In this tropical granola, we use a simple Sugar-free granola base.  This recipe is versatile – simply add the fruit and nuts of your choice.  It’s sweetened with apple sauce and cinnamon.  Our family has been enjoying it with Hawaiian inspired add-ins during our winter holiday vacation, making it with our own tropical granola twist.

How to Make Tropical Granola

• use island-inspired ingredients such as macadamia nuts and coconut
• use coconut oil and apple sauce to help bind the oats and create yummy clusters
• add dried tropical fruit – pineapple and papaya are delicious in this mix (optional)

As mentioned, use the base of this recipe and customize the granola to your liking, tropical or simple.  Once you have combined the dry ingredients (the oats and spices) with the wet ingredients (the dissolved coconut oil and apple sauce) and have mixed it until oats are coated, spread evenly on a baking sheet or tray.

How to Sweeten Granola without Sugar

• use unsweetened apple sauce – check the ingredients list that it does not contain any added sugar or fruit juice
• use cinnamon – creates a naturally sweeter taste
• use dried fruit – coconut, pineapple, papaya (optional)

Making granola at home is fun.  The smell will draw friends and family to munch and crunch on the nutty oat creation.  It is baked in rounds.  Bake and gradually add in dried fruit, coconut, nuts and seeds – anything goes!  In our keto Hawaiian granola, we use macadamia nuts, almonds, coconut, cinnamon, and ginger.

The tropical twist in this recipe post was inspired by our holiday family trip to the Hawaiian island of Kauai.  We have been blessed to visit this gorgeous island many times.  This season, between Christmas and New Year’s we join Bob’s folks, his sister Cici, and Cici’s boyfriend in Kauai.  We enjoy staying in condos and rented homes so that we have the flexibility of cooking vs eating out for every meal.  Vacationing in this way makes healthy choices much easier.  It’s fun cooking as an extended family and having meals together.

My in-laws rented this pretty blue house in Poipu beach where it is always sunny, even in the winter.  The porch is the best place to watch sunsets.

Blue house Poipu Beach Kauai Hawaii with Leyla posing on the cute porch

Bob’s mom is our resident food critic.  She is a brilliant Persian home chef.  We had a big potluck brunch today.  Our Persian Martha Steward Loved this granola, plans to make it back at home, giving it 2 thumbs up!  As far as recipe testers go, she is a strict one and her approval means this one is definitely a keeper.

If you love nutty, healthy-ish granola’s but need something a little sweeter, hop on over and check out the recipe for Home-made Healthnut Granola from a few years back.  In that recipe, we experimented with using coconut sugar and a touch of honey. 

We eat fresh pineapples all day long here.  If you love pineapples as much as we do, you’ll love this easy, Fresh Pineapple Mango Salsa that is nice alone or alongside some grilled salmon.

How about a tropical themed brunch?  We have been blessed to visit this island a handful of times.  With each visit, I am inspired to create a new healthy dish.  Add Not Your Grandmother’s Pineapple Upside Down Cake to the menu – it’s moist, tropical, pretty and delicious.

Aloha and happy Hawaiian holidays from our family to yours –

Please rate this recipe, pin the images to your favorite Pinterest boards, and leave a comment!

Mahalo –

Yield: 12

Tropical Granola

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In this tropical granola, we use a simple Sugar-free granola base.  This recipe is versatile - simply add the fruit and nuts of your choice.  It's sweetened with apple sauce and cinnamon.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups of oats
• 2 cups chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup dried fruit or coconut flakes/shredded coconut
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground dried ginger
• 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/4 cup melted, dissolved coconut oil

Instructions

1. Chop nuts and set them aside
2. Chop dried fruit if needed/ set aside coconut
3. Mix together the dry ingredients - oats and spices in a large bowl
4. Melt coconut oil and allow to cool slightly
5. Stir in apple sauce to dissolved coconut oil
6. Drizzle the apple sauce/oil over the oats and stir until all of the oats are moistened
7. Spread the oats evenly on a lightly spray oiled (or parchment paper-lined) baking sheet
8. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes
9. Push the granola around with a spatula
10. Add chopped nuts, fruit/coconut and return to the oven for 10 more minutes, checking for golden brown oats. Additional rounds of 10 minutes until the desired golden color and crunch (see recipe notes). It normally takes about 45 minutes total time in our home oven.

Notes

Oven temperatures vary. Start with baking the coated oats for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, stir, add add-ins (fruit, nuts, coconut) and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir again. Continue baking at 10-minute intervals until the granola is slightly golden and has some crunch. Typically the total oven bake time is about 45 minutes.

Check the ingredients list on the apple sauce - be sure there is no added sugar or fruit juice.

If using coconut, you may use coconut flakes, unsweetened shredded coconut or coconut chips (baking time may vary according to the type of coconut used - keep an eye on it)

For my Hawaiian vacation granola, I used 1 1/2 cups of chopped macadamia nuts and 1/4 cup of slivered almonds. I could only find coconut chips at the nearby market so I added them after baking at the very end and the results were delish!

This recipe makes about 6 cups of granola. The nutritional calculations are based on 1/2 cup portions.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

12
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 346Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 105mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 6gSugar: 12gProtein: 8g

This recipe makes about 6 cups of baked granola. The serving size is based on 1/2 cup serving size.