This easy double Dark Chocolate Granola is so fitting with my life philosophy of: tastes like dessert but we can eat it for breakfast.
It’s toasty, chocolatey, coconutty, and just plain yummy. I made this for the fam who have been hounding me to make granola for their breakfast yogurt bowls and I accidnrally ended up eating most of it myself… by the handful like some kind of crazed snacking fiend. Sorry fam.
It’s insanely good and also: two bowls + parchment lined sheet = almost no clean up. Win.
Scroll past the recipe if you’re looking for tips, substitutions, questions, etc. and details on how to make this recipe, but if you want to get straight to it, here’s my recipe-ish…
Dark Chocolate Granola
Ingredients
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 2 cups large flake coconut
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 egg whites
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the oats, coconut, cocoa powder, coconut sugar and sea salt. Mix well.
- In a small bowl combine the melted coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla. Whisk well.
- Add the oil mixture to the oat mixture and mix until evenly combined.
- Add the egg whites to the mixture and stir thoroughly.
- Spread the granola in an even layer on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring halfway through, until lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and let cool.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
Notes
my pro tips for making the best dark chocolate granola
Be patient and let it cool – don’t be impatient and dump in the chocolate chips while the granola is still hot. We want big bites of dark chocolate when we eat this granola and if you add them in too soon they will melt.
BUT if they do melt – because we are impatient and that’s just the facts… you will have just created super clumpy chocolate granola clusters and that is not something to be mad about.
In fact – you can try adding even more chocolate chips, letting them melt and spreading the whole mix out to make a chocolate granola bark! Just thinking out loud here friends.
Use the salt – unless you have a dietary reason to skip the salt, do not skimp on it. This is one of the things that makes granola so good. I actually use even more than is asked for but I tend to use salt a little recklessly.
recipe substitutions and variations
Swap honey for maple syrup to make it extra sticky.
Swap brown sugar for coconut sugar if you need to.
Fruity version – add in 1/2 cup chopped dried cherries to make a chocolate-cherry version.
Nutty version – this granola doesn’t have any nuts, but you can add in 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans of slivered almonds.
Seedy version – add in 1 Tbsp chia seeds, 1 Tbsp hemp seeds and 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds.
what to do with leftover dark chocolate granola
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Freeze in sealed freezer bag for several months. Freezes well! Be sure to cool before freezing.
what to serve with it…
My favourite way to eat this is little kid style in a big bowl with cold milk and a spoon to take me back to my cocoa pebble eating, cartoon watching days.
It also makes an amazing topping for a breakfast yogurt bowl, especially with the addition of fresh cherries or sliced bananas and a few extra melted chocolate chips drizzled on top.
Make it into a true dessert by sprinkling it over vanilla or chocolate ice cream.
When all else fails just eat it straight up by the handful.
questions?
Can you use quick oats instead of rolled oats? you can…. but the texture will be much, much different.
Can you skip the coconut? I know that coconut can be polarizing. I don’t personally get it, but I understand. You can leave it out if you must, just add extra oats, quinoa flakes or chopped nuts.
How do you keep the chocolate from melting? just make sure the granola if completely cooled before adding them in.
If you like this easy double Dark Chocolate Granola Recipe let me know what you think in the comments below and please find and follow me on Social Media! And if you like it I think you’ll also like my: Cherry Chip Blended Chia Pudding Parfaits, Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread, Banana Bread with Pecans and Brown Butter and Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Muffins. Give them a try!
