This delicious paleo low carb granola recipe whips up in less than 30 minutes. Dairy-free and grain-free. See just how easy it is to make this healthy keto breakfast with my new how-to video!
Cereal. It’s what we all grew up eating for breakfast, right? And when you decide to follow a low carb, paleo or keto diet, you find yourself stumped. You wake up, bleary-eyed, and head downstairs. You pour yourself a cup of coffee, take a few sips and reach for the cupboard. You open it and you suddenly pull up short. Where are the boxes of cereal? They’re not there! Your tired brain can’t quite handle this information so early in the morning. It refuses to believe that you could be so silly as to let yourself run out of that ultimate breakfast food. Why on earth didn’t you put it on the grocery list last time? Oh wait…that’s right. Because cereal and grains aren’t paleo or keto approved. Oh damn. Now what?
Easy Low Carb Granola Recipe
I think you know what I am going to say here. Make your own! Let’s face it, if you are on specialized diet, you can’t just head to the store and pick up convenience foods like cereal and bread. You can sometimes order them online but I always look at the ingredients and think “Well, gee. I could make that!”. I absolutely HATE spending money on something I know I could make easily enough at home. “Easily” being the operative word here. And when it comes to homemade cereal, you can indeed easily make it at home. This low carb Paleo Granola recipe whips up in less than half an hour. So even if you just got up, all bleary-eyed and in need of caffeine, you could have your cereal. Better yet, if you make a big batch, you can store it in the fridge for several weeks.
I’ve made a few different kinds of low carb granola and cereal, and I had one reader thank me for making it without coconut. Guess he wasn’t a coconut fan, but I sure am and it got me pondering a tasty version with some large flaked coconut. And some coconut oil, to really play up that flavour, because I adore it. Then some cacao nibs to add a hint of chocolatey flavour, which pairs so well with coconut. If you haven’t tried cacao nibs (also called cocoa nibs) yet, I think you should. They are chocolatey but not sweet and make a great addition to cookies and cakes, and of course, granola. And they are virtually all fiber, so they make a great low carb food. Just don’t buy them at discount places like Marshalls. I bought a bag that tasted burnt and were just awful. If I hadn’t known what real cacao nibs tasted like, I would have written them off altogether. It’s worth paying a little more for a quality bag if you really want the cacao nib experience!
Paleo Coconut Cacao Nib Granola
Ingredients
- 2 cups nuts almonds, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc
- 1 cup mixed seeds sunflower, pepitas, hemp, etc
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
- ⅓ cup Swerve Sweetener
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup coconut oil melted
- 1 egg
- ½ cup cacao nibs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300F and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine almonds and other nuts or seeds. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some bigger pieces in there too.
- Transfer to a large bowl and add almond flour, flaked coconut, sweetener of choice, and salt. Drizzle with coconut oil and stir to combine.
- Add egg, and toss until mixture begins to clump together. Stir in cacao nibs
- Spread mixture evenly on prepared baking sheet and bake 20 to 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until golden brown.
- Remove and let cool.
DelicateFlowah says
I made it this morning. I added a bit of almond extract and vanilla to the coconut oil. I also got my hands on a big bag of high end cocoa nibs. Delicious! I like the idea of adding some spices to it, like other people suggested. This will be a staple in my house! Thanks again, Carolyn! You’re a genius!
Carolyn says
So glad you are enjoying it!
Mary says
I have been reading the comments and I keep seeing reference to ground flax seed but I cant see it listed in the recipe or am I going nuts. Going to get the fixings tomorrow and try this out it sounds delicious.
Carolyn says
That’s because I swapped it for almond flour when I updated the recipe, although you can use a cup of flax if you prefer.
Mary says
Thanks Carolyn, thought that must have been the case, think I will stick with the Coconut flour will let you know how it turns out.
Carolyn says
Don’t use coconut flour. Definitely almond.
Mary says
Oh whoops it had been a long hard day will definitely use Almond Flour
Cheryl from Melbourne Australia says
If someone had told me a year ago that I would be making my own granola, I would have told them to “Get out of town!”. I just cooked up a batch and it’s yum. Who knew making your own could be this easy. Sugar quantity on the recipe was just right. I’d do a taste comparision soon to see how homemade is vs store bought. Homemade will win hands down for sure, but I like to taste the difference and compare. Thanks for another amazing recipe 🙂
Carolyn says
So glad you feel that way. I do too!
Sharon says
I just cannot handle coconut. Any suggestions of a substitute or is that ingredient kind of a must for this recipe?
Carolyn says
Just add more nuts.
Jennifer says
This is a great recipe. I use it as a Banting recipe. I started making this shortly after it was originally published; I now make about 1 – 1.25 kg at a time, packing into 3 containers, and keeping it in fridge. I have added to your recipe: pecan, walnuts, macadamia nuts; flax, chia, pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, raw hemp seeds; Psyllium raw husk; cacao nuts, Stevia liquid; vanilla, fresh ginger, Ceylon cinnamon, cardamom pods, lime/lemon pith & flaked coconut. I left egg out. I don’t worry too much about quantities or leaving items out if I haven’t got.
Dylan says
I’ve just taken mine out of the oven and it’s made the house smell amazing! I changed the almonds out for cashews because I’m allergic and mixed with pecans as my other nut. The rest of the ingredients were the same + some organic cocoa powder and cinnamon powder. I couldn’t wait for it to cool down before I tried some, so I just tried some with non-gmo unsweetened soy milk and it tastes AMAZING! This is exactly what I was missing with keto until now, something to have for breakfast aside from the usual meat, cheese, avocado etc. Thank you, great recipe!
Peggie says
Just a questions on this as I haven’t made it yet. Will the coconut oil cause this to remain moist or does the flaxseed and egg take care of that when it’s baked? I ask because this looks like an excellent addition to my pack for a long backpacking trip coming up. Just trying to avoid the “greasy on the hands” thing. Love your recipes and the help you give us.
Carolyn says
It’s dryish when it’s baked. You shouldn’t find it to be greasy!
Jane says
How many calories are in a serving?
Carolyn says
240 calories per serving.
Delilah DeLage says
How much per serving? According to my calculations 75g in the nuts and seeds alone and that’s not much of a serving for anyone. Why do you not include the serving size on the nutritional data?
Carolyn says
As for most granola recipes, it’s about 1/3 cup – this is standard, even for commercial granolas. Why would you rate a recipe poorly when you haven’t even tried it?
sirah says
Sounds great. Defenitly gonna try this. One question: you use flaxseed meal. I can’t seem to find that here (Netherlands). At least not by that name. Can I use broken flaxseed also?
Carolyn says
Sure, that should be fine.
Azalea says
I eat this every morning with vanilla unsweetened Almond Breeze. But I omitted the cacao nibs because they are a little bitter to me…which is not appealing early in the morning. But I sprinkle a few dried cranberries in my cereal bowl. I love it!
Kiki says
I LOVED this — low carb but definitely NOT low calorie but with all the nuts and fiber, a little goes a long way and kept me full until lunch. I used almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds and hazelnuts. Some of the nuts were raw (almonds, walnuts) and some roasted (sunflower seeds and hazelnuts) but it still turned out great. Cacao nibs are not cheap (they cost about $10 per cup) so I would probably substitute with some chopped up dark chocolate next time.
Jen says
Cacao nib should not be heated,
It is a Superfood, a Healthy food BUT only in its RAW state – unheated, NO trans fats, NO sugars, NO dairy etc.
http://www.superfoods.co.za/cacao-bean.htm
Kathy says
Have made this granola using almonds, pecans and pumpkin seeds plus the other ingredients and it is delicious. Added cinnamon which I hear is supposed to be good for us diabetics. It makes a large amount so I keep the extra in the freezer and take out a one third cup when it is on my breakfast rotation. Highly recommend it.
Jo says
Is there some low carb way to make your granola into bars?
Carolyn says
I haven’t tried that. You might try mixing in some nut butter and and egg and then baking it.
Charlotte says
YEP…..making this SOON!!!!!!
Katie says
I love this granola! It has the perfect crunch and flavor. I can’t believe I used to have cereal and milk every day for breakfast growing up — so much sugar! I love eating a ketogenic diet and this granola will be a staple in my house. I had it with almond milk – yum. Thanks!
Steve says
You specify this as a PALEO recipe, HOWEVER to be paleo, you have to have ALL not synthetic, non-artificial, non-processed ingredients.
Swerve Sweetener is NOT paleo — far from it.
The closest zero-calorie sweetener to being true paleo is stevia, it is no-artificial, non-processed, and was used by paleo natives in South America. It is also FAR safer for you!
Carolyn says
Did you actually read the option for coconut sugar in the recipe??? As someone who has an advanced degree in paleoanthropology, I am well aware that Swerve is not paleo, which is why there is a second option. But I am also someone who has diabetes, I have to be mindful of my blood sugar levels. Erythritol, which is the main component of Swerve, is naturally occurring and it is safe. As safe as stevia (which, by the way, can actually lower blood sugar and cause T1 diabetics issues!). Did you know that erythritol is found in the human fetus in high levels? You may want to check your facts before declaring that one sweetener is “FAR safer for you”.
Sue says
What is the option for coconut sugar? I’m sorry but I don’t see it in the recipe. 🙂
Cici says
THIS RECIPE IS AMAZING! I had cereal for breakfast today, people!
Carolyn says
So glad you like it!
Cici says
1 & 1/2 cups of whole or sliced almonds?
Carolyn says
Whole. If I don’t specify sliced or slivered, then it will always be whole.
Cici says
Gotcha. Thx.
sydney says
Hi! This looks great. I am wondering how long this keeps (because of the eggs) and if it needs to be refrigerated when stored. Thank you!
Carolyn says
It keeps for at least 5 days on the counter. The egg is cooked into it, so it’s not raw and shouldn’t be of concern.
Kellie says
How would 1 serving be measured? 1/2 cup? 3/4?
Carolyn says
Hi there. It says right at the top of the recipe, about 1/3 cup (pretty standard for granola, which is heavier and more filling than traditional cereal).
Kellie says
Sorry I missed that. Thank you!