I love getting weird with granola and this spiced sweet potato granola was a worthy experiment. We blend up cooked sweet potato with super tropical coconut oil, vanilla, spices, and maple syrup, and then toss that deep orange goodness with toasted oats and pecans. This granola is so grounding and cozy! It isn’t too sweet, so I’d say it’s fit for snacking on all day. It’s also perfect with my homemade nut milk.
More granola inspiration:
- Grain-Free Chocolate Sea Salt Granola
- Tahini Granola with Orange and Cacao Nibs
- Mega Clump Granola from my cookbook
- Ginger Molasses Granola with Dark Chocolate
I’ve mostly been enjoying this with a big dollop of the new vanilla-flavoured Anita’s coconut milk yogurt and a chopped up pear. We’re still getting some warm days here, so this breakfast has been the perfect marriage of cool and satisfyingly hearty/cozy.
We had a busy Thanksgiving weekend here. Lots of family time and we got to host our friends as well. I cleaned up the last bit of our garden. Mark came down with a brutal cold on the Monday, so I basically spent any remaining downtime de-germing everything in our house and looking after him. And now we’re back in the flow of the work week! I love seeing our family and friends, but it can be somewhat draining if you have elevated sensitivity. Mark is feeling a bit better and we’re hoping that next weekend is a bit more chill.
I hope that everyone has been enjoying autumn so far. It’s been a particularly stunning one over here. I’m taking in as much as I can before our big trip to Disney World in a couple weeks. Just typing that got me so excited! Have a good one :)
Spiced Sweet Potato Granola with Pecans
Ingredients
- 4 cups rolled oats
- ⅔ cup mashed cooked sweet potato flesh (from approximately 1 small sweet potato)
- ½ cup coconut oil, at room temperature and slightly soft
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- pinch each of ground nutmeg and cloves
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup pecan halves, roughly chopped
Equipment
Notes
- If you have some leftover canned pumpkin laying around, it subs in for sweet potato perfectly.
- 1 ½ teaspoons of a premixed pumpkin or apple pie spice can replace the individual spices.
- Like most granolas, it will seem undercooked and soft when you take it out of the oven. The granola crisps and firms up as it cools!
- How I roast sweet potatoes: Line a baking sheet with foil, prick a few holes in your scrubbed sweet potatoes, place them on the baking sheet and roast at 425 degrees F for 45-50 minutes, or until tender
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the rolled oats on the baking sheet and spread them out to the edges. Toast the oats in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until fragrant. Remove the oats and allow them to cool slightly.
- In an upright blender or food processor, combine the cooked sweet potato, coconut oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and vanilla. Blend the mixture on high until completely unified and creamy.
- Transfer the toasted oats to a medium mixing bowl. Add the pecans and the blended sweet potato mixture. Using a spatula, firmly stir until all of the oats and pecans are evenly coated in the sweet potato mixture. It will be a slightly stiff mixture when it’s all done.
- Spread the granola out on the same parchment-lined baking sheet from before. Once you have an even layer that goes to all of the edges, press it down with your spatula. Transfer the granola to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, flipping and stirring the granola at the halfway point. The finished granola should be deep golden brown.
- Let the granola cool thoroughly, about an hour, before storing in a sealable jar. Granola keeps for about 3-4 weeks at room temperature.
My family love love loves this recipe! We switch out the pecans for pepitas so it can go in nut free school lunches and my 5 and 7 year old gobble it up. And anytime my husband walks by the container on the counter he grabs a handful. Thanks!
I’ve made this multiple times. Great, reliable granola recipe and I love using leftover squash mash!
Loved this recipe – thank you!! I toasted the oats/baked the granola on a Silpat baking mat. The only thing I added was 2 TB ground flax seed.
I love everything made with sweet potatoes! Yesterday I tried this recipe and it turned out perfect! Now it’s my new favorite! Thank you for the share!
I’ve done something similar with banana, applesauce, and rhubarb puree in granola, but love the idea of using sweet potato or pumpkin! Yum!!
Oh my godness! Thats devine. I cant wait to try this. We a lot of granola and my husband is a fan of cacao granola, which I bake almost every 1-2 weeks. This sunday I‘ll make the sweet potato one. By the way, I use baked and smashed sweet potato for my smoothies instead of banana. Banane is too intrusive for me and the sweet potato smash makes the smoothie smooth, slightly sweet and nurishing.
I love the subtle sweetness of this recipe. Thanks Laura!
So looking forward to this but I’m not so keen on the added oil. Could I half that or replace it entirely with a nut or seed butter? I like the idea of tahini but I’d imagine it might be a bit too bitter.
Hi Anthony,
I have not tried this recipe without oil, so cannot guarantee any results beyond what I’ve presented here. IF I were to attempt this oil-free, I’d increase the maple syrup to 1/2 a cup and replace the coconut oil with 1/2 cup of nut or seed butter (one that is well-stirred and quite drippy). I think tahini would be fine as long as you’re using a good quality brand.
-L
Ah, this looks absolutely divine! There is this maple sweet potato granola from Sprouts Farmers Market that I truly love, but this looks even better because of how toasted everything is! How could you not eat this by the handful?!
super cozy!!! I’m going to bake up a batch this weekend with leftover pumpkin=)
Do you have nutritional info on this recipe please?
Hi Becky,
Food is about pleasure and enjoyment for me, so I do not include calorie counts/nutrition panels on any of my recipes. There are a lot of free nutrition calculators available via mobile phone apps and websites for your personal use! :)
-L