Crispy Banana Bread Granola

This banana bread granola is clustery, gluten free, and tastes just like banana bread! It’s perfect on top of smoothies, with yogurt, or on it’s own as cereal. It’s a delicious healthier snack or breakfast that is made with simple ingredients.

I don’t know about you, but we go through bananas like rapid fire in my house. Sometimes, we buy too many and end up with a whole pile of overripe bananas.

I usually make chocolate chip banana bread or banana muffins in those cases, but lately, I’ve been craving something different.

I had never tried banana in granola before, but I am SO glad I did because it is delicious!

Plus, when this granola is baking, be prepared to have your house smell like cinnamon banana maple deliciousness. Heaven, basically. Try my banana protein muffins next!

Before we get started…

• Oats are naturally gluten free and so is this granola, but be sure to use certified gluten free oats if you are cooking for someone with Celiac Disease!
• Be sure your bananas are nice and spotty/ripe so they are naturally sweeter. You are welcome to cut back on the added sweetener (the maple syrup and brown sugar) if you prefer.

How to make banana bread granola

To make this granola, first you want to mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl. This is a one bowl recipe, so be sure to use a pretty large sized bowl.

Second, add in the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar, vanilla, and almond butter. This part tastes amazing (despite looking a little funky) so feel free to have a lick!

Once everything is all mixed together, add in all of the remaining ingredients. Give everything a good stir to ensure all of the dry ingredients are well coated.

Finally, spread the granola onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 45 minutes, stirring halfway.

Turn the oven off and let sit another 20 minutes to crisp. This granola takes longer to crisp than most because of the banana, so letting it sit in the off oven will help it crisp without burning!

Remove from the oven, let cool and then break apart into clusters. Serve with yogurt, on top of a smoothie or enjoy as a snack!

Keeping it crispy

In order to ensure this banana bread granola gets nice and crispy, you’ll want to leave it in the oven for at least 30 minutes after it bakes.

Just turn the oven off, and let it sit and crisp up! I sometimes leave it in for several hours to ensure it gets very crispy.

Variations

Nut butter. Feel free to sub the almond butter for peanut butter, or any other nut or seed butter. You can swap the nuts for more oats and sub the nut butter for a seed butter to make this nut free.

Add chocolate chips! This recipe is also delicious with a few handfuls of chocolate chips thrown in! If you do add this, just toss them in AFTER it bakes, just after it comes out of the oven. That way, the chocolate will melt into the rest of the granola slightly, but won’t burn. If you don’t want them to melt at all, just wait until the granola cools to add it in.

Add dried fruit. Some dried cranberries or raisins would be great in here! Just toss them in after the granola bakes and cools.

Try these next!

• Vegan Gluten Free Banana Bread
• Chickpea Scramble
• Vegan & Gluten Free Granola
• Almond Flour Waffles

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