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For a taste of fall, enjoy this healthy, homemade Pumpkin Granola recipe made with oats, quinoa, flax seed, maple syrup, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, pecans, pepitas, and dried cranberries.
Pumpkin Granola
Making granola is easier than you may think. The beauty of doing it yourself is that you can customize it to suit your taste, and it’s so much cheaper than buying it at the store. Pumpkin granola is perfect for autumn when pumpkin spice is so popular! Serve it with a bowl of milk and fresh fruit or over chia cereal or yogurt for crunch. For more quick pumpkin breakfast recipes, try my Pumpkin Overnight Oats, and Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal Cups.
Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Granola Recipe
I love making homemade granola because I can customize it however I want, using only my favorite ingredients. I can also control the sugar and oil and use clean ingredients, making it a healthier option. This simple pumpkin granola fills your house with an amazing aroma as it bakes in the oven. It’s the perfect thing to make to embrace the cozy fall vibes.
If you make this pumpkin spice granola recipe, I would love to see it. Tag me in your photos or videos on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook!
Pumpkin Granola Ingredients
This healthy pumpkin granola is loaded with high-fiber and high-protein ingredients for a nutritious snack or breakfast. The recipe card contains the exact measurements.
- Quinoa: I like the crunchy texture of toasted quinoa. Plus, it’s an excellent source of fiber and protein.
- Rolled Oats, also called old fashioned oats, make up the bulk of the granola and are high in fiber.
- Seeds: I use ground flaxseeds for extra fiber and pepitas (AKA pumpkin seeds) for crunch.
- Chopped Pecans are packed not only with fiber and protein but also healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals, such as copper, thiamine, and zinc.
- Dried Cranberries for pops of color and sweetness
- Sweetener: Use maple syrup or honey to sweeten the oats and quinoa.
- Pumpkin Puree: You can use canned pumpkin or make homemade pumpkin puree. Just make sure you don’t buy pumpkin pie mix, which contains other sugar and other ingredients.
- Coconut Oil for healthy fat
- Pumpkin Pie Spice and Cinnamon for those warm fall spices
- Salt: Just a pinch of salt balances the flavors.
- Vanilla Extract for warmth and sweetness
How to Make Pumpkin Granola
The prep for this easy pumpkin granola is minimal–simply mix the ingredients and bake. See the recipe card below for the complete instructions.
- Toast oats and quinoa on a parchment-lined sheet pan for 10 minutes at 325°F.
- Make the Granola Mix: Put the toasted oats and quinoa in a bowl and add the ground flax seeds, pepitas, pecans, and cranberries.
- Pumpkin Mixture: In another bowl, stir the syrup, pumpkin, oil, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. Pour it over the oats and stir with a spatula.
- Bake Granola: Spread the oat mixture on the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 300°F.
Variations
- Oats: Swap rolled oats with steel cut or instant. If you can’t eat gluten, use gluten-free oats.
- Seeds: Substitute flax with chia or hemp seeds and pepitas with sunflower seeds.
- Nuts: Replace pecans with walnuts, almonds, or cashews. If you’re allergic to nuts, omit them and add other seeds.
- Dried Fruit: Substitute dried cherries, blueberries, dates, figs, or raisins.
- Sweetener: Agave syrup is another good liquid sweetener option.
- Pumpkin: If you don’t have pumpkin puree, applesauce or mashed banana would work. You could also use apple butter or pumpkin butter, but you may want to reduce the maple syrup.
- Oil: Sub avocado oil.
- Spices: Make your own pumpkin pie spice with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. If you don’t have one or two of the spices, no big deal–just add more of one of the others to get a teaspoon.
- Cinnamon: If you don’t have cinnamon, use ginger, cloves, or allspice.
- Coconut: Add toasted, shredded coconut.
Serving Suggestions
Here are some of my favorite ways to eat granola!
- Cereal: The trick to keeping a bowl of granola cereal light is the ratio of fruit, milk, and granola. First, I fill my bowl with fresh fruit, like chopped apples and pears. Then, I top it with 1/3 cup of granola an unsweetened almond milk. It’s a great way to get your serving of fresh fruit and has lots of fiber to keep you feeling full longer. If I have a batch of pumpkin butter, I like to stir some in for extra fall flavor.
- Snack: Eat it by the handful as a quick, nutritious snack.
- Yogurt or Chia Cereal: Top Greek yogurt or chia seed cereal with granola and berries.
Storage
Let the granola cool completely, then store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month.
Pumpkin Granola FAQ’s
What binds granola together?
Most granola recipes use a liquid sweetener, like honey or maple syrup, and oil to bind the ingredients. Sometimes, nut butters are used since they’re also sticky.
Why is my homemade granola not crunchy?
There are 2 reasons why your granola may not be crunchy:
1. Didn’t bake long enough: I recommend 20 minutes to bake the granola to get it crisp and golden, but depending on how hot your oven runs, you may need to bake it for longer. If it still feels pretty sticky or wet after 20 minutes, stir it and bake it for a few extra minutes.
2. Didn’t let it cool: Let the granola cool before storing it in a container. Otherwise, it may get soggy.
More Pumpkin Recipes You’ll Love
- Crustless Pumpkin Pie
- Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Spice Latte
- Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes with Pecans
Pumpkin Granola Recipe
4.91 from 10 votes 5 Cals:133 Protein:3 Carbs:21.5 Fat:4.5 For a taste of fall enjoy this healthy, homemade Pumpkin Granola recipe made with oats, quinoa, flax seed, maple syrup, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, pecans, pepitas and dried cranberries. Course: Breakfast, Snack Cuisine: American
Prep: 15 minutes minsCook: 30 minutes minsTotal: 45 minutes mins Print Rate Pin Save Saved! WW Points Yield: 11 servings Serving Size: 1 /3 cup 1x2x3x
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed well and pat dry with paper towel
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats, *
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseeds
- 1/4 cup pepitas, or other seed
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup real maple syrup, or honey
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice, or more to taste
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- pinch kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Spread the oats* and quinoa out on a parchment lined baking pan.
- Toast in the oven 10 minutes, stirring once.
- Remove the oats from the oven, pour the toasted oats into a medium bowl and add the ground flax seeds, pepitas, pecans and dried fruit.
- Reduce oven to 300F.
- In a second medium bowl, combine maple syrup, pumpkin puree, oil, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, salt and vanilla.
- Pour over oats and stir together with a spatula.
- Spread back onto a baking sheet and bake an additional 20 minutes, or until golden.
Video
Notes
Makes 3 2/3 cups. *Use gluten free oats for gluten allergies.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 /3 cup , Calories: 133 kcal, Carbohydrates: 21.5 g, Protein: 3 g, Fat: 4.5 g, Saturated Fat: 0.5 g, Sodium: 10 mg, Fiber: 3 g, Sugar: 8 g