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The Perfect Summer Breakfast Starts With This Simple Citrus Superfood Granola

Author:

Eliza Sullivan

August 03, 2020

mbg Nutrition & Health Writer

By Eliza Sullivan

mbg Nutrition & Health Writer

Eliza Sullivan is a food writer and SEO editor at mindbodygreen. She writes about food, recipes, and nutrition—among other things. She studied journalism at Boston University.

Image by Daxiao Productions / Stocksy

August 03, 2020

While good store-bought granola is getting easier to find, making your own is simple and means you can personalize it to better fit your tastes. For summer, this simple citrusy recipe from The Happy Pear: Vegan Cooking For Everyone, packs in protein and superfoods like goji berries.

When paired with fresh fruit and alternative milk or dairy-free yogurt, granola can be the base for a healthy breakfast with a wide range of nutritional benefits. This recipe, in particular, gets protein from walnuts, cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. A simple drop of maple syrup and dried fruit for sweetness keeps this easy vegan recipe healthy and perfect for a week of healthy breakfast meal preps.

Image by Alistair Richardson / Contributor

Mango, Orange & Goji Granola

Makes approximately 4 cups

Ingredients

2 cups regular oat flakes
1/3 cup walnuts
1/4 cup cashews
3 Tbsp flaked almonds
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup sunflower oil
1 teaspoon orange essence
1/3 cup dried mango, chopped
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
3 Tbsp goji berries

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F/160°C fan.
Chop the nuts if you like (but not the flaked almonds), or you can leave them whole.
Mix the oats, nuts, seeds, and a tiny pinch of salt in a large bowl. Make sure you leave the fruit aside, as they will be mixed in at the very end, once the granola is cool. If you prefer to eat your nuts raw, then leave them aside with your fruit; otherwise, include them for a crunchier, more flavorful nut.
In a separate bowl or jug, mix the maple syrup, oil, and orange essence together until well combined. Add to the dry mix in the bowl and mix thoroughly so that each oat flake, nut, and seed gets an even coating.
Spread the granola out on a baking tray (or two if needed). Make sure the mix is spread out evenly if you want a nice crunchy granola—if it's not spread out evenly, it will steam as well as bake and result in some soft and some crunchy bits in your granola.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until golden brown, but you can bake it for longer if you prefer more of a crunch and a darker color. The longer you leave it in the oven, the crunchier it will get up to the point where it will start to burn, so keep an eye on it to ensure you take it out before that happens!
Once the granola is baked, leave it to cool for at least 20 minutes. Make sure it really is cool before transferring to a large bowl and stirring in the fruit.
Granola is great sprinkled on porridge or served on its own with nondairy milk or yogurt. Stored in an airtight container, it will easily keep for a few weeks.

The Happy Pear: Vegan Cooking for Everyone is published by Penguin Life and is available for online purchase now.