High Protein Granola with Sourdough

Ditch the store-bought stuff and make your own healthy, high-protein granola right at home. This recipe is a game-changer, using sourdough discard to create incredibly crispy, low-sugar clusters while adding a subtle tang that perfectly balances the sweetness. Plus, it’s a fantastic way to use up all those leftover nuts and seeds from your pantry, resulting in a delicious and customizable snack that’s way healthier and cheaper than anything you’ll find on a shelf. Get ready for a breakfast that’s as good for you as it tastes.

 

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• Why You’ll Love This
• The Ingredients
• Substitutions
• Equipment Used
• How to Make this
• How To Store
• FAQ
• Other Recipes You Might Enjoy

Why You’ll Love This 

TL;DR

• Protein-Packed: With almost 8g of protein per serving, this isn’t your average sugary granola. It’s a healthy, protein-rich option for breakfast and snacks.
• Crispy & Crunchy: Sourdough discard and coconut oil create the perfect, crispy clusters without all the sugar.
• Use Up Leftovers: A fantastic way to finally use up all those random nuts, seeds, and dried fruits from your pantry.
• Quick & Easy: This recipe is incredibly simple to make, giving you fresh, customized granola in no time.

High Protein Granola

The idea for this granola was inspired by Ieva from “Somebody Feed Seb” and her Sourdough Granola. I saw it and knew I had to make a protein version of it!

Granola is often more known for its high sugar content rather than protein, but this version has surprisingly low sugar and instead high protein. Nearly 8g per ¼ cup portion to be exact, thanks to the added protein powder and protein-rich nut and seed mix. That makes it a nutritionally sound choice for a healthy breakfast, snacks or as topping for, say a yoghurt bowl or as base for my Protein Banoffee Yoghurt, supercharging its protein content.

The protein powder also adds almost all the sweetness you need, as it already has sweetener added, usually in form of xylitol or similar low calorie ones.

Sourdough Discard Replaces Honey

While I love the fact that I can use up my sourdough discard in this recipe, it also fulfils an important role in this easy protein granola: It replaces the Honey as “glue” for the clusters of oats and other mix-ins, while baking into a super crispy, crunchy coating. A small amount of maple syrup ensures a naturally sweet flavor and nice caramelization.
The change also means this granola is vegan.

The Secret to Extra Crispy Clusters

The combo of sourdough discard and coconut oil add an incredible crispness and easy cluster formation to the baked oats and seeds, plus of course the hint of coconut flavor shining through, mixing nicely with the shredded coconut I added.

Fantastic Use For Store Cupboard Odds and Ends

I’m sure you know the feeling: You buy all sorts of nuts, seeds and dried fruits, but somehow there is always a little bit left in the bag after using it for the intended recipe. Adding up to lots of small leftovers flying around, causing chaos in your store cupboards.

Homemade granola is a fabulous way to use them up! You can use any combination of them you enjoy, as long as they add up to about 2 cups of add ins and maybe, if you like, 1 cup of dried fruits added later. I love raisins, but chopped dates are incredible, so are cranberries, cherries, blueberries, banana chips or go fully indulgent with chocolate chips!

Super Quick To Make

If you never made granola at home, I urge you to give this one a try! This healthy breakfast comes together super quickly. Just one bowl to briefly mix all the dry stuff, then whisk together the wet, combine, bake and you have the freshest granola customized exactly the way you want it! Much cheaper and healthier than buying and great for any sourdough beginner (or pro), to use up discard.

Ingredient Notes

As usual the full list is in the recipe card. I’m just mentioning a few key ingredients here or those that need notes.

• Oats – Make sure to use rolled oats here, as porridge or quick cook oats don’t give you that hearty granola consistency you are after. And steel cut would be too hard to chew.
• Protein Powder – I used vegan upcycled barley protein with caramel flavor. It adds a rather addictive malty note, which, in my malted granola clusters came from malt syrup. The protein powder gives you the same effect with far less calories and…well…more protein.
• In theory you could even double the protein powder, but I found if I add more, it absorbs too much liquid or doesn’t stick very well. Plus, in the overall calculation, it only added 1g more protein per portion.
  But homemade granola is really more of a creative process than a fixed formula, so feel free to try it out.
• Seeds and Nuts – My favorite mix here is buttery and bright green pistachios, pumpkin seeds, hemp hearts, nutty sesame and a bit of shredded coconut. The first 3 are particularly high in protein and I just love the flavor of all of them. Use whatever you enjoy and have.
• Sourdough Discard – You can use an active starter or one you fed within the last 3 days or so. Anything older than that, and I would advise to add a little more maple syrup to balance the tang. The fresher (more recently fed) it is the milder the flavor.
• Coconut Oil – This helps the granola to crisp up in the oven and supports the overall flavor. You also need enough liquid ingredients to coat all the dry ones, and the oil is part of the mix.
• Maple syrup – Forms the liquid base together with the sourdough discard and coconut oil and helps with caramelising.
• Dried fruit – While I used a mix of raisins and cranberries (I ran out of raisins! Unbelievable!), you can use whatever you enjoy or just leave them out altogether. Apparently there are raisin haters out there. (Who are you? And why do you hate them so much?)
• Vanilla extract and salt – Both add and enhance the flavor. Not absolutely necessary, but I feel they improve the granola.

substitutions

• Protein Powder – Any protein powder with a sweet flavor that goes well with milk works here. They all have a certain stickiness to them which helps hold it all together. Personally I always opt for either whey or said barley. But use what you have and enjoy.
• Gluten Free – To make this into a gluten free granola, make sure to use certified GF oats.
• Oats – You can use any grain flakes you like. I made this with spelt flakes before and loved it. Or a mix of them. If you often bake whole grain breads, you might even have malted wheat flakes at home. They are delicious in granola!
• To make this even higher in protein, you could replace half of the oats with puffed quinoa or amaranth.
• Nuts and seeds – As mentioned above, you can use anything you enjoy. Cashews would be lovely, as would almonds or peanuts.
• Nut Free Granola – If you have a nut allergy, replace all of the nuts with seeds.
• Coconut Oil – Talking about nut allergy: Olive oil works well here. Or grapeseed oil for an unflavored version. You could use nut butter too, but I found the granola can end up a bit softer with it and it’s much harder to coat with, say peanut butter compared to oil.
• Maple syrup – If you are not a vegan you could use honey instead. But take extra care when baking, as it burns quicker. You might also need to microwave it for a few seconds, to get it liquid enough to mix well.
• Cinnamon – I use cinnamon in most of my sweet dishes and adore it in granola. If you don’t, you could either leave it out or maybe add a little cardamom or allspice instead. Use less than cinnamon though, as both are fairly strong in flavor and can be overpowering.
• Dried fruit – You can just leave them out or use chopped dates, apricots, banana chips, cherries, blueberries or even chopped figs. Just make sure to add all of them after baking as they would burn otherwise.

Equipment Used

• Large bowl – To mix all your dry ingredients with the wet
• Jug or smaller bowl – To mix the wet ingredients
• Whisk – Easiest for mixing the wet
• Sheet Pan – For baking your granola
• Spatula or frying spatula – For turning the granola halfway through baking
• 1-2 Large jars with lid – I used two 1 litre Kilner jars.

Glass bowl

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whisk

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sheet pan

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Kilner jars

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How to Make this

And we are back to the easiest part.

Preparation

• Preheat your oven to 320F/160C.
• Line a sheet pan with baking parchment for easier cleanup and transferring the protein granola into the jars later.
• Melt your coconut oil for a few seconds in the microwave and allow to cool.

Mix The Dry Ingredients

• Chop whatever nuts you are using into slightly smaller pieces that add pleasant crunch to the granola.
• In your large bowl (make sure it has plenty of room) mix all your dry ingredients except the cinnamon and salt together, including the protein powder.
• I tried once to mix the protein with the wet, to dissolve it, but had to learn quickly that all it does is creating a super sticky mass and soaking up all the liquid, with no chance to then coat the rest. Mixing it into the dry ingredients however works marvellously.

Whisk The Wet

• In your jug combine sourdough discard or starter, melted and cooled coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract salt and cinnamon. Whisk well until smooth.

Combine The Wet With The Dry

• Pour your wet ingredients evenly over your dry mix. Using either a wooden spoon or your hands, mix everything until the dry ingredients are evenly coated by the wet and start to form clusters. At first it might look like there isn’t enough liquid. Trust the process and keep stirring.
• If despite lots of stirring you can’t get everything quite damp enough, add a little bit of maple syrup or coconut oil or a mix of the two and stir again. It depends a little on the water content and freshness of your sourdough starter. Mine is 1:1 water and flour and 2 days old.

Bake your High Protein Granola with Sourdough

• Transfer your granola mix onto the parchment lined sheet pan and pat it out into an even layer.
• Bake for about 10 minutes in the middle rack. Take it out of the oven for turning.
• Now you can decide if you’d rather have large or small clusters. For large ones, carefully flip large sections of the mix with a spatula, making sure to move the corner pieces towards the middle and the middle to the corners, as they tend to brown quicker.

• For smaller chunks simply stir the whole thing until it looks evenly mixed.
• Put back into the oven and bake for another 8-12 minutes or until golden brown.
• Take it out and allow to cool. This will help it crisp up.

• Break your protein Granola into pieces and store in airtight jars for up to 2 weeks.
• Enjoy with milk, on a yoghurt bowl, sprinkled over ice cream or just as snack straight from the jar. Be happy that you found a granola that is as good for you as it tastes.

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How To Store

High Protein Granola with Sourdough keeps in an airtight jar on the counter for about 2 weeks. It’ll still be ok after that but might lose some of its crispness.

You can freeze it for up to 6 months, though I would advise to briefly bake it to crisp it up when taking out of the freezer, as it may soften a bit.

FAQ

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?

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