14 Granola Brands Taste-Tested Head-to-Head
Here at Serious Eats headquarters, the idea of a grand granola tasting was met with negligible enthusiasm (unlike talk of comprehensive chocolate chip cookie and ice cream roundups). As a lonely and genuine lover of granola, I appointed myself granola headmistress.
I've always wondered why granola received health-food status. I know it's theoretically made of crunchy, healthy goodness: nuts, seeds, and whole grains. But I also know that it's fat-, calorie-, and sugar-laden, and should probably be eaten in moderation.
The Life and Times of Granola
It turns out that granola has a health-food genealogy. It was conceived by James Jackson, prodigy of Sylvester Graham. Graham, father of the graham cracker, was a nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister who advocated restraining from meat, alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, and white bread. Sounds like a fun guy.
It was Jackson's revelation to form graham flour into sheets, bake it until dry, break it into pieces, bake it again, and crumble it up into still smaller bits. He termed his invention "granula." John Harvey Kellogg, of cereal fame, baked and ground up whole grains and called his creation "granula," too. When Jackson sued, Kellogg changed the name to "granola."
Catchy names didn't make much of a difference. Granola was not particularly popular until the 1960s, when hippies rediscovered and revived the cereal. They added fruits and nuts, hereafter causing granola to be equated with bohemia.
By the 1970s, big national cereal companies were making the stuff. Thanks in part to Bear Naked, granola is now in the midst of a second renaissance. Proof is in the dizzying array of granola available at the grocery store.
Our Mission
For me, granola is a treat, and I want it to taste that way. My platonic-ideal granola is only a touch sweet, quite crunchy, full of big clusters, and bursting with nuts, fruits and seeds. I like the toasty flavors and the golden hue that come from plenty of time in the oven.
We set out to investigate the grocery store granola offerings. Although we have big stomachs and big ambitions, trying every flavor from every brand proved impossible. Instead, we selected fairly standard flavors of 14 fairly standard brands to compare (thus skipping some of the more offbeat offerings, like those infused with chocolate.)
We conducted a blind tasting in which we thoughtfully munched away, rating each granola's sweetness, flavor, clusteriness and crunch. We also examined the goodies lurking in our granola—from the standard raisins, to dried apples and glazed walnuts.
Although I couldn't find granola perfection on the grocery store shelves (I achieved it in my kitchen), we did find six brands that warranted granola seals of approval. These were our top six:
(We purchased our granola in New York City; prices may vary.)
Granola Grand Champion
Familia Swiss Müesli Granola
Everything a granola should be: clustery, crunchy, not too sweet, and sufficiently nutty and full of raisins. We all like the way the big morsels taste: citrusy and peanut buttery, maybe because of the sunflower oil.
Half a cup has 226 calories and 10 grams of fat. $4.99 for 12 ounces. bio-familia.com
Runners Up
Bear Naked Native Maple Hemp Walnut Granola
The anthropology major in me is vaguely offended. The natives shelling out their money for high-end granola are imaginary, but they have good taste. I love the granola's sugary, cinnamon-glazed walnuts, and would plumb the bag to snatch them out like the lucky charms. The granola is quite sweet and dessert-like—we taste butter and brown sugar. (Turns out the Native Granola flavor is no longer made or sold! The very friendly Bear Naked man I talked to on the phone suggested their Peak Protein Granola as a substitute.)
Half a cup has 280 calories and 12 grams of fat. $5.49 for 12 ounces. bearnaked.com
365 Organic Fruit & Nut Granola
This was one of my favorites. No surprise that it so much more caloric and fatty than the rest—it tasted rich to me, and others picked up on a buttery taste. This boasts the most generous amount of goodies: it's full of cranberries, raisins, almonds, pecans, and coconut. The color is pale, though, and it tastes a bit undercooked. If you're shopping at Whole Foods it's a good bang for the buck—$3.99 for a 17 ounce box.
Half a cup has 240 calories and 11 grams of fat. $3.99 for 17 ounces. wholefoodsmarket.com
Kellogg's Low Fat Granola with Raisins
Many recognized this as the standard granola of their childhood. It gets pretty high scores across the board: nice crunch, just raisiny enough, aesthetically pleasing. Most of the granola we tried are true to their health food roots, but this one's ingredients include sugar, corn syrup, modified corn starch, palm oil, high fructose corn syrup, and a bunch of stuff I can't pronounce. Yet it is unarguably pleasant—it has that definitive American breakfast cereal thing going on.
Half a cup has 173 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. $6.29 for 18 ounces. kelloggs.com
Nature's Path Organic Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola
A granola lightweight! The texture is wispy and airy, which is not what I want from my granola (I like a snappy crunch). But Nature's Path gets good marks for its subtle flavor, not too sweet flavor, and abundant pumpkin seeds.
Half a cup has 140 calories and 5 grams of fat. $2.69 for 11.5 ounces. naturespath.com
Trader Joe's Just the Clusters Maple Pecan Granola
Way clustery! It is indeed as if the Trader Joe's people went after granola bars with hammers. It is very light in color on the granola hue spectrum. I took issue with the texture, which I found kind of mealy and sandy, maybe because rice is the third ingredient after oats and sugar. Others liked its clean maple taste. Can't argue with the price, either.
Half a cup has 188 calories and 7.5 grams of fat. $3.69 for 16 ounces. traderjoes.com
The Best Granola of All
Inspired by my granola investigation, I set out to make my own. Would my granola live up to the big box brands? (I riffed on an Alton Brown recipe.)
The container I brought into Serious Eats HQ was devoured at once, and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride when Ed suggested I start selling my granola.
I got carried away adding nuts and other goodies like banana chips. Raphael inquired whether the rich concoction's ridiculously high nut to oat ratio would de-qualify it from the "granola" category. I don't think so. Besides, it's delicious sprinkled on yogurt or ice cream, or eaten right out of your hand.
Granola is way easy to make. Just take old fashioned oats (not quick-cooking) and your nuts and seeds of choice, add some sweetness (like brown sugar, maple syrup, or honey), and some fat (usually vegetable oil), and toast in the oven. If you want you can throw in cinnamon, nutmeg, or any other enticing flavors. Dried fruit gets added to the mix after the oats and nuts are done toasting. Or, just make my Serious Eats-approved granola.
Trust me, the best granola is the stuff you make in your kitchen.
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18 Comments:
My personal favorite granola is just the Kroger brand low-fat granola without raisins that comes in the green box. Delicious, filling, & not a ridiculous number of calories!
daveandcat at 9:24AM on 08/14/08
I finally gave up and made my own. My favorite was always a plain oats, honey and almond variation and that's what I make. I add fruit when I eat it.
IndyGal at 9:33AM on 08/14/08
Hannah, I'd love to read your recipe but the link doesnt work.
jymbrittain at 9:48AM on 08/14/08
I truly cannot imagine what my life would be like without alcohol, tobacco, meat, coffee and tea. I could probably live without white bread. Well, maybe not. There's too much BBQ out there.
worldcupfever at 9:50AM on 08/14/08
I love Bear Naked granola! The trail mix is pretty fabulous too.
Erin at 10:47AM on 08/14/08
As a maker of homemade granola myself (who used to use Alton Brown's recipe), I encourage readers to try Ina Garten's granola recipe. It's become my standard- plenty of crunch, just enough nuts, not too sweet:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/homemade-granola-recipe/index.html
Ina Garten's recipe is "inspired by" Sarah Chase. I, in turn, have tweaked Ina's version: sub pistachios for cashews, dried blueberries for cranberries, and use equal parts veg/canola oil and honey (i like orange blossom best).
It makes a lot-- if you plan to store it for a few weeks, keep the mixed fruit and granola separate, so the moisture in the dried fruit doesn't make the whole thing lose it's crunch.
fetacrackwhore at 11:25AM on 08/14/08
Mmmm. That Kashi Orchard Spice stuff is the nectar of the gods. I lurve it.
sarahbeam at 12:19PM on 08/14/08
granola is indeed awesome, but it sucks that it's so high in fat and calories. i usually get tj's low fat berry cluster granola, very yummy and i think there are only 210 calories in 3/4 cup with about 3 grams of fat. not bad! i eat it every morning with yogurt, but it's even better in a bowl of cold milk.
sarahlucy at 12:28PM on 08/14/08
What about Cascadian Farms? You're illustration shows 10 packages, but you said that you sampled 14. What were the other four? Thanks.
Brupie at 1:16PM on 08/14/08
My granola recipe link is fixed!
@Brupie...The other four contenders were Galaxy Granola Vanilla Almond Munch, Cascadian Farm, Organic Oats & Honey Granola, Peace Cereal Ginger Hemp Granola and Back to Nature Cranberry Pecan Granola.
Hannah Howard at 1:29PM on 08/14/08
We often make our own granola and it is, for the most part, great! The only thing I miss is the 'clusters' you often get when you buy a mass manufactured bran. Can antone give me hints as to how to achieve 'clusters'?
beano at 2:00PM on 08/14/08
I'm not a big "fruit in granola" fan. I use granola to make faux Starbucks Yogurt Parfaits. I use the Traders Joe's Pecan Praline Granola (whole grain oats with maple syrup). It seemed to have less sugar than most of the other brands they were selling and I was trying to make a "low-cal" version of the Starbucks (lower cost too :). I just add fresh fruit to that to get my fruit fix.
hkydiva at 5:47PM on 08/14/08
Cool taste test guys! I once bought a box of Kashi Summer Berry granola thinking that since I love Kashi cereal I would love their granola too. Boy was I wrong. It was way too sweet. Let's put it this way: I've had the box for months and months now and it's still 7/8 full.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 12:57PM on 08/15/08
Galaxy Granola has good calorie content and tastes good. They have a non-sweet version as well. I've only found it at Whole Foods so far.
jenfry at 5:59PM on 08/15/08
I love granola with yogurt but most brands I've tried are just too sweet, so thanks for the inspiration! Yes, granola is high in fat, but the "good" fat from nuts (especially walnuts) together with rolled oats makes this a great breakfast for those seeking to lower cholesterol. In the winter I'll try this, with less dried fruit, as a baked apple stuffing.
KashaKnish at 8:53AM on 08/16/08
I really like the bear naked chocolate granola, and the almond. I was shocked at the fat content on some of their other varieties, especially the banana nut.
jboylan at 12:17AM on 08/17/08
ooo bear naked is absolutely great!!
gobbl at 1:54PM on 08/18/08
Bear Naked is the best, definitely my favorite granola. I pretty much love all their flavors, but my very favorite might be the Mango Agave Almond from the Native line.
Who exactly told you the Native line wasn't being produced anymore? I work at Whole Foods and we sell three different Native flavors: the Mango Agave Almond, Maple Hemp Walnut, and Yumberry Gogi Currant. It's actually still a relatively new product, at least in my store. I haven't heard anything about it being discontinued.
Feed is another one of my favorite brands, I hope they come out with more flavors. I really like the Kashi Mountain Medley granola too.
I've made my own granola a few times, and it came out great, and it really is much more economical to make your own. For some reason though I still buy it much more often than I make it, convenience I guess, plus Bear Naked is as good as homemade in my opinion. And since a lot of their flavors get most of their sweetness from unrefined sugars, and the fat is mostly all good fat from nuts and seeds, I see no reason to feel bad about buying to my granola-loving heart's content :)
Control at 12:26AM on 08/19/08