Do you like chia seeds? It seems like they are popping up everywhere. What do they do? Why are they suddenly a super food today? Before five years ago they were only used for chia pets, and suddenly it’s an essential part of a healthy diet. The funniest part to me is that they add literally no flavor. I read in a chia cookbook that their lack of flavor is a benefit. It means that you can add them to ANYTHING…and people do.
Well, I felt left out so I bought some. I sometimes add them to oatmeal and smoothies. They lend a nice crunchy texture, but not a whole lot of flavor.
They really were the perfect addition to this oatmeal though, because it already had A LOT of flavor. I loaded it with coconut chips, dried apricots, pecans, sunflower seeds, and two kinds of natural sweetener. Sweet, crunchy, coconuty, and tart! I am calling it kitchen sink granola because it sounds better than coconut-apricot-pecan-sunflower-chia-granola. Besides, this recipe was partly inspiration, and partly a great excuse to clean out my cupboard.
You can make your own variation of kitchen sink granola!
Granola flavors are very easy to customize. All you need is:
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup liquid sweetener
- 3 cups oats
- 3-4 cups of whatever seeds/nuts/coconut flakes you want
- 1 cup dried fruit (chopped if it’s bigger than raisins)
I love that it’s easy to make a big batch. An hour of work and you have breakfast for days!
If I had to pick one flavor that stood out it would be coconut. I added a lot of coconut chips and used coconut oil as my vegetable oil of choice. Although the flavor is strong, it’s creamy and rich without being overwhelming.
The oven toasted coconut chips are so pretty!
- ⅓ cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 3 cups oats
- 1½ cups coconut chips
- 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- 1 cup of dried apricots, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup chia seeds
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a large bowl combine oats, coconut chips, pecans, and sunflower seeds. Set aside.
- Combine coconut oil, honey, and maple syrup in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to bubble. Immediately pour oil mixture over oat mixture and stir to combine.
- Spread mixture on a rimmed baking sheet into an even layer.
- Bake for 15 minutes, stirring and flattening back into an even layer ever 5 minutes. Remove when mixture is golden brown.
- As soon as you remove the granola from the oven, transfer mixture to a new, rimmed baking sheet.
- Add apricots and chia seeds, stir to combine, flatten mixture and allow to cool.
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Do you remember making granola at my house during CCCC? I still make it, and made a batch a few days ago. It goes fast in our house. I’ll have to add chia seeds to my granola next time. I had a bag of chia for months and finally gave it away because I didn’t like it wet (I made it like oatmeal). But to have it dry in the granola might be nice. Now I’ll have to go buy another bag! Thanks for the tip!
I don’t remember that one 🙁 Yeah they get really slimy when they’re wet! It doesn’t bother me though. What flavors do you like to make?
My granola recipe is very similar to yours, minus the coconut flakes. I add Pepitas, too. During fall and winter, I add some pureed pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice and let the granola cook longer because it needs longer to get crispy. Recently I added raw cacao nibs, but that was a flop. They burned in the oven. I might try adding them after it’s cooked next time.