Honey Coconut Grain-Free Granola

Honey Coconut Grain-Free Granola features one of my favorite flavors, coconut! The granola is made with coconut chips, honey, pepitas, cashews, sunflower seeds, coconut oil, cinnamon, nutritional yeast, dates, and a touch of salt.

This recipe is inspired by a traditional homemade granola recipe that an old friend used to make for her family. It is so delicious! Unfortunately, she did not share the recipe. But, I do recall that the granola had honey and coconut. Her granola also had the best crunchy texture.

I wanted to see if I could develop a recipe that was similar that did not use any grains or butter. Also, I wanted to incorporate a chewy texture like other granolas I have tried that use raisins or dried cranberries.

I took a trip to Sprouts with my daughter. We strolled down the bulk aisles to see what was available. We picked out coconut chips, pepitas, cashews, and sunflower seeds. Once we got home, I went through the pantry to see what other ingredients we could add to give the recipe a buttery taste and a chewy texture that would balance the crunch from the coconut chips. I landed on chopped dates for the chewy texture, refined coconut oil, salt and nutritional yeast for the buttery flavor.

Now that I had all my building blocks for our grain-free granola, it was time to play. And, that we did. After a few recipe tests and taste tests, we landed on what I think is a great combination of crunch and chew.

The flavor of the honey, coconut, and the chew from the dates pairs nicely with the warmth from the cinnamon, and the flavors of the cashews, sunflowers seeds, pepitas and make for a well-rounded bite. 

I like to add the Honey Coconut Grain-Free Granola to my yogurt breakfast parfait. I recommend using your favorite dairy-free yogurt and fruit. Don't forget to grab the honey and give it a healthy drizzle!

Occasionally, I like to break into the jar of Honey Coconut Grain-Free Granola as a quick snack. I find that I can't stop myself from eating more than one serving.