Clustery and Irresistible Cashew Butter Granola
If you’re someone who routinely burns their mouth on lava-hot granola straight from the oven because you just can’t wait, this one’s for you. This cashew granola is buttery, salty-sweet, and packed with crispy coconut, nutty chunks, and crispy bits of freeze-dried berries.
Erica’s Thoughts
Granola is one of those things that, even though I’ve perfected an incredible base granola, I will make again and again always switching up the variety. I made an incredible peanut butter granola for my cookbook, started the year strong with this salted maple pecan granola and now that spring is sprung, this cashew butter granola is where. it’s. at.
It’s sweet, salty, buttery, crunchy and everything I want in a granola. And the best part is the CHUNKS. I use both rolled oats and minute oats because I think it makes for better clumping and clustering. The cashew butter-maple combo makes this batch feel like a real treat, sprinkle on some freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries at the end and BAM- breakfast or snacking bliss.
If you’re someone who picks through the bag for the biggest pieces, just know this recipe was made with your spirit in mind. Grab a couple hunks for a snack during your busy day or pair with Greek yogurt for the perfect breakfast. It is so easy and once you taste it, you’ll never go back to store-bought granola again!
What You’ll Need to Make Cashew Granola
Oats: I recommend a combo of rolled oats and quick cooking oats to create better clusters. If you don’t have both you can use one or the other!
Cashew nuts: Buttery and sweet, these roast up perfectly golden in the oven. Look for raw, whole cashews. You can use roasted cashews, but they have a slightly higher chance of over-roasting in the oven.
Unsweetened flaked coconut: You can find flaked coconut in the baking aisle or bulk bins.
Spices: Keeping things quite simple here, ground cinnamon and sea salt for a boost of flavor!
Coconut oil: Oil is essential to help granola get and stay crispy. I buy the organic coconut oil from Costco (best price!) but you could also use any neutral oil like avocado or canola.
Cashew butter: Creamy cashew butter reinforces the incredible cashew flavor in this granola. It’s easy to make if you don’t have it on hand!
Maple syrup: Pure maple syrup is my favorite sweetener for granola. Natural sweetness with a little depth, muah!
Vanilla extract: Snag pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
Freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries: Tart, fruity, crunchy and the addition to granola I didn’t know I needed. I like to grab these at Trader Joe’s but you should be able to find them at any regular grocery store in the snacks or dried fruit aisle.
Variation Ideas
- stir in dark chocolate chips or chunks after the granola cools
- use peanut butter or almond butter instead of cashew butter if that’s what you have on hand
- add other superfood seeds like pumpkin seeds, hemp hearts or flaxseed meal
- in addtion to cashews, you could use other tree nuts like almonds, pecans or walnuts
- use any type of freeze-dried fruit (raspberries are my favorite) or dried fruit
How to Make Cashew Granola
Preheat your oven to 325°F and line a large rimmed sheet pan with parchment or a silicone mat.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the rolled oats, minute oats, cashews, coconut, cinnamon, and salt.
In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the coconut oil, cashew butter, maple syrup, and vanilla and whisk until smooth and creamy.
Pour the wet mixture over the dry and stir until every bit is coated.
Press the mixture into a thin, single layer on the large baking sheet. Use your hands or a spatula to really press the granola mixture down.
Bake for 25-27 minutes. You can stir halfway through to prevent the edges from getting extra toasty but I don’t like to stir- it helps larger clusters form. While the granola bakes, gently smash up the freeze dried berries.
Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle on the freeze-dried berries and gently press them in. Let granola cool completely before breaking into crunchy clusters. It’ll look soft at first, but will crisp up into a crunchy granola as it cools.
Serve with Greek yogurt, cottage cheese or milk and fresh fruit, on top of oatmeal, ice cream or smoothie bowls, layered into parfaits or straight up as a healthy snack.
Expert Tips for Amazing Cashew Granola
- If you don’t have cashew butter, it is SO easy to make it. Just pop 2 cups of roasted salted cashews in a food processor and process, scraping down the sides occasionally, until a smooth, creamy butter forms. Mine usually takes about 5 minutes.
- Pressing the mixture down before baking helps create those coveted granola clusters.
- Don’t skip the cooling time– it helps everything firm up and break apart into crisp chunks.
- Store cashew granola in a glass jar or airtight container to keep it fresh and crunchy.
- Don’t overchop the cashews, or the smaller pieces will burn. Raw nuts are preferable to roasted, so they don’t overcook.
FAQs
You could use an alternative nut butter like peanut butter, almond butter or sunflower seed butter. OR best option, follow the instructions in the recipe notes to whip up your own cashew butter.
You can! Avocado oil or light olive oil work too.
The combo of quick oats + rolled oats does create a more clustery experience. However, the recipe will still be delicious if you use 100% rolled oats.
You can use brown sugar or honey.
It’ll keep in a sealed container at room temperature for about a month, or you can stash it in the freezer in an airtight freezer bag for up to four months.
Yep, you can omit the coconut and the recipe will still turn out fabulous.
Feel free to add several tablespoons of ground flaxseed, hemp hearts, chia seeds, pepitas, sunflower seeds or any other fun nutrition boosters you enjoy. I wouldn’t add more than an additional ½ cup or it may affect the liquid-to-dry ingredient ratios.
More delicious homemade granola-inspired recipes:
I reeeeally want y’all to make this one, your breakfast game will be revolutionized.
If you try and like this recipe please don’t forget to leave a comment and star rating down below! If you love more lifestyle, behind the scenes and ‘eating in real life’ type of content come find me over on Instagram, @itsaflavorfullife, I love connecting with you all there!
Print
Clustery and Irresistible Cashew Butter Granola
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25-27 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 7 cups granola 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This easy homemade cashew granola is salty-sweet, crunchy, naturally gluten-free, and perfect for snacking or breakfast.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1 1/2 cups minute oats
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup cashew butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1.2 oz bag freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Dry ingredients: Use a knife to chop the cashews 1 or 2 times. You can also use your hands to break them apart a little; you still want pretty large chunks of cashews. Combine 1 ½ cups rolled oats, 1 ½ cups minute oats, 1 cup cashews,1 cup coconut, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl and toss to combine.
- Wet ingredients: In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt together ½ cup coconut oil, ½ cup cashew butter, ½ cup maple syrup and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and whisk until smooth and creamy.
- Combine: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until very well combined and everything is moistened. Dump granola mixture on the prepared pan and press it firmly into a thin, even, flat layer.
- Bake: Bake for 25-27 minutes. For the best chunks/clusters, do not stir.
- Cool: Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle on freeze-dried berries, pressing them gently into the mixture. Allow to cool COMPLETELY. I know, I know, it’s hard. Then break up into the most glorious clusters and store in an airtight container in the pantry for up to a month or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Notes
Cashew Butter: if you don’t have cashew butter but you do have cashews and a food processor, it is so easy to make! Add 2-3 cups of roasted cashews (make sure they’re roasted) to a food processor. Blend for 5-8 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed, until smooth and creamy. Add a pinch of salt if desired. The longer you process the drippier the nut butter, so be patient!
Refer to the above blog post for step-by-step photos, expert tips, and answers to frequently asked questions!
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Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/3 cup
- Calories: 214
- Sugar: 5.3 g
- Sodium: 114.6 mg
- Fat: 13.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 19.5 g
- Fiber: 2.5 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This is so delicious! The flavor combo is so fun and really provides the best mix of sweet and salty. I used all rolled oats and subbed almond butter for cashew butter and it turned out great. I will say I did have to bake for longer (closer to an hour) but that may have been due to my oven or using all rolled oats. I’m looking forward to trying your other granola recipes!
Great to know about the swaps Erika! Glad you were able to adjust the bake time and it still turned out fab 🙂 Thanks for your review!
Hi, Erica. I want to make this so bad but husband hates coconut (I know! What is wrong with him?) haha. What can I substitute for the coconut? I’m wracking my brain thinking of things. Dried fruit maybe?
Hi! It’ll still turn out great just leaving the coconut out! You could def add dried fruit if you want, but it’s not really a ‘substitute’ for coconut.
I make this every Sunday. Absolutely delicious
Yaaaay! Glad you love it Rachel, thank you!
This was so good and so easy. Much better than store bought ❤️❤️
so yummy, love have this as a snack or I yogurt bowl. quick and easy