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Big Cluster Sweet Potato Granola

Roasted sweet potato puree binds oats, pecans, and pepitas into a slab that breaks into big crunchy clusters. Warmly spiced with maple, cinnamon, and ginger.
Keyword big cluster sweet potato granola
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes
Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

For the Granola

  • 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 cup pecan halves roughly chopped
  • ½ cup raw pepitas
  • ½ cup roasted sweet potato puree smooth and cooled
  • ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
  • ¼ cup coconut oil melted
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar packed
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Add After Baking

  • ½ cup dried cranberries stirred in once completely cool

Instructions

Roast the Sweet Potato

  • Prick a medium sweet potato and roast at 400F for 45 to 55 minutes, until a knife slides in with no resistance. Cool.
  • Scoop the flesh and mash it completely smooth. Measure out ½ cup.

Mix and Press

  • Heat the oven to 300F and line a large rimmed sheet pan with parchment.
  • Whisk the sweet potato puree with the maple syrup, melted coconut oil, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt until glossy and completely uniform.
  • Fold in the oats, pecans, and pepitas until every oat is coated and no dry patches remain.
  • Tip the mixture onto the sheet pan, spread it into an even layer about ½ inch thick, and press down hard with a spatula or your palms.

Bake and Cool

  • Bake for 40 minutes, rotating the pan front to back at the halfway point. Do not stir.
  • Cool the pan completely and undisturbed for at least 1 hour. The granola crisps as it cools.
  • Lift out the parchment and break the slab into clusters with your hands.
  • Stir in the dried cranberries and store in an airtight jar.

Notes

  • Press it flat: a compacted slab is what bakes into big clusters. Loosely spread granola bakes loose.
  • Never stir during the bake: rotate the pan instead. Stirring breaks the clusters before they set.
  • Cool completely: granola is soft out of the oven and crisps as it cools. Wait the full hour before judging or touching it.
  • Rolled oats only: quick oats turn to powder in a wet mixture.
  • Dried fruit goes in at the end: in the oven it turns hard.
  • Jar it cold: any warmth trapped under the lid condenses and softens the clusters.