Shop
My
Custom
Free Printable: Low Carb & Keto Food List
Get It NowMy Keto Granola Cereal Has All The Crunchy, Nostalgic Vibes
When I first started a sugar-free lifestyle, I missed cereal so much. I grew up eating it on the daily while I did my homework after school or for breakfast on weekends. Even as an adult, grabbing a bowl for an effortless breakfast, snack, whatever occasion was still such a convenience I took for granted. That is, until I dipped my toes into keto for the first time. No more carby cereals! My keto granola was born in 2017, out of that yearning to recreate the experience again. Here’s why it’s everything I’d missed:
- Sweet, crunchy granola clusters – This might not be the same as those fake-colored, sugary cereals you had as a kid, but the one I used to love most had flakes mixed with granola clusters. My keto cereal has just the crunch, which is the best part anyway. You’ll feel like a kid again!
- Customizable – I let the nuttiness shine with just a hint of vanilla, but you can totally customize the flavor with my variations below.
- Keto friendly and gluten free – My low carb granola cereal has just 2g net carbs per serving, and it’s completely grain-free. I’ve also got a dairy-free option if you need it.
- Easy to make – This keto granola recipe takes less than 30 minutes. Oh, and it’s also kind of fun to break it up when it’s ready!
- Perfect meal prep breakfast – Make a big batch and you’ll be set for weeks. Enjoying a bowl for a keto breakfast is just as effortless as grabbing a box of pre-made stuff.
There are some commercial keto cereals that have popped up since then, but I still like to keep a stash of my own in my pantry. Make it with me!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here I explain the best ingredients for my keto cereal recipe, what each one does, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card.
- Nuts & Seeds – Instead of traditional oats, I make the base of my keto granola with almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds (pepitas), and sunflower seeds. Here’s why I chose these and my notes on alternatives:
- The variety prevents any one type from being overpowering, compared to when I used fewer kinds. You can add or swap in other keto nuts, though, such as walnuts, macadamia nuts, or Brazil nuts.
- I usually use salted nuts and seeds. Feel free to use unsalted and add a bit of salt.
- You can also add flax seeds, chia seeds, or sesame seeds, but they don’t make a good replacement for the other nuts and seeds, since they are so tiny. I recommend them only as extras.
- Besti Monk Fruit Allulose Blend – This is my go-to natural sweetener that tastes and dissolves like real sugar (I’m very particular about avoiding any aftertaste). I used to make this recipe using erythritol, but I like the flavor and texture much more with Besti. If you want to use another keto sugar substitute, check out my sweetener conversion chart for how much to use.
- Flaxseed Meal & Egg White – Both help bind the low carb cereal together. (I also use flax as a binder for cauliflower hash browns.) I recommend golden flax seed meal, which has a milder flavor, but the regular brown kind also works. Keto granola doesn’t need a lot of binding power, so it’s totally fine to use other egg substitutes, or an extra flax egg.
- Unsalted Butter – For flavor and it also helps with browning. I wouldn’t recommend salted unless your nuts are unsalted. If you need a dairy free option, you can use coconut oil, butter-flavored coconut oil (my fave for a similar flavor), or ghee (not dairy-free but might work for your needs).
- Vanilla Extract – I like this one.
Reader Review
“Best recipe I have ever had for homemade granola! I can’t believe it only has 2 net carbs per 1/4 cup. My husband loves it too.” –Marsha
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
How To Make Keto Granola
I have step-by-step photos here to help you visualize the recipe. For full instructions with amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card.
- Process the hard nuts. Pulse the almonds and hazelnuts in a food processor intermittently, until most of the nuts are in chopped into large pieces.
- Process the soft nuts. Add the pecans and pulse again, stopping when they are in large pieces.
- Add the pumpkin and sunflower seeds, Besti, and flaxseed meal. Pulse just until all the dry ingredients are mixed well.
- Add the wet ingredients. Add the egg white to the food processor. Whisk together the melted butter and vanilla extract in a small bowl, and evenly pour that in, too. Pulse a couple times, stir a little from the bottom toward the top with a spatula, and then pulse a couple times again. Repeat as needed until everything is coated evenly.
- Bake. Transfer the nut mixture to a large baking sheet, or two small ones, lined with parchment paper. Press into a thin, uniform thin rectangle. Bake the sheet of keto granola until it’s firm, dry, and lightly browned.
- Cool and break apart. Let the mixture cool completely before breaking apart into pieces. Enjoy your keto cereal!
My Tips For The Best Texture
- Process the hard nuts first. Pecans, walnuts, and macadamias are softer than almonds and hazelnuts. I process the harder nuts first and then add the softer ones. When I did them all at once, the soft nuts turned into flour before the hard nuts were broken up into pieces.
- Don’t overprocess. You want to have plenty of nut pieces remaining, and most of the seeds should be intact. Keto granola tastes best when there are some pieces in it, otherwise you’ve just got a weird cookie situation!
- You can also use a large bowl for mixing in the wet ingredients. This is a bit easier than using the food processor for that step, but I often mix in the processor anyway to avoid washing another bowl. 😉
- Don’t have a food processor? I’ve had this one for almost 10 years and highly recommend it. It’s still going strong, and large enough to hold a double batch of this keto cereal. You can try chopping the nuts and seeds using a knife, or possibly use a powerful blender, but the texture of the granola turns out a bit different.
- Spread the mixture in a thin, even layer. My ideal thickness is 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick. If you make the layer thicker, it won’t crisp up, and if the thickness is uneven, you’ll end up with burned spots.
- This baking sheet I use is the perfect size to get the right thickness. Even though I do recommend parchment paper here, the silicone non-stick surface is so good that I can often skip lining it for many other keto recipes.
- Cool completely to get crispy. Your low carb granola will be soft when you remove it from the oven — this is normal! It will crisp up as it cools. It’s easier to crumble afterward.
Keto Granola Cereal (Low Carb & Easy)
Whip up my fast, easy, keto granola recipe with nuts & seeds in 30 minutes! This keto cereal is crunchy, grain free, and just 2g net carbs.
Remove Ads
Instructions
Tap on the times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer.
-
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (163 degrees C). Line a large baking sheet (I used this size), or two small ones, with parchment paper.
-
Pulse the almonds and hazelnuts in a food processor intermittently, until most of the nuts are in chopped into large pieces (about 1/4 to 1/2 of the full size of the nuts).
-
Add the pecans. Pulse again, stopping when the pecans are in large pieces. (Pecans are added later since they are softer.)
-
Add the pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, Besti, and golden flax seed meal. Pulse just until everything is mixed well. Don't over-process! You want to have plenty of nut pieces remaining, and most of the seeds should be intact.
-
Add the egg white to the food processor. Whisk together the melted butter and vanilla extract in a small bowl, and evenly pour that in, too.
-
Pulse a couple times, mix a little from the bottom toward the top with a spatula, then pulse a couple times again. Repeat as needed until everything is coated evenly. Again, avoid over-processing. At the end of this step, you'll have a combination of coarse meal and nut pieces, and everything should be a little damp from the egg white and butter. (Alternatively, you can do this step in a large bowl instead to avoid over-processing.)
-
Transfer the nut mixture to the prepared baking sheet in a uniform layer, pressing together into a thin rectangle (about 1/4 to 1/3 in (.6-.8 cm) thick). Bake for 15-18 minutes, until lightly browned, especially at the edges.
-
Cool completely before breaking apart into pieces. (The granola will be soft when you remove it from the oven, but will crisp up as it cools.)
Did You Like It?
Leave a rating to help other readers (this also helps me continue to provide free recipes on my site), or get the recipe sent to your inbox.
Maya’s Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1/4 cup
- Tips: Check out my recipe tips above to help you make this recipe more easily and get the best crunchy texture.
- Variations: See my variations here to make berry, chocolate, peanut butter, cinnamon, or even pumpkin spice flavors.
- Note on salt: The nuts and seeds I used were salted. If yours are not, you may want to add a little sea salt to the mixture in step 4, or use salted butter.
- Storage: My keto granola recipe makes a big batch! I keep it in glass jars, but any airtight container in the pantry is fine. It will last at least 3-4 weeks, maybe even longer — I’ve never had it last longer to find out!
- Freeze: If needed, it will keep in the freezer for up to 6 months.
📖 Want more recipes like this? Find this one and many more in my Keto Cheat Sheet System!
I provide nutrition facts as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see my nutrition policy.
Add Your Notes Your Notes
Try More Of My Recipes
© Copyright Maya Krampf for Wholesome Yum. Please DO NOT SCREENSHOT OR COPY/PASTE recipes to social media or websites. We’d LOVE for you to share a link with photo instead.
Keto Granola Cereal
Flavor Variations
I love this classic vanilla flavor the most, but I’ve also had fun transforming this keto cereal into different flavors. Try these variations:
- Berry – Mix in dried berries, like my sugar-free dried cranberries, blueberries, or strawberries, to add a burst of fruity flavor. I always do this by hand, so they don’t turn to mush in the food processor.
- Chocolate – My recipe for chocolate keto granola is in my Easy Keto Carboholics’ Cookbook! You can also mix in 1/2 cup of sugar-free chocolate chips into my version here after cooling.
- Peanut Butter – Melt 1/4 cup of sugar-free peanut butter (I like this brand because it’s thick like the regular kind, not runny) together with the regular butter. Then you can proceed with my keto cereal recipe as usual.
- Cinnamon – Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice is amazing for fall) at the same time that you add Besti. Feel free to adjust the amount to your taste.
Ways I Use It
I have to be honest, sometimes my husband and I enjoy this low carb granola right out of the jar! But there are also so many other ways to eat it:
- Milk – The obvious choice! Regular dairy milk is not keto, but you can make a bowl of keto cereal with almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, or watered down heavy cream. My personal go-to is almond milk with 1-2 tablespoons of half & half, pictured towards the top of this post. Keep in mind that half & half is not strictly keto, so you can use heavy cream if it doesn’t fit your macros.
- Yogurt – I love to top my keto yogurt (or sometimes just whole milk Greek yogurt) with crumbled keto granola, almost always with fresh berries. This also works well with my chia seed pudding.
- Smoothies – Add a sprinkle on top of your low carb smoothie, or even a keto protein shake.
- Muffins – Mix low carb granola into your muffin batter, or just use it as a crunchy topping. Try it with my keto blueberry muffins!
- Ice Cream – Crumble it over your keto ice cream for a crunchy contrast.
- Pancakes & Waffles – Top your keto pancakes or keto waffles with your favorite low carb fruit, a dollop of my sugar-free whipped cream, and a sprinkle of this granola. It also works over a simpler pancake topping of butter and my keto maple syrup.
- Oatmeal – Oats are not keto, but I make my own keto oatmeal or keto overnight oats with alternatives. This granola is surprisingly delicious on top!
More Keto Breakfast Recipes
Tired of eggs and bacon for breakfast? I got you! Try some of my other popular options for when you miss the carbs or sweetness:
635 Comments
Paula
0The serving size is for 1/4 cup, how many grams is that? Is it 60?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Paula, I don’t have the serving size in grams. If you wanted to know that, you can weigh the entire batch when you make it, then divide the weight by 12. That will get you the weight of one serving.
Tom Dibble
0Regarding making and weighing the total – I would highly recommend doing that always, anyway. Baking will always result in a slightly different finished product in every kitchen, and even every time you make it. Most obvious is how much moisture is removed from the ingredients while in the oven.
Overall, to get a good nutrition calculation (1) weigh all dry ingredients instead of volumetric (go try and weigh a cup of pecans, pour it out, try again, etc; you will see you probably have around 10% variance, and that variance skyrockets when you start talking about smaller quantities like 1/4 cup due to how the nuts pack in); (2) add all the ingredients into your recipe calculator of choice (I use mynetdiary.com, but YMMV); (3) weigh the final result out to find a total weight of results; (4) divide that weight by the number of servings, to see what weight your servings should be. You could also get a volumetric measure of servings after that just for fun, but see above about volumetric measures of dry goods (especially chunky, variably sized dry goods like this).
Robin Colvard
0What size is a serving?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Robin, A serving is 1/4 cup.
Meredith
0I added cinnamon because it’s my fave. My kitchen smells divine. Thanks for the recipe. Once cooled, does this store on the counter or in the fridge?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you, Meredith! Store it in an airtight container on the counter or in the pantry.
Abby
0If I was to use Truvia (an erythritol and steviol based sweetener), would I still use 6 tbsp? It says 1 tsp of sugar is equal to 1/3 tsp of Truvia. Just wondered what the equivalent of pure erythritol was.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Abby, I have a sweetener conversion chart here. The approximate conversion would be 2 tbsp Truvia for this recipe.
Abby
0If I was to use Truvia (an erythritol and steviol based sweetener) would I still use 6 tbsp? It says 1 tsp of sugar is equal to 1/3 tsp of Truvia. Just wondered what the equivalent of pure erythritol was.
Abby
0I’ve just seen your very helpful conversion chart! Thank you x
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0No problem, you’re welcome!
Jen
0Hi, Love this recipe. Thank you! My macros app only calculates 16g of fat though, compared to your 26g. Why would this be? I used almonds, macadamias and a cup of mixed nuts (whose nutritional contents are already logged on the app), and almond butter instead of ghee. Would this have made a difference? Hope I’m not doing something wrong! Jen
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Jen, It’s probably due to using almond butter instead of ghee. Ghee has higher fat content.
Ellen | If It Brings You Joy
0My husband and I have been eating low carb for several months. We’re getting a little tired of the same old snacks, so I will definitely give this a try. Pinned it so I don’t lose it!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you, Ellen! Let me know what you think when you make it!
Michelle
0Thank you! I thoroughly enjoyed the cereal. I did add a little cinnamon to the recipe, So yummy.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you, Michelle! I like adding cinnamon sometimes, too.
Michelle
0Do you use raw nuts or roasted?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Michelle, Mine were roasted and salted, but you could use raw, too. Add a little sea salt if yours aren’t salted.
Suzy
0Thank you! Worked really well.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Edith, Sorry to hear that and thanks for letting me know. The text was showing up dark gray for me, not pale gray. I changed the font and made it solid black to hopefully make it clearer. I hope that helps!
Marion Robinson
0I totally agree with you Edith. I’ve also had many of my “low carb” friends comment about this as well. Let’s hope it can easily be rectified, as I love this web site, & the recipes are so good! Pity we can’t see them so clearly!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Marion, Like I told Edith I just changed the font and made the text solid black. Does that help?
Edith
0I like your posts but I have a hard time reading the pale gray printing on the white background. The ads are always very bright and easy to read.
Suzy
0My HH is going to love this. Do you think I can add flax seed in with the big nuts at the beginning to get more of a meal? Thanks again!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Suzy, The recipe already uses flaxseed meal rather than whole flax seeds. If you have whole flax seeds, you can make them into a meal in the food processor before you add the nuts. I wouldn’t try to make the meal together with the nuts at the same time, because you’ll likely end up with nut flour from the nuts before the seeds become a meal.
Lee
0How to make this when you don’t have a food processor? I have a blender.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Lee, A blender might also work, if it’s powerful enough to chop up nuts. You’ll still want to use a pulse-stop-pulse method, and may need to stir between pulses. Otherwise, you can also try chopping up the nuts and seeds before mixing with the other ingredients. If you go that route, the resulting granola texture will be a little different compared to a food processor. I used a food processor partly because it makes both prep time and cleanup a lot faster, but also because that way you get a mix of larger chopped nuts and finer powder. I hope one of the other methods works out for you!