Maple Tahini Nut-Free Granola

This homemade maple tahini nut-free granola is not only flavorful but incredibly versatile, too. This recipe is also gluten-free, vegan, and refined sugar-free.

The combination of maple and tahini is like a luscious dairy-free caramel sauce. It’s one of my favorite flavor combinations and is the reason this granola is so tasty!

And unlike muesli or oatmeal, the texture is crispy, crunchy, and slightly chewy.

Benefits of Making Homemade Nut-Free Granola

Cost

Whether you have a nut allergy or you’re just trying to be more cost-conscious of your grocery bill, making your own nut-free granola is one way you can do this.

Store-bought granola is notoriously expensive for the quantity you get. With homemade granola, you get 3 times the amount and since there aren’t nuts, you’ll be spending less money overall. So you ultimately get way more bang for your buck.

Quality

Many store-bought granola brands use unnecessary added sugars and low-quality oils as “filler” ingredients. Just like with anything homemade, you get to control the quality of what you put in your granola.

Customizable

One of the perks of making granola yourself is you can customize it however you want.

Ingredients

• Old-fashioned rolled oats – for the granola base.
• Buckwheat groats – despite the name, buckwheat is a gluten-free seed from the rhubarb family.
• Seeds – I did a mix of raw pumpkin and sunflower seeds, but you can do one or the other.
• Coconut flakes – these add a nice, chewy contrast to the rest of the ingredients without contributing much of a coconut flavor.
• Flax meal – this helps bind the granola together.
• Kosher salt – helps balance out the flavors.
• Tahini – a paste made of ground sesame seeds.
• Maple syrup – adds a delicious flavor and adds sweetness.
• Vanilla extract – flavoring.

How to Make Nut-Free Granola

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: oats, buckwheat groats, seeds, coconut flakes, flax meal, and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk together the tahini, maple syrup, and vanilla extract until well combined.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix together using a rubber spatula until really well-mixed together. You want the dry ingredients to be well-coated. This is what gives it those nice clumps.

Use your rubber spatula to press the granola onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes then flip the granola over in big chunks, and bake for another 12 minutes. Allow to cool completely before storing.

Make It Your Way: Substitutions & Variations

Please remember that recipes are just a starting point.

How can you make this nut-free granola using what you already have? Here are some ideas…

• No tahini? – for another nut-free option, you can use coconut butter or sun butter. If not nut-free, use cashew butter or another nut butter of your choice.
• No maple syrup? – sub raw honey or another type of liquid sweetener in its place (just know that it’ll slightly alter the flavor)
• No flax meal? – use chia seeds ground up into a meal. If not nut-free, sub almond meal or cashew meal.
• Variations – use a combination of any seeds, nuts, dried fruit, or oats. This will work as long as it’s equal to 5 cups in total.

Top Tip

Avoid using tahini from the bottom of the jar. You want it to be nice and runny so it mixes well with the maple syrup.

More Breakfast Recipes

• Dairy-Free Matcha Chia Pudding
• Oat Flour Dairy-Free Crepes
• Spanish Tortilla With Sweet Potato & Herbs