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Vanilla Blueberry Granola (grain, nut & seed free)

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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!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 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

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!)

Find it online: https://meatified.com/vanilla-blueberry-granola-aip/