This peanut butter granola has the biggest and crunchiest clusters, none of that dusty stuff. It’s simple to throw together and perfectly matched with freeze dried strawberries for your peanut butter jelly fix or chocolate chips for a more indulgent snack.
Breakfast can sometimes be a challenge in our house, but we solve that with some great meal prep options and this peanut butter granola certainly hits the spot, especially as the freeze dried strawberries makes it reminiscent of PB&J on toast, which my husband loves! This homemade granola is made with natural peanut butter and speckled with honey roasted peanuts which just take it to another level! If you're anything like us and love peanut butter, you’ll definitely want to check out our chocolate peanut butter baked oatmeal recipe too.
Let’s get to it, so you can soon be indulging in these huge peanut butter granola clusters for breakfast or a snack. Don’t forget to leave us a comment and rating below, we love hearing from you! Use the links below to get to the information you need.
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Why you’ll love this granola
This peanut butter granola has been thoroughly tested and we believe it's the best. Here’s why you need to make it!
Huge clusters - often homemade granola seems to just fall apart, well, we can’t have that can we? So we’ve hooked you up with some super chunky clusters, you can thank us in the comments below!
Easy - you can whip the mix together for this granola in no time. The trick is slow drying for the best crunch!
Gluten free - as long as you use certified gluten free oats this recipe is absolutely suitable for those who have allergies.
PB&J - this recipe really does taste like PB&J and we'm not sorry for that. It’s pretty special.
Long storage - if you follow the tips and steps below you will ensure you have a dry granola which can last for a few weeks. But we can guarantee it won’t last that long!
Ingredients
You’ll only need simple accessible ingredients to make this homemade peanut butter granola. Here’s what you’ll need:
Old fashioned oats - We like using jumbo old fashioned oats in this granola recipe as we find they make the best clusters. You can substitute for quick or rolled oats which are smaller if you like, they will still work, but we find the big ones chewier and best for the job.
Honey roasted peanuts - We love using honey roasted peanuts in this recipe as they just elevate it to another level. However, you can switch out for just plain roasted and salted, or even just raw peanuts. It still works, but we think the honey roasted nuts really work the best.
Almond flour - Almond flour is used to help create the incredible clusters that we want so badly. It helps with binding all the ingredients together, you can also use oat flour.
Store cupboard - you’ll need a few store cupboard staples such as fine sea salt, olive oil and vanilla extract for additional flavour.
Peanut butter - We recommend using natural smooth peanut butter as it’s looser which helps when you are stirring the granola ingredients all together. The mixture gets fairly stiff because we want those clusters, but you may get away with something like a soft spread peanut butter.
Maple syrup - for a little sweetness use maple syrup, we find honey darkens too much in the baking of this granola.
Egg white - this is the absolute key to awesome chunky clusters for this peanut butter granola. We don’t believe there is a better way for homemade granola. We haven't tested it but you could substitute egg white for aquafaba for a vegan option to whip up into a froth for the recipe. If you do try it, let us know how it goes in the comments! We would suggest using 2 tablespoons aquafaba in place of the egg white.
Mix ins - We like to use freeze dried strawberries or just dried strawberries for mix ins, but you can add in any dried fruit you like or even peanut butter/chocolate chips.
How to make it
Follow these simple steps for how to make this delicious peanut butter granola:
- Add the old fashioned oats, honey roasted peanuts, ground almonds and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir together.
- In a smaller mixing bowl combine and whisk together the olive oil, peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla extract into a smooth mixture.
- Pour the peanut butter mixture into the oat mix.
- Stir the wet and dry together until incorporated, it may seem like there isn’t enough, but we promise you, there is. Keep mixing until all the oats are coated and it looks a uniform colour.
- Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until very frothy.
- Stir the whites through the granola mix until you can no longer see the whites.
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, pour out the granola mix and press out to fill the baking sheet.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 150C/300F for 20 minutes, remove from the oven and flip with a spatula, it will break up a little, don’t worry, return to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until crisp, dry and golden brown. The clusters can be broken up as much as you wish. Leave to cool and stir through the mix-ins.
How to make clumpy granola
Egg whites - the proteins within the egg whites make a lovely sticky binding mixture with the almond flour. Be sure to whip them up well otherwise they’ll be watery and not easily spread throughout the granola mix.
Wet ingredients - you’ll see when making this granola that the peanut butter mixture is quite thick. This works with the almond flour and egg whites to bind all the oats and peanuts together which give you those desirable clusters.
Customisations/substitutions
Nut butter - This granola specifically uses peanut butter, but you could easily switch out with another nut butter. You could try our cashew butter instead or any other nut butter you prefer, just be sure to use drippy natural nut butter.
Nuts - Feel free to switch out the honey roasted nuts for whatever nut you prefer. This is a peanut butter granola, but will work with almonds and cashews too.
Mix ins - We used freeze dried strawberries as they are packed full of flavour, but you can use any dried fruit, it doesn’t even have to be freeze dried. You can also add in chocolate chips or peanut butter chips if you wish.
Serving suggestions
Yoghurt - I love my granola served on top of some pillowy thick greek yoghurt, making a protein packed breakfast.
Milk - If you want more of a cereal style breakfast enjoy with milk, you can literally make peanut butter and jelly flavoured milk, which my husband certainly approves of!
Snacks - package up a little pouch of peanut butter granola for a great healthy filling snack throughout the day.
FAQs
We like to test by look and feel. If the granola is golden brown and not burned you are on the right track, it should feel crispy and dry and not soft to touch still, especially the clusters. If it is soft and squidgy then you need to bake it for longer to dry it out.
At room temperature the granola will last for 2 weeks in an air tight container. If you wish to store for longer you can store it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Simply put, you need to bake at a low temperature to allow the granola to dry out. If you don’t bake it for long enough it will not be crunchy. Bake at 150C/300F for 45 minutes, flipping half way through and you should be fine.
Egg whites. We’ve found this to be the most effective way at binding all the ingredients together and ensuring they clump together for large clusters.
More breakfast recipes
We hope you love this peanut butter granola as much as we do! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment, rate the recipe and tag me on Instagram! I love seeing your creations!
Homemade Peanut Butter Granola Clusters
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups old fashioned oats, 330g
- 1 cup honey roasted peanuts, 140g
- ½ cup almond flour, 60g
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, 20g
- ½ cup smooth peanut butter, 140g or sub any nut butter
- ½ cup pure maple syrup, 120ml (150g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg white, US large, UK medium
- 1 ¼ cup dried or freeze-dried strawberries, 30g
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 150C/300F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine oats, peanuts, ground almonds and salt in a large mixing bowl.3 ½ cups old fashioned oats, 1 cup honey roasted peanuts, ½ cup almond flour, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- In a small bowl, gently whisk together the olive oil, peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla.2 tablespoons olive oil, ½ cup smooth peanut butter, ½ cup pure maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly until everything is well coated.
- Whisk the egg white in a small bowl until very frothy. Add to the other ingredients and stir until incorporated.1 egg white
- Spread out the mixture onto the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the pan and carefully flip, trying not to disturb the clumps too much. Bake for another 20-25 minutes until crisp and golden.
- Break into clumps and leave to cool on the baking sheet, then toss together with the freeze dried strawberries or other mix ins if using.1 ¼ cup dried or freeze-dried strawberries
Samantha says
Sooooooooo good! The best massive clusters too. Absolutely delicious, the kids loved it!