Savory Granola

Granola, my favorite snack. If you know me well or have ever read this blog you know this about me. I've posted a handful of granola recipes over the years, but this one takes the cake.

Kathleen is the one who really got me on the homemade granola bandwagon and it's her recipe that helped me finally perfect it. Last spring or so, one of our friends said she had used Kathleen's recipe to make savory granola. Baaaack up, savory granola? Yes, please, and thank you.

You take a lot of the same components, but add fun things like Worcestershire sauce and chili powder. This savory recipe really taps into the snacking part of granola. Skeptical? Let me give you some uses.

Currently between the handfuls going straight to my mouth, I'm topping creamy butternut squash soup (coming next week) with this mix. It's great sprinkled in plain or honey yogurt. I think it could be an amazing addition to a salad or even subbed in for the cornbread croutons in my Fall Panzanella Salad. But simply, I love packing a snack bag to take to work.

Savory Granola

Ingredients:
2½ cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
½ cup pecans, roughly chopped
½ cup almonds, roughly chopped

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Line a roasting sheet with parchment paper (for easy clean up), and set aside.

In a large bowl combine all ingredients stirring well until everything is evenly coated. Spread out on your rimmed roasting sheet. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Stir after the first 20 minutes. Bake for 15 more minutes, check on it to see if it needs to go longer, being careful not to burn it. The mixture may still seem a bit wet and soft, but once you let it sit it will harden up. Let cool then break into chunks. Store in an airtight container or mason jar.

A few months ago I picked up these wasabi sesame seeds from the local Asian market. I love spicy and I love wasabi. I've been using them as a topping on salads or sprinkled over fried rice. I tossed some in my jar of granola and love the little kick it gave the granola.