugar blend, and liquid sweetener in small saucepan on stove. Boil gently, stirring until reduced, about 2 minutes. Pour sauce over dry ingredients and stir until ingredients are well mixed and slightly moist.

Granola before baking

Spread the granola on prepared baking sheet and bake until lightly golden, about 25 minutes total. Stir after 15 minutes.

After baking

Remove from oven and let cool. Add optional dried fruit after granola has baked and cooled. Enjoy with milk, nonfat Greek yogurt, or as is. Store in an airtight container. 

Close-up to show texture
Click on photos to enlarge

Although this granola does have some added sweetener, it has far less sugar than most store-bought packages. In fact, if the sugary taste is what you like in granola, you may not like this recipe. Cut the ingredients in half to try it, if you are unsure. You may be surprised by how delicious tasting it is! Adding the dried fruit will definitely make the flavor sweeter. 

Let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to share this post.