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Recipe updated 6/22/16
This granola was a surprise.
I mean, I’ve seen some interesting ingredients turned into marvelously yummy food (like cauliflower cake or cottage cheese ice cream), but I didn’t expect leftover oatmeal to turn into perfectly crunchy granola. Especially when my previous granola experiments were less than spectacular – and they used normal ingredients.
But thankfully I was super surprised and super impressed. And so was my mom (who is a lot little pickier than I am)…so much so that the next time she made oatmeal, she made extra. On purpose. So she would have leftovers to make this granola. We eat oatmeal quite often as a family, so if we have leftovers, we just freeze them until I decide to do something strange with them. Although now that I have this granola recipe, I have a feeling that the oatmeal leftovers won’t stay in the bottom of the freezer quite so long as before. Not only is this granola great-tasting, but it’s super easy and only takes a few ingredients.
This recipe also takes some leftover cooked brown rice because I had some on hand and decided to throw it in. I like the texture it gives, but I’m sure you could just use more oatmeal.
The problem I had with trying to make granola before was that I couldn’t add a lot of fat to it (because combining carbs and fats is not weight loss friendly, as per Trim Healthy Mama) and I also couldn’t add a sticky substance like honey (because it spikes blood sugar). So there was none of that syrupy-ness that normal granola uses to give it its crunch and flavor. Enter cooked oatmeal. Cooked oatmeal has amazing properties when cooled and acts as a perfect binder!
One of my favorite cold cereals (well, I don’t eat it any more because it’s not good for me) is those Quaker Oatmeal Squares. They come in flavors like cinnamon and brown sugar, and they’re not super sweet. Not ever really being a fan of sugary cereal, that’s a good thing in my book. This granola reminds me so much of those oatmeal squares – same taste, same sweetness, same texture. This granola is crunchy, but it softens nicely in unsweetened almond milk. It doesn’t get soggy, though! It’s just perfect, and I’m still kind of amazed that the leftover oatmeal idea worked. It was pretty much a shot in the dark.
You can always add more flavor and sweetener if desired. Feel free to change up flavors by adding different extracts or spices. What I give you here is just a basic generic cinnamon and maple tinted cereal that is great for eating plain, on yogurt, or in some unsweetened almond milk (my personal preference).
I used our Excalibur dehydrator to make this granola, and it worked great. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you could try making this in your oven. I would try 300 degrees F, flipping the granola occasionally. Get it out when it’s dry and crispy. (Update: one reader, Stacy Runner, reported back that she baked this granola in the oven at 350 degrees for about 2 hours.) (Update update: I tested this granola in the oven myself; you can find info in the recipe below.)
Trim Healthy Mamas, this granola is an E. I would stick to one cup of granola as the carb source in an E meal. Keep your other carbs to a minimum and add some protein, like low fat Greek yogurt or cottage cheese, on the side.
Question of the day: have you ever had Quaker Oatmeal Squares? Do you like them?
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 T THM Super Sweet Blend
- 1 T cinnamon
- 2 tsp. maple flavoring
- ¾ tsp. salt*
- 6 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (a doonk is 1/32 tsp.)
- -
- 7 cups leftover cooked oatmeal made from old fashioned oats, cooled (thawed if frozen) - use gluten free oats if necessary (my oatmeal was salted)
- 2 cups leftover cooked brown rice, cooled (thawed if frozen) - make sure the rice is certified gluten free if gluten is an issue - short grain brown rice that is well cooked and completely soft works best here. I do not suggest using instant brown rice as it doesn't soften up nearly as well. My rice was unsalted.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the first set of ingredients. Add the oatmeal and brown rice and knead the whole mess together with your hands until everything is distributed evenly.
- Spread the mixture equally onto 2 dehydrator trays (ideally using a nonstick liner provided with the dehydrator) and smooth it out so it's fairly thin. Dehydrate it until crispy. I set it at 135 degrees F for 6 hours, then down to 115 degrees F for another 8 hours (overnight). Flip the sheets of granola over half-way through dehydration.
- If you don't have a dehydrator, you can make this in the oven. I spread it out onto two greased cookie sheets using my hands (it will be like 2 thin sheets of baked oatmeal, basically). I would bake it at 350 degrees until crispy, flipping the granola and switching the pans between the top and bottom oven racks every 30 minutes. At some point in the process, break the granola into pieces so it can dry out faster. When I tested this, I put it in the oven for an hour at 300 degrees, 45 minutes at 350 degrees, turned the oven off and cracked the door open while I went to my church's vacation Bible school, then came back 3 hours later and baked at 350 degrees again for a little over an hour. 350 degrees until dry and crispy should do the trick...haha. Let it set out on the counter overnight to cool and dry out some more. It's really not an exact science. Some of the granola will probably still be slightly chewy in the middle if making this in the oven (the dehydrator does a better job about sucking the moisture out), so if you make this in the oven, store the finished product in the refrigerator.
- You could also try baking this at a lower temperature, like 175 degrees, for a longer period of time. Low and slow will probably give you a more evenly crispy result. All depends on how much time you have.
- When the granola is done, the easiest way to break it up into pieces is to put it into a gallon-sized Ziplock bag and smash it with a rolling pin. If you made the granola in a dehydrator, you can store the granola in an airtight container at room temperature. If you made it in the oven, I recommend keeping it in the fridge. Yields 7 cups (7 servings).
Feel free to add more flavorings/spices/sweetener to customize this to your own personal tastes!
Suggested products:
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder and Super Sweet Blend can be purchased from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
- I used our Excalibur dehydrator to make this granola. It works great and is oh-so-easy!
I just made this! It was great. I think I will leave the rice out next time, I used long grain and it was cooked well but I think it was responsible for the super hard crunch. I can’t find short grain brown rice…anyways. For reference, for others I dehydrated in my convection oven. It took about 16 hours. I did about 8 hours at 175 deg F (not in convection mode, I was worried about running the fan that long). Then about 8 hours 170 deg F in convection mode (fan running). I spread it over 2 days, I didn’t run my oven at night. I let the granola cool down in the oven while the oven cooled down.
Briana, how do you make your oatmeal? I made mine in a pressure cooker today and tried to follow the recipe… I opted for cooking at 250° for about 6 hrs to try and get my granola as dried as possible, but it ended up being as tough as jerky. Was that because my oatmeal was too soupy from pressure cooking and didn’t bake well?
Thanks in advance for the help! Looking forward to mastering this recipe. ☺️
I just make it following the instructions on the package – using the stovetop or microwave. 🙂 I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you! Maybe try using a dehydrator (the best option, in my opinion) or the baking temps and times listed in the recipe/blog post that other people have tried?
By any chance can this be done in a crockpot?
I don’t think I’d try that. It’s really important to dry the oatmeal out very well to get the right texture, and I don’t think a crockpot would work well for that.
This is in my dehydrated right now! My house smells amazing!
I halfed the recipe to make sure I like it. I added eythritol in place of the other sweeteners, using the THM conversion chart online.
Oh, this is tasty! I doubled the salt and super sweet and it was perfect for me. Then a friend started talking about Doritos, and it got me thinking about a savory version. I might try it using the ” Macho nacho” seasoning from THM…now that I have Doritos on my mind. I can’t stop eating the granola as it is though. Thanks for the recipe. I can’t wait to try in on yogurt!
This looks great! You got me curious with the hyperlink for other recipes for leftover oatmeal, but this recipe is the only one listed when I click on the link. I really am interested to see what other magic you perform with leftover oatmeal!
Sorry about that! I’ve actually been going through some older posts and cleaning them up, and I was removing some categorization tags. Here’s one of my favorite recipes that uses leftover oatmeal! https://www.briana-thomas.com/peach-cobbler-low-fat-sugar-free-thme/
I made this today and it was flat and like to sheets of paper with nothing in the middle. Do you think i spread it too thin?? I may try again tomorrow. I really want to eat it. It tastes amd smells good just now way to bread it and eat it. ?
I’m not quite sure what you mean, Alana. This isn’t like traditional granola in that it sticks together in irregular clumps. It’s baked in flat sheets, then you break the flat pieces up in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, pour a milk of your choice over it, and enjoy! It definitely needs milk so it will soften up a bit before eating.
Looking forward to trying this- accidentally cooked double the rice I needed for the cowboy grub from the THM cookbook, so I was looking for a way to use this. I’m terrible at coming up with breakfast ideas so this is perfect! Definitely looking forward to trying this….borrowing a dehydrator from a hubby’s friend on Thursday so I can make it! So excited to have a breakfast option.
I made this in my dehydrator yesterday/last night. I did find that the brown rice became quite crunchy (like get stuck in your teeth crunchy), but I’m wondering if the fact that i used a fine long grain variety of rice might be part of that. It’s what i had leftover so i thought I’d try it, but i usually use a short grain brown rice and the leftovers are more moist and sticky than this long grain rice was. What type of rice do you use Brianna? I’m also wondering if maybe slightly overcooked/softer rice would be ideal here?
You might be on to something there. I usually use a short grain brown rice, and I like my rice to be quite cooked and not crunchy at all, so that’s how the leftovers usually are. Thanks for your insights!
I tried this, and the brown rice in it turned very hard and beyond crunchy (not a good thing), yet the rest of it did not turn out. To be fair, I used my oven since I don’t own a dehydrator. Maybe this recipe is just best left for those who do own a dehydrator
I’m sorry it didn’t turn out for you. If you used already-cooked and cooled oatmeal and brown rice as directed, baking shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve had readers do it with success. What temperature did you bake it at, and for how long?
So is the cooked oatmeal that we are supposed to use plain? Or can it be flavored like your “CREAMY MAPLE AND “BROWN SUGAR” OATMEAL?”
I just used plain (I believe it was salted), but you’re welcome to use whatever flavor you like (just adjust the flavorings at the end if necessary).
I love oatmeal squares!!!
Do you think cooked steel cut oats would work? I can’t use the old fashioned, I have hypoglycemia after eating old fashioned.
I’ve never used steel cut, so I’m not sure, but I can’t imagine that they’d be too different. Give it a try!
Do you think that it would work to use overnight (not leftover cooked) oats for this as well? Thanks….love all your recipes!
I would stick with what the recipe says. Cooked oatmeal has its own unique properties.
Thanks so much for the speedy reply…gonna try this today…off to cook my brown rice now! I love granola over sweetened FF greek yogurt….can’t wait to have tomorrow morning!
Great! I hope it works out well for you.
I know nothing about dehydrators. When you say to try to replicate the it in the oven — can I just do the same temps and times, in an oven? Or is a dehydrator more powerful?
I haven’t done any experiments to compare the two, so I’m not sure. The dehydrator has a fan which I assume helps to wick moisture away from the food. Therefore, the oven (without a fan) may take longer. Just bake it (flipping at least once during baking) until it’s completely dry and crispy (but not burnt!).
I bet you could dehydrate the overnight oatmeal versions too:)
I made tjis yesterday and it was tasty, but the brown rice turned into little rocks. Will leave the rice out next time
You did use COOKED brown rice, didn’t you?
I had this same problem too… The rice was cooked but when I baked it (@350 for 2.5 hrs) the rice turned very crunchy, like it hadn’t been cooked. Could I have baked it too long?
I have never made this recipe in the oven – just a dehydrator, so I’m afraid I’m not much help. I could definitely see where the rice would turn crunchy if using too high a temperature or baking too long, which is why I tested the recipe in a dehydrator. If you try it in the oven again, I would definitely recommend turning the temperature down.
Try adding the cooked rice in for the last hour instead of at the beginning? Just a thought!
I love Quaker Oat Squares and I miss cereal. Can’t wait to try this!
Genius! Can’t wait to try!
This sounds wonderful! I love granola, and this is a healthy choice!! Hooray! Many blessings to you, Briana
This is brilliant. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks for always thinking outside the box love your recipes
I plan to try this in the oven. Also, what recipes have you had success with using the baking blend that you put together. You said cakes and muffins… cookies?
I think you may have me confused with someone else. I haven’t put a baking blend together, although I do have a few recipes that use the new THM Baking Blend (you can search for my 5 ingredient white cake and powdered sugar mini donuts).
Thanks. I must have. Really like your recipes that I have tried and enjoy your posts.
I am so trying this. Thank you so much Briana for all that you do! There hasn’t been one recipe of yours that I haven’t liked. You are also a great encouragement to me ( I also am done with school, waiting on prince charming and trying to glorify God with my time) Keep up the good work!
Haha, thank you for the kind words of encouragement. 🙂
This looks fantastic! Like you, I miss granola made the non-THM way. 🙁 Thank you for coming up with this. I, too, love the Quaker Oat Squares…….can’t wait to try this! 🙂