Pumpkin season! YAYAYAY! (October is my favorite month.)
Now that the SNAP Challenge is over and I’m all settled in my new place, I couldn’t wait to start cooking in my new kitchen. While packing I noticed that I had a couple cans of solid pack pumpkin purée hiding in the back of my pantry, so I decided to use some of that up in a super simple Pumpkin Spice Granola.
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Granola is very easy to make at home. Just mix your oats, nuts, dried fruit, or whatever add-ins you like with a mixture of sugar, oil, and spices. To make this granola extra pumpkin-y, I mixed a whole can of pumpkin purée into the sugar mix. It coated the oats nicely, giving them a vibrant orange color and a distinctly autumn flavor. I like my granola on the not-so-sweet side, so if you’re wanting something a little more dessert-like, increase the brown sugar to 3/4 cup and/or the honey to 1/4 cup.
Pecans or walnuts are the obvious nut choice for an autumn granola, but to keep costs low I went with sunflower seeds, which are about 1/3 the price. They have a nice earthy flavor that blended well with the pumpkin and toasty oats. Cranberries are also a given for autumn inspired dishes, so I tossed some of those into the granola as well. Dried cranberries can be expensive, so to help the cranberries “go further”, I chopped them into smaller pieces. Other add-ins that might be nice would be: shredded coconut, ground flaxseed, oat bran, or pepitas.
This Pumpkin Spice Granola is great over yogurt, with a splash of cold milk, or even just to nibble on dry. I’ve been grabbing nibbles of it every time I pass through the kitchen! YUM!
Pumpkin Spice Granola
Servings 7 1 cup eachIngredients
- 15 oz can solid pack pumpkin purée ($1.29)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar ($0.24)
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil ($0.08)
- 2 Tbsp honey ($0.24)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.28)
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice ($0.30)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 6 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not instant oats) ($1.03)
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped ($0.74)
- 1/2 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds ($0.60)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a medium sauce pan combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, honey, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Stir and cook over medium-low heat for 3-5 minutes, or until heated through and the sugar has dissolved.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry oats, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin mixture. Stir very well until the oats are evenly coated with pumpkin and there are no dry oats left on the bottom of the bowl.
- Spread the oat mixture over one or two baking sheets covered with parchment paper. Bake the oats in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes, or until they are mostly dry. Stir the oats once at 30 minutes, and again at 45 minutes. The amount of time needed to bake the granola will depend on how thick they are piled onto the baking sheet. If using one baking sheet it will take about an hour, if they’re spread between two sheets, it will take about 45 minutes.
- Once the oats are finished cooking, sprinkle in the chopped cranberries, stir, then press and pack the mixture down onto the baking sheet to cool. Packing it down before it cools helps solidify the granola and create chunks rather than individual flakes. Once cool, store in an air-tight container for up to a week.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Pumpkin Spice Granola – Step by Step Photos
For this recipe, you’ll need one 15-oz. can of solid pack pumpkin, also known as pumpkin purée. Make sure not to accidentally buy canned pumpkin pie filling, which is pre-sweetened and seasoned.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Add the can of pumpkin purée to a medium sauce pot along with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 2 Tbsp honey, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, and 1/2 tsp salt. If you can’t find pumpkin pie spice blend at the store, you can make your own with this recipe. If you want a sweet granola, increase the brown sugar to 3/4 cup and, if desired, the honey to 1/4 cup.
Cook and stir this mixture over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, or until it’s heated through and the brown sugar has completely dissolved. Bonus: your house will smell like a Yankee candle.
In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin mixture with 6 cups of rolled oats (old-fashioned oats, not instant oats), and 1/2 cup of raw, unsalted sunflower seeds.
Mix the oats, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin mixture until the oats are completely coated and there are no dry oats left on the bottom of the bowl. Just make sure it’s REALLY well mixed.
Spread the granola over one (or two) baking sheets covered with parchment paper. The thicker it’s piled onto the baking sheet, the longer it will take to bake. Mine was pretty thick (I should have used two sheets), so it took about an hour to bake. If it’s spread very thin, it will bake faster. Bake the granola in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then stir. Return it to the oven for another 15 minutes, then stir. If it’s mostly dry at that point, it’s finished. If you have it piled thick onto one sheet, return it to the oven for another 15 minutes.
Chop the dried cranberries so that you have more pieces throughout the batch of granola.
Stir the chopped cranberries into the hot granola, then press it down onto the baking sheet to make it compact. Compressing the granola before it cools helps make it into granola chunks instead of individual granola flakes.
Allow the granola to cool, then store in an air-tight container for up to a week.
YAY October!
I liked it! It was a bit dry for me but I realized after that I forgot the honey. I used chopped pecans instead of sunflower seeds. It is definitely a bit of a crumbly, chewy granola rather than a crispy granola that we are used to, I think because store bought granola (and many “healthy” granola recipes!) just has so much more sugar and fat.
I just made this on 1 baking sheet….did it for 75 minutes and I have to say I am disappointed. Probably should have baked it even longer because parts of it are still soft….and it doesn’t have a nice pumpkiny taste. I hope after it cools it sets up some. Not sure I will try this one again.
I accidentally made way too much. Will it freeze well?
Yes, you could freeze this, although if it was baked long enough it should be dry and you can store it just like any other dry cereal.
Thanks so much! Was looking for a nut free recipe and this came up! Turned out great. Only change I made was doubled the cranberries…
Beth,
Can I use honey instead of brown sugar in your granola recipes?
Honey changes the texture a bit because it doesn’t solidify like brown sugar when it cools. So, it will probably be a little less clumpy and a slightly different flavor.
I just made this recipe and it was amazing. I seriously love all your recipes – the ingredients are usually pretty common (I don’t have to go shopping for each recipe!) and I love your step by step photos. Keep it up!!
This recipe looked so good I had to go out to the store and buy the ingredients right away! It ended up being the first recipe I’ve made in my new kitchen that didn’t end in disaster.
My entire apartment now smells delicious thanks to you. The granola’s pumpkin spice flavor is there, but it’s subtle. It’s the perfect balance, and it tastes even better than I thought it would… but now I can’t stop eating it!
Only problem is that some of my granola came out burnt after 50 minutes in just one sheet, but it was still delicious!
I just made this and my kids love it!! I have searched and searched and nearly burned my house down trying different granola recipes, they have never liked any and, frankly, a few neither did I!
I love this site so much! Thank you Beth! You save me such frustration and money! My seven year old would like to know if you have ever considered going on the show Chopped? It’s her favorite show!
Hahah, no, I’d be a disaster on a competition show. Too much stress! :)
Hi Beth!
I’m trying to watch my weight and eat relatively healthily, and I know granola is one of those foods where the calories can really sneak up on you. I calculated all the calories for each individual ingredient and it seems like it comes out to about 140 for each half cup serving, but this seems relatively low compared to all the information I’m seeing online (about 600 calories for one cup of homemade granola). Could I be doing this incorrectly?
No, that’s probably right. A lot of homemade granola has a LOT of oil and sugar. The pumpkin purée replaces the need for a lot of that, so this one is really quite healthy compared to most. :)
This would be awesome on an apple crisp!
Oooh, good call!
So delicious! My daughter and I can’t stop grabbing hand fulls when in the kitchen. Also happy to see the variations and look forward to trying a few other options! Thanks so much!!!!
This is perfection, exactly the fall recipe I’ve been looking for! Been eating it plain, with soymilk, or in yogurt – good all three ways!
I made this the other day it’s a great thing with coffee in the morning had mine dry was great….Note found a trail mix that had all the cranberries and nuts/seeds…. Great to pack on a train or plane too as it fills you up and dry it’s easy to munch…
Another great budget bite idea..thanks…
I just made this! I just ate a whole bunch of it, too!
I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil and I had to bake it about 75 minutes. It’s delicious! Store bought granola can be so expensive. This is a great pumpkiny
alternative… Another winner from Budget Bytes!
This is probably my oven’s fault… but 20 minutes in and it was burned completely black. :C
…You should try it again but bake in center of oven as the upper part gets hotter than center oven I M O …Will…
It is a US blog and uses Farenheit but just refers to degrees as if that was what everyone understood by degrees. It actually is supposed to only cook at 150 degrees Celsius.
I made this yesterday and it’s delicious, thanks for the recipe! I used coconut oil and next time i’ll use a little more sugar/honey to make it sweeter. Also, mine took almost 2 hours in the oven (on 2 baking sheets) to get nice and crunchy, but soo worth it!
Baked my granola as directed by the recipe and it is chewy but not crunchy. I think if I baked it for 2 hours, the nuts (I used pecans) would be burnt. Good flavor but I want my granola to be crunchy. Probably won’t make again.
Looks amazing!
HEY there genius..I have an apple abundance problem, and considering this recipe as a solution. You know, to use applesauce instead of pumpkin purée. Probably works the same, right? Would make a good breakfast for the bf, he loves granola and I could even pack it in portion jars for lunch.
Ps, look at you al stylin’ and cute with your mini pumpkins. New kitchen looks great!!!
I think it would work, although apple sauce has quite a bit more moisture than pumpkin purée, so it may take more baking. An apple butter might be closer to the moisture content of the pumpkin. I HAVE seen granola recipes with apple sauce, though. :)
This looks great! I like to cook oil-free as much as possible but love granola. I was wondering, do you think that the pumpkin alone would be enough to hold the granola together if oil is omitted?
On a general note, I love your website – I share your goal of simple, good, healthy, and low-cost, and I have learned so much from your blog! Really enjoyed the SNAP challenge posts.
It might be a bit more dry and flakey without the oil, but it would technically still “work”. The oil just makes it better. :)
Does this turn out really crunchy? I made an applesauce granola before and it was on the softer side.
You can make it softer by baking it for less time or crunchier by baking it longer. Mine was crunchy after an hour, but it was also piled fairly thick on the baking sheet. If it was spread thinner between two sheets, it would probably become crunchy faster.
oooh YUM, this looks amazing!
Holy crap, this is going on my menu in the next few days. I LOVE pumpkin. I LIVE for pumpkin season. I go to pumpkin patches and pick enough to last me for the coming year. I’ve just canned 11 pints of pumpkin (sugar pie and jarrahdale) so I can use them in upcoming recipes. Like this one. Can’t wait!
Looks delicious! Can you substitute fresh pumpkin puree for canned? In New Zealand, canned pumpkin does not seem to exist!
I’d imagine you can – I’ve been successful with it in other recipes when I was living in NZ. I asked somebody at New World where to find canned pumpkin and he looked at me like I was crazy.
I’ve managed to make my own pumpkin puree and it’s worked well in all the recipes I’ve made that have asked for canned.
BTW, if you are in Auckland the American store in Mt Wellington (Martha’s Backyard) does have pumpkin puree around Thanksgiving–though they have a limit on how many cans you canbuy!
Yep, it should work just the same.
Yum! Would I be able to use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil here?
I haven’t made this exact recipe…yet – it sounds wonderful and is now on my list!
But I make granola every week (about 1/4 of this volume) and I always sub coconut oil for the veg oil in granola recipes…they all seem to say veg oil. I’ve not had any issues with any of the granola recipes subbing the coconut oil.
I agree, coconut oil would be amazing in this! I only used vegetable oil for the low cost.
Yep! I think that would taste awesome. :)
this looks wonderful! my husband loves granola, so i started making it a few years ago–so many recipes online, i just figured i could do anything and it would be okay, so i’ve experimented with combos. but dryness has been my nemesis. can’t afford to use a lot of honey, don’t want to use a lot of oil– pumpkin is a terrific solution! thanks for bringing this great idea to us, busy as you must be. and congrats on the new home!
now this is really pumpkiny granola! LOVE it!
This looks amazing! Granola used to be one of my favorites for breakfast.
Oh, gosh, that looks great! But I have to say, I’m curious about your new stove! Is that a 5-burner? It’ll be so strange to see photos with a black stove background rather than the old white one! (Congrats on the new house!)
Nope, it’s a four burner. It’s a super nice stove, but I did worry about the black background instead of the white of the old one! The white makes everything so much easier to see. :P
This looks SO good! I was curious if I could turn this into granola bars though. Do you think? My kids love granola bars and if rather make my own but always thought it was too hard but this recipe seems easy! How do I turn this into bars and how long do they keep fresh?
You could probably press the mixture into a smaller dish (like a glass or ceramic casserole) and bake it that way. It might need more sugar or something to help it hold together, though. It’s hard to say without trying it out first. If you try it, let us know how it works out!
I did make this recipe into granola bars. I used quick oats instead of old fashion oats, 3/4 of a cup of brown sugar instead of 1/2 of a cup, 1/4 cup honey instead of 2 tablespoons, and I doubled the pumpkin pie spice. The difference in consistency allowed me to hand form the granola mixture into individual bars. I baked the bars on a foil lined cookie sheet which I greased before putting the bars on. I made fairly good size bars and ended up with 14 in total. They took 45 minutes to cook at the temperature listed by Beth. I flipped them at the 30 minute mark. I am very pleased with the result!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing that variation! :D
This looks so delicious and easy! I love that it’s a granola without expensive ingredients.
Quick question though: Would it work to substitute slivered almonds for the sunflower seeds? I have the almonds already but no sunflower seeds, so that’d cut down on ingredients to buy. Thanks!
Absolutely! I almost used almonds myself. :)
I LOVE granola, and I enjoy eating it over some yogurt. I can’t wait to try the recipe. :-)