Who doesn’t love (and dream about) granola?! We’d been dreaming about a chai-spiced version, and today it’s here — and even better than our dreams. It’s perfectly sweet, undeniably chunky, and BURSTING with warming chai spices (we’re ready for you, fall)!
Whether you enjoy your granola with milk, yogurt, or by the fistful (who says granola isn’t finger food!?), we hope you love this one! It’s gluten-free, vegan, naturally sweetened, and comes together with just 10 ingredients you probably have around. Let’s get granola-ing!
Origins of Chai
Masala chai is a creamy, spiced tea that’s most popular in India but is increasingly enjoyed around the world. The spices used vary depending on the recipe, but common ones include cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger.
Our chai-spiced granola takes inspiration from the warming, sweet, and spicy flavors of masala chai and puts a crunchy, snack-able twist on it.
How to Make Chai-Spiced Granola
Sugar, spice, and everything nice! That’s just what we need for this granola. Ground ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom provide classic chai flavor, while maple syrup and almond butter create a creamy (and incidentally oil-free) base. YUM.
To the creamy, spicy base, we add rolled oats, walnuts (or pecans), pumpkin seeds, and coconut flakes. The result is not only flavorful but full of healthy fats, fiber, and minerals (hello, magnesium). Win-win!
After combining, we transfer the mixture to a baking sheet and bake until it’s fragrant, toasty, and oh-so-crunchy!
Enjoy it fresh from the oven or store it for up to one month in an airtight container for granola on demand!
We hope you LOVE this chai-spiced granola! It’s:
Bursting with spices
Perfectly sweet
Delightfully chunky
Crunchy
Nutty
& SO versatile!
We love topping it with dairy-free milk for a quick breakfast or enjoying it on top of yogurt, oatmeal, or smoothie bowls for a snack any time!
More Flavorful Granola Recipes
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Note: Recipe updated 09/09/2022 to address reader comments regarding cook time and intensity of ginger flavor.
Super Chunky Chai-Spiced Granola
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup almond butter (or other nut/seed butter of choice)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2-3 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats (ensure gluten-free as needed)
- 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped
- 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 C) and line a standard-size baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the almond butter, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom and whisk until smooth. Add the oats, walnuts or pecans, coconut, and pumpkin seeds. Mix well until evenly coated.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking sheet and spread into an even layer (use additional baking sheets as needed if increasing batch size). Bake for 20-25 minutes, watching carefully toward the end as to not let it burn. You’ll know it’s done when the granola is fragrant and darkened in color.
- NOTE: If you don’t toss the granola while baking, it will stay extra chunky, but if you want a more crumbly granola, toss/stir a bit at the halfway point to break up the clumps.
- Once the granola is visibly browned, remove from the oven and toss gently to let the heat escape. Cool completely on the baking sheet or in a heat-safe bowl.
- Store at room temperature in a sealed container for up to 1 month, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated without optional ingredients.
L says
Loved the pumpkin granola and love chai so I substituted the almond butter with 1/4 C of pumpkin this time. Maybe it is less chunky since it is missing some oil but it is still excellent.
Lovely! Thank you for sharing! xo
Emanuela says
Followed the recipe pretty accurately and it was amazing!! Granola recipes are my favourites of MB!
Whoop! We’re so glad you love our granola recipes, Emanuela. Thank you for the amazing review! xo
Courtney Quigley says
Made this as directed this morning. The house smells amazing, and it was a nice change up from your gingerbread granola, which I make frequently! Perfect for our snowy morning!
We’re so glad you’re enjoying it, Courtney. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Bean says
Pretty tasty! The granola was nicely nutty, not too sugary, and made my place smell fantastic. I used a combination of walnuts and pecans.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for sharing! xo
Stacy says
I doubled the batch, used the lower range of ginger, and probably a bit less cardamom than called for because I had to grind it myself from the whole pods (officially the world’s most tedious task). The smell and initial flavor (licking the spoon…) was *very* strong, but once it came out of the oven – it was on-point. I’m giving it as gifts to several people, but held some back for myself. Really unique and decadent.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Stacy. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
gina dwyer says
This recipe sounds delish! Wondering, can I use quick oats to make this?
Hi Gina, we haven’t tried it but we think it should work!
Sabrina says
I made this exactly as written. It was very easy to make and delicious!
Whoop! Thank you for the lovely review, Sabrina!
Mandy says
I double this and we eat a batch once a week! It is so delicious!
Whoop! We’re so glad you’re enjoying it, Mandy. Thank you for sharing! xo
SK says
I made this with 3T each of palm sugar syrup and peanut butter since maple syrup and almond butter are too expensive where I am. Went with a 30 min bake time at 150C. The coconutty fragrance was great. Would experiment more with various combinations on ingredients again.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for sharing! xo
Shannon says
This granola is delicious and was so easy to make! I followed the recipe as written (using creamy butter & chopped walnuts in mine with a ~25 minute bake time). I’ve been enjoying it on top of Greek yogurt everyday since making it, and it will definitely be a repeat in my house this fall and winter!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Shannon. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Caley says
wowowow!!!! 11/10 will be making again and again. cannot wait to add to smoothie bowls (if I stop snacking on it ha!)
always love your recipes! thanks for another hit in our house :)
Woohoo! Thanks, Caley!
Shan says
Literally the best granola I’ve ever had! Such amazing flavours. I added a few dark chocolate chips after it cooled down. Incredible.
Yum! Thanks so much for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications, Shan!
Lindsay L says
If you love chai-spice this granola is for you! Bursting with flavor and easy to throw together. Great twist on an old favorite. Yum!
Thank you for the lovely review, Lindsay! xoxo
Giada says
We made it yesterday, and we loved it ! Thanks for sharing another great recipe
Yay! Thanks for the great review, Giada!
Kampus Terbaik says
Is eating it with milk like cereal?
Yes, you can eat it that way!
Laura says
I made this just as described and love it! Used pecans and baked just under 20 minutes.
Woohoo! Thanks for the great review, Laura!
Melissa says
I made this granola recipe today, and it was a pleasant taste of fall, very yummy! :) Next time I will only add 4 tsp. cinnamon instead of the recommended 5, as I found it a bit overly cinnamony (although I do love cinnamon!) I also added chia seeds, flaxseeds, hempseeds, a handful of puffed quinoa & a pinch of Himalayan salt. Overall very delicious! :) Thanks again for another great recipe!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Melissa! Your modifications sound lovely. Thank you for sharing! xo
Jean says
Firstly, thank you so much for offering metric measurements and the ability to easily increase the size.
Our autumnal breakfasts are homemade yoghurt with homemade granola. I was getting sick of current recipe so thought I’d try this one. After first reading reviews, I substituted nutmeg for cardamom. It was nice. And, this definitely needs salt. I’d go ahead and have 11 ingredients, as salt is a necessity; most recipes are lost without it.
Finally, I’ve been using sunflower oil in my current granola recipe and I really missed what a light oil does to the mix. Otherwise, great flavour and a welcome change. Thank you, as always.
Thank you for the feedback, Jean! We’re glad you enjoyed the flavor variation! xo
Sara says
This turned out pretty good! It was a little too gingery for me, the aftertaste it leaves is mostly a spicy ginger flavor. But, maybe that’s user error or just personal preference! So next time I’ll probably do half the ginger and maybe add a pinch of salt to bring out some of the flavors more. I also wish it was a little sweeter, but overall not bad and probably just some adjustments based on my preferences would make this amazing!
Thank you for the feedback, Sara! We did go for a more noticeable chai flavor, but we’ll take another look at the recipe and see if we can make improvements and adjust for differing preferences. We’d also be curious to know if perhaps your ginger was newly purchased and extra fresh? Salt is always welcome =) we were struggling to keep it within the simple factor (10 ingredients!) with the inclusion of salt and found it ultimately didn’t make the cut of essential ingredients.
Sara says
Yes I had just purchased ground ginger for this recipe, so that may have contributed!
Thanks for letting us know, Sara! We’ll keep that in mind when retesting/troubleshooting.
june-aloha says
Wow! This is super, super and super chunky granola ever had:)
And truly chai-spiced flavor＼(^o^)／♪
I was just trying to test taste, and never able to stop eating, lol!
Surely will make again very shortly! Thanks for delicious recipes, always!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, June-Aloha! Thank you for your kind words and lovely review! xo
Rose says
This recipe didn’t work out for me. I used a thin peanut butter and it was really difficult to mix with the oats and nuts. I put it in the oven, and everything was starting to get really dark after about 20 minutes, so I pulled it out. I think it needs salt as well, but also the spices are overpowering because they clumped together.
Hi Rose, sorry to hear it didn’t turn out right and thank you for your honest feedback! We’ll take another look at this recipe and see if we can make improvements.
Victoria T. says
This happened to me too. I used a natural creamy peanut butter and the base was soo thick. I doubled the recipe, but I’m pretty sure I measured everything right. I tried adding melted coconut oil to it, and it didn’t really help. I added additional melted coconut oil to everything once I had it somewhat mixed so that the oats and nuts could be coated in something. The end result is that there are chunks of spicy base throughout the granola, which isn’t terrible, but definitely not what it’s supposed to be. The flavour of the base is very good though.
Geneviève says
This looks delicious! I will absolutely make this soon. I love the idea of using nut butter as a base.
Question: i’m not a huge fan of coconut so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas to replace it with something else?
Thanks!
Hi Geneviève, yes! We’d suggest more oats, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, or a combination of all four. Hope that helps!
Esther says
What could I substitute for the coconut?
Hi Esther, you could try more oats, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, or a combination of all four. Let us know how it goes!