This grain-free cinnamon apple granola is crunchy, mildly sweet, and infused with flavors of cinnamon and maple. It is so versatile and goes great with yogurt, mascarpone, milk, or simply, as is.

Grain-free cinnamon apple granola on a baking sheet with an apple and cinnamon sticks in the background.

Granola makes a healthy and delicious snack or breakfast addition, but not everyone (myself included) can digest oats properly. That’s where grainless granola comes in! There are many versions that you can make using a variety of nuts, seeds, coconut, dried fruit, etc. The texture can range from finely chopped to larger clusters (which is what I prefer, as you can see from the pictures).

A cup of grain-free cinnamon apple granola.

This recipe is my take on grain-free granola. With it being the middle of October, I was inspired by my favorite season and the flavors it brings, including maple, cinnamon, and apple.

📋 Recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 27 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of apple chips (I like to use this recipe)
  • 1 1/2 cups of raw pecans
  • 1 1/2 cups of raw walnuts
  • 3/4 cup of raw sunflower seeds
  • 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup
  • 3 tbsp of oil (olive, avocado, or grapeseed are all good options!)
  • 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp of salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Combine the pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp of salt in a medium-sized bowl. Then stir in the oil and maple syrup.
  3. Spread out evenly onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes and then give the granola stir. Raise the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake until the granola is a toasty golden brown (this took 7-8 minutes for me).
  4. Let cool for 15 minutes before stirring. This allows the granola to clump up more. Once the granola is cooled off, stir in apple chips.

Notes

  • Approx. 5-7 FPs per serving (1/4-1/3 cup = 1 serving). FP stands for Fermentation Potential and is used to determine the symptom potential in foods for those using the Fast Tract Diet to heal/improve symptoms of GERD, LPR, SIBO, IBS, etc.
  • To make the nuts and seeds more digestible, you can soak the nuts and seeds before hand. Directions to do this are above in the blog post.
  • If you prefer a finer texture of granola, roughly chop the pecans and walnuts before hand.
  • If I eat too many nuts and seeds in one sitting, bloating and digestive upset is short to follow. I stick to a 1/4 to a 1/3 cup for a serving, but feel free to decrease or increase the serving size depending on what your body can tolerate.
  • All nutritional information are estimations and will vary.