Want an economical, low-fat and low-sugar homemade granola recipe? Try this homemade orange granola and be prepared to be blown away.
Oats are considered a fitness power food, and granola is a tasty way to get your daily oats. The problem is that most granola recipes are loaded with sugar. You could buy a low-fat or low-sugar prepackaged granola at the 
store, something like a Bear Naked Granola, but at nearly $6 a bag, it’s more economical to make your own.
This particular recipe uses freshly squeezed orange juice and a touch of honey to naturally sweeten the granola. There is no processed or brown sugar added.
The sugar content is minimal in this recipe and it uses no oil, so the granola is about as pure and close-to-the-earth as it gets. The only fats are the healthy kinds from walnuts, almonds, pecans and flax meal. And the coconut, although high in saturated fat, is plentiful in medium- and short-chain fats, which the body burns more readily for energy.
Best of all, this particular granola recipe is wicked easy to make. If you aren’t crazy about nuts, you can substitute dried fruit like raisins, dried cherries, blueberries, cranberries or even dried apple slices or banana chips. Add these after the granola has been cooked and cooled.
Low-Fat Homemade Vanilla-Orange Granola
Ingredients
3 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/2 cup chopped nuts, such as walnuts, pecans and almond slivers
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp orange peel
1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup organic, unsweetened flaked coconut (I like Bob’s Red Mill Unsweetened Coconut Flakes)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Combine orange juice, honey, cinnamon, vanilla extract and orange peel in a sauce pot and heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the honey has melted. Set aside.
- In a large glass bowl, combine rolled oats, wheat germ, flaxseed meal, and chopped nuts. Do not add the coconut at this point.
- Pour the honey-orange juice mixture over the oat mixture and mix gently until the oats are thoroughly coated.
- Spread the oats in a thin layer on a baking sheet and place it in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring the granola once during the baking cycle (at around the 15 minute mark.) Add the coconut during the final ten minutes of baking.
- Remove from oven and cool.
For best results (and a nice crunchy granola) store the cooled granola in an airtight container or freezer bag in the icebox.
Makes approximately five cups of granola.
Nutritional Information
Serving Size: 1/4 cup
Servings: 20
Calories 151.2
Total Fat: 5.1 g
Saturated Fat: 1.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat: 1.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 2.0 mg
Potassium: 157.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 22.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.6 g
Sugars: 0.2 g
Protein: 5.2 g
Vitamin A 0.1 %
Vitamin B-12 0.0 %
Vitamin B-6 4.3 %
Vitamin C 2.5 %
Vitamin D 0.0 %
Vitamin E 1.8 %
Calcium 2.1 %
Copper 11.9 %
Folate 6.7 %
Iron 8.2 %
Magnesium 14.5 %
Manganese 77.1 %
Niacin 2.2 %
Pantothenic Acid 4.1 %
Phosphorus 15.7 %
Riboflavin 3.0 %
Selenium 2.3 %
Thiamin 15.0 %
Zinc 8.8 %
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
That looks good and easy. I have a recipe that we love for homemade powerbars that have been a huge hit in my house. Brown Rice Sryup is the sweetener- tons of nuts, dried fruits, and oats. Problem is that it is SO good that its hard to stop at one serving.
Hi,
This is Risa (Clayton’s wife). I found your side searching for homemade granola. Clayton just saw it and told me it’s your site. Wow. Nice! You do well in search. I’ll try your recipe. Talk to you soon.
Risa
Wow, I’m going to have to try and make that! Sound delicious
Are you serious calling this a low sugar recipe?
this looks delicious but I think the sugar content may be off? When I plug it into my online recipe calculator, it says there’s 8 grams of sugar per serving, which sounds more accurate. And in my family a serving is more lik 1/2 c. which brings the sugar up to 15 grams…way too much for a healthy snack. Perhaps I’m missing something?
It really does sound like a great recipe! I seriously think ADD is coming from the gobs of sugar cereals society seems to be eating lately. Farewell high fructose corn syrup, hello healthy alternative.
Just based on the honey, this recipe has about 7 grams of sugar in the recommended serving (and the recommended serving is quite small.) The orange juice and coconut will add sugar as well.
I too think that there must be a typo or two in this recipe. There’s way too much moisture for the amount of oats. I would cut the honey back by 1/4 cup to start, cut the oj to a couple of tablespoons and add orange zest and 1/3 cup of oil (vegetable, grape seed, almond oil would all be good choices).
This is GREAT, I agree that the sugar is a little high…but I used the Oj made by Tropicana that is sweetened with the stevia, to lower the sugar, and left out the cocoanut. I used the full 1/2 cup of honey and it was fine. Although the sugar is a little high still, its a MUCH healthier snack than anything with refined sugar in it! YUMMY!
The Low-fat Low-sugar Vanilla Orange Granola is tasty. However, I reduced the cooking time by about five minutes since the pecans were burning. Next time I will add them in with 15 minutes to go. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there wasn’t too much moisture and the granola crisped up upon cooling.