Featured comment
Just made this and decided to do a half batch because, ‘I don’t need that much granola.’ Oh man, I was wrong! I can’t stop eating it, this stuff is so good.
Kerri Y
ohhhk. I am seriously bursting at the seams.
With joy, I mean. With joy. Granola joy and dog joy.
There are two really happy things going on in my life right now –>
#1 – The dog. We have a dog! We have had our puppy for almost a week now, and she’s not really a puppy, she’s an medium-old-ish dog from a rescue, but I am set on calling her a puppy for at least our first month together. She deserves it AKA we want it AKA who even cares tho because we are so totally in love with her.
A few nights ago we took her to the dog park and it was like heaven on earth for her. But actually, also for us, because we got so much laughter and joy out of seeing her jump in mud puddles, run wild through the sand, and chase her new friends like Jesus the hooded-vest-wearing Chihuahua. I thought it would take us at least a few months to become “those dog people” but oh no, my friends. Two hours into our new life with the pup and we are THERE.
#2 – This chocolate granola. It’s too obvious, but I still have to say it anyways: it’s so good like seriously need more nowwwwww even though I just ate some before I sat down to write this post.
It has a nice healthy base of oats, almonds, and unsweetened coconut flakes, and then things start to get a tiny bit desserty, if you can handle that, with the addition of cocoa powder and maple syrup and coconut oil and chocolate chips melted all up into the clusters. And then? Everything gets sprinkled with that crunchy turbinado sugar and flakes of sea salt.
And then it’s lunchtime and you’re a food blogger with leftover recipes filling your fridge but the only thing you can think of for lunch is fistfuls of granola straight out of the jar. I don’t even know, okay? Just… leave me alone.
Actually though, I’m not even exaggerating when I say that as of this morning, I’ve now eaten The Ultimate Chocolate Granola as 4 of my last 7 meals. It’s not like I’m proud of myself, eating those crunchy chocolate clusters with chocolate chips all day, it’s just that I feel I need to be upfront with you about my deep-seated love for things with crunchy sugar and sea salt exteriors.
If you’re like me and you love those kinds of textural, salty-sweet things, this is your granola.
HOW TO MAKE OUR CHOCOLATE GRANOLA:
The Ultimate Chocolate Granola
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings – about 1/3 cup each 1x
Description
The Ultimate Chocolate Granola with almonds, oats, coconut flakes, chocolate chips, topped with crunchy sugar and sea salt.
Ingredients
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 1/4 cups sliced raw almonds
- 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
- 2/3 cup melted coconut oil (measured in liquid form)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
- sea salt for finishing
Instructions
- Make: Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss the oats, almonds, coconut, cocoa, salt, and 1/3 cup of the sugar in a large bowl. Whisk the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla together. Set aside. Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Spread the granola into two large jelly roll pans in an even layer.
- Bake: for 50 minutes total, stopping about halfway through to check the granola and shake or stir the pan if needed. After 50 minutes, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the granola, return to the oven for 5-10 minutes until chocolate chips are very soft. Sprinkle with the remaining turbinado sugar and coarse sea salt to taste. The added sugar and salt should stick the outside of the chocolate chips. *YES*
- Store: Let the granola stand for 1-2 hours. Gently scoop the granola into jars or an airtight container for storing. The advantage of doing this when the chocolate chips are still soft (at the 1-2 hour mark) is that it makes for great texture once it cools – the chocolate chips will sort of melt their way into the clusters and harden within each individual granola cluster. SO GOOD. You can also leave the granola out overnight or for several hours until the chocolate chips are fully cooled and hardened if you want to preserve the shape of the individual chocolate chip pieces in the granola.
Notes
The coarse sea salt and sugar combination is very important for the overall taste and texture of this granola in my opinion, so try to use that crunchy turbinado sugar and coarse sea salt rather than swapping them for other ingredients.
Gentle handling of the granola is key for preserving the clusters. When you remove it from the oven, don’t stir it. If it’s not over browning during baking, don’t stir it. The more you can leave it alone, the more it will cluster.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition Facts
- Daily value: 26% Total Fat 20g
- Daily value: 0% Cholesterol 0mg
- Daily value: 2% Sodium 49.2mg
- Daily value: 14% Total Carbohydrate 39.5g
- Daily value: 18% Dietary Fiber 5.1g
- Sugars 24g
- Daily value: 11% Protein 5.5g
- Daily value: 0% Vitamin A 0µg
- Daily value: 0% Vitamin C 0mg
Keywords: chocolate granola, granola recipe, chocolate dessert
Note: For anyone who might be watching their weight or looking for guidelines with portion control, I find it really helpful to divide this recipe into four jars and then just mentally remind myself that each jar is 4 servings. I don’t measure each time I eat it, but I do try to keep an eye on how much I’m eating based on that rule of thumb. And if I end up eating one jar as three servings instead of four… oh well. Happy times.
A heads up: tomorrow I’m going to do a proper post to introduce our fur baby. (UPDATE: here it is.) I’m sort of INSANELY EXCITED to share her with you, and she’s wagging her tail next to me right now so I think that means she’s ready for her debut as a Blog Dog.
Until then: MORE CHOCOLATE GRANOLA, extra sea salt and crunchy sugar. Please and thank you!
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our easy chocolate desserts page. Check it out!
I should have listened to the comment that you will indeed need a whole batch. A half batch will not be sufficient.
Could you use a regular baking sheet instead of jelly roll ones?
That will be smaller, so the granola might not get as crispy because air can’t circulate as well.
This granola is dangerously good. I have made the recipe twice, and I can’t stop myself from snacking on it. I use mini chocolate chips and put less than the recipe calls for (about 1 cup), but that’s the only modification I have made to this winner of a recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Hello — I’m planning to make this for my neighbors’ Christmas treats this year and am wondering how long it will keep. Thanks in advance!
This granola is delicious, but not crunchy. I have made it twice and it has been very soft (and amazing) each time. How is it that yours comes out crunchy with 1 full cup of oil/syrup?
Omg, made this again for the first time in like 5 or 6 years and I have to share the magic that happened! We were in the middle of a heat wave, out of store bought granola (the crime) and kids were hungry. So I made this. Anyhow, because it was SO hot the chips would not harden up again after baking so I poured it all into a jar and threw it in the fridge. Everything hardened and it got real crisp and crunchy and oh so lip smacking delicious. I couldn’t help but pull out a chunk every time I opened the fridge. I might just do that every time from now on. Next batch is in the oven right now! Another classic recipe!
This granola is amazing. The second time I made it I only had 1/2 cup of coconut oil so I used hemp seed oil for the 1/6 cup I was short. The bit of hemp seed oil made it a little lighter and crispier, even better than it was. You could probably use flax oil for the same effect but hemp went great with the infused medicated coconut oil I used. Also flake salt to finish is a must.
In case anyone is wondering, I subbed in olive oil for the coconut oil and it worked great! Best granola recipe I’ve ever made!
Can I substitute applesauce for the coconut oil?
We haven’t tried this, Ester! The coconut oil helps the granola become crispy!
Any idea how long this might keep in the freezer? I’d like to make ahead to give as Christmas gifts. Also, might avocado oil be a good substitute for the coconut oil?
This is my favorite granola recipe! I’ve been making it since it was first posted in 2015!
The granola should keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. We haven’t tried avocado oil in this granola, but we think it’d be a good substitute!
This is delicious! Great for snacking and so much better than the stuff at the store.
💃
WOW is this good. Made it exactly as is and I’m afraid I will likely never make it again because I have no self control around it!
Glad to hear you enjoyed this, Emilie!
hello, this granola the best ı think. But ı ask one question for you per serving how many grams make 350 cal ? Thank You…
We’d guess it’d be about 43 grams.
43 grams – 350 cal
the whole nearly 688-700 gr
is it true ?
16 servings – about 1/3 cup each
1/3 cup 43 gr?
It’s a little hard for us to give an exact gram serving due to the location of the blog (US).
Can you please add the temperature in Celsius for all us Europeans? Of course I preheated the oven to 250 °C, which is 480 degrees Fahrenheit.
Thank you
can you taste the coconut in it? I REALLY don’t like coconut flavor, and i love chocolate granola, but I’m hesitant to make it because of the coconut oil…any substitutes?
We’d suggest using refined coconut oil in that case – it taste or smell like coconut. You could also try olive oil if you prefer. 🙂
So delicious!! I made this yesterday and added a handful of espresso chips (from the baking aisle). SO GOOD!
Espresso chips – YUM!
Made this today, minus the coconut but added pumpkin seed and sunflower seeds. Instead of turbinado used coconut palm sugar. Its the best granola I’ve ever had. Thanks for sharing.
Pumpkin and sunflower seeds sound like the perfect addition! Thanks for the tips, Maria! 🙂
If you don’t have coconut oil, can you use something else?
Omg, Lindsey! Just made this-wowee! Sooooo yummy! I gave up years ago making my own granola because every recipe was too wet. Yours came out perfect. Thank you for this recipe!
Glad to hear it! 🙂
This is highly addictive and delicious!!!
After reading through the description, I decided to cut the sugar and syrup about in half and only did about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips in hopes I wouldn’t be quite so addicted to this granola…. I’m still addicted. This granola is delicious!!
I would definitely recommend cutting the sweetness back if you don’t want to eat the entire batch in one sitting, and even then it may be hard to resist. I will be making this recipe again and again and again, and probably scaling back even more on the sweetness so I hopefully don’t gain 30 pounds wolfing this stuff down!!
This granola also clustered up nicely and was a wonderful texture. I didn’t have the correct sugar, and subbed coconut sugar instead and it still tastes great.
I just made a ton of this (like 3x the recipe!) and put it in little jars to give as Christmas presents. It was SO easy and so yummy! (And I’m not normally a big granola fan)
Thanks Lindsay!!
Been wanting to make this for a long time now but hesitant. I dislike maple flavor could I substitute honey for the syrup or would you advise something else?
Honey would work great!
Just made this and decided to do a half batch because, ‘I don’t need that much granola.’ Oh man, I was wrong! I can’t stop eating it, this stuff is so good.
I made this granola on Sunday and have been munching it throughout the week! It’s superb!
I love how it “clusters” – gives an amazing texture. Thanks so much!
Next time I’ll add some raisins because I love them 🙂
hello can you please suggest a substitute for coconut flakes ? i don’t like them and secondly I am trying to watch my weight. thank you
I dislike coconut but added them anyway. You actually can’t taste the coconut but it does add something to the texture. Also unsweeted coconut is not unhealthy for you.
We would just take out the coconut. 🙂