Food & Cooking Recipes Breakfast & Brunch Recipes Granola Recipes Honey-Pecan Granola Making granola yourself is so easy—and so worth it. Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 30 mins Total Time: 40 mins Servings: 12 Yield: 4 1/2 cups Jump to recipe Our honey granola recipe is quick, easy, and perfectly sweet. Best of all, it calls for just five basic ingredients: old-fashioned rolled oats, honey, pecans, butter, and salt. Making granola at home is an excellent way to utilize leftover ingredients, such as nuts and dried fruit, and it’s significantly more economical than buying it at the store. You’ll need a bowl for mixing it together and a baking sheet to cook it on—that’s it! Whether you layer this golden, toasty granola in a parfait, enjoy it with milk, or simply grab a handful for a snack, it’s sure to become a family favorite. 18 Breakfast Ideas That Don’t Include Eggs Credit: Brie Goldman The Best Oats to Use for This Granola When making granola, reach for old-fashioned rolled oats, not steel-cut or instant ones. Old-fashioned rolled oats are groats (the whole kernels that come off the oat plant) that have been steamed, pressed, and flaked. Reasonably quick cooking, they're excellent for baking, simmering, and, yes, making into granola. Neither minimally processed steel-cut oats nor quick cooking instant oats will work well for this recipe—save them for another use. Other Key Ingredients (and Helpful Swaps) Honey: Granola needs a subtle sweetness, and using a liquid sweetener ensures each morsel will be evenly coated. While anything from agave to maple syrup can be used, our recipe calls for wildflower honey, which is mild with subtle floral notes. Feel free to use another variety of honey, like clover or orange blossom, if that's what you have on hand. Nuts: Pecans add crunch, substance, beneficial nutrients, and plenty of flavor. There's no need to toast them first, as they'll bake along with the oats. However, do take a moment to chop them coarsely before stirring them in with the other ingredients. In place of pecans, use an equal amount of walnuts or almonds. Fat: Like the sweetener, fat is an essential component of granola as it helps the oats to brown and clump while adding delicious flavor. We opted for melted butter here, but you can use an equal amount of olive oil or a neutral-flavored oil like safflower instead. Feel free to increase the butter up to half a cup for a richer result. The salt: A touch of salt balances out the sweetness of the honey and helps to bring out the flavor of the other ingredients. If using fine salt instead of coarse, use half as much. To make a nut-free version of this recipe, omit the pecans and increase the oats to 4 cups. Directions Credit: Brie Goldman Preheat oven, prep baking sheet and combine ingredients: Preheat oven to 300°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a large bowl, combine oats, pecans, butter, honey, and salt; mix well to coat. Credit: Brie Goldman Transfer to granola to sheet and bake: Transfer to prepared baking sheet and spread in an even layer. Bake until oats are lightly golden, 30 minutes, stirring halfway through. Let cool completely on sheet. Credit: Brie Goldman Credit: Brie Goldman How to Store Homemade Granola Once fully cooled, granola can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 weeks. How (and When) to Add Mix-Ins We love the simplicity of this granola recipe, but it also makes a great starting point that you can customize as you see fit: Seeds: Toss in a handful of pumpkin, sunflower, or flax seeds before baking. As with the nuts, there's no need to toast them first. Spices and extracts: To boost the flavor of your granola, consider adding a teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract or up to 1/2 teaspoon of a spice like cinnamon, cardamom, or ginger when stirring together the other ingredients. Dried fruit: From cranberries to cherries to figs, adding dried fruit is a wonderful way to add a pleasant chewiness to your granola. Just wait to stir it in until after the granola has baked to keep it from burning or becoming hard. 5 More Granola Recipes to Try Basic Granola Fig and Ginger Granola Toasted-Coconut Granola Chocolate-Cherry Granola Bars Granola Bark Updated by Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds is an experienced recipe developer, recipe tester, food editor, and writer with over a decade of experience in the food and media industries.