Sourdough Granola Recipe (Discard or Active Starter) with Fermented Option (2024)

Come learn how to make homemade sourdough granola with discard or active starter. It’s easy to do, and totally delicious! Our healthy loaded sourdough granola recipe is lightly sweetened with natural maple syrup, nut and seed-forward, and full of fiber and omega fatty acids. We love to make sourdough discard granola with vanilla, cinnamon, and coconut, but I’ve included a few other granola flavor and seasoning ideas to try too! I’ve also included instructions on how to ferment sourdough granola for an added boost of nutrients.

Granola with plain yogurt and fresh fruit is a breakfast staple around here. However, I usually go pretty light on the granola, while adding plenty of extra nuts, seeds, flax, and hemp hearts to my bowl instead. Being Type 1 diabetic, I have to moderate my carb intake… and most granola is fairly high-carb and sweet. So, I figured why not make my own – just the way I like it.Now it’s quickly become one of my favorite sourdough discard recipes!

What to expect from this sourdough granola recipe

• It’s chunky. The sticky sourdough starter and ground flax meal both act as natural binders, helping to hold everything together and create the perfectly crisp, toasted, chunky sourdough granola. You can easily break it up into small pieces like cereal, or leave it in large snackable clusters – whatever you prefer!
• It’s healthier and less sweet than commercial granola. With zero refined sugar, no puffed rice, and a high nut and seed-to-oat ratio, our granola recipe has ample protein and fewer carbs than many others. The addition of hemp hearts (hemp seeds) and ground flax seed meal also adds ample protein, fiber, omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids, vitamin E, and minerals. Then all those good nutrients are even more bioavailable if you ferment the granola first!
• It’s flexible. You can easily customize this sourdough granola recipe using discard or active starter, your favorite nuts and seeds, various spices and seasonings, nut butter, and/or dried fruit. Bake it right away, or let it sit to ferment. Folks baking with gluten free sourdough starter can easily make this as a gluten-free sourdough granola too! Get creative and enjoy.

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The key to making homemade granola crunchy

When you’re used to extra-crispy commercial granola, some homemade granola may not turn out as crunchy as you’d hope. However, the key to making crunchy sourdough granola is to bake it low and slow. Allowing it to bake for a longer time allows more moisture to evaporate, while keeping the temperature low prevents it from becoming too toasted or burning in the process. Plus all of the nuts, seeds, flax meal, and coconut oil we use in this sourdough discard granola recipe helps add some nice crunch too!

Storing homemade granola in a good air-tight container will also prevent it from losing its crunch. Finally, keep in mind that homemade granola won’t seem super crunchy straight out of the oven; it crisps up significantly as it cools and dries.

Variation: How to make fermented sourdough granola

For an added boost of nutrition, you can also ferment the sourdough granola mixture! Allowing the oats, nuts, and seeds to lacto-ferment first reduces phytic acid (an anti-nutrient), making all the good nutrients more bioavailable and easier to digest.

To ferment sourdough granola, simply combine all the called-for ingredients, loosely cover the bowl, and then let the raw sourdough granola ferment at room temperature for 2 to 6 hours before baking. Move the mixture to the refrigerator for a longer fermentation time (e.g. overnight). Keep in mind it will get more sour-tasting and potentially less crunchy the longer it sits.

Homemade Sourdough Granola Ingredients

This recipe makes about 6 cups of granola. We often double the recipe and split between two baking sheets!

“Wet” Ingredients

• ½ cup sourdough starter, discard or active (recently fed). If using sourdough starter discard in this recipe, it’s best if it was fed within the last week or two. Using extra old discard will make your sourdough granola very sour-tasting!
• 6 Tbsp real maple syrup
• 3 Tbsp melted coconut oil OR melted butter. I love the flavor and extra light crispness the melted coconut oil offers!
• 3 Tbsp ground flaxseed. Ground flax meal is easier to digest and acts as a better binder than whole flax seeds. In a pinch, you can grind 1-2 Tbsp of whole flax seeds into powder OR add a couple tablespoons of your favorite nut butter instead. (We also sprinkle ground flax over salads, yogurt, and add it to smoothies and other baked goods.)
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon (or change it up and use pumpkin spice seasoning instead)
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1/8 cup water – ONLY if you’re going to ferment the granola it for a few hours or overnight

Dry ingredients

• 2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup of raw unsalted nuts of choice. We used about 1/3 cup each of pecan halves, walnuts pieces, and almonds in this particular batch.
• ½ cup seeds of choice. I like to use ¼ cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas) and ¼ cup raw sunflower seeds.
• ¼ cup hemp hearts
• Optional: ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes (or ⅓ cup shredded coconut)

Optional (later): Up to a cup of dried fruit – such as raisins, cranberries, cherries, blueberries, chopped dry apricots, or other dried fruit of choice. NOTE: The dried fruit should be mixed in once the granola is done cooking and cooled.

How to Make Sourdough Granola

1. Preheat the oven to 315 F.
   

2. In a medium to large mixing bowl, combine all of the “wet” ingredients first including the sourdough starter, maple syrup, melted oil or butter, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon (or other seasonings), and ground flax meal (or nut butter). Mix well to combine.
3. Next add the rolled oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, and hemp hearts to the bowl of wet ingredients. Toss and stir until all of the dry ingredients are coated and combined.
4. Optional: Loosely cover the bowl, and let the sourdough granola ferment for 2 to 6 hours at room temperature (or longer in the refrigerator) before baking. If you refrigerate it overnight, plan to take it back out of the fridge to soften and warm up at room temperature for a couple hours before baking.
5. Spread the raw granola mixture out on a large baking sheet that is either greased or lined with parchment paper. Rather than loosely spreading it, pack and press the granola together and down into a solid flat sheet – so that all of the granola bits are touching and about ½ inch thick. You’ll break it up into smaller pieces later. (Ferment Tip: It can be fairly stiff and sticky after fermenting in the fridge, so I use wet hands to help spread and press it out flat onto the baking sheet.)
6. Bake low and slow until it’s lightly toasted, about 20 minutes. Once the outer edges start to lightly brown, remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it sit to cool for about 5 minutes.
7. Using a spatula or your hands (if it’s cool enough to handle), gently break up the sourdough granola into large clusters or chunks, and then stir, flip and rotate them on the tray. I try to move the pieces that were on the outer edge of the pan inward (and vice versa) to promote even toasting.

Instructions continued…

8. Return the granola to the oven to bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. (If you added additional wet ingredients such as nut or fruit butters, you may need to bake it a tad longer – just keep an eye on it and stir occasionally!)
9. When the time is up, remove the granola from the oven and set the pan on a cooling rack. Let it sit undisturbed to cool and crisp up for at least 30 to 45 minutes. Remember, it will not seem very crispy when you first take it out of the oven, but will become more crunchy as it cools. Trust the process!
10. Allow the finished granola to fully cool on the pan before putting it away for storage. Feel free to leave your granola in large clusters, or break it up into smaller pieces as you wish.
11. For maximum crunch, store homemade sourdough granola in an air-tight container such as a glass container with a sealed lid or zip lock bag.

Sourdough Granola Flavor Ideas and Seasoning Combos

• Incorporate a few tablespoons of apple butter, pumpkin butter, pear butter, or other sweet fruit butter addition. Note you may need to bake the granola a tad longer to offset the added moisture.
• A few tablespoons of pumpkin puree plus pumpkin spice seasoning and pepitas
• Dried apples, peanut butter, almonds and cinnamon
• Orange zest, pistachios, and a sprinkle of cardamom
• Dried cranberries or cherries, apple butter, pecans and pumpkin seeds
• Dried banana chips, peanut butter, cashews, coconut flakes and cinnamon
• Make chocolate granola with the addition of unsweetened cocoa powder (2 Tbsp, added before baking) and mini chocolate chips (added after baking)
• With any of these ideas, I still recommend using vanilla extract and maple syrup!

Ways to Enjoy Homemade Granola

This may seem like a no-brainer, but there are more ways to eat granola than most folks think of!

1. Of course, sourdough granola is amazing on top of yogurt or with milk for breakfast. I always add extra nuts and seeds too.
2. We love to sprinkle granola on top of ice cream with a dollop of jam or fresh fruit for dessert, like a crumble topping. Yum!
3. Make easy no-bake homemade granola bars! Simply mix sourdough discard granola with a little nut butter and honey (enough to make it all stick together) plus optional dried fruit or chocolate chips. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9×9″ baking pan, refrigerate overnight, and then cut into bars the next morning.
4. You can also work granola into baked good recipes including into muffins, cookies, or sweet breads.
5. Sprinkle sourdough granola on top of apple slices with peanut butter, like healthy “apple nachos”
6. Granola can bring a much-welcomed crunch on top of smoothie bowls or acai bowls.
7. Add sourdough discard granola to homemade trail mix.
8. Last but not least, enjoy snacking on granola plain!

And that’s how to make homemade sourdough granola!

Well folks, I really hope you enjoy this tasty and healthy sourdough discard recipe. I love being able to use my starter for something in the weeks we often go between baking bread – especially in a way that we’ll use every day! Please let me know if you have any questions or other flavor ideas in the comments below, and be sure to leave a review once you give it a try. Thank you so much for tuning in today!

Don’t miss these other sourdough discard recipes:

• 15 Best Sourdough Discard Recipes: Ways to Use Starter Discard
• Herb Sourdough Crackers Recipe: How to Use Discarded Starter
• 9 Ways to Make Sourdough Starter More Active (Strengthen Starter)
• Sourdough Pancakes Recipe (Active or Discard Starter)
• Sourdough Ginger Molasses Cookies (Soft and Chewy)