5-Ingredient Grain Free Granola (No Sugar)
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Published Jan 16, 2020, Updated Jan 30, 2024
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This grain free granola is made without sugar! It’s loaded with coconut, a variety of nuts, coconut oil and cinnamon. Paleo, gluten-free, low carb and low sugar.
The simpler the better these days! This granola is made with only five ingredients and comes together in a flash. Even though it’s sugar free, it is crazy delicious!
Only 5 Ingredients
- unsweetened coconut flakes
- raw nuts: I used a blend of cashews, almonds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds
- chia seeds
- cinnamon
- coconut oil or butter, melted
How to Make Grain Free Granola
It truly doesn’t get much easier than this… mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl and spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure the mixture is spread evenly on the baking sheet. Bake until golden brown and enjoy! After completely cooled you can store in an airtight container. I like to store in the refrigerator or freezer so it stays extra crunchy.
No Added Sugar
This recipe is inspired by Sarah Wilson’s sugar-free granola recipe from I Quit Sugar. She suggests using rice malt syrup, but I made mine without the syrup and it turned out to be delicious. I can totally see why it’s such a popular recipe. It does a great job of satisfying my craving for sweet and crunchy granola but without the grains and added sugar. It’s so packed with healthy fats from the coconut, nuts and chia seeds so it’s really quite filling. I love it on greek yogurt!
Love Granola? Try These:
- Homemade Granola
- Coconut Almond Granola
- Hemp Granola
- Chocolate Granola
- Granola Butter
- Pumpkin Granola
Grain Free Granola
Ingredients
- 3 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
- 2 cups raw nuts, roughly chopped (I used 1 cup raw cashews, 1/2 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped, 1/4 cup raw walnuts, 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds)
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 5 tablespoons coconut oil or butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix thoroughly, and spread evenly on the sheet.
- Bake 30-40 minutes until golden, rotating halfway through cooking time.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool, then eat while it’s still crispy.
Notes
- I like storing the granola in my fridge or freezer so it stays extra crunchy.
- Inspired and adapted from Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar cookbook.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Great interview. I’ll have to check out Sarah’s cookbook!
I have been really wanting to check out this book! It looks awesome!
I don’t know if I could ever quite fruit, but I have quite added sugar before. I’ll have to check out her cookbook because while I don’t know that I would completely quite sugar, I like keeping my intake low. The granola sounds great too!
great interview! and the granola sounds amazing
This granola sounds delicious! Are the nutrition facts based on coconut oil, or butter?
I used coconut oil in my recipe so that’s what I used for the nutrition facts. 🙂
This sounds delicious! Are the nutrition facts based on coconut oil, or butter?
Coconut oil.
Interesting post! I’m curious about the book and wonder if a sugar hiatus would affect my mood/health.
After I read your comment about Sriracha, I had to go check my bottle. I was surprised; mine is only 1gram per teaspoon serving. Are you saying it’s packed with sugar because that’s listed as the second ingredient, or because you eat several servings of it per day so it ends up being a lot for you? Personally, I think 1gram per serving is not bad!
Mine only has 1 gram per teaspoon as well, but like you said sugar is the second ingredient. Also there are 96 servings in a bottle so 96 grams of sugar in the bottle, which is about 24 teaspoons or 24 packets of sugar.
I personally don’t think 1 gram per serving is bad either, but 1 teaspoon is pretty small and given that I was using Sriracha on my breakfast, lunch and dinner, I was probably having a about 3 teaspoons as day. So.. 3 extra grams of sugar and 300 extra grams of sodium — just from Sriracha. And I noticed that I was having to use more and more because it wasn’t tasting as spicy to me anymore (I guess I was growing a tolerance to the spice).
In the grand scheme of things, it’s really not that bad and I’ll still use Sriracha from time to time. 🙂
In most countries, yes, the order that ingredients are listed on the label reflects their percentage of the product. In products with few ingredients, however, something may appear as 2nd or 3rd on the list, whilst still being a relatively minor amount in regards to other ingredients. Therefore, concluding that a product has a large amount of a particular substance just because this ingredient appears at the beginning of the list is a mistake, as I believe Monica is trying to point out.
Of course, 1 gram of sugar per teaspoon equates in very general terms (assuming similar weight and density, since a teaspoon is a measure of volume) to 1/5 grams, or 20%, which is indeed a fairly high concentration.
Oh wow, this looks really interesting. I’m totally guilty of “needing” something sweet after a meal 😉
This is probably a stupid question, but does no sugar mean no wine?
Good minds think alike. I asked the same question. haha
In the book Sarah mentions that wine, beer and pure spirits (liquor) have minimal fructose because the fructose is converted to alcohol. The drier the wine, the better. Fortified and dessert wines are a no-go. She also mentions that one or two drinks in one sitting is best because alcohol has its own fat metabolism and health issues and it’s also addictive.
Long story short, you can still drink wine in moderation. Woo-hoo! 🙂
Great interview! I “quit” sugar a bit over 18 months ago – I used to CRAVE it and pretty sure I was a bit addicted! I used to get crazy “brain fog”, my mood was all over the place and I had low energy levels. After only about two (incredibly hard!) weeks I started to feel a bit better, and I now barely have no processed sugar in my diet. I’ve lost about 10 pounds without trying – and kept it off – and I actually exercise now less as I dont feel I have to work off calories, I just exercise for health. If any of this resonates with any of you (or any of what Sarah mentioned above) I definitely recommend cutting sugar from your diet. I read her book (albeit after I’d already stopped eating sugar) and it’s full of loads of tips and information, so a great resource!
Interesting interview! I’ve considered cutting out processed sugar completely, and definitely have lowered my intake, but I haven’t ever considered cutting it out completely. I might have to pick this book up and give it a try!
Great interview and the granola pics look fabulous!!
Great interview! I think I might have a problem with my thyroid, but had never considered sugar as being a factor in that. There’s only one thing Sarah said that kind of pushed my buttons… our digestion system has in fact changed since the “cave man” days (by the way, who were the cave men? Neandertals? Homo erectus?) Something that most people don’t understand about evolution is that it does not stop. Just because our anatomy seemingly hasn’t changed since Neandertals went extinct, doesn’t mean that evolution has stopped. It’s constantly working, which means our digestion system did not just come to a stand still thousands of years ago. It continues to evolve! Just a scientific point of view on the matter!
Can’t wait to check out Sarah’s book. Looks great!
It takes many, many thousands of years plus, at a minimum, for evolutionary changes/adaptations to occur. I also don’t know anyone that thinks that human ‘evolution has stopped’, especially in relation to the extinction of Neanderthals? (the correct spelling). Given that only around 1-4% of the modern human genome is traceable to that of Neanderthals, any comparisons or conclusions related to this are spurious at best.
That granola sounds uh-mazingly delicious. Thanks for sharing the interview.
Very great interview! Thanks for sharing all of this information with us! I am definitely going to pin this so I can refer back to it!
I am so happy this book inspired you to clean up your habits!!! 🙂 I quit sugar 13 years ago and I have never ever looked back! It might be a tad bit difficult at first, but it will just become second nature soon!
A bunch of my friends are doing this 8-week challenge. Interested in seeing what they say about it!
Oh cool, are your friends here in Richmond?
Just bought this, so excited! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂 I have struggled with sugar addiction my whole life, really looking forward to this.
I just made this for breakfast this morning, and it is sooo good. Love that it is not overly sweet like some granola. I will definitely be making it again:)
This is so helpful and great recipe too!
I’ve been eyeing up this recipe for months and finally got around to making it. The proportions of pumpkin seeds, coconut, chia seeds, etc. was perfect! Had some trouble with the oven temp… I put the granola in the oven for 20 mins at 250C and it still looked soggy without a hint of golden. I bumped the temp up to 300C for another 15 minutes (stirring once mid-way through) and it finally got to the crisp and color I was looking for. Also, I could have easily gotten by with only 3 or 4 tbsp coconut oil as the final product is still fairly greasy, but the overall flavor is still really delicious and I will definitely be making this recipe again. 🙂
Excellent post on quit sugar. I am very happy to read. Thanks for providing great information. Thanks.
https://blog.mindvalley.com/how-to-stop-eating-sugar/
Have you made a pumpkin
version of this?
I do have this pumpkin granola recipe on the blog!
I really liked this recipe but found it too oily with 5 tablespoons of oil. Made it again using half the oil and it is much better. Great flavor and texture.
I’m glad you were able to make this recipe work for you! Thanks for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. I really appreciate it!
Just after making my second batch of this granola, I absolutely love it
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Lianne! I’m so glad you’re enjoying this granola. Thanks for coming back to leave a comment and star rating, I so appreciate it. <3
In our self isolation I am
Making one new thing every day ! What an
Unexpected joy ! Coco nutty granola was today’s treat !
Ah yay!! So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Trish! Thanks for trying it and for coming back to leave a comment and star rating, I so appreciate it. <3
My first time making granola and i really like it ♥️
Thanks for the recipe. I also cut down the coconut oil to 2 tablespoons after reading other’s comments. I added chopped dates, dried apricots and cacao nibs to the finished product. Yum 🙂
Thank you for the information in the storage tip. I made this recipe before but couldn’t remember how to keep it stored. I’m going to keep it in the freezer as per your suggestion, Thank you!
You’re so welcome, Emily! Enjoy!!
I like this. I used shredded coconut, a mixture of nuts, cinnamon and added nutmeg. I didn’t think it was oily with the 5 tbs of oil. It’s delicious. I’m making another batch today, and will use 3 tbs of ghee to experiment. I’m on a no grain, no sugar diet and this satisfies my taste buds.Thank you!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed this granola, Deborah! Thanks for the review 🙂
excellent post thank you