Gluten Free Maple SunButter Granola (Dairy Free)

This crisp and naturally sweetened granola is easy to make at home, and it’s gluten free, dairy free, and nut free! This is a great way to batch cook and meal prep breakfasts or snacks for busy weeks.

Growing up, my mom made so much of our food from scratch to save money (we definitely had an “ingredients” house!), and one of my favorite breakfasts was homemade granola, especially if it was made with peanut butter.

Since my kids ended up having peanut and tree nut allergies, I had to come up with some different ways to make that delicious peanut butter granola I liked. Creamy Sunbutter works amazingly in place of peanut butter, and the maple syrup adds natural sweetness and great flavor as well!

Why we love this recipe

Making your own granola at home is a great way to save some extra money on groceries. Depending on the ingredients you add to your granola, you can make homemade granola for a fraction of the cost of store-bought.

Plus, if you have multiple food allergies, it can be hard to find packaged granola that fits your food allergies, especially if you have tree nut or peanut allergies. So homemade granola can be made exactly the way you need it!

How to make maple Sunbutter granola

Here are the steps for making your own maple Sunbutter granola at home. This is just an overview of the steps, the full recipe is at the end of the post.

• Preheat your oven to 350° F and set aside a clean sheet pan.
• In a medium to large-sized bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, creamy Sunbutter, vanilla, and cinnamon until smooth.
• Add the oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, and salt (if using), and stir to coat everything thoroughly.

• Spread the oats out onto the sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes.
• Stir the oats, and return to the oven for 5-8 minutes.
• Add the dried fruit, stir again, and bake again for 5 more minutes. Make sure the granola browns but doesn’t burn, especially on the edges.

• Remove from the oven and allow the granola to cool completely on the pan. It will crisp up and dry out more as it cools on the pan.
• Once it’s completely cooled, store in an airtight container or jar for up to a month or 2.

If you can have tree nuts and want to add some almonds or pecans, you can definitely add those! Since they burn more easily than the oats, I’d add any chopped nuts after the initial 15 minutes of cooking to keep them from burning.

You can use your favorite dried fruit in this granola: chopped dried apricots or strawberries, raisins, Craisins, etc. I used dried blueberries in this batch, but dried cherries would be so good in this, too!

Our updated post and recipe

I originally published this post in March 2012, just less than a year after I started The Fit Cookie in October 2011. I recently updated this post with new text and photos, and some slight adjustments to the recipe (nothing very big).

Even though I sometimes love to go back and see old posts and compare how far we’ve come over the years, I still love to share recipes that are better tested and the best I can make, which sometimes means I revisit old recipes to update them as my recipe creation skills have improved.

Here’s one of our original photos of this recipe, for the memories!

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