This gluten-free granola is easy to make at home, with subtly sweet clusters of real, whole ingredients. It’s flavored with warm, seasonal spices, and it’s much tastier than store-bought granola! Serve as a yogurt topping, in cereal, or as a healthy, filling snack.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I love creating paleo and gluten-free recipes that make you feel good, while also incorporating fun, festive, seasonal flavors! This paleo granola recipe features simple ingredients like nuts, apples, cinnamon, coconut flakes, and maple syrup. A Fall-friendly, subtly sweet and salty mix.
Full of healthy fats and whole ingredients, these sweet and salty clusters make the perfect on-the-go snack! I love having this on hand for quick, easy, and healthy snacking. I personally can’t stand soft granola that gets soggy in yogurt or milk, and I love that this one would yield a crunchy texture with lots of clusters.
This recipe is also super versatile and easy to customize. Swap out your favorite nuts and seeds to tweak this gluten-free granola recipe to your liking. Serve the crunchy clusters over yogurt, on a salad, with plant-based milk, and more! It’s low-carb, gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free, and delicious!
Watch a Short Video of This Recipe
Ingredient Notes
- Nuts: Raw pecan halves (or walnuts), raw almonds, and cashews.
- Coconut Flakes: Use unsweetened coconut flakes.
- Apple: You can use any variety of apples for this recipe. Red apples like Honeycrisp, Pink Ladies, Gala, and Fuji provide the sweetest flavor. Yellow varieties like Golden Delicious are also a good option.
- Maple syrup: I use maple syrup instead of refined sugars like brown sugar or cane sugar. You could also use honey as an all-natural, unrefined sweetener.
See the full list of ingredients and amounts in the recipe card below.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 2: Add pecans, almonds, and cashews to a food processor, and pulse a few times until roughly chopped. Pour into a large mixing bowl.
Step 3: Add coconut flakes and chopped apple. In a separate bowl, mix together the coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sea salt.
Step 4: Pour over the nut mixture, and stir to coat evenly.
Step 5: Spread the granola on the parchment paper in a thin even layer, pressing down with a spatula to get crunchy clusters. Bake for 15 minutes, then stir and flip gently. Press down again with a spatula. Bake for another 15 minutes, until golden brown.
Step 6: Remove from the oven and cool for at least 30 minutes without touching so the granola can harden and crisp up. Break your paleo granola into clusters, and enjoy!
Tips & Tricks
- Storage: Store your paleo granola in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
- Seeds: You can add pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, or sunflower seeds to this gluten-free granola as well.
- Apple: Make sure to chop up the apples small – about 1/4 inch in thickness – to make sure the pieces dry properly during baking to yield crunchy, yummy clusters.
- Chocolate chips: Enjoy Life makes dairy free, paleo-friendly chocolate chips. These are a great addition if you’d like to add chocolate chips to your paleo granola.
Recipe FAQs
This gluten-free granola recipe is paleo, and therefore grain-free, so it does not contain oats.
Paleo recipes are gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and refined-sugar-free. They include whole food ingredients as opposed to highly processed foods.
There are so many ways to eat this granola. Serve it over your favorite dairy free yogurt, as a cereal with fresh fruit and plant based milk, or by itself. Portion it into snack size bags for easy, on-the-go snacking.
Absolutely! To keep your homemade paleo granola fresh, store it in a freezer safe, air tight container for up to 3-4 months. Let it get to room temperature and serve however you like.
More Gluten-Free Granola Recipes
Cinnamon Apple Paleo & Gluten-Free Granola
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw pecan halves or walnuts
- 1/2 cup raw almonds
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1 cup coconut flakes unsweetened
- 1 apple peeled, cored, and diced into ¼ inch pieces
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add pecans, almonds, and cashews in a food processor, and pulse a few times until roughly chopped. Pour into a large mixing bowl.
- Add coconut flakes and chopped apple.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the cococut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sea salt.
- Pour over the nut mixture, stir to coat evenly.
- Spread the granola on the parchment paper in a thin even layer, pressing down with a spatula to get crunchy clusters.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then stir and flip gently. Press down again with a spatula.
- Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and cool for at least 30 minutes without touching so the granola can harden and crisp up.
- Break into clusters, and enjoy! Store in an airtight container at room temperature for week, or freeze for up to 3-4 months.
Video
Notes
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I would love to make this granola, but have a coconut allergy. What substitutions do you suggest for the coconut oil and coconut flakes? I’d be ok with oats, open to other ideas. Thank you!