4-Ingredient Easy Banana Granola
Simple and customizable, this easy banana granola only uses four basic ingredients. Nothing hard to find, nothing exotic or expensive, just a few bits and pieces you likely already have around your kitchen. You can also really play around with this recipe- try adding peanuts, or maybe shredded coconut- or just eat it as is.
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Make Breakfast Easy Again!
In my hurry to get to work in the morning (I tend to over-use the snooze button), I often forgo breakfast or make do with a piece of toast as I run out the door. So on the weekends I like to try for a more substantial and creative meal. Lately I’ve been making granola, and have always been a little annoyed by the large quantities of maple syrup used. While pure maple syrup is amazing, I don’t like paying the cost that goes with it. Because of that I decided to develop a delicious, simple, inexpensive, easy banana granola that I could make without the guilt of spending on syrup. This recipe is so simple, there are only four ingredients. It is so cheap, the most expensive part where the oats that I spent around 40 cents on. And its so delicious that it has already been nibbled down to half its original quantity- and its only been done for about half an hour.
Is Sugar Vegan?
I managed to dramatically reduce the costs by using brown sugar instead of maple syrup. It is important to note that not all brown sugar is vegan. Brown sugar is made up of cane sugar combine with molasses, and cane sugar is often bleached using animal bones. However, many sugars do not use this process. How do you tell? This is really mostly a problem where I like in the United States and the best way to tell if your sugar is vegan or not is to either call the company or look it up on the internet. Zulka is a common brand, but there are others too- you just have to do a little research. One shortcut you can follow is to make sure you buy organic sugar if it’s in your budget. It is more expensive, but they’re not allowed to use bone char and still label it as organic.
Looking for Granola? Try one of these other Granola Recipes
- Vegan Pumpkin Pie Spice Granola
- White Bean Watermelon Gazpacho with Savory Almond Seaweed Granola
- Vegan White Chocolate Granola with Wild Blueberries
- Green Tea Coconut Granola
Bananas for Bananas? Try one of these Banana Recipes!
- Vegan Cranberry Banana Bread
- 5-Ingredient Vegan Banana Peanut Butter Cookies
- Spicy Jackfruit and Black Bean Stew with Bananas
- Vegan Banana Carob Chip Muffins
- Vegan Savory Banana Fritters
Making Easy Banana Granola
Along with the brown sugar you will need oats, one banana (ripe, and a little brown and mushy) and half a cup of neutral flavored oil. I also used a plastic spatula to do all my mixing- its a favorite tool of mine as it can combine ingredients as well as a whisk, scrape the sides of a bowl clean and spread your granola onto the pan evenly for baking. Make sure you take the granola out of the oven a couple times and stir a few times as it bakes. It will brown on the bottom first, so stirring it prevents burning and allows for even, beautiful, golden, easy banana granola.
Please leave me your feedback, and I hope you enjoy!
4-Ingredient Easy Banana Granola
Ingredients
- One banana, very ripe
- 3 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup canola, coconut, or other mild flavored oil
- 1/2 vegan brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
- Mash the banana until it is smooth. Set aside. Heat a small saucepan on the stove at a relatively low heat. Add the sugar and oil and stir until the two are combined and the sugar has melted. Add the banana, stir until combined and take off the heat.
- Measure the oats into a large mixing bowl and scrape the sugar, oil, banana mixture over the oats. Stir until all the oats are covered.
- Spread the granola evenly on a baking sheet (no need to grease it). You can sprinkle with a little extra brown sugar, if you like, to create a sweeter flavor and more interesting texture. Bake for a total of 25 minutes, taking it out once or twice to stir. If you see excessive browning remove earlier so it does not burn.
- Remove from the oven and let cool. Once the granola is cooled it should develop a hardened, toasted texture. Eat right away or store in an airtight container.
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