The big crunchy clusters are easily the best bites of granola, so why not bake a batch of only clusters?! This recipe for homemade granola clusters produces a wholesome, delicious anytime snack that’s easy to make and easier to eat. Bake the maple almond granola mixture in a 9×13-inch baking pan, before breaking up into pieces and returning to the oven. (That’s the cluster trick!) You need just 8 ingredients for this naturally vegan, dairy-free, egg-free recipe.
Anyone who enjoys snacking on granola can probably relate… have you ever fished around in the container or package to pick out the giant clusters? Just me?
Because aren’t those big crunchy clusters (that practically take up an entire spoon) the best?! You can now find granola clusters in some stores, but it’s easy to make them at home with a handful of simple, wholesome ingredients. I’m talking about a batch of JUST clusters. Bring on the crunch.
I published this recipe back in 2012—it was one of my first recipes shared on this website! And it’s still a consistent favorite in my house. Over the years, I’ve found you really don’t need the whole wheat flour. Instead, use just almond flour to help bind the oats and create those large clusters. By removing the whole wheat flour and if using certified gluten-free oats, this recipe is gluten free. Sliced almonds add flavor and texture, and you’ll love the flavors from maple syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla. (Honestly, like a crunchy granola version of maple brown sugar cookies.)
Summary of Homemade Granola Clusters:
- Made with minimal ingredients, no need for anything else
- Easy recipe, great for beginner or young bakers
- Wholesome treat made with oats, almonds, and maple syrup
- A little salty and sweet, wonderful maple flavor
- Energy-packed snack you’ll feel good about eating
- Vegan, egg-free, and gluten free if using certified GF oats
- Make the clusters as large or small as you like—you’re in control here!
- So much satisfying texture and crunch in every bite
8 Ingredients & Why Each Is Crucial
- Oats: Whole rolled (old-fashioned) oats are the nutritious heart of these granola clusters. I don’t recommend quick or instant oats here—you need whole.
- Almond Flour: Almond flour is a pretty common ingredient these days, and most grocery stores carry it. You need this ingredient in order for the granola to clump. If you have any left over, challenge yourself with a batch of French macarons. And if you can’t find almond flour in the store, you can make it at home. See recipe Notes.
- Salt: A little salt brings out all the other flavors, making these the tastiest granola clusters.
- Sliced/Slivered Almonds: Nuts add texture, and you can certainly leave them out if desired. If you only have whole almonds, give them a rough chop. I recommend using unsalted.
- Coconut Oil: Do not leave this out! The fat keeps granola from turning into a mushy mess and adds crunch and richness to every cluster. You can substitute butter if needed, but not a liquid oil. You need a fat that is solid at room temperature.
- Brown Sugar: The brown sugar adds sweetness, but is also needed to thicken the sticky “sauce” that gets poured over the dry ingredients. You can substitute coconut sugar, if desired.
- Maple Syrup: Pure maple syrup gives these clusters the most delicious flavor, and it’s an unrefined sweetener. It also helps the granola stick together, cluster-style.
- Vanilla Extract: Another flavor enhancer!
FAQ: Can I Make This Without Brown Sugar?
We’re sweetening these granola clusters with maple syrup and brown sugar, and I don’t recommend using only maple syrup. You really need a dry sugar to help thicken the sauce poured over the dry ingredients. If you’d prefer to use an unrefined sugar, try using coconut sugar instead of brown sugar.
Bake the Mixture in a Baking Dish (That’s the Trick!)
Melt the coconut oil, brown sugar, and maple syrup together on the stove before pouring over and mixing into your dry ingredients. Press the mixture into a lined 9×13-inch baking dish, as if you were making granola bars. That’s the real trick here:
Rotate the pan every 10 minutes. When the granola “slab” has baked for about 40 minutes, remove the baking pan and let cool for 5–10 minutes, but keep the oven on. Carefully—it’s hot!—lift out the slightly cooled slab of granola (just pick up the whole thing by the edges of the parchment paper) and cut into squares, then break apart into pieces. Those are your clusters!
Return the clusters back to the pan, or spread on a lined baking sheet this time, and give them another 10 minutes in the oven to achieve crispy, crunchy clusters.
They’ll continue crisping up as they cool, so make sure to cool completely at room temperature before transferring the clusters to an airtight container (or your mouth).
You can enjoy these maple almond granola clusters with a spoon as you would any granola cereal, in a bowl with regular/nondairy milk or yogurt, but they also make such a great on-the-go snack. Toss some in a take-along container, add them to your favorite trail mix, or sprinkle them on top of oatmeal or ice cream.
FAQ: Can I Include Some Add-ins?
If you want to add some extra goodies to your maple almond granola clusters—such as pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or sunflower seeds, raisins, coconut flakes, dried cranberries—you can, but keep the total amount of add-ins to about 1 and 1/4 cups, including the sliced almonds in the recipe. So use 3/4 cup sliced almonds and 1/2 cup of any other add-in. Too many add-ins = clusters will fall apart and you’ll just have regular granola. Not a bad thing, just not clusters!
Other Healthier Baking Recipes
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Baked Oatmeal
- Healthy Apple Muffins
- Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- Greek Yogurt Lemon Bars
Maple Almond Granola Clusters
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
- Yield: 5.5 cups
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Try a batch of *just* granola clusters! Bake the mixture in a 9×13-inch baking pan, before breaking up into pieces and returning to the oven. (That’s the cluster trick!) You need just 8 ingredients for this naturally vegan and egg-free recipe. Use certified gluten-free oats to ensure this recipe is gluten free.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (255g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 3/4 cup (75g) almond flour or almond meal
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (95g) sliced, slivered, or chopped almonds (I recommend unsalted)
- 1/3 cup (70g) coconut oil
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F (149°C). Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Mix the oats, almond flour, salt, and almonds together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Combine coconut oil, brown sugar, and maple syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until sugar dissolves. It’s ok if there’s a layer of oil on top. Remove from heat, whisk in the vanilla, and pour over oat mixture. Stir until everything begins to come together. The mixture will be sticky.
- Pour into prepared baking pan and, using a spatula, press mixture tightly into an even layer in the pan.
- Bake for 40 minutes, rotating the pan every 10 minutes to ensure the granola “slab” bakes evenly. Remove the baking pan, but do not turn off the oven. Let the granola slab cool in the pan for 5–10 minutes. (The cooling is crucial!) Lift the granola out of the pan using the parchment overhang on the sides. Cut into squares, and then break up into smaller cluster pieces—be careful, the granola is hot! Place the clusters back into the baking pan, with or without parchment, or spread onto a lined or unlined baking sheet, and bake the clusters for 10 more minutes.
- Remove clusters from the oven and cool completely. Clusters become crunchier the longer they cool.
- Cover and store the cooled clusters at room temperature for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-Inch Baking Pan | Baking Sheet | Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Spatula
- Almond Flour: You can use almond flour or almond meal in this recipe. Almond flour is finely ground blanched almonds. You could also use almond meal, which is coarser. You can purchase almond flour in most grocery stores, and I really like Bob’s Red Mill brand. You can also make it at home, and here’s how: Pulse about 3/4 cup of whole almonds (blanched or not) a few times in a food processor until the almonds are finely ground. Do not let it grind for too long or the nuts will release too much of their oil and turn into almond butter.
- Nut-Free: You can swap almond flour for oat flour, and leave out the sliced almonds. I find this version isn’t quite as crunchy, but it does work.
- Oats: Whole rolled (old-fashioned) oats are the nutritious heart of these granola clusters. I don’t recommend quick or instant oats here—you need whole.
- Coconut Oil: Do not leave this out! The fat keeps granola from turning into a mushy mess and adds crunch and richness to every cluster. You can use butter instead if needed, but don’t substitute a liquid oil—you need a fat that’s solid at room temperature.
- Brown Sugar: The brown sugar adds sweetness, but is also needed to thicken the sticky “sauce” that gets poured over the dry ingredients. You can substitute coconut sugar, if desired.
- Add-Ins: If you want to add some extra goodies to your maple almond granola clusters—such as pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or sunflower seeds, raisins, coconut flakes, dried cranberries—you can, but keep the total amount of add-ins to about 1 and 1/4 cups, including the sliced almonds in the recipe. So use 3/4 cup sliced almonds and 1/2 cup of any other add-in. Keep in mind the clusters may fall apart more depending on the add-ins you use.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 cup
- Calories: 306
- Sugar: 12.3 g
- Sodium: 107 mg
- Fat: 12.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 33 g
- Fiber: 4.1 g
- Protein: 6.3 g
Keywords: maple almond granola clusters
My son likes granola on his oatmeal. Preferably with a little chocolate too. I assume I could add some chips at the beginning with the dry ingredients. Would it be too sweet to add the chocolate?
Hi Amy, you can add some chocolate chips to this recipe, or try this triple chocolate crunch granola, or chocolate peanut butter granola!
Thank you!!!
I have a bag of Coconut Flakes (the large ones that look like a small potato chip) which probably would be amazing. However, I worry about them burning. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Mark, some readers have reported success with using coconut flakes in this recipe, so give it a try! You can always give them a rough chop before adding in, too.
Hi, is it possible to add roasted and partially ground flax seeds into this recipe at some point?
Shouldn’t be a problem. I would add them right into the dry ingredients (oats and almond flour).
I have not tried Almond Granola Clusters yet, but I have everything I need to start.
I need to have oats well-cooked (baked) for digestive issues. Would baking them at a lower temp
and longer be helpful? I was thinking 1-1/2 hours at 200 or 250. I would appreciate your thoughts
and any tips you can offer.
Thank you,
Hi Kay Dee, I’m unsure; I haven’t tried baking the clusters at a lower oven temperature before. Let me know if you try it.
When measuring the coconut oil, do you scoop the solid oil in the 1/3 cup measure, then melt it?
Hi CJ, either way works!
Have made a batch of this for the last 4 weeks. Hubby likes it so much better than store bought. Almond flour is the key to crunchiness. Thank you!
I’m a little short of the required 1/3 cup of maple syrup. Can I add in a little bit of honey to make up the difference?
Absolutely!
I followed the directions and added dried cranberries as a add in. This was so easy and taste so good! I will be making this again and again. Its nice most of the ingredients I always have in the pantry!
★★★★★
While the original recipe didn’t form clusters, my family thought it was divine. Would you please publish it on your website as granola? I prefer granola without the coconut flavor. Thank you.
If you use regular coconut oil (not virgin), the oil will not taste of coconut.
Help, I Can’t Stop Eating These Clusters! Everybody loves these granola clusters! This super simple recipe is delicious! I love the adaptability and flexibility for add-ins! I added coconut flakes yesterday. Now I’m back to making another batch today! I think I’ll try cashews instead of almonds…
★★★★★
Emily, so glad you enjoy these. I make them all the time, such an easy and tasty recipe!
Yum! We love the “nut-free” version of these delicious, crunchy little nuggets! I used oat flour and pepitas in place of almond meal/ almonds. SO addictive and delicious!
★★★★★
This is the best! It’s easy and a perfect grab and go snack. I add a dash of maple flavoring and for nuts use a combo of sliced almonds, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds. I am thinking it will be my packaged gifts at Christmastime this year instead of the usual caramel corn. Wonderful stuff!
★★★★★
my husband loves granola but is on a serious low sodium diet. can I leave out the salt?
Absolutely!
I discovered this recipe about 3 weeks ago, and I kid you not, I’ve made at least 7 batches! It’s completely addictive! I’ve shared with family and friends and everyone agrees that it’s amazing. Thanks for another winner, Sally!
★★★★★
Perfect recipe for a crunchy satisfying granola craving! I added in 2 TB of protein powder, and 2TB ground flax seed. Decreased the almond meal. Love the way the coconut oil makes it super crunchy and flavorful with the maple syrup. I joke with my g/f that Sally is my go to recipe BFF
I halved the recipe and, because I didn’t want the granola to be too sweet, reduced the brown sugar to 15g and the honey to 1tbsp. As a result, they didn’t form proper clusters (though some bits tried), but it still turned out delicious and fulfils the craving for something crunchy to put on yoghurt!
★★★★