Mornings that start off with a bowl with plain vanilla yogurt, honey, and granola are perfect.
But the type of granola makes all the difference. Crunchy, chewy, or nutty—we have our preferences. To me, granola is a personal thing, a personal choice.
To make your mornings even better, we tasted five different types. Since breakfast oat choices are overwhelming and limitless, I decided to stick with plain, original recipes that A) use coconut and B) have nuts. You can judge me all you want for my criteria. I like coconut and nuts. What can I say.
A. Central Market’s super nutty granola – Dallas, TX
B. Village Baking Co’s original granola – Dallas, TX (Only $5!)
C. Lifestyle Granolas’ original recipe – Spokane, WA
D. Udi’s original granola – Denver, CO
E. Whole Food’s super nutty granola – Dallas, TX
Ingredients: whole rolled oats, milled cane sugar, vegetable oil, molasses, coconut, almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, walnuts, honey, salt, natural flavor, cardamom seed, fennel seed, fenugreek seed, nutmeg
- “Is granola supposed to be chewy?”
- “Cardboardy with a hint of honey.”
- “Not super crisp. Lots of small pieces/no chunks.”
- “Good crunch. Like the nuts. Sweet but not too sweet.”
- “Looked bland, but very good!”
Ingredients: honey, canola oil, almonds, coconut, and oats
- “Looks perfectly toasted. I love coconut shavings.”
- “Nice coconut-y crunch. Would be delicious with cereal.”
- “Little almond slivers. Chunkier texture.”
- “Tastes more like honey. Better crunch.”
- “On the sweet side. Nice golden color.”
Ingredients: rolled oats, honey, cashews, almonds, safflower oil, molasses, coconut, pure vanilla extract, sea salt
- “No flavor, a sad excuse for granola.”
- “A hint of banana. Would be good with yogurt and sliced bananas.”
- “Tastes like almonds.”
- “I swear I taste a hint of pistachio.”
- “Nutty. Love this one. Multiple flavors. I like the hard clusters.”
Ingredients: whole oats, wildflower honey, canola oil, raisins, banana chips, walnuts, cashews, almonds, pistachio nuts
- “Tastes like I bit into a banana.”
- “Tastes more nutty. I like the addition of raisins and nuts.”
- “I like the mixture of nuts, raisins, etc. If I were going to the woods, I’d take this one.”
- “Love the raisins, but the granola is pretty basic.”
Ingredients: whole rolled oats, milled cane sugar, vegetable oil, molasses, coconut, almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, walnuts, honey, salt, natural flavor, cardamom seed, fennel seed, fenugreek seed, nutmeg
- “Bland. Where’s the fun if it’s just oats?”
- “I think bird seed may taste like this.”
- “Bland. I don’t even care.”
- “Boring like rice cakes.”
- “Sweeter. Nutty. Peanut butter flavor.”
5 votes for (B) Village Baking Co.
1 votes for (A) Central Market
1 vote for (C) Lifestyle Granola
1 vote for (D) Udi’s
Winner: Village Baking Co.
Village Baking Co.’s granola was so vastly better than all the other ones in the pack, that even Tim Rogers—who typed the comment: “This tastes like granola” for granolas A through E—said ‘B’ was different from all the others. He ended up picking it as his first choice.
For me, Village Baking’s granola is chunky mixed with not-chunky, and coconut mixed with nuts. It’s colorful, pretty, toasty, and cereal-like. I eat this with milk all the time, and it’s perfect for yogurt, too. Whenever I visit friends in other states, I bring a bag of this stuff with me as a present for them. It’s a cheap present (only $5!), and gives people a little taste of Dallas. I love it.
Also, did anyone notice that Central Market and Whole Foods’ super nutty granola recipes are almost the exact same? I wonder who copied whom…
