Vegan Cereal that’s homemade is perfect for your morning breakfast. It’s nut free granola and high protein too so it will keep you going strong for a long time.
So you’re craving a delicious crunchy granola cereal for breakfast and you just don’t have any.
You might not have thought of this but you probably already have all of the ingredients you need to make this huge batch in just about 30 minutes.
The only reason it takes that much time is because of baking. It's probably only 5 minutes worth of work. Homemade cereal is so easy and also so much cheaper than store-bought.
This recipe happens to be nut free granola but you can throw in some pecans or other favorite nuts if you’d like. Making homemade cereal is that easy!
I can not wait until my two little nieces come and visit because, I just know, they are going to love it too.
We always have lots of fun together and baking this granola with them will just be another good time. It's extremely kid-friendly in the eating department too.
This cereal also takes advantage of high protein ingredients. Check out these stars.
- Rolled Oats - also called Old Fashioned Oats has 5g protein in a ½ cup of dry oats.
- Sunflower seed kernels are a complete protein and have 5g to 1-ounce weight.
- Hemp hearts are loaded with protein and 3 tablespoons are 10g of protein.
- So with this mix, a cup of cereal is 11g proteins
How Can Breakfast Cereals NOT be Vegan?
- This is one of the reasons that making your cereal at home is such a good idea. You can be sure it's vegan right off the bat.
- But here are some safeguards to use when buying cereal.
- Often there is whey powder or honey being used in the ingredients. Read the label to check.
- Cereals often come fortified with vitamins and one of the ones that is often added is Vitamin D. The only way to find out if the Vitamin D has been derived from animal sources is to call the manufacturer.
- Not all vegan cereals are marked Vegan so read the labels to find the ones you can enjoy.
A good thing about not using maple syrup or any nut butter in your mix is that it lasts much longer on your shelf.
That’s why I made this big batch this way. It will keep about a month in the refrigerator vs. a week as with other wet baked granolas.
Also, it freezes really well and you can keep it for months in the freezer. Just pack it in an airtight freezer container.
Shredded Coconut:
- Shredded Coconut is pretty much what it sounds like. It’s shredded but it can be fine to thick shreds and you can also be in big flakes.
- One thing is that it’s almost always dried.
- It's packaged sweetened or unsweetened. The sweetened kind is combined with sugar. You can use sweetened or unsweetened for this homemade cereal recipe.
- It's always best to buy organic, especially if it’s sweetened. That makes sure it’s vegan and that no artificial sweeteners, flavors or preservatives are added.
- Shredded coconut has a great texture and a rich flavor or fresh coconuts.
If you have a problem with gluten then make sure your oats are gluten-free and you'll be all set.
I mean oats are naturally gluten-free but they are often processed in facilities that also process wheat, barley, and rye. So check out the label to make sure there isn't any cross contamination.
Helpful Tools:
- A large bowl. I have two that I make big batches of cereal and pasta salad in and a large bowl is what you need for stirring. This set has 4 bowls and the largest holds 4 qts.
- You’ll need two baking sheets to make sure that this crunchy granola is spread out thin enough. This stainless steel set is nice and heavy duty.
- This stainless steel set of measuring cups has six sizes!
- Sturdy wooden spoons are so helpful in the kitchen and you'll need a big one for this recipe.
This Crunchy Granola has a rich toasted flavor
Some oil is added before the mixture is baked so that it can be truly toasted.
The coconut sugar also gets toasted but does not cling as much as with a wet mixture. It gives that combined flavor of deep rich sweetness when dairy-free milk is added.
You can see that there is a lot of chewing satisfaction in the homemade cereal in the photo below.
More Vegan Cereal and Granola Additions:
- Cinnamon
- Maple syrup - you can make clumpy granola with the help of maple syrup. You might like to try this Homemade Date Bar Granola.
- Any Nut butter
- Nuts, whole or chopped
- Dried fruit such as dates, apricots, and cranberries
- Other seeds such as pepitas
This large batch recipe makes about 12 cups of cereal so you'll be set for quite a while.
The other good thing is that you don't have to eat it every day to make sure it doesn't go bad. The mix keeps about a month in the fridge and months in the freezer.
If you keep it in the freezer it is ready to eat immediately. Just pour your dairy-free milk over the top and there you go.
I think you've already figured out that you can make a half batch too. Just in case you don't have enough of the ingredients in your cupboard it is still doable.
You have got to try this vegan cereal because along with the crunch factor the sweetness is perfect. Oats, raisins, sunflower seeds and more. So friggin' good.
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Homemade Cereal for a Vegan Nut-Free Granola
Ingredients
- 7 cups rolled oats - old fashioned, make sure they are gluten-free if you are concerned with that
- 1 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
- 1 cup sunflower seed kernels
- 1 cup organic coconut sugar
- ¼ cup hemp seed hearts
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup raisins - for adding near the end of baking
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients together except for the raisins.
- Spread out in a large baking pan.
- Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Take out of the oven, add the raisins and stir. Replace in the oven.
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Take out of the oven and let cool.
Notes
It keeps about a month in the refrigerator.
You can also freeze the granola/cereal for months.
I always have it on hand. It really is good stuff.
Nutrition
Ginny McMeans
That's great Gia and thank you. I think a cup is probably a good serving. That is what the nutrition label is based on.
DeAnne
Your date bar granola is my go to granola! This one looks promising except for the oil - do you have any suggestions on a replacement for it?
Ginny McMeans
I am so glad your go-to is my date bar granola recipe and thank you for letting me know. I've been kicking around how to make this oil free and I think I've come up with something that would work. I would sub a cup of aquafaba (the juice from canned beans and I'd use it from a mild white bean such as chickpeas) for the cup of oil. I will be trying that next and adding it to this recipe as an alternative. Thank you for your question!