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This tigernut granola recipe is a ridiculously addicting breakfast or snack that you won't believe is AIP-friendly, Paleo, Vegan, and nut-free! (yes nut-free, despite the name, see more below)
Most nut-free, grain-free granolas seem to be made of just coconut flakes. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but sometimes you want that crunch, you know?
That's where tigernuts come in.
Table of contents
What are Tigernuts?
Despite the “nut” name, tigernuts are actually NOT nuts but rather small root vegetables, like sweet potatoes.
They are not as well known in the US as in other parts of the world, where they've been called things like chufa and groundnuts.
Tiger nuts are high in antioxidants, a great source of fiber, have antibiotic properties, and work as a prebiotic, as well as a great source of iron. (1)
For this recipe you'll want sliced tigernuts because slicing tigernuts on your own would be time consuming, let along dangerous (they're pretty hard)!
Tigernut granola ingredients (and substitutions)
I made this tigernut granola with just a six ingredients:
• Sliced tigernuts – I HIGHLY recommend going with the pre-sliced tigernuts as whole tigernuts can be kind of hard and tricky to slice yourself. (I use these by Organic Gemini.)
• Coconut flakes– you can use shredded coconut or coconut flakes, but I personally recommend the flakes because they're roughly the same size as the sliced tigernuts and therefore will cook at the same rate. (I use these by Bob's Redmill)
• Avocado Oil – you can also use coconut oil, I just like to use avocado oil because it's in liquid form
• Maple Syrup – obviously gives this dish some sweetness 🙂 Feel free to use the equivalent amount in honey if you'd rather, though the taste will change slightly
• Vanilla Bean Powder or Vanilla Extract – This is an optional ingredient but I love the flavor it brings to this granola. Some people don't do well with vanilla extract though, so if that's you, leave it out or use the powder (and yes, vanilla bean powder is AIP-compliant as the “bean” is not actually a bean in the traditional sense. And the vanilla seeds are so teeny tiny that you probably won't break them down as you eat them, much like seeds in berries – so they're fine on AIP)
• Carob or Cocoa Powder – use Carob Powder (I use this one) for AIP and Cocoa Powder (I use this one) for any other diet *Note – the carob powder in this one is really delicious, and I usually don't love carob. It just goes really well with the other ingredients!
How to eat this tigernut AIP granola
There are several ways to eat this:
• alone, as a snack (watch out – it's addicting!)
• like a cereal with your favorite dairy-free milk (use coconut milk or tigernut milk or banana milk for AIP)
• with your favorite dairy-free milk, like a cereal (use coconut milk or tigernut milk or banana milk for AIP)
• as a topping on a coconut parfait
• as a topping on a sweet potato bowl
• I also love granola as a topping on pancakes to give them a bit of crunch. You could do these AIP Cassava Flour Pancakes or these Paleo Carrot Cake Pancakes
How to make this granola coconut-free
You can make this granola coconut-free by replacing the coconut flakes with an equal number of sliced tigernuts. The granola will taste a bit different and may not clump together as much, but it will still be delicious.
Make Ahead
You can make this Chocolate granola and store it up to 6 months in a sealed container at room temperature! (Note – this one stores longer than the Pumpkin Spice Granola because it doesn't use fresh pumpkin)
That's what makes this so great – spend an hour making it (and I'd make the Pumpkin Spice Granola too at the same time) and then have it at your disposal any time you need it!
Video Demo
If you're more of a visual person, watch the full-length video on YouTube to see how easy it is to make this nut-free granola!
Want more breakfast ideas? Try one of these!
Pumpkin Pie Coconut Parfait (Paleo, AIP, Vegan, nut-free)
Nourishing Breakfast Bowl (Paleo, AIP, Whole30, nut-free)
Cassava Flour Pancakes (Paleo, AIP, Vegan, nut-free)
Chocolate Tigernut Granola Recipe
Also be sure to check out my Pumpkin Spice Tigernut Granola as well! Equally as delicious, with many uses.
If you make this granola, I'd love to hear how it turned out! Either comment below or share a pic on Instagram and tag me @thrivingautoimmune!
Chocolate Tigernut Granola
Ingredients
- 1 cup sliced Tigernuts
- 1 cup Coconut Flakes (the wide ones, though shredded can work as well (see above on how to make coconut-free))
- 1/4 cup Avocado Oil
- 1/4 cup Maple Syrup
- 1 tbsp Carob Powder (use Cocoa Powder if not on AIP)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Powder (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 275 F and move the baking rack into the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl, then evenly spread onto the baking sheet.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so. Check the granola at 35 to make sure it isn’t burning. It may still seem a bit moist at 40 but take it out as it will dry as it cools.
- If any is stuck together after it cools, break apart with your hands. Store in an airtight container at either room temp or in the fridge.
THIS WAS WONDERFUL! After reading the promising reviews, I decided to double my first batch (which can be risky with AIP recipes if you end up not liking them or they don’t turn out!). I wanted sweet and salty, so I added a few shakes of Himalayan pink salt as well. I’m also trying to ease back into sweets (honey, maple, coconut sugar) so I used 1/2 the maple (basically didnt double that part). It’s the perfect sweet and salty “chocolate” granola! I did smell it starting to burn around 30 minutes, so I took it out early and will make a note when I transfer it to a recipe card. But it’s a GOOD burnt taste, if you know what I mean.
Thanks for sharing this recipe!! 🙂
Actually, this taste just like a Reese’s peanut butter cup! I’m in love!
What is the nutritional information for this?
I’m not absolutely sure as I haven’t had a chance to get to that yet, but I typically use MyFitnessPal to figure out nutritional info for my diabetic son. You can just copy and paste the link from the recipe into their nutritional calculator and it’ll give you the info. Getting this stuff onto my site is on my (long) list of things to do though.
Oh no…. I have just made a batch and it is so delicious that I keep taking a bite. This is dangerous granola… 😉
Can we substitute honey with maple syrup?
You sure can!
I LOVE THIS GRANOLA!!!
This sounds delicious but I’m allergic to avocados…what would be the best oil substitute?
You can use melted coconut oil instead. And just for future reference, most of my posts have substitution ideas up in the “Ingredients” section of the post that may give you ideas for substitutions if they aren’t written in the recipe itself. Not all of them yet, but I’m working on getting through them all to get that info there since I know there are so many different tolerances, allergies, etc out there!
Can’t wait to try this! Question though — The coconut flakes I have are already toasted. What would you suggest? Should I just follow the steps accordingly but add the toasted coconut flakes towards the end?
Um, I’d think it’d be ok to do the toasted coconut flakes from the beginning. At least, that’s what I would do. You’re not cooking it at a very high temperature, so they shouldn’t burn, it’s more just kind of a low-baking/dehydrating-ish kind of thing.
I made this recently, and it’s so incredibly good. Actually, to be totally honest it’s the best granola I have ever made (and I’m saying that after making 100s of batches in my life). It’s crunchy but light. I followed the recipe exactly, but I only had shredded coconut. It held together very well, in nice chunks. Thank you so much for this recipe!
You’re so very welcome! Glad you liked it! Hope you were able to not eat it all in one sitting, lol!
I just made this and it’s SO GOOD! I have to keep myself from eating it all right now! So thankful for this recipe.
Haha, seems to be the consensus that it’s hard to eat all at one time. I certainly have a hard time of it! Glad you enjoyed!
Can you do this without maple syrup? I’m on AIP & candida diet so no sweet stuff at all
Can you have applesauce? If so, you could replace the same amount of maple syrup with that. Or omit the maple syrup/applesauce and cook it for a lot less time – it won’t be quite the same, it’ll be more like toasted, flavored tigernuts rather than “granola” but I bet it would still be good.