Bake

Peanut Butter Granola

by:
January  8, 2018
5
3 Ratings
Peanut Butter Granola
Photo by Bobbi Lin
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 45 minutes
  • Serves 12 to 16
Author Notes

Most granolas have the same amount of sugar as a cookie, which means that I leave breakfast feeling guilty that I ate my dessert before even starting the day. So, I developed this recipe with as little sweetener as possible—a serving has only 2 teaspoons of maple syrup—just enough to have an indulgent sweetness, but not so much you’re sugar-crashing on your commute.

Featured in: A (Not-Too-Sweet) Peanut Butter Granola to Batch-Bake, Stat —Lindsay Maitland Hunt

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 cup (260 g) smooth, unsweetened peanut butter (preferably natural)
  • 2/3 cup (155 ml) pure maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup (120ml) canola oil
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 cups packed (12 oz/340 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 3 cups packed (11 oz/310 g) quick-cooking oats
  • 2 cups (10.5 oz/300 g) unsalted peanuts, half roughly chopped
  • Almond milk (or another milk you like) and fresh fruit, for serving
Directions
  1. Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C), with racks positioned in the top and bottom thirds of the oven.
  2. Whisk the peanut butter, maple syrup, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl until smooth. Add both oats and the peanuts and stir with a spatula to combine.
  3. Divide the granola evenly between two rimmed baking sheets and spread with the spatula into a at layer. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through, until the granola is dry looking and beginning to turn golden brown. Do not stir! (This ensures you’ll have big chunks of granola.)
  4. Cool completely on the baking sheets and then transfer to an airtight container or zip-top bag. The granola will keep at room temperature for up to 2 weeks, or up to 2 months in the freezer. Serve with almond milk and fresh fruit. I like apples or fresh strawberries.
Tags:

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Lucy Friedman-Bell
    Lucy Friedman-Bell
  • Taylor Stanton
    Taylor Stanton
  • Stacey Rowe
    Stacey Rowe
  • Heidi Katterhenry
    Heidi Katterhenry
  • Sarah Jampel
    Sarah Jampel

Popular on Food52

23 Reviews

trvlnsandy
trvlnsandy January 26, 2022
I've been messing with granola recipes for some time so decided there was enough background to mess with this recipe from what I've learned. As I had almost all the ingredients (only regular oats) decided to try it with some modifications. I always reduce the sugars, and since am using agave reduced even more (about 1/3 c). Had some almond butter I wanted to use up, so there's another subs. Always prefer almonds, so used the same weight. Have another recipe that uses bran so substituted 1 c of oat bran for oats (did it by weight), and the other recipe uses powdered milk. I love cinnamon so upped it to 1 T and used some almond flavoring in addition to the vanilla (the other recipe uses 1 T vanilla and 1 t almond oil for approximately 6 c oats etc). Usually use olive oil in my granola, but went with the canola. Added about 1/4 c coconut per pan a the first stirring. Will reply to my comment when I finally taste.
 
trvlnsandy
trvlnsandy January 26, 2022
I can see that this recipe basis -- nut butter -- is going to be part of my mix. I think I could have added more cinnamon (ok, I'm addicted) and I think the sweetness is almost perfect. Might up the salt as well next time. Looking forward to my yogurt tomorrow (make it in the instant pot and strain to my desired thickness).
 
bbeckes
bbeckes November 3, 2020
I have made this three times and it burns every time. Why? I follow all directions and even lessened the cooking time, still burned.
 
Anonymous
Anonymous November 3, 2020
Maybe your oven if “off.” Do you have problems with other foods overcooking in the oven? Maybe you need to reduce the cooking time. I make it about once a month, and have never had a problem with it burning.....You could also drop the temperature of your oven. Its worth trying to get it right. I seriously make this every month or so.
 
trvlnsandy
trvlnsandy January 26, 2022
I'm making it as I type and it's in for an extra 10 min.
 
Anonymous
Anonymous April 23, 2020
I’ve made granola for the past 40 years. This is our all time favorite, and about the only recipe I make now. I’ve reviewed this before, below, so only to add that today I made it with cashews and cashew butter, and I’ve done it with almonds and almond butter. However, peanuts and peanut butter is still our favorite!!!!! I also love all the extra protein in this granola, with the peanut butter and peanuts. I love it with Fairlife Milk, which also is low sugar and extra protein. LOVE!!!!
 
trvlnsandy
trvlnsandy January 26, 2022
just saw this, but today I'm trying with almond butter and almonds. a few other modifications which I'll put in my comments when it's done and I taste. Glad I'm not the only one to mix it up.
 
Lucy F.
Lucy F. April 23, 2020
This granola is absolutely delicious. Deliciously salty, filling, and not too sweet. I have halved the recipe with great success.

Additionally, I added some cocoa powder to part of one batch and it came out great; I added a bit more oil and maple syrup to make sure it wasn't too dry. It was great!
 
Taylor S.
Taylor S. August 2, 2018
Wow this stuff is crack, I'm obsessed. Definitely ate too much of this raw because I couldn't wait to bake it!
 
Lesley A.
Lesley A. May 10, 2018
This granola is delicious!! Thank you so much for posting this recipe! How would you recommend modifications to make these into granola bars?
 
Anonymous
Anonymous March 6, 2018
In the past month, I have made this about 3 times!!! It is our new favorite granola! The last time I made it, I did "up" the maple syrup to 1 full cup, and I have to admit, we liked it a little sweeter. I am totally in love with this recipe!!!!
 
Stacey R.
Stacey R. February 23, 2018
This is great! I've been very into making my own granola lately so I tried this as well as a version of this with almonds/ almond butter and dried cherries. The only substitution I made was using coconut oil instead of canola. Both versions were delicious! Thank you!
 
Anonymous
Anonymous January 15, 2018
Absolutely delicious! As promised, not overly sweet and super peanutty!!! I used 1/2 the cinnamon and the combination of oats as suggested! Perfection!
 
Ines
Ines January 12, 2018
Do you think this would work with coconut oil?
 
Lindsay M.
Lindsay M. January 13, 2018
I haven’t tried it! Curious to see how it goes for you!
 
Heidi K.
Heidi K. January 12, 2018
I wonder why there are two types of oats quick and rolled?
 
Anonymous
Anonymous January 12, 2018
Me, too. Getting ready to make it and would like to know why, and is it important to achieve the end result.
 
Lindsay M.
Lindsay M. January 13, 2018
Hi! I find granolas with just the regular kind harder to chew, plus the quick-cooking kind creates better clumps. They act as a sort of mortar, since they mix more readily with the wet ingredients. This half-and-half ratio still has a granola crunch but is easier to chew with big clumps! That being said, you can try the recipe with all regular rolled oats.
 
Bikingbaker
Bikingbaker January 12, 2018
Morning granola over full fat yogurt with fruit is my choice. I also toss some granola in pancake batter for extra crunch. When I make this granola I will probably reduce the maple syrup to 1/2 cup as that ratio of sweet to fat seems to work well in my other granolas
 
Lindsay M.
Lindsay M. January 13, 2018
Please let me know how that turns out! It will change the texture and look since less sugar will likely mean less browning. Looking forward to hearing how it goes!
 
Tomoose
Tomoose January 8, 2018
My fav way to eat granola is over plain, no fat yogurt. Starts the morning right!
 
Sarah J.
Sarah J. January 8, 2018
This is one of the best homemade granola I’ve tasted recently! I loved it so much that I made a second version by swapping out the PB for equal parts almond butter and tahini and replacing the peanuts with sliced almonds. I could probably eat the whole batch by myself...
 
Lindsay M.
Lindsay M. January 13, 2018
Thank you, Sarah!