This pumpkin spice quinoa granola is both delicious and good for you, and gets you ready for those chilly fall days! Great on top of yogurt, on muffins, or just a quick snack by the handful 🙂

Yes, another pumpkin recipe!

I am sure by now your Pinterest feed is blowing up with a million pumpkin recipes from every blogger under the sun and you are probably starting to get bored of all the pumpkin, but I still have a few pumpkin recipes I’ve gotsta share with you! I promise to do my best to spread them out and throw in some other recipes, including a few apple recipes from our latest picking excursion.

Where I am in the New Jersey suburbs, the temperatures have been resting comfortably within the early to mid 70’s and I can already feel the crisp promises of autumn! I started taking out my huge scarf collection and shopping around for a good pair of boots. And… okay don’t hate me, but I’ve also started looking at things for my little one for Christmas. Eep! Normally, I am one of the people shopping a night or two before Christmas trying to get my hands on whatever’s left, but I am trying to be a good mama and be proactive this year, so I don’t have to stress out about it later. I am thinking… an easel with a black and white board and a dollhouse, plus a helmet and pads for the balance bike I got her two years ago that she only now big enough to use. And as gift for me/her… I will get her passport done and I am due to renew mine.

Oh my gosh, look at me, posting a pumpkin spice granola recipe and talking about Christmas in September… who have I become?

Let’s just get back on topic, shall we?

Ever since learning about making yogurt at home with simple ingredients and equipment, I’ve had tons of yogurt on-stock all the time and loving it! I am the kind of person who loves a big yogurt bowl with tons of add-ins, especially mounds of granola. Lately, I’ve been loving the peanut butter and almond butter granolas I found on Pinterest, but wanted something that was a little more seasonal, and with a different oompf of healthy added in. I found this pumpkin granola on Skinny Taste and it sounded so interesting and I needed to try it! I was so happy that I did because it was pretty much perfect and I did not need to modify it much at all.

I doubled the recipe because the amount of granola the original recipe made was just not enough for my belly! I also used agave instead of maple and sprinkled in just a bit of brown sugar. Not too much as I wanted to keep this healthy, but just enough to give it an extra hint of sweetness. Instead of plain quinoa, I used tricolor quinoa because I need all the fall colors!

That’s it. No other major changes. Gina is a healthy-food-made-uber-delicious genius.

Don’t have time to make this amazing pumpkin granola now? Pin it for later! 

Yield: 1 batch

Healthy Quinoa Pumpkin Spice Granola

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A healthy quinoa pumpkin spice granola that is a perfect topping to your yogurt or as an addition to your muffins. This is a quick, easy recipe you'll love

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Inactive Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 55 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (80 g) uncooked quinoa,rinsed and dried
• 3 cups (285 g) old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup ( 83 g) ground flaxseeds
• 2 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice (<-- click for recipe)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (60 g) pepitas (I did half pepitas and half sunflower seeds)
• 1/4 cup (30 g) chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup (60 g) dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (90 g) agave nectar
• 1/2 cup (115 g) pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Spread the quinoa on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Add the oats, ground flaxseeds, spices, pepitas, peacans, cranberries, and brown sugar to the bowl and toss well to combine. In a separate bowl, mix the agave, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Spread the granola on a baking pan and bake for 15 minutes. Stir once or twice, then bake for another 15 - 20 minutes. The granola should be a very light brown, but not too golden. Open the oven door a crack and let the granola sit for another 1 - 2 hours, then take out to finish cooling.

Notes

The granola tastes its best the next morning after it's had time to fully develop its flavors.