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    Home » Breakfast

    Published: May 12, 2013 · Modified: Feb 28, 2023 by Meryl Downing 1 Comment

    Maple Pecan Applesauce Granola

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    Once you make homemade granola, you may never go back!  Maple Pecan Applesauce Granola is the perfect breakfast, loaded with oats, pecans, walnuts, maple syrup and that delicious combination of cinnamon and applesauce!  Use it to top yogurt, oatmeal, plain cereal like Cheerios or Chex, or just eat it by the handful!

    Homemade granola on a sheet pan and white kitchen towel.

    Why We Love It!

    • Homemade Granola is so delicious! - If you haven't tried it, try it!  This maple pecan granola is especially great because it uses applesauce and cinnamon to give you that classic flavor.  It's a staple in our house, try our other favorite Almond Spiced Granola!
    • It's better for you! - Fresh from the oven, that apple pie smell, homemade applesauce granola is made with REAL, better for you ingredients.  It's far superior to its store-bought counterpart, no refined sugar or preservatives here!  Just lots of protein from good quality ingredients like oats, nuts, seeds and applesauce.  The applesauce takes the place of some of the oil needed in granola.  
    • Customize it to make it your own! - You need to keep the wet to dry ingredients proportioned the same.  But, from there you can try different nut and seed combinations, honey instead of maple syrup, different dried fruits (adding dried apple chips would be amazing!), make it your own!  If you want to use less nuts to make it more affordable, just sub extra oats.  Or, if you want to use more nuts to make it healthier, again, just sub less oats.  
    • Let the kids help! - Homemade granola is one of my kid's favorite things to help with in the kitchen.  They've been making granola since they were two, they love to measure, stir, smell, mix, and sample!
    The opened jar of Applesauce granola and a strainer with berries.

    Ingredients & Substitutions

    • Regular Rolled Oats - Not steel cut or quick oats.  I like to get these out of the bulk bin at the store.
    • Pecans & Walnuts - You can leave the nuts whole or chop them, and sub any nuts you like.
    • Seeds - I like to use any combination of pumpkin, sunflower, flax, or chia seeds.
    • Shredded Coconut - Adds a hint of sweetness.
    • Cinnamon & Salt - Don't leave out the salt!  This salted maple granola gives you that salty sweet combo and brings lots of flavor to the granola!
    • Applesauce - Applesauce gives you that autumn harvest apple flavor, which marries perfectly with the cinnamon and maple syrup. It is also a bit healthier, cutting the amount of oil needed in the recipe.
    • Coconut Oil - Can be melted in the microwave.
    • Maple Syrup - Be sure to use real maple syrup, not pancake syrup.  This is the sweetener for the granola, you could also use honey.  The maple pecan granola flavor is truly my favorite!  It has such a rich depth to it that store-bought granola, sweetened with sugar, just doesn't have.
    • Raisins - Don't bake the raisins!  Add them after the granola is baked and cooled.  Any dried fruit will work here such as cranberry, cherries, sliced apricots, golden or regular raisins.  Or try apple chips or any form of dehydrated apples, added when the granola is cooled.
    Labeled ingredients for Maple Pecan Applesauce Granola.

    Instructions

    Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 250°. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl (not the raisins).  Add the wet ingredients in a small glass measuring cup and whisk together (coconut oil can be microwaved and then measured).

    Dry ingredients for granola in a large mixing bowl.

    Step 2 - Add your wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Spread your granola on two large baking sheets lined with parchment paper (I reuse my parchment paper, just for granola, again and again!).

    A large mixing bowl with granola ready to bake.

    Step 3 - Bake for 75 minutes. When the time is up, turn the oven off, but leave the granola in the warm oven until cooled. A few hours or overnight, do not open oven or stir it, this gives you nice big clusters!

    Two sheet pans of granola ready to bake.

    Step 4 - When cooled, add dried fruit and store in a jar.

    Applesauce granola on a sheet pan with parchment paper.

    Tips for the Best Granola

    • Use two large sheet pans to spread the granola out.  Bake it on parchment paper, which really helps your nice big clusters stay intact and keeps your cinnamon pecan granola from sticking to the pan.  You can reuse your parchment paper several times for making granola (go green!).
    • While the granola slowly bakes for 75 minutes, don't open the oven or stir it!  That ruins your clusters.  And when the timer is up, just turn the oven off and leave the granola in for a few hours to cool.  Again, the clusters are forming!!
    Breakfast bowls topped with homemade applesauce granola and berries with yogurt.

    How to Serve Granola

    We use our cinnamon applesauce granola as a topping for lots of different breakfasts and snacks:

    • Yogurt Topping
    • Crockpot Steel Cut Oatmeal or Homemade Instant Oatmeal Topping
    • Cold Cereal - Add some excitement and protein to a bowl of Cheerios or Chex
    • Add into Trail Mix
    • Ice Cream Topping
    • Kid's Snack - Sprinkle granola over sliced bananas or apples and peanut butter
    • Eat it by the handful for a sweet and semi healthy protein snack. 
    A bowl of oatmeal topped with applesauce granola and strawberries.

    More Breakfast Favorites!

    • Double Chocolate Zucchini muffins on cooling rack.
      Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
    • Overnight Baked French Toast with Berries
      Easy Weekday Protein French Toast Bake
    • Kid's bowl of yogurt with homemade granola and berries.
      Kid's Healthy Breakfast Ideas
    • Protein Pancakes with butter and maple syrup
      Easy Protein Pancakes

    If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it! Be sure to leave a star rating and a comment below!

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    Homemade granola on a sheet pan and white kitchen towel.

    Maple Pecan Applesauce Granola

    Once you make homemade granola, you may never go back!  Maple Pecan Applesauce Granola is the perfect breakfast, loaded with oats, pecans, walnuts, maple syrup and that delicious combination of cinnamon and applesauce!  Use it to top yogurt, oatmeal, plain cereal like Cheerios or Chex, or just eat it by the handful!

    Hit the stars to rate this recipe!

    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Breakfast
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: applesauce granola
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
    Servings: 9 cups
    Calories: 583kcal
    Author: Meryl Downing
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    Equipment

    • 2 large baking sheets

    Ingredients

    • 5 cups rolled oats
    • 1 cup pecans roughly chopped or left whole
    • 1 cup walnuts roughly chopped or left whole (any nuts can be substituted)
    • ½ cup seeds any combination of sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame, or chia seeds
    • ½ cup shredded coconut
    • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • ½ cup applesauce
    • ½ cup coconut oil
    • ½ cup maple syrup honey can be substituted
    • ½ cup raisins any combination of raisins-regular or golden, craisins, dried apple, or any other dried fruit

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 250°. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl (not raisins).
    • Mix wet ingredients in a small glass measuring cup (coconut oil can be microwaved and then measured).
    • Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well. Spread granola on two large baking sheets lined with parchment paper (parchment paper can be reused again and again for granola!).
    • Bake for 75 minutes. When the time is up, turn oven off and leave granola in the oven a few hours or overnight, do not open oven or stir it (this gives you nice big clusters).
    • When cooled, add dried fruit and store in a jar.

    Notes

    • The recipe can be altered in any way as long as the wet to dry ratio remains the same. For example, if you want to make the recipe more affordable, you can use more oats and less nuts as long as it totals 7 cups, etc.
    • Don't open the oven or stir the granola while it's baking, this ruins the big clusters!  

    Nutrition

    Serving: 0g | Calories: 583kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 279mg | Potassium: 401mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 14IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 72mg | Iron: 3mg
    Did You Make This Recipe?Rate this recipe by clicking the stars, or leave a comment below, I'd love to hear how it turned out! Follow me on Pinterest at @sungrownkitchen to browse and save all the garden recipes!

    More Easy Breakfast Recipes

    • Almond flour pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.
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    • Finished jars of applesauce, extras for the freezer.
      Easy No-Peel Applesauce for the Freezer
    • Pumpkin oat waffles with banana and blueberry topping on a white plate.
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    • Banana Carrot Muffins, gluten free, nut free muffins.
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      Recipe Rating




    1. Dave Rice says

      August 15, 2021 at 11:01 pm

      5 stars
      I had it for breakfast Friday with a peach and vanilla yogurt. Very good.

      Reply

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