High Protein Granola Recipe (Simple and Easy)

This super easy High Protein Granola Recipe makes a wonderful light and healthy breakfast or high protein snack. It’s naturally sweetened with dates and a little bit of honey, giving it the perfect balance of flavor! Welcome to your new favorite healthy snack recipe without added refined sugar, much like another favorite, Apple Banana Muffins.

And because it’s ready in can be ready in just 30 minutes, you can have a batch ready when those crunchy granola cravings hit! 

If you are like most people, you grab a box of granola clusters or granola bars from the shelf at the grocery store and think you are making a healthy choice. While it is probably a better choice than a candy bar, there is still a lot of added sugar and unwanted preservatives in most brands.

With this recipe, you control exactly what’s in your granola making it a much healthier and packed with protein! Not to mention it is absolutely delicious! One of the great things about this granola recipe is, it is a portable snack, great for all of us that are on the go!

For those times when hunger or a snack attack strike outs out of nowhere, with this easy recipe, that takes 30 minutes or less to make, you can stay on track with your health goals AND satisfy those cravings that can lead to bad food choices. 

Getting enough protein can really be a struggle sometimes. Having a variety of high-protein meal recipes like these Healthy Chicken for Weight Loss Recipes or even high-protein desserts like this Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse, can make all the difference in how you look and feel.

If you’ve ever wondered how many grams of protein you need, whether for weight loss or just the overall health benefits, check out this article, “Everything You Need to Know to Effectively Use Protein for Weight Loss.”

Why We Love This Recipe

• This recipe contains no artificial sweeteners, brown sugar or cane sugar like you find a lot of store-bought granola brands.
• It makes a super quick and healthy snack and a great way to get a serving of whole grains into your diet.
• Because you make it yourself, you ensure your granola only has healthy and wholesome ingredients.
• The dates and honey give it just enough sweetness to keep you from caving into unhealthy snacks.

Homemade Granola Variations and Add-ins

• Nuts and Seeds: You can be as creative as you want with this recipe. Add in your favorite nuts or seeds. Sesame seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, pecans, walnuts and pumpkin seeds are all awesome choices.

• Fresh Fruit: if you are making the parfaits with the granola, nothing goes better with them than fresh fruit. Raspberries, blueberries and strawberries are my go-to add-ins, but almost any fruit would be delicious.

• Nut Butters: This recipe uses almond butter but if you prefer, you can swap it with all-natural peanut butter. Just make sure there are no added grams of sugar on the label.

• Sugar-free Chocolate Chips: Need to satisfy your chocolate cravings? Top your parfait cups with a few sugar-free chocolate chips.

• Maple Syrup: Instead of honey, you can use sugar-free maple syrup instead. Keep in mind that honey is a little stickier, so syrup may change the texture some.

• Coconut Flakes: Unsweetened coconut flakes are amazing in this granola recipe. Just add a few in with all the other dry ingredients before baking.

Recommended Tools

• Sheet Pan
• Large bowl
• Blender or food processor
• Large kitchen spoon or spatula
• Parfait cups or mason jars (optional)

What’s Needed to Make the Best Granola

Granola Ingredient List:

• Dates, pitted
• Natural almond butter
• Honey
• Coconut oil, melted
• Pure vanilla extract
• Vanilla protein powder (this brand is my favorite)
• Rolled oats
• Ground cinnamon
• Salt
• Raw almonds, roughly chopped
• Sunflower seeds

Parfaits Ingredients

• Plain Greek yogurt
• Large bananas, sliced
• Fresh strawberries, sliced

How to Make Homemade Healthy Granola

Pre-heat oven to 350°F and line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with a piece of parchment paper. Leave a bit of overlap on the sides of the pan.

Step One: Make the Honey Date Mixture

In a high-powered blender or a food processor, combine the pitted dates, protein powder, almond butter, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla extract. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Step Two: Mix the Dry Ingredients:

• Transfer the date mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the cinnamon.

• Add salt

• Next, in goes the sunflower seeds.

• Then the oats and protein powder.

• Then the almonds. Mix until well combined and the oats and nuts are nicely coated.

Step 3: Bake and Serve with Parfait Cups

• Transfer the granola mixture to the prepared baking dish and pat down into an even layer. Place in the pre-heated oven and bake until lightly golden brown and toasted on top, approximately 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Granola will crumble as you remove it from the pan, with some larger chunks.
• To serve, alternate layers of Greek yogurt, crunchy granola, sliced bananas, and fresh strawberries in 4 parfait dishes or mason jars. Enjoy!

High-Protein Granola Recipe FAQs

How Do I Store Homemade Protein Granola?

You can keep granola on the shelf of your pantry in an airtight container for at least a week or until it begins to lose its crunch. You can also freeze it. For best results, you’ll want to place the cooled granola in a freezer safe bag and squeeze out air as you can. Then place it in the fridge for up to several months.

What are the Different Types of Oats?

One of the main ingredients in most granola recipes is oats. But did you know there are several different types of oats? Take a look:

• Whole Grain Oats: These oats are intact and have not been ground down or highly processed. Examples are steel-cut oats and rolled oats.  
• Steel Cut Oats: Also known as Irish oats are groats that are chopped into pieces with sharp steel blades. They have a coarse texture and take a good while to cook. To speed up the 30-minute cooking time you can soak them in advance that will help plump them up and hydrate them, allowing them to cook faster.
• Rolled Oats: These oats are very minimally processed. They are made from oat groats that have had the husk removed.  They are then steam and rolled into flakes and light toasted to help stabilize them.
• Quick Oats: Sometimes called quick-cooking oats, are rolled oats that are partially cooked by steaming and rolled out thin. They cook super-fast, within minutes and usually have a mushy texture. Don’t confuse these with instant oats.
• Instant Oats: These are the type oats you see in different flavors in the grocery store. They are processed oats that are typically packaged with sugar, dried milk and flavoring.

How to Serve Healthy Granola

• Added to breakfast recipes: If you enjoy gluten-free, low carb-pancakes, throw in a handful of this homemade granola into the batter for a little added crunch.

• Roasted veggies: Wait, before you say it, YES, adding a little granola to the top of roasted veggies is delicious. Sprinkle a little over these Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables after you take them out of the oven. The crunch and the cinnamon add such a nice contrast in flavor and texture.

• Salad topping: If you love a sweet and savory combo, then you’ll love some of this healthy granola added to the top of your healthy salads in place of crotons.

• Pudding: If you have a favorite healthy pudding recipe, like this Pineapple Mango Chia Seed Pudding, homemade granola is a great way to add even more flavor and crunch.

• Smoothies: Making smoothie bowls with your favorite low carb smoothie recipe and some of this granola will even have the kids asking for seconds.’

Want More High Protein Recipes?

• Sheet Pan Chicken Dinner
• Baked Sirloin
• Philly Cheesesteak Lettuce Wraps
• Sheet Pan Steak Fajitas
• Dutch Oven Chicken