Healthy Chocolate Granola Recipe (Vegan) – crunchy, refined sugar free and super chocolatey! Great on smoothie bowls, cereal, yoghurt, porridge, with fruit or simply as an indulgent snack.

It’s pure breakfast dreams come true with this crunchy Chocolate Granola Recipe (Vegan)! I love adding homemade granolas to the top of my smoothie and porridge bowls – they simply add the perfect bite to an otherwise smooth breakfast and come in so many flavours that can really add something special to your dish.

This vegan chocolate granola recipe is inspired by a very classic flavour combination: chocolate & hazelnut. Not just a classic, but also one of my faves – after all, I grew up on Nutella (before I went vegan, that is ;)) and know that delicious combination too well.

I’ve decided to keep this recipe on the healthy side whilst still tasting indulgent – adding dark chocolate chunks (or vegan chocolate chips) but no refined sugar in the recipe. Instead, I am using maple syrup to sweeten the vegan chocolate & hazelnut granola.

What you’ll need to make Chocolate Granola Recipe (Vegan)

Ingredients

For this granola, the ingredients are mixed together in 2 parts: “wet” and dry. The wet mix will help coat the dry ingredients into the flavours of the granola and stick them together into crunchy chunks. The ingredients for this part consist of:

Melted coconut oil
Raw cacao powder
Maple syrup
A pinch of salt, which helps bring out the natural flavours of the cacao, so don’t be surprised that it’s included here.

For the dry ingredients, I have used:

Large rolled oats
Almond flakes
Puffed quinoa

I’ve also used some roughly chopped hazelnuts and dark chocolate chunks to add some delicious chocolatey indulgence to the granola. With the dry ingredients you can be flexible – if you don’t have any of them to hand, just leave them out and replace the amount with more oats, so that you end up with the right wet/dry ratio once you combine both.

Baking The Granola

Once the wet & dry ingredients are combined, I like to bake my granola on a silicone baking mat. Having tried a few different methods, the mat is working best for me as I can easily remove the granola when it’s done and it doesn’t get stuck on the mat at all.

Pro Tip: You can of course also try non-stick parchment, but if you do then I recommend using a structured non-stick parchment. I’ve not had much luck with making granola using regular baking sheets, it always gets stuck on the baked granola and it turns out tricky trying to remove it.

For the baking process, there are 2 things to keep in mind:

The heat can’t be too hot as it otherwise burns the granola (or parts of the granola).
For the granola to be crunchy, the moisture needs to be pulled out of the mix in the oven.

As both these things are very dependant on your oven, here are some tips and tricks, so you know what to look out for when baking the granola:

It’s very important to properly pre-heat your oven prior to adding the granola – otherwise, it won’t be done in time and will hold too much moisture.
Do not increase the temperature or you will burn your granola.
Bake the granola for 12-15 minutes or until you see some pieces of the granola become a golden colour on the top. The time depends on your oven, so make sure to stay nearby and check on it regularly during the baking time.
Once the baking time elapsed, stir the granola (Carefully! Don’t burn yourself!) and leave it in the hot oven for another 20 minutes with the door slightly opened. I often use a wooden spoon to keep the oven open – this will help any excess moisture in the oven escape. If you leave the door shut, the moisture will crawl back into your granola making it anything other than crunchy, which is what we’re trying to avoid.
If your granola still isn’t crunchy after this time, you can keep baking it at around 50ºC with the door slightly open until it is dry and crunchy to your liking, make sure to check on it every 5 minutes.

This granola recipe is:

Vegan
Dairy Free
Refined Sugar Free
Gluten Free Option (swap out the oats for gf ones!)
Extra Crunchy
Super Chocolate-y
Hazelnutty
Indulgent
Addictive
Perfect for smoothie bowls, porridge, cake toppings, fruit, yoghurt or simply as a snack
Simple & easy to make