This stovetop granola is an easy and quick recipe that requires only few ingredients. The best part of this Easy Homemade Granola is you don't need oven to prepare it.

What is Granola?

Granola is a type of breakfast cereal which contains grains, nuts, seeds and dried fruits. An easy and quick granola recipe made on stovetop is handy for your busy and lazy days.

When you get up late in the morning and totally puzzled what to have for breakfast, at that moment of time, the box of granola kept on your kitchen counter top saves your day.

Granola has become morning companion in almost every household especially if you are a working professional (who works in the morning shift! most of us) or if you are mother of a school going kid or if you stay in a hostel!

While talking about hostel I remember my hostel days in Kolkata and Chennai. In Chennai we had food service along with boarding so never worried about food. But in Kolkata it was a private paying guest which provided only accommodation and we had our kitchen. We used to really busy with our study, college and tuition so hardly we used to get time make our own meals. We used to order lunch and dinner from a 'dabbawalla', but breakfast was a problem.

Back then breakfast cereals have just entered Indian market and gaining popularity. So that was an easy option for us but there was no variety at that point of time so I was bored with the same thing everyday. Wish muesli or granola would have been there at that point of time.

Only few years ago I came to know about muesli and granola and not only me even my husband (who hates age old breakfast cereals like cornflakes) both liked the taste and it was very handy for our busy days. But many of you may not the difference between granola and muesli.

What's the difference between granola and muesli?

Muesli and Granola both are great breakfast options and can be either served with milk or yogurt. Muesli is an uncooked breakfast cereal which contains different types of grains (oats and mostly in the form of flakes like corn flakes, wheat flakes, rice flakes etc), nuts, seeds and dried fruits.

On the other hand, granola is a cooked (baked) cereal which consists of grains, nuts, seeds, dried fruits with added sweeteners and oils for binding them together. As granola has binding agents, here oats stick together in clusters whereas muesli is a loose type of mixture.

How to use granola?

This is a common question people often ask that how to eat granola or how do I use granola. Here I am sharing various ways to eat granola:

1. Breakfast: Granola is a great breakfast option. You can add yogurt or milk to it and top it with fresh fruits like banana, apple, kiwi, etc and have it for breakfast which is the most popular way to eat granola.

2. Granola Bars: Have you heard of granola bars? These are really great to have as snacks. It gives instant energy and perfect for kids when they come home after playing.

3. Smoothies: If you love smoothies, you can top your smoothies with a fistful of granola and this will make your smoothies more tasty and filling.

4. Salads: You can also add granola to your salad bowls and it will give you an extra crunch!

5. Desserts: Summers are for popsicles! Isn't it? You can add granola to your popsicles too. Apart from that, you can add it your breakfast muffins or to your truffles or add an extra layer in your parfait! Basically, granola is pretty flexible! You can add granola to anything and everything and enjoy your meal. If you do not like any of the options, you can simply munch them (the way I do it sometimes).

What are the ingredients you need to prepare stovetop granola at home?

As I mentioned earlier, the granola contains grains, varieties of nuts, seeds, dried fruits, sweetener, and oil or butter. Predominantly, oats is used in granola and sometimes wheat flakes, barley flakes, cornflakes, etc are also used as grains.

You can use any nuts or mixed nuts of your choice. People normally use almonds, walnuts, pecans, etc in their granola.

There are varieties of dry fruits including golden & black raisins, berries (blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, etc), dried kiwi, etc or any dried fruits of your choice can be added to granola.

Similarly, different types of seeds including pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, melon seeds, etc can be part of your granola.

Any sweetener especially honey and maple syrup is used in granola.

Butter or oil is also used while cooking granola.

Apart from the above ingredients many add certain fun ingredients including chocochips, M&M etc to make their granola more interesting. Many add sea salt or spice like cinnamon to add a different taste to their granola.

Why should you prepare granola at home?

You might say granola is readily available in any supermarket or departmental store so why should I prepare Granola at home. My answer to this question is the homemade tastes the best! Also, you can customize the ingredients as per your choice which will not be possible for the store-bought granola. You can also adjust the sweetener when you are making at your own kitchen. Do you agree with me now?

Granola in a black non-stick pan along with spatula

What is special in Stovetop Granola Recipe?

Most of the granola recipes available in the internet calls for baking. However, many of the Indian household does not have oven till date as Indian recipes mostly done on stovetop. So they should not deprived from the taste of homemade granola.

Now let's learn how to make granola without oven. I'm going to share the simplest skillet granola recipe on the stovetop that you can make at home without using an oven.

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