The Best Super Seed Apple Spice & Pecan Granola
Whole foods like oats, pecans, and loads of nutrient-packed seeds come together with warming spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in this fall-inspired spiced apple granola that’s so delicious, you’ll find yourself eating it by the handful and sprinkling it onto all sorts of smoothies, oatmeal, baked apples, and toasts. Naturally vegan & gluten-free.
Fall is on the horizon, and I can almost feel this season’s apples getting ready to “fall” upon us. Luckily for me, as someone who maintains a resting body temperature of about 60 degrees, September is just another summer month in NYC, so the temperatures won’t be dropping dramatically anytime soon. But it’s a whole other story upstate in the Adirondack mountains, where Nick and I just went on our first hike of the season! (More on that 20-mile hike here, if you’re interested!) Temperatures have already started dipping there - especially on those mountain peaks where it’s always unseasonably cold. In anticipation of our trip, I developed this apple spice granola so we could bring it along on the hike with us for quality assurance testing. A tough sacrifice, but someone has to do it 😉. This is truly the absolute best apple spice granola I’ve ever eaten - super cinnamon-y with just the right hint of cloves, crunchy, perfectly sweetened, and loaded with whole plant foods. I think you’ll see what I mean as soon as you sample your first bite of it.
Why You’ll Love this Granola
Insanely delicious fall-inspired spiced apple flavor! Think of this granola as that familiar taste of spiced apples in pie filling, but in the format of granola. You can’t beat the flavor combo of apples and cinnamon, and a hint of nutmeg and cloves nicely rounds out the spicing to give the granola its classic “apple spice” flavor. Plus there’s little bits of dried apples in there too! And if there’s one type of nut that really enhances the whole experience, it’s toasted, nutty, and buttery pecans. 🤤
Crunchy. Like any actually good granola, this one’s got that satisfying crunchy texture in every bite!
Packed with nutritious ingredients. The main ingredients - oats, pecans, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, and hemp seeds - are super nourishing whole foods, meaning they’re packed full of fiber, protein, and healthy fats (among loads of other vitamins and nutrients)! So you’ll be taking in some nutritious foods as you’re crunching away on those irresistible apple-spiced flavors.
Easy to bake. Making homemade granola is incredibly easy! Just mix up the dry ingredients and coat them in a mixture of maple syrup and oil. Spread everything onto a large baking sheet and bake it on low heat for ~25 minutes, stirring about halfway through. After baking, let the granola cool fully in order to allow it to crisp up into that perfectly crunchy and satisfying texture! Once cooled, stir in the dried fruit to finish. Check out this post for some more helpful tips on how to bake granola.
Versatile. This granola is absolutely delicious on its own. In fact, my favorite way to eat it is by the handful as a hiking snack (especially when I’m on a mountain summit) or as a regular daily snack (while standing in the kitchen daydreaming of being in the mountains). It’s also delicious on top of smoothies, toasts, oatmeal, pancakes, baked apples - you name it.
Ingredient Overview
Oats. The foundation of this granola! Oats are delicious whole grains that are rich in fiber and protein, and they help give granola its super satisfying texture. Be sure to use rolled oats, not quick oats or steel-cut oats.
Spices. Loads of cinnamon, along with a bit of nutmeg and cloves, give the granola its signature apple spice flavor! (Side note: if you ever see anything labeled as “apple spice” that doesn’t contain any cloves, BEWARE. IMO, cloves are absolutely crucial in adding that aromatic, spicy edge that rounds out the “apple spice” flavor. Without them, it would largely just be cinnamon - which is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not “apple spice.”)
Pecans. Buttery pecans are my favorite nut to pair with apples! Just like other nuts, pecans are a great source of healthy fats, but they actually contain the most fiber and healthy monounsaturated fats per serving out of any nuts! They’re also high in polyphenols, and add fiber, protein, and plenty of vitamins and minerals including zinc and magnesium!
Sunflower seeds. To add some extra plant diversity! Sunflower seeds are fairly neutral-tasting so they blend in with all the apple spice flavors while sneaking in a bit of extra nutrition! They’re particularly high in vitamin E, selenium, and manganese.
Hemp, chia, and ground flax seeds. For a nutrient boost! Chia, hemp, and flax seeds are superfoods that pack tons of protein, fiber, and are very rich in healthy omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Since they’re incredibly nutritious, I try to sprinkle them into/onto as many things as possible, and granola is just one of my go-to ways of making sure I get my daily dose of these (along with smoothies, oatmeal, and toasts). And don’t worry - these don’t take anything away from the deliciousness of the granola (if anything, they contribute to the satisfyingly crunchy texture)!
Light brown sugar. For some added sweetness. Since brown sugar contains molasses, it also happens to be the perfect flavor pairing for fall-inspired baked goods (like this one!) that are full of apples and pecans due to its more robust flavor!
Neutral oil. Every granola needs a source of fat, and a neutral oil works best here in order to let all those delightful apple spice flavors shine through. I tested an oil-free version using more almond butter in lieu of the oil to try to make it more wholesome, but the flavors came out murky and the granola lost its signature apple spice flavor punch - definitely don’t recommend.
Maple syrup. The liquid sweetener (and of course, itself a fall staple!), which gets mixed with oil in order to coat the granola for baking.
Sea salt. A pinch of salt helps enhance all the flavors!
The Best Super Seed Apple Spice & Pecan Granola
Vegan, Gluten-Free
Ingredients
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup raw pecans, roughly chopped
¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
¼ cup (not packed) light brown sugar
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
2 teaspoons white or black chia seeds (or a mix of both)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons avocado oil (or any neutral oil like sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, canola, etc.)
1 cup dried apples, chopped (I used Trader Joe's crunch dried honeycrisp apples)
Directions
Preheat to 300°F. Line a large baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together the oats, chopped pecans, sunflower seeds, brown sugar, hemp seeds, ground flax, chia seeds, spices, and salt.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the maple syrup and oil until well combined.
Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to mix thoroughly until fully combined. (The mixture will feel “wet” once everything is incorporated.)
Transfer the mixed granola onto the prepared baking sheet and use the rubber spatula to spread it out into a thin, even layer covering the entire sheet. Transfer the granola to the oven and bake for 13 minutes.
Remove the granola from the oven, mix it thoroughly (this ensures even baking!), and press it back down into a thin even layer, making sure to cover the entire sheet again. Return to the oven to bake until lightly golden throughout, about 11-14 more minutes, being careful not to overbake (check it sooner if your oven runs hot - mine was done after 13 minutes).
Remove from oven and let cool fully on the baking sheet (about 1 hour) so that it can crisp up.
Once cooled, add the dried apples and stir to mix. Transfer the granola to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Serve as desired (on its own, with non-dairy plant milk, or sprinkled as a topping onto smoothies, oatmeal, toasts, etc.).
If you’re crunching away on a batch of this apple spice granola, please take a moment to leave a review in the comments below and tag me on Instagram (@teostinykitchen) if you share it (I’d love to see - especially any #summitgranola pics!)! And for more homemade granola, including my favorite pumpkin spice granola, check out all my recipes here!