This post contains affiliate links.
Homemade granola isn't just for the holidays, but this Christmas Granola takes my regular recipe and adds everything festive and Christmassy! With lots of almonds and pecans, green pumpkin seeds, red dried cranberries, a few mini white chocolate chips and almond extract to give it that signature holiday feel, it's perfect for gifting!
- Homemade for the Holidays! - Gifts from the kitchen are always well loved at Christmas time! But, sometimes it can turn into Christmas cookie overload, and a gift that isn't dessert is much appreciated!
- Useful, and always gets eaten! - Enter Christmas Granola, it's useful, a healthy breakfast with yogurt and fruit, and lasts for at least a month or two, so it's perfect for busy holiday prep. We make my Almond Vanilla Granola all year and this is a similar variation, full of protein with oats and nuts, sweetened with honey, and better for you than store-bought. And it's incredibly delicious, once you try it, I doubt you'll ever buy it from the store again!
- Love Homemade Edible Gifts? We often pair our granola gifts with beautiful jars of Homemade Almond Biscotti or these easy Rolo Turtle Pretzel Bites!
Jump to:
Ingredients & Substitutions
Real ingredients, plus lots of red, white and green pops of holiday color, this Christmas Granola is gorgeously merry and bright!
- Rolled Oats - I like to buy oats from the bulk bin, the same oats we use to make our morning oatmeal. You can get regular rolled oats, old-fashioned rolled oats, or thick cut oats. Do not use steel cut oats or quick oats, and really Quaker oats are kind of small and not very good!
- Nuts and Seeds - Pecans and sliced almonds felt the most holiday-like to me, but you can certainly substitute any kind of nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews or raw pistachios. I like to leave the pecans whole, but you can chop them if you like. Use raw nuts since you will be baking them.
- Coconut Flakes - I looked for the biggest coconut flakes I could find, rather than just shredded coconut for this recipe. Either are fine, but the big flakes are more Christmassy!
- Avocado Oil - A neutral oil to bake the oats and nuts up golden brown. You can also substitute melted coconut oil, or even olive oil or a combination.
- Honey - Honey is the sweetener, but you can substitute real maple syrup or do a combination of the two. Honey will give you the nice big granola clusters, maple syrup won't as much.
- Cinnamon and Salt - Cinnamon is a classic granola flavor, but don't overlook the importance of salt. It brings out the flavor of all ingredients, and really balances the sweetness.
- Almond Extract and Vanilla Extract - Nothing feels more like the holidays to me than almond extract, so I went a little heavy on it! Vanilla too, they're delicious!
- Dried Cranberry - Because they're bright red and festive, but you can use any kind of dried fruit like raisins, chopped apricots, or cherries.
- Mini White Chocolate Chips - These are totally optional, and really not needed, but a little handful at the end make it all the more special. Use as many or as few as you like.
See recipe card below for full quantities.
Instructions
Homemade granola is one of the easiest things to make, and is so so much yummier than store-bought! Once you start, hopefully you won't stop!
Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 250°F.
Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix.
Step 2 - Add the wet ingredients to a small bowl or glass measuring cup and mix well with a fork or whisk.
Step 3 - Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix very well with a spatula.
Step 4 - Pour and spread out onto two large sheet pans lined with parchment paper.
Step 5 - Bake at 250° for 75 minutes (without stirring or tossing), then turn the oven off, but leave the granola in for another 2 or 3 hours as it cools.
When cool, remove from the oven, add the dried cranberry and white chocolate chips. It will be a crisp sheet, break it up and store in jars.
Recipe Notes & Tips
- Use Parchment Paper - If you don't you'll be scraping the granola off the pan with a metal spatula! And this is not the time to use the eco-parchment paper, I've had the granola stick to it and peel off in little bits, not good! Use regular white parchment paper, or a silicone baking mat. I reuse my parchment paper a few times for granola.
- Don't Bake the Dried Fruit - Wait to add it at the end or you will end up with hard little rocks! Wait until it cools to add the chocolate chips too so they don't melt.
- Let it Cool in the Oven - This is really the secret to good granola. Don't check on it, stir it, or disturb it, and when it's done, just turn the oven off and forget about it! The clusters are forming! At the low temp of 250°F, the granola slowly bakes, dries out, and gets crispy, the cool down process is part of the baking time!
- Ways to Serve Granola - Serve granola over yogurt or oatmeal with berries, add a few scoops to plain cereal with milk, add to quick homemade trail mix, serve over sliced bananas, apples with peanut butter or other fruit, spoon over ice cream or smoothies or just eat it by the handful!
- Storage and Gifting - Store fully cooled granola in jars or airtight containers at room temperature (in the cupboard) for several weeks! A jar of homemade Christmas Granola makes a great gift tied with a pretty ribbon!
Recipe FAQs
No, and you shouldn't! This is the biggest granola mistake and it's an extra step that is not needed! At the low oven temp of 250°F, the granola does not need to be checked on, stirred or tossed. Just leave it alone, the big crispy clusters are forming! Let it cool completely in the oven and your granola will come out almost like a sheet of peanut brittle, just break it up!
Yes! As long as your oats are gluten-free (they should be), the granola is gluten-free, especially perfect for anyone on your gift list!
This recipe makes about 8 pint sized jars of granola, perfect to give as gifts tied up with a ribbon!
More Holiday Favorites
Love this Recipe?
If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it! Be sure to leave a star rating by clicking the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below!
Join the Email List for new recipes delivered straight to your inbox!
Christmas Granola
Hit the stars to rate this recipe!
Print Pin RateIngredients
Dry Ingredients
- 5 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 1 cup pecans
- ¾ cup pumpkin seeds (raw pepitas)
- 1 cup coconut flakes (or shredded)
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup avocado oil (or coconut oil melted)
- ½ cup honey (or maple syrup)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Add after Baking
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup mini white chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250℉.
- Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix.
- Add all wet ingredients to a small bowl or glass measuring cup and whisk with a fork.
- Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix very well with a spatula. Pour and spread out onto 2 large baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 75 minutes without flipping or checking. Then turn the oven off but leave the granola in for 2 or 3 hours or until cooled.
- Add dried cranberries and mini white chocolate chips. Break up the granola into clusters, and store or gift in jars.
Notes
- Use Parchment Paper - It's important so the granola doesn't stick to the pan and easy for clean up! I usually don't even wash the pans, and the parchment paper can be reused a few times for granola. Don't use eco-style parchment paper, it sticks and tears into small pieces!
- Don't Skip the Salt - It really adds big flavor and gives that salty sweet balance.
- Don't Mix while Baking - A lot of granola recipes will have you tossing and flipping every 15 minutes. You don't need to do this, and it actually prevents the nice big clusters from forming. The oven is set low at 250, so just leave it, no checking needed!
- Leave it in the Oven to Cool - After the timer is up, just turn off the oven and leave the granola in. Again, this helps the clusters form, it's fine to forget about it all day or at least a few hours! Then add the cranberry and chocolate chips and break it up to store.
- Recipe makes 8 pint size jars for gifting!
- Nutrition Info is for 1 pint jar of granola.
Leave a Review