This is super crunchy, cluster-filled pumpkin spice granola, a seasonal favorite filled with fall goodies including pecans, dried cranberries, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin seeds (pepitas). Adding egg whites to the wet ingredients results in super crunchy clusters. The granola is lightly sweetened and healthy; plus, it’s gluten free if using certified GF oats.
I originally published this recipe in 2013 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and a few more success tips.
In between all the pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pie during the fall season, it’s wonderfully refreshing to have a pumpkin spice treat that’s on the healthier side. I make this pumpkin spice granola all the time, swapping in different add-ins and goodies. You’ll appreciate that the recipe is super customizable, so if you don’t like nuts or cranberries, for example, you can easily substitute.
One reader, Reahana, commented: “Just made this last night and had it for breakfast this morning. This is a great recipe to use pumpkin puree! And thanks for making it so substitution-friendly. Never going back to store-bought granola instead. ★★★★★”
Another reader, Sylvie, commented: “I have been using the same granola recipe for years and I was a little doubtful that this recipe would be better. But it is!!! I love how crunchy it is and not too sweet. This will now be my go-to recipe! Thank you! ★★★★★“
Here’s Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Spice Granola:
- Quick & easy to make.
- Good-for-you wholesome ingredients.
- Crunchy! Yes, this granola is crunchy and STAYS crunchy.
- Texture-packed and ready for your favorite add-ins.
- Big clusters, aka the best part of granola.
- Delicious with homemade pumpkin pie spice.
- Lightly sweetened with maple syrup and a touch of brown sugar.
This recipe has lived on my website since 2013 and it’s consistently a cozy autumnal favorite! It’s by far the crunchiest, most flavorful pumpkin granola I’ve tried, and I tested many variations to figure out the best ratio of ingredients. Have you tried it before?
Key Ingredients to Use & Why
- Oats: Old-fashioned whole rolled oats are key in this recipe, making up the bulk of the dry ingredients. I don’t recommend quick or instant oats here—you need whole.
- Egg Whites: Egg whites work as a binder in this recipe, holding the big granola clusters together before, during, and after baking. You need 2 large egg whites, or if you’re using carton egg whites from the store, about 4 Tablespoons is plenty. Do not leave out the egg whites.
- Pumpkin: Canned pumpkin puree is ideal here. You won’t use the entire can, only 1/2 cup, so check out all of these recipes to make with leftover pumpkin puree to get through the rest of your can. Homemade pumpkin coffee creamer is an excellent choice, especially if you like to enjoy your morning granola with a cup of coffee!
- Coconut Oil: Do not leave this out! The fat keeps granola from turning into a mushy mess and adds crunch and richness to every cluster. You can use vegetable oil or melted butter instead if needed.
- Maple Syrup: Pure maple syrup adds flavor and sweetness and you’ll appreciate that most of the sugar in this recipe is unrefined. Use honey or brown rice syrup instead if desired.
- Brown Sugar: I tested this granola without the brown sugar and, sadly, it wasn’t very tasty—completely bland pumpkin. There’s only 3 Tablespoons of brown sugar total, which isn’t much divided over about 5+ cups of granola. The brown sugar will lightly caramelize over the oats. If you prefer, you can use coconut sugar instead.
Not a fan of pumpkin? You might enjoy this maple almond cranberry granola, vanilla almond granola, or these granola clusters instead. Or if you’re crazy for chocolate (aren’t we all?), you’ll love this triple chocolate crunch granola and chocolate peanut butter granola.
Add-Ins & Extras
The wonderful thing about this recipe, and many of my other granola recipes, is that you can mix and match your add-ins based on what you like and/or what you have on hand.
Here are some suggested substitutes and add-ins:
- If you don’t like unsweetened coconut, simply leave it out.
- Not a fan of dried cranberries? Use dried cherries, raisins, chopped dried apples, or leave them out completely.
- Can’t find pumpkin seeds, aka pepitas? Add more pecans or skip them completely.
- Add chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or butterscotch chips to the granola as it cools.
- Add 2 Tablespoons of unsweetened natural or dutch-process cocoa powder with the wet ingredients for chocolate pumpkin granola.
Mix the dry ingredients together, including the oats, spices, and some add-ins. Separately, mix the wet ingredients together and then pour over the dry ingredients:
Note: Add the dried cranberries AFTER baking; otherwise they will burn.
Success Tip: Don’t Crowd the Baking Sheet
Before baking, the pumpkin granola mixture is very wet. In order for it to bake properly and become crunchy, you must give the granola some breathing room on the lined baking sheet. My #1 piece of advice is to divide the granola mixture between 2 lined baking sheets. Spread it out into an even layer, with plenty of room. This lets the oven’s heat reach every single cluster, to crisp it up.
Stir the granola often as it bakes because this helps prevent it from over-cooking or burning.
Each bite of the granola tastes like lightly sweetened spiced pumpkin with toasted pecans and chewy dried cranberries. There are so many ways to enjoy this! Cereal-style with milk, spooned over yogurt or a smoothie bowl (like this pumpkin protein smoothie!), layered parfait-style with chopped apples and yogurt, or enjoy plain as a take-along snack.
You could even use this as the crunchy topping on soft, maple vanilla baked pears. Delicious!
Some Other Healthy Fall Recipes
- Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal Cups
- Healthy Apple Muffins & Applesauce Muffins
- Baked Apples
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
- Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cups or Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal Cups
Crunchy Pumpkin Spice Granola
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 5 cups
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
A super crunchy and flavorful pumpkin spiced granola, sweetened with maple syrup, a touch of brown sugar, and loaded with fall goodies like pecans, dried cranberries, and pumpkin seeds. Be sure to read the text of the post for substitution options. Granola is naturally gluten free if using certified GF oats.
Ingredients
- 3 and 3/4 cups (319g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 2/3 cup (85g) unsweetened shredded coconut (leave out if desired)
- 2/3 cup (95g) pepitas (pumpkin seeds, raw or roasted)
- 1 cup (125g) halved or chopped pecans
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (56g) coconut oil, melted (or vegetable oil or melted butter)
- 1/2 cup (115g) pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup (120ml) pure maple syrup
- 3 Tablespoons (38g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup (95g) dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line two large baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir the oats, coconut, pepitas, pecans, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together until combined. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites for about 1 minute. Then whisk in the melted coconut oil, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth and combined. Pour over dry ingredients and mix until everything is moistened.
- Spread mixture out onto prepared baking sheets and bake each batch for 40 minutes, making sure to stir the granola every 10–15 minutes to prevent burning.
- Allow granola to cool for 20 minutes on the baking sheets. Granola gets crunchier as it cools. Pour into a large bowl and stir in the dried cranberries.
- Cover tightly and store at room temperature for up to 3 weeks. Granola will lose its crunch over time because of the wet pumpkin.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Granola is the perfect recipe to make ahead because it stays fresh for so long. Store this in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 weeks. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowl | Rubber Spatula or Wooden Spoon | Whisk
- Substitutions: Be sure to read the text of the post for substitution options.
- Add Uncooked Quinoa: You can add 1/4 cup uncooked quinoa to this recipe and I often do for extra crunch! Mix in with the dry ingredients (the oat mixture).
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You can find pumpkin pie spice in the baking aisle of most grocery stores, or make your own homemade pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have either and want to use individual spices, use 1/4 teaspoon each: ground ginger, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground allspice. This is in addition to the 2 teaspoons of cinnamon—you will still add that.
major help with my food tech
Just made this for the second time last night. So delicious and easy. 40 min. stirring every 10 worked out perfectly. Wonderful crunch and flavors. (Used reduced sugar cranberries.)
This is a tasty recipe! I was excited about the clusters, but mine was so spread out on the baking sheets, it wasn’t able to congeal the way I’d hoped. I even pushed the granola into a piles and compressed them with a spatula to cool in clumps, but that didn’t work. It’s still good though!
Amazing granola! This was a big hit at the brunch bridal shower I co-hosted. Easy and made a couple days ahead. Great recipe!
Hi can this be made with butter instead of coconut oil?
Hi Olive, You can use vegetable oil or melted butter instead if needed.
Love this recipe! I looked at some comments and after my first batch, I had to turn my temp down to 300 and the second batch came out perfect! Idk why my cranberries came out like Little Rocks, but I’ll look into it more next time. Recipe is great though!
Make sure to add any dried fruit after baking or they will burn and get hard!
Can we bake both baking sheets at the same time? Thank you!
Hi Serenity, if they both fit in your oven, that should be okay.
Thank you for a delicious recipe.
followed the recipe exactly and turned out amazing.
You’re absolutely right about needing the brown sugar to enhance the pumpkin spice.
I made another recipe where it didn’t ask for the brown sugar and it was bland. I even 3x the pumpkin spice.
I followed the recipe exactly. It tastes amazing. And you’re absolutely right about needing the brown sugar to bring out the pumpkin spice flavour.
I made another pumpkin spice recipe where it didn’t ask for brown sugar and it was bland. I even 3x the pumpkin spice.
Fantastic recipe! The lovely flavours make me like plain unsweetened Greek Yogurt
Looks delicious? Are there nutrition facts?
🙂
Hi Kate, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076 Let us know if you try it!
I have made your pumpkin granola many times and my whole family loves it. Have you tried adding protein powder to it? Any suggestions for adding this? Thank you!
Hi Marci, we haven’t tried it, but you certainly could try adding a bit to the mixture. We’d start small, then adjust accordingly for future batches. Let us know how it goes!
I had to stop myself from eating this raw…This will be my go to!!
I only have sweetened coconut, unfortunately. Do you have any suggestions to keep the granola from being too sweet? I appreciate it!
Hi Catherine, the granola shouldn’t be overly sweet if using sweetened coconut. You could always omit it completely if you want. Hope you enjoy the granola!
I made this last night and it came out great! Followed recipe exactly, it was really pretty easy. We love it and I can’t wait to try the other granola versions.
YUM! I can’t wait for it to cool to eat. . .I have been eating warm spoonfuls while I wait! DELISH! Will be wonderful with Greek yogurt or as a cereal with milk or a snack or. . . 🙂 The 40 minutes baking time is perfect. I was concerned about uneven baking with 2 racks being used, but I switched the pans halfway through and again, it is perfect! Thank you!
Followed recipe to a T. First batch almost burnt. Turned oven down to 300 turned out great
This granola is so good! I added some flax seed. This with Greek yogurt mixed with vanilla protein powder and a cut up apple is the perfect breakfast.
Holy cow!! This stuff is ADDICTIVE!! Made this just as a way to use up some pumpkin I had left over from making some of your other pumpkin recipes (all delicious, by the way!!) and it ended up being the best granola I’ve ever had – and my husband can’t stop eating it, either! MUCH better than any store-bought stuff. So now I’m going to investigate your other granola recipes. Thanks so much for all you do. You have been one of my cooking inspirations. Keep those recipes coming!
This is so good. I used the pumpkin spice pepitas from Trader Joe’s. I love a more chewy granola, but this is great and not too sweet! I added more cranberries, as I love that subtle tartness with the crunch of the granola. How would it be with rolled oats and not quick? I’ll have to try that.
I made this this morning. It is amazing!!!! I soaked my cranberries in a little unsweetened cranberry juice so they wouldn’t be so rubbery. It worked out well. I don’t think this batch is going to last very long!