Pina Colada Grain Free Granola

This pina colada grain free granola is the perfect snack to celebrate National Pina Colada Day! A mixture of nuts, seeds, coconut, pineapple and coconut sugar make for a tasty grain free tropical treat. This healthy granola recipe without oatmeal is easy to make as well as delicious!

You might also like this keto pumpkin spice protein granola!

Today is National Pina Colada Day! It’s Sunday and of course we can treat ourselves to a real pina colada if we want … it’s the weekend after all. However for those that just want the flavors of a pina colada, I’ve got a great treat for you.

This pina colada grain free granola is filled with an assortment of nuts, seeds, coconut, pineapple and even coconut sugar and oil. That’s a lot of coconut!

I especially like it because it’s grain free. Traditionally granola uses oatmeal but sometimes  I find I get a headache from oatmeal so I made this healthy granola with oatmeal. That is I used mostly nuts, seeds and coconut.

My hubby has been eating it as is for a wonderful snack while I like to eat it as a cereal with almond milk. Or I eat it over coconut yogurt for a healthy breakfast or sweet treat.

Recipe ingredients and substitutions.

The simple ingredients I used in this oatmeal free granola is a nut mix, unsweetened coconut flakes, pecans, almond slices, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut sugar, dried pineapple, fresh pineapple and coconut oil.

Nuts and Seeds
I used a nut mix that I bought at Aldi which had raw macadamia nuts, raw cashews and raw walnuts. Then I added raw pecans and raw almond slices. This is the combination I liked. I wanted a variety. You can use all of these or any kind of nut you want. I would try to stick to raw nuts rather then roasted though because you will be baking them again in the oven.

For the seeds I used raw pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. You can use a combination of these or just one if you don’t have the other. Flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds and sesame seeds are too small to use in this recipe and won’t add to the flavor so I wouldn’t use those.

Coconut Ingredients
These are the prime pina colada flavors. So I used coconut oil, coconut sugar and unsweetened coconut flakes not shredded coconut though you could use that too. The only one I would substitute if you want is the coconut sugar. You can use a brown sugar sweetener like Swerve or Lakanto Golden sweetener. Or you can use brown sugar or regular white sugar.

Pineapple
For the pineapple I used fresh pineapple to create the syrup and dried pineapple to add to the mix. If you want to cut down on the sugar a bit or make this as a Paleo granola recipe you can can substitute the fresh pineapple and dried fruit with a pineapple extract and added coconut sugar or try this Torani sugar free pineapple syrup.

You can also try other tropical dried fruit (though it would take away from the pineapple flavor) like dried mangos and papaya.

How to make this healthy pina colada grain free granola.

1. Preheat oven to 250° F. Get out 2 large rimmed baking sheets and cover each sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mats.
2. Get out a medium pot and heat to medium low. Add the fresh pineapple chunks and coconut sugar. Cook for about 15 minutes until the pineapple breaks down. You will want to use a fork or potato masher and mash it as the pineapple cooks. Also mix well with the coconut sugar so it doesn’t burn. You want to develop a syrup from this.
3. Add the pineapple mixture to a blender along with the melted coconut oil. Blend for a few seconds until it’s well combined.
4. In a large mixing bowl add all your dry ingredients (seeds and nuts) and only 2 cups coconut flake. Pour pineapple mixture over top and mix well to combine.
5. Spread the granola mixture evenly on the prepared baking sheets and bake for about 2 hours. Make sure to mix the granola mixture with a rubber spatula or large spoon about every 30 minutes. Baking time may vary.
6. When ingredients are dry and not wet anymore and the granola is golden brown then it’s done. Mix in the remaining coconut flakes and dried pineapple if using. Store in an airtight container like a mason jar.

Note this recipe made about 7 cups granola. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.

Ways to eat this granola.

Granola can be used in so many ways. You can eat as a healthy snack, over Greek yogurt or whipped cottage cheese, with milk as a breakfast cereal, in ice cream or pudding, or make a snack bar out of it.

Another thing I’ve been doing lately is grinding it up in a food processor and making little fruit and nut balls that I keep in the freezer. It makes a great snack on the go. NOTE: This works best with raw nuts so just place the ingredients in the food processor and not the oven.

Make your own coconut yogurt which goes great with this recipe.

Speaking of coconut yogurt, have you ever tried it? I love this dairy free. yogurt because it’s naturally sweet from the coconut milk and yet you get the probiotic benefits of yogurt. However if you buy it in the store, it’s often very expensive so I just make it myself.

This time I made it in the Instant Pot and while it was very easy, it wasn’t quite the texture I wanted so I’ll have to play around with it. Until I’ve perfected it, I’ll be using my stand by coconut yogurt recipe. Check it out if you are interested in the plain yogurt or my blueberry sauce.

I hope you like this pina colada grain free granola recipe. It turned out great as a healthy snack and as I’ve written above there are many ways to use it. This homemade granola is also good for those on a gluten free diet. Enjoy!

If you want to know how to make dried pineapple flowers it’s pretty recipe. I made this recipe along time again and I don’t remember where I learned it but there are a lot of resources you can look up and learn how.