Slow Cooker Granola Recipe

Hey, friends! I’m pretty excited to let you know that I was invited to participate in a very special recipe blog hop and e-book! My job was to create a recipe that you wouldn’t normally think of cooking in a crockpot. Today, I get to share with you what I came up with; Homemade Slow Cooker Granola! And believe me, it’s delicious! I’ve made more than one batch of it and we devour it every time.

The full recipe is featured on Ginny’s website and you can also see the other 10 recipes submitted for this challenge. Here’s a quick look at how I made it and you can too…

Ingredients:

Dry:
4 cups dry rolled oats
½ cup sliced almonds
½ cup finely chopped pecans
¾ cup dried blueberries
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt

Wet:
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup honey
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Measure your dry ingredients and place them in the slow cooker. Combine the vanilla, honey, and vegetable oil and stir into the dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Place the lid on the slow cooker, but vent it slightly.

Cook for three hours on high, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking or burning. {I made my recipe in the Ginny’s 6.5 quart Oval Digital Slow Cooker, so I was able to actually set a timer that told me how much time remained before my granola was ready.}

When the cooking process is finished, spoon the mixture onto a baking sheet covered with foil or parchment paper and spread it out. Allow it to cool, then you can cut it into bars or crumble it into pieces as desired. Store in an airtight container.

Granola also freezes well, so if you make more than you can eat, just freeze it for later…although I don’t think you’ll need to. In our house this snack disappears fast!    

This granola is the perfect combination of sweetness, nuttiness, cinnamon, and fruit. And the best part about it is that you can tweak the recipe at any time to suit your own preferences! For example, you can substitute cranberries or other dried fruit for the blueberries, or use a combination of several types. If you like, you can add sunflower seeds, chia seeds, or other types of nuts, as long as you adjust the amounts so that you’re adding a total of one cup. This recipe can also be made gluten-free.

Enjoy this sweet and healthy treat by itself, with milk, with yogurt, or in any way you like it best!  Now, as part of this special challenge, Ginny’s is giving away a $250 Gift Certificate to their site where you can find all kinds of great things like slow cookers, blenders, dishes, flatware, cooking utensils, and much more. To enter, just to go my recipe page and follow the instructions in the pop-up box. You can enter as many times as you like between now and May 31; good luck!

If you enjoyed this recipe, be sure to check out the others in the Blog Hop: