Chocolate Granola delivers a crave-worthy chocolate flavor and satisfying crunch. Make it yours by switching up the nuts or adding your favorite extras.
Chocolate Granola
Anytime I can pass off chocolate for breakfast, it’s a definite yes. This granola is richly chocolate and has the perfect amount of sweetness.
While my whole family will down handfuls of this granola, our favorite way to eat it is pictured above: in a bowl with good yogurt. I like getting a coconut mousse yogurt and topping it with a few handfuls of this granola and whatever berries I’ve got on hand. A drizzle of honey finishes it off perfectly.
Today I’m sharing how to make Chocolate Granola, some variation ideas, a few ideas for how to enjoy the granola, and some granola-making tips.
Ingredients In Chocolate Granola
- Old-fashioned oats: Provide the base and bulk; give texture and chewiness.
- Whole almonds and pistachios: Add crunch and nutty flavor; offer protein and healthy fats.
- Salt: Balances and enhances the sweetness and flavors of the other ingredients.
- Melted coconut oil: Helps bind the ingredients, adds crispness when baked, and contributes a mild coconut flavor.
- Pure maple syrup: Acts as a natural sweetener and binder, helping to form clumps.
- Sugar: Sweetens further and aids in caramelization and crunch upon baking.
- Special Dark cocoa powder: Gives a rich chocolate flavor and dark color.
- Pure vanilla extract: Provides a warm, complementary flavor to the chocolate and oats.
- Unsweetened coconut flakes: Add texture and a hint of tropical flavor, especially when toasted.
- Chocolate chips: Sweeten, create chocolatey clusters when melted, and add texture upon re-solidifying.
Quick Tip
Store granola in a cool, dry place in an airtight container. Here are a few ways to tell if granola has gone bad.
How To Make Chocolate Granola
- Dry Mix: Blend oats, chopped almonds, and pistachios in a bowl.
- Wet Mix: Whisk together maple syrup, melted coconut oil, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cocoa until smooth.
- Combine: Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until fully integrated.
- Bake Prep: Spread the mixture evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Baking: Bake for 21 minutes at 325°F, stirring at 7-minute intervals, then mix in coconut flakes.
- Final Touch: After baking, top with chocolate chips, let them melt onto the granola, then cool without stirring.
Variations
Switch It Up
- Add dried cherries. Chocolate and cherries are delicious; dried cranberries would also be great in the mix (add after the granola is completely cooled).
- Leave out the coconut. If you aren’t a fan of coconut, this granola is fine without it (no other changes necessary).
- Use your favorite chocolate. We like combining semi-sweet and milk chocolate to top this granola, but use whatever chocolate you like best (all milk, all dark, or all semi-sweet are also good options).
- Add a sprinkle of sea salt. If you like sweet and salty, add some Maldon®sea salt to the top of this granola after adding the chocolate chips and they’ve begun to melt a little.
- Switch up the nuts. Our favorites are pistachios and almonds, but use whatever nuts you like best. Walnuts, pecans, cashews, peanuts, slivered almonds– they all work well. You can also use 1 and 1/2 cups of a single nut variety instead of 3/4 cups of two nut varieties.
- Use seeds instead of nuts. Replace nuts with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
More Prep-Ahead Snacks:
Breakfast
Protein Breakfast Cookies
Desserts
Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Desserts
Lemon Zucchini Bread
Chocolate Granola
Chocolatey and sweet with just the right amount of crunch, you can make this irresistible Chocolate Granola your own by adding all your favorite mix-ins!
Equipment
- Sheet pan (15″ x 10″) lined
Ingredients
Chocolate Granola
- 3 cups old-fashioned oats
- 3/4 cup coarsely chopped almonds
- 3/4 cup coarsely chopped pistachios or pecans
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 9 tablespoons coconut oil melted
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/3 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside. Measure out the oats in a large bowl and set aside.
- Coarsely chop the almonds and pistachios. Add to the bowl with the oats.
- In a medium bowl, combine the salt, coconut oil, maple syrup, sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth and combined.
- Pour the chocolate wet mixture into the oat and nut mixture; stir until all the oats and nuts are well coated.
- Spread the mixture evenly on the prepared sheet pan. Bake for 7 minutes, then remove and stir well. Bake for another 7 minutes, stir again, and return to the oven for an additional 4 minutes. If you’d like toasted coconut, add the coconut flakes now and bake another 3–4 minutes. This will give you a total bake time of about 21 minutes, which is my go-to for granola.
- Once done, remove the pan from the oven and toss the granola again. Let it sit for 2 minutes, then sprinkle all the chocolate chips on top. Allow the chocolate to melt into the granola without stirring. Let the mixture cool for 2–3 hours, or until the chocolate has set and the granola has hardened.
Video
Recipe Notes
Storage: Store in an airtight container, out of sunlight, at room temperature for 3–4 weeks. Do not store in fridge. Freeze any leftovers for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 544kcal | Carbohydrates: 61.7g | Protein: 10.2g | Fat: 29.5g | Cholesterol: 67.8mg | Sodium: 29mg | Fiber: 6.5g | Sugar: 39.5g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If I wanted to make this into granola chunks or bite sized pieces would you just not stir during baking?
It will burn if you don’t stir, but after it’s done baking you can press it all together and let it cool like that then break it apart for slightly bigger pieces.
How much does it yield? Is it just for one serving of yogurt and granola? How should I increase the ingredients proportionally if I wanted to make a larger batch of granola?
It’s a big sheet pan batch of granola 🙂
Your pictures make everything look so delicious. I made this with some greek yogurt and shredded unsweetened coconut, num, num!
Chelsea this is absolutely the prettiest, yummiest-looking yogurt bowl I think I’ve ever seen! I love that you made your own granola, too! This is a breakfast I could definitely get behind 🙂
Oh my gosh, I need to try this for breakfast!
P.S. I thought I was the cat’s pajamas when I finally bought a spiralizer, I went a little crazy and start spiraling oodles and oodles of zoodles!
Brynn
http://www.thedomesticdietitian.com
Haha sounds like exactly what I did! haha!! 🙂 Thank you Brynn!
This is gorgeous!! Also, chocolate granola?? I am SO in!
That looks good! I love the idea of making your own granola so you can have all the things you like it in!