Salted Caramel Granola

This decadent (but healthy!) salted caramel granola is gluten free and vegan. Best served with homemade nut milk and berries, or just by the handful!

Does your meal prep plan include homemade granola? It should. This granola, specifically!

There’s nothing better than a fresh batch of crispy granola. There are more than a few reasons, but the two most convincing reasons we can think of are: 1. It’s way(yyyyy) more cost effective than store-bought granola, and 2. It makes your house smell wonderful (better than a candle!). Now that I think of it, a homemade granola-scented candle is a pretty good idea!

If you’re anything like us, you may already have a bunch of these ingredients in your pantry. You can easily customize granola too, so if you’re low on one ingredient, don’t worry about heading to the store – you can probably just use something else you have on hand. Easily swap nuts and seeds; don’t have walnuts? Use pecans. No almonds? Try cashews. Same goes for seeds – sunflower seeds and pepitas are easily interchangeable.

If you make granola often (or oatmeal, or anything containing oats), be sure to purchase your ingredients in the bulk section of your local store. It’s always cheaper than purchasing something with packaging, and if you bring reusable bags or containers (glass jars, etc.), you can really cut down on packaging waste. You can find nearly any dry good in the bulk section – grains like quinoa, rice and oats, all varieties of nuts and seeds, dried fruits and more. If you want more tips about reducing plastic waste, check out this post we wrote last year!

We often have a jar of homemade vegan salted caramel in our pantry, so we decided to add it to this gluten free granola as a binder (and to add more flavor!). It was definitely a good choice. You can find our recipe for 4-ingredient vegan caramel sauce here. It basically involves reducing full fat coconut milk with equal parts coconut sugar, plus a sizable pinch of salt + vanilla. It’s easy to make (and even easier to eat!), so we suggest making a double or triple batch and storing in your fridge for drizzling over ice cream, adding to this granola or eating with a spoon straight from the jar. (We won’t tell!)

When it comes to serving, we suggest keeping it simple – you can’t go wrong with a bowl of granola + fresh berries + nut milk or yogurt. We also love sprinkling this gluten free granola over smoothie bowls or chia pudding. However you eat it, we hope you enjoy!

Salted Caramel Granola

• Author: Lexi
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Yield: 8–10 servings 1x
• Category: Breakfast
• Method: Oven

Print

Pin

---

Description

This decadent (but healthy!) salted caramel granola is gluten free and vegan. Best served with homemade nut milk and berries, or just by the handful! 

---

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup store-bought or homemade vegan caramel 
• 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup buckwheat groats*
• 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 3 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp melted coconut oil 
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup toasted coconut flakes (unsweetened)
• 1/4 cup cacao nibs

---

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. If making caramel homemade, follow these instructions. Let caramel cool slightly before using.
3. Add all ingredients (except toasted coconut and cacao nibs) to a large bowl and mix until everything is well coated.
4. Spread onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. 
5. In a small bowl, stir together another 2 tbsp caramel with the cacao nibs and coconut. Stir into granola and bake for another 15 minutes. 
6. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking up into clumps. Store in airtight container in pantry for up to 2 weeks. 

---

Notes

*Can sub buckwheat with more hemp seeds if you can’t find any.