Gluten Free Quick Granola Recipe
Updated Apr 02, 2020, Published Apr 22, 2012
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My hubby has been after me for years to come up with a gluten free recipe for granola. Up until now, I have just done the same thing with that suggestion as I do with suggestions regarding how I should wear my hair – ignored it.
But I see his point. Any granola is expensive and gluten free granola can be outrageous! And he likes granola so it gets gobbled up quickly, which makes it seem even more expensive. But I have been reluctant to make my own granola because it just seemed like too much work for a bowl of cereal!
As much as I would like to say that it was the desire to please my man that inspired this recipe, the truth is it was a half-eaten bag of rice cakes.
There was a time when I practically lived off rice cakes – back in the day, it was the only half way decent gluten free vehicle I could find for tuna fish and egg salad. As a result, I OD’ed on rice cakes and haven’t had one in probably five years!
So I surprised even myself when I brought home a bag the other day. I had a craving for an old time fav – brown rice cakes (lightly salted) with a smear of honey topped with a sliced banana. After a couple, I felt satisfied for maybe the next five years. But the thing about rice cakes is I don’t particularly like them after the bag has been opened for a day; they get stale fast and lose their crispiness. So I wondered “what can I do with the rest?” and it struck me – make granola!
This is a super quick version of granola that you can make and eat the same morning and, unlike many commercial granolas, is refined sugar free. It gets its sweetness from a bit of honey (use agave to make the recipe vegan) and freeze dried fruit. You can use whatever flavor of fruit you prefer but I kind of liked the idea of combining freeze dried mangos to complement the coconut and strawberries for color.
My hubby is pretty flattered that I finally fulfilled his request for homemade gluten free granola; let’s just not tell him it was inspired by left over rice cakes, if you don’t mind. I am trying to parlay this into getting a few extra odd jobs done around the house!
Gluten Free Quick Granola Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 brown rice cakes, (lightly salted or unsalted)
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- ½ cup flaked coconut
- 2 tablespoons butter or Earth Balance, (dairy free butter)
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed, (or other neutral tasting) oil
- 1/3 cup honey, (use agave for vegan)
- 1 (1-ounce) package freeze dried strawberries (1¼ cups)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Crumble the rice cakes into small pieces (about ¼ inch) and place in a mixing bowl with the almonds and coconut. Melt the butter, oil and honey together in a small saucepan, add to the rice cake mixture and stir well to coat. Layer the mixture in a rimmed baking sheet and spread in an even layer. Bake for 10 minutes or until the mixture is golden brown, stirring once halfway through cooking. Let cool and break into small pieces. Add in the fruit; stir to combine.
- Store the mixture in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Eat as is or with milk, almond milk or even coconut milk.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Rice cakes in granola! Brilliant! I am totally going to try this. :)
Thank Suzanne – enjoy!
Such a good idea, and saves the leftover few lonely rice cakes from the compost! Rice cakes are one of the few things my doggie won’t eat :)
Fantastic with the freeze dried fruit, so light and crunchy. You should get lots of odd jobs done for third one.
It says something when the doggie won’t eat them, eh? Thank you!
Brilliant use of left over rice cakes and it looks so pretty too!
Thank you Sara Jean!
I am so going to try this – I agree, brilliant. You deserve to have some extra jobs done around the house!
Thanks Angela! I agree, I am making a list for the hubby right now!
I made this and it’s delicious and super easy. I didn’t have almonds so I used walnuts. I also bought several types of freeze dried fruit from Whole Foods while I was there because i knew I would make several follow-up batches. i used an entire sleeve of rice cakes which were 7, not 6.
Thanks for reporting back Joan, glad you liked it!
Where do you get freeze-dried fruit?
I buy it at the grocery store, health food stores and sometimes even Target. They are in different places, sometime the produce department, sometinmes the snacks – you just need to ask at the store.