Chocolate Almond Butter Granola Clusters (Vegan & GF)

Has anyone else made homemade granola before, but it didn’t stick together and form clusters? I definitely have. A lot of vegan granola recipes don’t hold together well at all, which is unfortunate because the clusters are the best part in my opinion! Well today, I have a super easy recipe that will make the biggest granola clusters you’ve ever seen. These Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Granola Clusters are vegan & gluten-free. Totally perfect for grabbing and munching.

What’s great about these granola clusters is they’re pretty healthy and can be made oil-free if you’d like. This granola can be snacked on by itself, eaten with non-dairy milk, or put ontop of some yogurt.

The Ingredients

This granola uses less than 10 ingredients with a few optional add-ins. It’s possible that all the ingredients are already in your pantry too! The ingredients are:

Oats

Almond Butter

Cocoa Powder

Brown Rice Syrup & Maple Syrup

Slivered Almonds

Vanilla

Cinnamon

Coconut Oil

What’s great about this granola vs other recipes is that it actually holds together! The main ingredients in non-vegan granola that help form clusters are honey and some type of fat like butter.

Instead of honey, this recipe calls for brown rice syrup. Brown rice syrup is much stickier than maple syrup or agave syrup. I don’t recommend only using maple syrup, as the granola pieces may fall apart easily.

Another key ingredient that helps this granola hold together is almond butter. You can use any brand, but I really like Justin’s Almond Butter. It’s made with only 2 ingredients and tastes absolutely delicious. In this recipe, you’ll want to melt your almond butter if it’s not already on the runny side. I do this by popping it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time on high.

Substitutions

Coconut Oil: If you’d like to omit the added oil from this recipe, I recommend subbing in the same amount of almond butter. So in this case, add in another 1 tablespoon of almond butter.

Brown Rice Syrup: I don’t recommend omitting this ingredient. If you don’t have this, you could try substituting in corn syrup (although it is less healthy). I don’t recommend substituting the same amount of maple syrup, as it is not as sticky.

Almond Butter: You could definitely substitute any other nut butter here. Peanut butter or cashew butter would still make clusters, although the flavor of the granola will change.

Super easy, vegan, and gluten-free with an oil-free option, these dark chocolate almond butter granola clusters are perfect for healthy snacking! They’re crunchy and grabbable with just the right amount of sweetness. You can store this granola in an airtight container for about a month.

If you’re on the hunt for more easy vegan breakfast recipes, check out these:

Cranberry Orange Waffles

Fluffy Maple Pecan Pumpkin Pancakes

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