Make Grain Free Granola in your Air Fryer

Now, here is a recipe for the parties, the planes, the movie theater, or the workday. Let’s jump right into the directions and you can read more about this recipe below.

How to Make It

1. Start by mixing the dry ingredients in a bowl (exclude oil, nut butter, and vanilla).

2. Then, in your air fryer basket (remove hot plate), drop in the coconut oil, the nut butter, and vanilla. I have a “Reheat” button on my Ninja Air Fryer. So, I hit "Reheat"to pre-heat the air fryer while melting the ingredients. “Reheat” at 350 degrees for 1 minute - I press pause every 15-20 seconds and stir a little bit. Be careful not to burn the nut butter.

3. Once it’s melted, mix in the dry ingredients in the basket. Blend everything and coat all the ingredients. Replace the basket and set to 10 minutes.

4. Be careful! A burned batch of granola is devastating - nuts ain’t cheap! I check my batch at 5 minutes and shake. Then return for another 3 minutes, pause and shake again. Finish off with 2 more minutes. 10 minutes was perfect in my air fryer, any longer and the batch would’ve been burned. Take a couple test bites as you go to see how soft the almonds are.

5. This 10 minute batch was with whole almonds, rather than slivered. Store in an airtight container or jar.

6. I've had dryer and runnier batches, both are delicious! It depends on your ratios and preferences, this is an easy recipe to play around with.

Variations:

You can use slivered almonds instead. You can also play around with the nut mixture. Once you make a few batches, you’ll see that you can easily substitute or add other ingredients. I like to throw in a handful of chia seeds, raw sunflower seeds (hulled), and/or hemp hearts without measuring exactly.

Once you start adding or substituting, you’ll see how the liquid consistency can change. I’ve had runny and dry batches, I like them both - just something to keep in mind.

The ingredient list includes Ground Flax - make sure you actually use ground flax. I bought flax seeds, thinking I was so great getting all this flax in my diet. But, the seeds move right through your body without imparting nutrition.

After baking and letting the granola cool, I also like to mix in chocolate chips for fun. I use Lily’s baking chips since they’re made with stevia (erythritol).

Yum, Yum:

Now for the background. I have ulcerative colitis and I'm searching for grain free, sugar free recipes. You might also be on the hunt for healthy, guilt-free recipes. Or, maybe you're here for easy air fryer recipes, that's great! I'd just like to take moment for anyone with colitis/IBS issues and say, I understand that nuts and small food particles can be hard on the digestive tract, especially during a flare. This recipe might be better suited to you when you're in remission.

If you are unsure of whether nuts and seeds can be in your diet, I recommend keeping a food journal. A food journal will help you track the side effects of foods you eat.

On the flip side, this is a great recipe for those of us with autoimmune disease, because the ingredients tend to be more nutritious than other grain and dairy products. Plus, it’s also quickly filling!

As long as you can handle the small particles like chia and nuts, this is a great guilt-free/don’t second-guess yourself snack.

Final Note:

The approach I take to my recipes are always with colitis/autoimmune disease in mind. It's very difficult to find sugar free/grain free recipes, so I'm on the hunt to find and share them!

Enjoy your guilt free snack!

Hanna Charles