This crunchy cinnamon granola made with egg whites is my absolute favorite with its classic oats and honey flavor with vanilla and cardamom. It has seeds like flax and chia for a little extra protein and fiber. I usually eat it with plain greek yogurt, a chopped up honey crisp apple and a handful of blueberries.
This recipe was inspired by our Breakfast Power Cookies and Peanut Butter Energy Balls. All 3 make great breakfasts or snacks when you need some complex carbs, protein and fiber and AWESOME flavor.
Pair it with Nature's Cereal for a berry addition!
Ingredients
- old fashioned rolled oats- you can use quick oats, but it's better with old fashioned
- slivered almonds- other nuts work great too
- seeds- I use a mixture of flax, chia and hemp seeds. Feel free to use one or all or another type of seed like sunflower seeds.
- cinnamon
- cardamom
- salt
- nutmeg
- egg whites- egg whites help form those perfect granola clusters
- honey
- avocado oil- olive, vegetable or canola oil can be used for this as well
- vanilla
Instructions
Place oats, almonds, seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, salt and nutmeg into a bowl.
Toss lightly with your hands. Don't worry about a good mix, the most important thing is just that the spices are spread out so they don't clump together when adding the wet ingredients.
Whisk egg whites. Make a shallow well in the oats and pour in the egg whites, honey, oil and vanilla.
Mix using a spatula until well blended. All the ingredients will start to stick together a bit. Pour onto a parchment lined baking sheet and spread out evenly.
Bake at 275 for 25 minutes. Gently turn granola over with a spatula.
Return the granola to the oven an additional 20-25 minutes until golden.
Substitutions
- quick oats-substitute quick oats for old fashioned- but be careful of baking time, shorten the baking time by 5 minutes and watch carefully for overbaking.
- oil- the type of oil isn't as important here. You can use any oil: coconut oil, olive oil, vegetable oil or canola oil.
- chopped or sliced nuts- any type of nut goes great. Pecans, walnuts, cashews, macademia nuts. The world is your oyster. Pick you favorite and go with it.
- seeds- most small seeds should work great. We love this with sunflower seeds, they taste great! Or, go seedless! The recipe still works great without seeds.
Variations
- Cranberry Pecan- for a delicious fun version use pecans and 1 cup of craisins.
- Macadamia White Chocolate- Use macadamia nuts instead of almonds, then after they have baked, either spread white chocolate chips over the top while it's hot for a white chocolate glaze or wait until cooled and add 1 cup of white chocolate chips.
- Walnut Apricot- add walnuts instead of almonds then add 1 cup of chopped dried apricots after baking, or just serve with yogurt and apricot jam!
Hint: Go for the double! Make a double batch (it stores well for 2 months) and have it a few days a week until you run out. For a double batch, stir at 35 minutes, then 15-20 minutes later stir again. If it looks done (nice and golden, even on the bottom) pull it out. If it's not quite golden, return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Side note for a double batch: There won't be as many clusters when making a double batch.
It will crisp up as it cools, but it should be slightly crisp and not very soft when it comes out of the oven.
If you use gluten free oats, granola does not have gluten.
It does eventually go bad. Assuming the ingredients you are using are fresh, granola should last for about 2 months in an airtight container at room temperature. It can also be frozen to last longer.
Crunchy Cinnamon Granola with Egg Whites
Ingredients
For the dry ingredients:
- 5 cups old fashioned oats
- ¾ cup chopped or sliced nuts- I use almonds but feel free to use cashews, pecans, walnuts or other
- ⅓ cup mixed seeds I use a mix of chia, hemp and flax, but use whatever you have on hand
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
For the wet ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil I've also used olive and vegetable oiland it doesn't really matter which one you use.
- 4 egg whites large
- ½ cup honey if you want it less sweet, go down to ⅓ cup, but don't do less than that or the flavor is quite lacking
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275*.
- Put oats, then remaining dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
- Toss gently, but not too much or the nuts and seeds sink to the bottom.
- Put oil and egg whites in a mixing bowl and whisk 30-60 seconds.
- Add remaining wet ingredients and mix. It will separate, don't worry about it.
- Pour over the dry ingredients and mix until combined, making sure you mix from the bottom up to get it all incorporated together.
- Spread on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake 25 minutes, then pull out and gently turn the granola over.
- Bake and additional 20-25 minutes until golden brown and lightly crisped. Don't break up the clumps!
- Allow to cool completely before breaking it up and moving into an airtight container.
JCaryl
This recipe is so good. I love that it has less sugar and oil than normal granola recipes. The flavor is also 10/10
Tayler Ross
I had this granola for breakfast this morning and OMG was it delicious! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe! I love that it's made with cinnamon and especially egg whites. It was so crunchy and had amazing clusters.
Heather
Loved this granola! The egg whites made them so crunchy. And not too sweet or too oily!
Nicole
Holy cow I love this egg white granola! It's so flavorful and turns out so crunchy and yummy. I love that it isn't as sweet or as oily as a lot of granolas, but still sooo good. We used Quaker oats and the taste was reminiscent of oats and honey. Loved it!
Sisley White - Sew White
I love when healthy food tastes so good! It makes it so much easier to have a healthy diet. This recipe was yummy and crunchy and I loved that cardamom and cinnamon giving it that chai flavor. So good. Great recipe!
Beth
I made this recipe this past weekend to keep on hand for snacks. Unfortunately, I ate it all already. LOL. It's so good!