Pumpkin Granola

By Maria Lichty

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Pumpkin granola recipe is the perfect fall breakfast or snack

I love making homemade granola. Not only does it taste good, but it makes the house smell amazing. I usually stir up a new recipe every time I make granola. I can’t help myself. There are so many flavors to play around with. This time I went with a fall theme and made a batch of pumpkin granola.

Pumpkin, applesauce, and maple syrup bind the oats together so there is no need for butter or oil. I used pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg to give the granola a prominent pumpkin spice flavor. The pumpkin spice aroma traveled throughout the house and lingered for hours-much better than a pumpkin candle:)

When the granola was finished baking, I stirred in dried cranberries and pepitas. I didn’t add nuts because Josh is allergic, but feel free to add in a handful or two. Almonds or pecans would be a delightful addition. I love the large crunchy clumps in this granola. If you aren’t a clumpy fan, just break them up. This pumpkin granola is good eaten plain, as a yogurt topping, or with a splash of cold milk.

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Pumpkin Granola

The perfect fall granola! Enjoy with yogurt, milk, or by the handful!
4.67 from 9 votes

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 325° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  • In a large bowl, combine oats, spices, and salt. Mix well.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin puree, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour wet ingredients into oat mixture and stir until the oats are evenly coated. They will be moist. Evenly spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.
  • Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and stir. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the granola is golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and stir in dried cranberries and pepitas. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
  • *Note-serve granola with yogurt, milk, or enjoy plain.

Have you tried this recipe?

Leave a comment below and share a photo on Instagram. Tag @twopeasandpod and hashtag it with #twopeasandtheirpod

If you like this pumpkin granola, you might also like:

Maple Almond Granola from Two Peas and Their Pod
Granola with Coconut, Dried Cranberries, and Almonds from Two Peas and Their Pod
Cherry, Prune, and Almond Granola from Food Blogga
Homemade Granola from Amanda’s Cookin

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Maria

I'm Maria and my husband is Josh. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We love sitting around the table with good food, good conversation, and good friends and family! Our kitchen is always open!
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4.67 from 9 votes (5 ratings without comment)

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  1. My favorite granola! I LOVE that there is no added oil or butter but it still looks crunchy and perfect. I’ll have to throw a batch together this weekend, no candle needed 🙂 Thanks Maria!

  2. I am obsessed with homemade granola! And I am the same way- the ingredients shift every time! I’ve been purchasing my ingredients through oh nuts (online website) and getting raw pepitas. I like baking them right in with my mix. Hope you guys have a nice weekend

  3. Yum! I love granola and this sounds like the perfect fall granola. I will have to make this to bring along with me to SF. A great snack to have on the flight over! 🙂
    Have a great weekend!

  4. I am printing this off now and making it tonight!! Great recipe that doesn’t have any oil or butter. I also love that you added pepitas!

  5. I bet your house smells amazing when you make this granola – you are right, it is great for anytime at all 🙂 xo

  6. I love that there is no butter, oil, or nuts! My 2 little boys are allergic also. I can’t wait to make this!

  7. Perfect timing for this recipe! I have leftover pumpkin puree and homemade applesauce in the fridge… and there are always oats in the pantry! I’m going to try to make this this weekend!

  8. this looks great! all of the pre-made pumpkin granolas I have seen have coconut (wish I strongly dislike) so this is perfect!

  9. LOVE IT! What a healthy treat! I’ll share this post on my facebook page.

  10. What a wonderful fall treat! As it gets cooler, my husband and I like to take more long walks and hikes, and this would be the perfect snack to take along. Thanks for the recipe and beautiful photos!

  11. I think you read my mind. I was just wishing for a pumpkin granola recipe since I didn’t feel up to making one up on my own. Yours is pretty healthy too with less oil/butter. Perfect!

  12. Sounds wonderful! I have only made granola once, with mostly applesauce as the binder, so it was pretty healthy, and I was thinking about swapping that out with pumpkin for the next batch. Seeing what you’ve done, I guess that should work 🙂 thanks!

  13. I love making my own granola! This version with pumpkin is too good to pass up…thanks for posting! Hope to see you in SF!

  14. wow this looks so good! I’ve never thought of using pumpkin puree in granola- what a fabulous idea! I made some plain old maple granola last weekend and my little girls gobbled it up in two days! I have to try this one out.

  15. Love this!!! I love anything pumpkin. I have never even thought to make pumpkin granola! I definitely have to make this soon!

  16. What a great idea – I never thought of using pumpkin puree for granola. This has so many possibilities – thank you for the inspiration.

  17. I can guarantee you I’ll be making this. I have my granola almost every single day! Anp pumpkin is perfect!

  18. Holy cow this looks and sounds wonderful! I think I’m going to have to give this recipe a try. Thanks for sharing!

  19. I love granola too. Have been planning to make it at home for ages. This is a nice inspiration. Love the pictures. 🙂 Petra

  20. This is so funny because I just prepared a post about granola too! We must be on the same wavelength 😉 Can’t wait to see the kitchen!!

  21. I’ll have to remember this recipe when I have just a bit of pumpkin leftover. It sounds perfect for fall.

  22. Fantastic recipe, Maria! I will definitely be making this for my family. I love that there is no butter or oil used.

  23. tried this today – yum!! i used 3.5 cups oats and 2 cups rice krispies, and toasted the oats/cereal for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees before mixing in the pumpkin. i also added sliced almonds…i read somewhere to not add them for the entire baking process because they can burn, but i forgot that and it turned out just fine.
    i baked the mixture for 30 minutes or so and it turned out nice and crunchy. the spiced flavor is delish but not overwhelming…will definitely make again.
    love the site maria…more commenters should try the recipes and post their successes – i would love to hear other variations and recommendations!

  24. Oh my goodness…this is SO easy and tastes SO DELICIOUS! I used sugar-free syrup since that’s all we had. I will definitely be making this again. The house smells like fall 🙂

  25. homemade granola is the best! this flavor combo sounds great 🙂 it would be so tasty with my yogurt for breakfast!

  26. Okay, made this wonderful granola last Friday. Realized, when the granola was cooling, I was going to have to make more as it certainly wasn’t going to last long in our house. Sure enough, I ended up making a double batch in addition to the single batch and by Monday I barely had enough to eat with milk for breakfast. Thanks for the recipe, my family loves it and we are looking forward to trying your cinnamon honey granola recipe too.

    1. The granola is addicting. Glad your family loved it! The cinnamon honey granola is good too:)

  27. This looks amazing. I was just contemplating some pumpkin granola this afternoon. After seeing yours, I definitely need to give it a try! 🙂

  28. I tried this last night and meh…it was so so. Not a total fail,but not as yummy as I am used to. Not sure what went wrong. I may tweek and try again.

  29. I love love LOVE the sound of this recipe and can’t wait to try! I still have never tried homemade granola (I’m spoiled and my mom makes me her famous recipe all the time) but this has convinced me that I must try!

  30. This looks amazing! Will definitely be making it soon. Thanks for sharing your delicious recipes!

  31. This looks delicious! Do you think I could substitute Agave nectar for the Maple syrup, or would it mess up the consistency?

  32. I made this granola this weekend and it was SOOO good! I substituted honey for the maple syrup, and I was out of applesauce so I used canola oil. Such a great recipe! Thanks a million!!!

  33. Great recipe! Used some left over pumpkin puree from another recipe and it all worked out great. Added fresh cranberries instead of dried. Check out my review on thedo-tique.blogspot.com!

  34. This sounds awesome. I have never had or made homemade granola but must try this. One question what is pepitas?

    1. I haven’t tried it without the applesauce, but I am sure more pumpkin would be fine. Let me know if you try it!

    2. You can make up the difference with extra pumpkin and extra maple syrup. It will be great!

  35. ..cut the recipe in half and substituted maple for agave since i ran out and since i had no pumpkin spice mix i simply replaced that with garam masala mix (trust me it works!)…also substituted pepitas for pecans and almonds…final results? YUM! Definitely a keeper, a wonderful pairing of flavours, although next time i will leave the granola longer in the oven as it didn’t turn out crispy/crunchy at all but i did get the big clumps so it wasn’t a major disappointment 🙂 cheers for the recipe!

  36. This is a wonderful recipe! I had to highlight it on my pumpkin blog. It’s so hard to find lowfat granola recipes too.

  37. Thank you, thank you, thank you! This was fantastic – my husband and kids can’t stop eating it – what a great recipe – I just had some over the yogurt I made this weekend and it is sinfully delish!

  38. I’ve made this twice now, both times just using all pumpkin or another squash instead of applesauce. I find that it takes a little more moisture to get it nice and clumpy to start, but maybe that’s because the squash I used is drier than pumpkin puree? I also cooked it a little more each time to get it nice and crunchy. Overall, amazing! My husband and I have a hard time not eating too much of it before it even goes in the oven!

  39. I just made this granola tonight, and I’m waiting for it to cool. I love that it doesn’t have oil in it either, but I want to tweak it and reduce the sugar. Thanks for the recipe!

  40. This recipe was fantastic. I followed the directions exactly, but baked it a little longer so that it was really really crunchy. Phenomenal….absolutely the perfect yogurt topping! THANK YOU!

  41. I’ve been trying to make granola for what feels like ages but could never seem to find quite the right recipe, thanks so much, this one was exactly what i was looking for.

  42. Oh my goodness! This is delicious! I was able to make it using gluten free oats and it’s perfect. Thank you for sharing it.

  43. Thank you so much for sharing this terrific granola recipe! I am living in China and love trying new, easy recipes. I found your website when I was searching for a zuchinni fries recipe (which I tried :), and then I found this recipe. I needed to make homemade applesauce and pumpkin puree for the granola, but it was a fun treat to make. Thanks again!!! 🙂

  44. This granola looks amazing! I am obsessed with anything seasonal, especially pumpkin! How long will this last in an airtight container?

    1. I had the granola in an air tight container for about 2 weeks. It didn’t last any longer than that:) It might keep even longer though! Enjoy!

  45. Wow, this looks great… I’ve just gotten into making my own granola and it’s about to run out. I guess I’ll just replace it with this!

  46. I made this over the weekend and fell instantly in love. It’s insanely good! Will probably need to make another batch before the week is over.

  47. I just made this and it tastes great! Mine isn’t to clumpy but its wonderful and my house smells amazing! thanks for posting this recipe. It will go great on my oatmeal and yogurt!

  48. I just made the granola last night (finally got around to it). It is amazing Maria! This will be a recipe that I will be making over and over. I am a pumpkin nut this time of year. I see what you mean by “it might make it more than two weeks”…I highly doubt that this granola will last that long!

  49. I love this stuff so much. I added candy corn, because tis the season. Plus there is something about pumpkin and candy corn that just screams fall. Keep up the good work, I am obsessed with this blog!

  50. This is perfect for this season! I’ve been looking at granola recipes and I think this has won 🙂 I can’t wait to make it!

  51. I made this last night and had it for breakfast this morning. I love pumpkin but there seems to be too much of something. I don’t know if it is the nutmeg but I think one of the spices is too strong.

  52. I just made a big batch of this, substituting slivered almonds for the pepitas, and I can hardly wait for it to cool! It looks and smells heavenly. Thanks for the recipe 🙂

  53. Thanks. I found this after searching for a Pumpkin Granola recipe, because I wanted a good granola with more fiber, less sugar and fat. I know that pumpkin and apples are good sources of fiber, so I was delighted to find this. To bump up the fiber even more, I added to this recipe 1/2 cup psyllium husk, 1/4 cup flax meal, 1/4 cup sliced almonds and 1 oz chopped dried apple. I also substituted 1/4 cup honey for the 3/4 cup brown sugar, and it turned out great. I left out the cranberries, because I usually add fresh fruit later. Accordingly, 1/3 cup of this granola comes in at about 120 calories and 5 grams fiber. I serve it with sauteed apple slices and nonfat yogurt, which tastes more like dessert than breakfast!

  54. I’m so happy to be able to make something healthy and yummy for the munchkins! They’ll all be here for Thanksgiving this year!

    How long does it keep?

    1. I’ve kept it in an air-tight container for about two weeks. It never lasts longer than that for me:) I love it!

  55. LOVE this granola recipe! I’ve made it twice and it’s a huge hit. I never have pepitas so I’ve always left that out, but I’ll definitely try it with those at some point. I used slivered almonds (because I had them) and that was a great addition. Thank you very much!

  56. This stuff is fabulous! I just made it. Added sliced almonds and chia seeds to mine. 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!

  57. Looks amazing! Is there an necessity for the brown sugar or can I omit it for a slightly less sweet version?

  58. Made this a few weeks ago, and making it again today because it was so good. We eat it with nonfat Greek yogurt, and my daughter enjoys snacking on it by itself. Thanks for the great recipe.

  59. I made this granola last night and, although very tasty, I felt like it didnt taste ‘pumpkiny’ enough… any suggestions out there? Its yummy and I I love clumpy granola so I appreciated how it clumped together as well as the lack of fat but I just was expecting a more umphy pumpkin flavor and was disappointed to not get it.

  60. I seriously love this granola. Seriously. However, I’d like to eliminate the refined sugar. Has anyone tried making it without the brown sugar? It seems like it would be sweet enough with just the maple syrup. Thanks for the recipe! It’s for sure a keeper!

  61. I made this, and it’s awesome. I had it in a bowl of almond milk 1 morning, and on top of blueberry yogurt the next. Both ways it’s delicious!
    Even my picky pants toddler said, “mmmmm, like it. Bite. MORE!”

  62. Keri- I didn’t have maple syrup when I made the first two batches and just increased the applesauce to equal the measurement of the maple syrup…it was sweet enough for me.

  63. Yummy! Mine is in the oven now. I made some changes by leaving our the sugar and adding some honey. I also added bran, flax and coconut to my dry ingredients. I can’t wait to try it!!!

  64. I just made this again for the 4th time. I just love it. I combined the coconut, cranberry, etc with the pumpkin granola recipe together! At the end I added dried blueberries, cherries and cranberries at the fruit. MMMMMM. I really like using the applesauce and pureed pumpkin in it!

  65. I never buy pumpkin pie spice. I was just wondering what you would suggest using instead of that 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice. Do you create your own pumpkin pie spice? If so, what combination of spices do you use? I am hoping to make this recipe tomorrow. It looks so great. I just finished making your pumpkin granola bars and they are so good.

  66. I’ve always wanted to try making granola, and finally got around to it with this recipe. It is fantastic! Very tasty, healthy, and easy to make. I will be making this recipe again! I’m also excited to try other granola recipes now, too.

  67. I was very excited to try this out because I am a HUGE fan of pumpkin. It took longer than the time the recipe called for, so I ended up splitting it onto two cookie sheets to speed it up.
    It was a bit bland for me without any nuts or fruit. I ended up adding craisins, yogurt covered raisins, and sliced almonds and it made it much better. Definitely looking forward to adding this to my Greek yogurt!

  68. Do you happen to know the serving size or nutritional information on this? I’m making a large batch and want to portion out and put nutrition content (I’m can find out when making) but wanted to see what you would determine as a serving (1/2 cup, 3/4, or 1 cup?)

    Thank you!

  69. 5 stars
    I made my granola tonight. The aroma is just amazing. I did bake my cranberries and raisins in the oven. I will see how they taste once it cools. I did not put nuts. I put dates, pepitas, sunflower seeds, old-fashioned rolled oats. I used agave, coconut oiil , vanilla extract. Excited ! This is the first time I have used the agave.

  70. 4 stars
    Hi,  I made this once and will now need to double the recipe.  What else could I add besides cranberries and pepitas?  Could I add chia? 

  71. Made this for work and it was so delicious! Greta for a carry in and made enough that I could leave some for my kids too. A healthy delicious snack! Thanks for sharing

  72. 5 stars
    I have made this several times changing the spices to suit my taste. I love the zero oil/butter. Today I am going to try omitting the pumpkin and just using all applesauce and walnuts. Hoping for an Apple pie flavor.