Cashew Butter Banana Granola [vegan, gluten-free]

This simple Cashew Butter Banana Granola recipe is perfect for snack time or breakfast. My favorite is enjoying it yogurt topped with bananas and cashew butter! Gluten-free, vegan-friendly. 

Basically if I were a granola flavor this is what I would be: Cashew Butter Banana Granola.

I have a serious love for cashew butter and baking with bananas is one of my favorite things. The amount of extra ripe bananas hiding in my freezer door is a clear indication of my obsession. Or maybe it just means I buy bananas too often and somehow they never get used. Hhmmm. I digress.

Back in December I hosted a fun baking session with the FLEXcity fitness crew and one of the recipes I made was my Maple Walnut Cinnamon Granola. I hadn’t made granola before then in way too long, and ever since I’ve had this hankering to make granola again.

side note: Drew wanted me to use the word “hankering” in a blog post for reasons that I don’t recall but there it is. 

Actually, I just realized that the cinnamon granola is the most recent granola recipe on my blog. Recent being way over a year ago! So obviously I had to get with the granola program and share a new recipe with you all.

Cashew Butter Banana Granola

Making granola at home is wonderful for many reasons. One being that it makes your house smell awesome. Another reason being that it is often a heluva lot cheaper than buying it. I mean I totally get the laziness and convenience factor. Not to mention there are some damn good granola companies out there making ridiculous flavors that are out of this world.

But if you’re looking to save some dolla dolla bills, ya’ll… homemade is where it’s at.

what you need

rolled oats (gluten-free if needed)

cashew pieces (optional)

cinnamon

cashew butter

banana

maple syrup

coconut oil

chia seeds

Some Notes about the Process

• If your cashew butter is hard to stir, you can microwave the cashew butter, maple syrup and coconut oil together for about 15 seconds.
• You can mash your banana with a fork separately first, or blend in with the cashew butter using an immersion blender.
• Once the cashew butter banana mixture is ready, everything else gets combined with the dry ingredients.
• Don’t be afraid to use your hands to get everything well mixed at the end. Then when transferring to the baking sheet, leave some clumps together if you want clusters.
• *FLIPPING* the granola with a large spatula  (in 10 minute increments) will make sure you get clusters. If you don’t want clusters, simply stir the granola around.
• Make sure to let the granola cool on the pan completely before storing – the air will help create a crunchier texture

The granola clusters have a slightly softer texture because of it being made with mashed banana, but I personally enjoyed the combination.

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• Author: Ashley
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: about 4 cups granola

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Description

 

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Ingredients

• 1 TBS chia seeds + 3 TBS water
• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats (gluten-free if needed)
• 1/2 cup cashew pieces
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup creamy cashew butter
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup* (make sure it’s room temperature)
• 1 medium banana, mashed
• 2 TBS coconut oil, melted

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Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 300ºF and line large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat; set aside. 
2. In a small bowl, combine chia seeds with water and let sit for about 3-5 minutes.
3. In large bowl combine oats, cashew pieces and cinnamon; set aside.
4. In a medium microwave safe bowl combine cashew butter, maple syrup, oil and mashed banana. You can also microwave cashew butter and maple syrup together before adding mashed banana if tough to stir. Add chia seed mixture and stir until combined.
5. Transfer cashew butter banana mixture to bowl of oats, using large rubber spatula to combine at first before using hands to make sure oats are fully coated. 
6. Transfer to prepared baking sheet; bake for a total of about 40 minutes, flipping the granola in 10 minute increments. *Flipping versus stirring the granola will result in clusters*
7. Remove granola from oven and allow to cool completely, do NOT stir again. While the granola cools, the air will help set the crunchy texture. If you want less clusters, you can stir the granola here.
8. Once the granola has cooled completely, store in airtight container. Granola should stay fresh up to 3 weeks – if it lasts that long.

Notes

See notes about the process in the post. The granola is slightly softer in texture because of the banana mixed in. You can try stirring the granola more instead of flipping, which will reduce clusters and make crunchier texture.

*This recipe is also not super sweet as written. Should you want a sweeter granola, I’d recommend adding in up to 1/4 cup brown or coconut sugar, stirring in with the wet ingredients. 

Recipe can be easily doubled for a larger batch. 

SOME OF THE PRODUCTS I USED IN TODAY’S RECIPE

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