Healthy citrus granola

Healthy citrus granola is lightened up and full of orange flavor for a fresh, fruity granola that’s great for breakfast or snacking!

This post has been sponsored by Dannon®. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy hump day my friends! I hope the week is treating you well!

I'm popping in today with a favorite summertime breakfast that we've been making on repeat! (And that I need to fix another batch of today take to my friend who just had a baby!)

So you guys know I love me some homemade granola.

I’ve got my go-to 5-ingredient granola, chocolate pumpkin granola, 5-minute granola bites and healthy granola muffins. (And trust me, I've got so many more granola recipes to bring you!)

And today I’m bringing you my healthy citrus granola. It’s light, fruity and perfect for summertime! It’s also great for back to school - we love having this on hand for breakfast and snacking.

And one of my favorite things to do with granola is add it to my morning yogurt.

I have a Greek yogurt cup almost every morning and, no surprise here, the toppings are my favorite part!

Granola is awesome cause you get that great crunch factor to go with the creamy, smooth, cold yogurt.

And I’m happy to have partnered with Dannon®, which has a ton of great lines of Greek single serve yogurts.

I’ve been crushing on their Light & Fit® Greek yogurt cups recently. They’re the perfect size and so easy and portable for busy mornings. There is also the perfect amount of room at the top of the cup to load up your toppings. ❤️

And while I’m normally a boring plain yogurt person (again, cause I like to flavor it up with my toppings), I recently picked up some Light & Fit Greek vanilla yogurt and that flavor was seriously amazing with this granola!

My kids agreed.

They each had a vanilla yogurt cup topped with this healthy citrus granola for breakfast last week and they wanted a second cup! And then they wanted another one later for snack... I'm gonna need to get some more!

Notes on healthy citrus granola:

• You can use coconut or canola oil to give this a bit more richness. But I’ve made it without and it’s fine that way too. (And just so you know, you don’t taste the coconut flavor in the cooked granola.)
• I prefer this with maple syrup — I think it heightens the orange and citrus flavor — but you could substitute honey.
• I like the barley in this granola - it gets toasted and super crunchy - but you can skip it and substitute more oats if you prefer. (Or if you need it to be gluten-free.)

Other fun mix-ins for citrus granola:

- The dried blueberries are optional but I love blueberries and orange flavors together (like in my whole wheat blueberry waffles).

- I’ve also added sliced, dried apricots to this granola at the end. It’s not a citrus fruit either but it’s tasty in this!

- I use the thin sliced almonds and mix them in after the granola comes out of the oven. You could also use slivered almonds and add them to the baking pan in the last 10 minutes of baking time so they toast up a bit. Or substitute your favorite nut!

- Want to make it a tropical granola? Add some shredded coconut and white chocolate chips after you remove the granola from the oven. So yummy!

So many options to make it your own!

Also, the last time I made this granola, I had an extra half-orange, and I squeezed some extra fresh orange juice over the finished baked granola and let me say, that was a very good decision.

And finally, a pro tip on making granola:

With any granola, it's important to keep an eye on it near the end of the baking time.

Once it starts to brown, you want to take it out of the oven so it doesn’t overcook or burn. (All ovens are different so granola baking times can be approximate.)

Looking for other fun yogurt toppings? I got ya covered!

Some of our favorite healthy yogurt toppings:

• Granola (try different pairings with your favorite flavors!)
• Cereal pieces: oat squares, Cheerios, shredded wheat
• Fresh fruit: blueberries, strawberries, sliced bananas, sliced peaches, etc
• Frozen fruit: berries, mango, raspberries
• Dried fruit: dried blueberries, dried cranberries, raisins
• Apple chips or banana chips
• Chopped nuts
• Trail mix
• Chia or flax seeds
• Shredded coconut

And if you’re on the go, you can pack a yogurt cup and a small container of granola (we love these little containers for things like this) and you’re all set!

My husband does this for work all the time.

It’d also be great for packing in a kids lunchbox - the yogurt, granola and maybe a couple of other toppings. It's kinda like a build-your-own yogurt parfait bar!

Hope you give this healthy granola a try.

Enjoy!

XO,

Kathryn

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4 from 2 votes

Healthy citrus granola

Healthy citrus granola is lightened up and full of orange flavor for a fresh, fruity breakfast or snack!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

Yield: 16 servings

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Cook Mode

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup maple syrup
• 1 orange, zested and juiced (about ⅓ cup juice)
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted (see notes)
• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup quick-cooking barley (see notes)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup thinly sliced almonds
• ¼ cup dried blueberries (optional)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, stir together maple syrup, orange zest and juice, vanilla and coconut oil, if using.
• Add oats, barley and salt and stir to get everything well coated.
• Put granola mixture onto parchment paper and spread out in an even layer.
• Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes.
• Remove from oven once it’s starting to brown and stir in sliced almonds and dried blueberries, if using. I also love adding another bit of orange zest and juice if you have some extra.
• Allow to cool then store in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.

Notes

You can use coconut or canola oil to give this a bit more richness. But I’ve made it without and it’s fine that way too.

I like the barley in this granola - it gets toasted and super crunchy - but you can skip it and substitute more oats if you prefer. (Or if you need it to be gluten-free.)

Keep an eye on this at the end of the baking time. Once it starts to brown, you want to take the granola out of the oven so it doesn’t overcook or burn.

I use the thin sliced almonds and mix them in after the granola comes out of the oven. You could also use slivered almonds and add them to the baking pan in the last 10 minutes of baking time so they toast up a bit. Or substitute your favorite nut!

Other great add-ins for this granola: Sliced, dried apricots or for a tropical granola, add shredded coconut and white chocolate chips.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/4 cup | Calories: 105kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 35mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g

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