If you’ve got a hankering for something to stand in for those chewy-crunchy cereals of yore, then this Vanilla Blueberry Granola is gonna deliver what you crave!
The best part? These clusters of goodness go perfectly with milk or as part of a yogurt-y breakfast bowl, while delivering a whole bunch of flavor from real food ingredients.
Most of the sweetness comes from fruit and the only added sugar comes from a scant quarter cup of maple syrup. Which, when you consider that this makes well over a pound of blueberry granola isn’t bad at all.
The other great thing about this recipe is that it makes a great, purse-friendly snack for your emergency food stash. Win-win.
You’ll have to be a bit of an ingredients list reader on the dried blueberries front, since they’re often coated in dodgy oils or have a ton of added sugar. Look for options that are naturally sweetened like these, or you could also try swapping the dried, chewy kind out for the crunchier, freeze dried blueberries like these.
(Bonus, you can get the latter at Target or Trader Joes!)
Looking for more AIP granola recipes? Try my Sweet & Salted Granola or my Pumpkin Spice Granola!
PrintVanilla Blueberry Granola (grain, nut & seed free)
This blueberry granola is magical: it’s totally grain, nut & seed free, but it still has the addictive combination of chewy & crunchy clusters you crave!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 1 1/3 lbs / 600 g / 7 1/2 cups 1x
- Category: breakfast, make ahead
- Method: oven
Ingredients
- 3 cups / 320 g grated white sweet potato
- 1 cup / 170 g grated apple, about 2 small – medium
- 3 cups / 210 g salted green plantain chips
- 2 cups / 90 g unsweetened coconut chips, see notes
- 5 oz / 150 g banana, about 1 medium
- 1/4 cup / 60 ml maple syrup
- 1/4 cup / 45 g fresh blueberries
- 1 1/2 tsp / 7 ml gluten free vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt, optional
- 3/4 cup / 105 g unsweetened dried blueberries, see notes
Instructions
PREP: Preheat the oven to 325 F / 160 C with the rack in the center position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
GRATE: Peel and use a box grater to coarsely grate your white sweet potato, then add to a mixing bowl. Coarsely grate the apple, working around the core & leaving the peel on if you like. Put the grated apple into a fine mesh strainer and press down on the fruit over the sink, so that the apple juice is discarded and the apple has reduced in volume by about a half or so. Add the grated apple to the mixing bowl.
BREAK: Measure the plantain chips into the mixing bowl, then use your hands to gently break them up into corn flake sized pieces. Add the unsweetened coconut chips to the bowl, too.
BLEND: Roughly chop the banana and add it the bowl of a mini food processor, along with the maple syrup, blueberries, vanilla extract and salt, if using. Puree until everything is combined into a blueberry-flecked, almost syrup-like liquid.
MIX: Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients in the bowl and use your hands or a spatula to work the blueberry granola mixture until all the ingredients are mixed and evenly coated.
SPREAD: Tip the blueberry granola mixture into the middle of the lined baking sheet. Spread the mixture across the baking sheet in an even layer, pressing down on it firmly and making sure none of it is sticking up higher than the sides of the sheet in any spot.
BAKE: Put the baking sheet into the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and use a spatula to flip the granola, breaking it up into 4 – 6 pieces as you turn it over. Return the blueberry granola to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove the granola from the oven and flip it again, letting it break into pieces and rotating the browner pieces into the middle and away from the edges. Return to the oven for 30 – 40 minutes, repeating this process of turning and breaking every 10 minutes or so. Remember to rotate out the browner pieces from the edges to the middle each time, too.
COOL: When the granola is in clusters, evenly & lightly browned all over & crisp to the touch, remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes. Add the dried blueberries and toss – either carefully on the tray or more casually in a bowl – until the blueberry granola is combined. Store in an airtight container.
Equipment
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Buy Now → Notes
- You want to use the wide, flat unsweetened coconut flakes that are about an inch long here, not finely shredded coconut, as that will burn rather than toast. They’re often packaged as unsweetened coconut chips, although I feel that’s a bit of a misnomer! Make sure that they are raw, not toasted.
- You’ll have to be a bit of an ingredients list reader on the dried blueberries front, since they’re often coated in dodgy oils or have a ton of added sugar. Look for those that are un-sweetened like these, or you could also try swapping the dried, chewy kind out for the crunchier, freeze dried blueberries like these. (Bonus, you can get the latter at Target or Trader Joes!)
Wondering if shredded “regular” sweet potato would be okay to use in place of the white version? I’ve never seen a white variety in shops near me. This recipe sounds AMAZING! I’ve missed “crunchy” in more traditionally sweet breakfast stuff.
Hi there! Yes, you definitely can use the regular orange varieties, I just don’t tend to have them around because I’m the weirdo who doesn’t like the sweeter flavor of them. I’m not sure it would make much difference in the granola overall, since they dehydrate out so much. Let me ask around & see if I can double check that with people who have made it with different subs… I’m pretty sure I know a lady who has used both carrots & parsnips as swaps with no weird results 🙂