Okay, okay, okay. Hold on for a hot second.
Pumpkin Granola is in the house today and it is smelling reeeeeal nice up in here.
This granola is my everything. Notes of cinnamon, toasty nuts, maple, and caramelized pumpkin, extra salty-sweet and crispy, roasty to the max. I think I am legitimately going on 14 days straight of having this fall perfection for breakfast and I have exactly zero plans of stopping. Maybe I just made another batch of it and maybe I don’t plan to give it away. What are you gonna do about it?
You know when you reach a point where you have to start bribing yourself to do things? Like, life is just a lot, and carrots on sticks become helpful?
“If you ___ (make your bed), you can have ___ (a pint of ice cream).”
“When you ____ (go grocery shopping), you can pick out a ____ (frozen pizza).”
“As soon as you finish ___ (working out, aka walking for 20 minutes), you can ____ (Netflix binge).”
I hope you will not give me the side eye when I tell you that, in complete seriousness, I OWN ADULT RESPONSIBILITY STICKERS. And I use them. I put them in my planner on my good days to celebrate the fact that I am adulting right now. That no, I did not quit everything and watch TV for 12 hours straight. That I am, in fact, acting like a normal person even though my bed is especially comfy lately.
They are actual stickers – did I say that already? – in the shape of little awards, and they say things like (and I quote):
- Made Real Food
- Got Something Done
- Didn’t Quit My Job
- Did The Dishes
- Didn’t Hit Snooze Twice
- Got Dressed Today
- Didn’t Burn Down The House
I know some of you know. You know this season. You know this feeling.
I see you and I say: friend, let’s get you some Pumpkin Granola.
If there’s one thing that makes you feel like you can handle life, it is baking an XL batch of homemade pumpkin granola, and, as a result, making your house smell like the candle store at the mall, and, as a result, getting to eat homemade pumpkin granola for breakfast all week, and, as a result, being reminded with each crunchy, salty-sweet bite how much of a boss you are.
Sometimes these things are just legitimately healing, you know?
We can do dis.
Pumpkin Granola will be our guide.
May the cozy-wonderful force of fall be with you this week! ❤
Favorite Pumpkin Granola
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 9 cups (about 18 half-cup servings) 1x
Description
Pumpkin Granola that is both salty and sweet! Made with REAL PUMPKIN along with oats, coconut, almonds, pistachios, maple syrup, cinnamon, and olive oil. My favorite fall granola! ♡ Adapted from the Last Granola Recipe by my friend The Faux Martha.
Ingredients
Scale
- 6 cups rolled oats
- 1 heaping cup sliced almonds
- 1 heaping cup pistachios (or other nuts)
- 1 heaping cup unsweetened flaked coconut
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 2–3 teaspoons salt (see notes)
- 1–2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Prep the Pumpkin Granola: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients together (oats, almonds, pistachios, coconut). Whisk the wet ingredients and spices together (pumpkin, olive oil, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon). Pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Bake the Pumpkin Granola: Spread the granola into a large nonstick jelly roll pan or cake pan – I do this on two separate pans or in two batches. Bake for 15 minutes; stir; bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest – it should start to crisp up.
- Eat and love: Store in a plastic zip-top bag for a week or so. Serve with granola, fruit, or just with good ol’ milk.
Notes
Salt: Yup. 2-3 teaspoons salt is not a typo. This recipe, as written, is meant to be salty! I love it that way. I make mine with 2 1/2 or 3 teaspoons salt, and it gives it an awesome salty-sweet bite, but if you’re not into the salty-sweet thing, you can definitely reduce that amount. Either way, be aware that the unbaked granola “batter” will taste very salty, and fear not – that saltiness mellows out beautifully after you bake it.
Bake times: There is a fine line between perfectly toasted / caramelized and straight up burned pumpkin granola. I found that the 30 to 40 minute mark was my cut-off in our smaller studio oven, whereas in my larger oven at home I got away with about 45 minutes. I had several batches that I popped back in the oven for an extra five minutes and they went from browned to burned really quickly, so beware. That being said, even if you get a little extra browning (not burning, just browning) around the edges, I think that actually tastes really nice once mixed with the rest of the granola. Was that overall just super helpful?
Pro Tip: Sprinking raw or brown sugar and a tiny bit of extra salt over the top of the granola as it cools is never a bad idea.
Other add-ins that work well: pecans, walnuts, chia seeds. But be advised that the pecans and walnuts both burn pretty easily so I would suggest adding them towards the end of the baking time. The pistachios seem to be able to handle the heat a bit more, so I found that it worked just fine to add them with all the other ingredients.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Snack
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: pumpkin granola, fall granola, healthy granola recipe
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our easy pumpkin recipes page. Check it out!