Healthy sugar-free homemade berry granola
A wholesome and healthy homemade granola that is crunchy and delicious!
10 mins
15 mins
172 kcals
MAKES 5 PORTIONS
HEALTHY SUGAR-FREE HOMEMADE BERRY GRANOLA
About a year ago, I started experimenting with homemade granola- I couldn’t find anything in the shops that was healthy enough- it’s amazing how much sugar most granolas contain. I also wanted to create a granola that could be used as my Healthy Extra B for Slimming World. I discovered a brilliant way of creating a lovely, crunchy granola that had no need for sugars and syrups- by whipping up egg whites, and using them to bind your granola ingredients together, once baked you have a lovely crunchy granola that breaks up easily and is super-healthy!
I never got around to publishing my recipe, as I didn’t quite get my flavours perfected, so when Lio-Licious got in touch, asking if I’d like to create a recipe using some of their freeze dried ingredients, I knew exactly what they would be perfect for!
Lio-Licious specialise in freeze-dried ingredients, from all sorts of fruits (blackberries, blackcurrants, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries) to even cheese, and olives! For me the real appeal of freeze-dried ingredients is that I can have them in the cupboard ready to use at any point- I’m a very last-minute cook and tend to just make things up depending what I have in the cupboard, and when ingredients like berries only last a couple of days they tend to get eaten by my 8 year old before ending up in a recipe!
Freeze-drying is such a gentle and slow process, that it retains the nutrition of the food, along with the flavour (in fact with the berries I used the flavour is more intense), and it uses no additives or preservatives in order to give the food a fantastic shelf-life!
These freeze-dried ingredients are perfect for granola- they add tons of lovely flavour, with no nasties at all. I made 2 varieties, a blackcurrant and blueberry granola, and a red berry granola (cherry strawberry and raspberry).
I used ingredients that are a healthy extra B on Slimming World (oats, flaked almonds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds) along with uncooked quinoa which is a fantastic addition as not only is it a free food on Slimming World, it adds a fantastic crunch to granola, and is full of filling protein and nutrients. the amounts have been worked out so that a 40g serving of this granola works as a daily Healthy Extra B.
Disclosure: This post was written in collaboration with Lio-Licious, all opinions are my own, honest and truthful. All images and recipe content are my own
Healthy sugar-free homemade berry granola
Ingredients
- 80 g porridge oats
- 20 g 2 tbsp flaked almonds
- 10 g 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 10 g 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 40 g quinoa uncooked
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 3 tbsp LioLicious freeze-dried Red Berry blend cherry, strawberry and raspberry
- 2 tbsp granulated sweetener
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 egg whites
- low-calorie cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C
- Weigh out and mix together the oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, sweetener and salt.
- Stir together and then add in 2 tbsp of the freeze-dried Red Berry blend
- Once the whites of your eggs are separated, with no yolk in, use a whisk to whip into a stiff, white consistency- this takes under 2 minutes, even by hand
- Fold the granola mix into the egg white gently, mixing everything together. Don’t over-stir or do it too vigorously as you want to maintain the fluffiness of the egg.
- Line a baking tray with baking paper, spray with low calorie cooking spray, and spoon the mixture onto the tray. Spread it out over the bottom of the tray, flattening with a wooden spoon until it is thinly spread, and covers the bottom of the tray.
- Spray the top of the mix with low calorie cooking spray, and then bake for 15 minutes until crispy and golden brown on top.
- Allow to cool slightly, and the break up and crumble with your hands into granola. Add in the extra tbsp of freeze-dried berries to add more colour and texture. Store in a sealed jar or tupperware container.
