Growing up, my mom wouldn’t allow any sugary cereal into the house except for the exceedingly rare box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which we ate right out of the box like candy. Because it is candy.
I was otherwise opposed to cereal. I never liked my mom’s choice of cereal—the healthy, fortified, fiber-rich stuff. On a more fundamental level, I couldn’t understand the appeal of cold milk and soggy stuff in a bowl. It’s like cold soup! Can anyone back me up on that?! Plus, I hated the sound of metal spoons scraping against bowls so early in the morning. I swore off the whole category and switched to toast with peanut butter.
I crinkled my nose at the cereal bar in the dorms and carried on in my toast-eating ways until junior year, when I moved to France for a semester abroad. There were no toasters in the dorms. Also no refrigerators or microwaves, just a stove. I stored my food in a cabinet in my little room and quickly learned how to get by.
At the French grocery stores, I found milk that didn’t require refrigeration until opening. I also discovered on my own that I could just not refrigerate the milk for a day or two after opening. (I’m fine, Mom!) Then my friend Mandy introduced me to the magic that is the French cereal aisle. The French know how to make some tasty, chocolatey cereal. After all my years of vocal cereal-hating, I survived on cereal in France.
After all that, I came back home and fired up my toaster again. We just don’t make cereal like the French do. Eventually, I expanded into oatmeal and egg-y things and homemade muffins. I learned how to make granola, which is now a staple, and here we are now with muesli. I wasn’t sold on muesli until I ran out of my yogurt and homemade granola in Austin. Ali offered me some of her store-brand toasted muesli and almond milk and it turns out, I like cold soup when toasted muesli is involved.
Muesli is like a healthier, lightened-up granola, which isn’t to knock my beloved granola but to point out that muesli has significantly less oil and sugar in it. It can be made with no oil or sugar at all, but a little bit goes a long way in the flavor department. I treat muesli like granola and mix it with almond milk or yogurt in the morning. You can store extra muesli in a bag in the freezer and grab it like you would a box of cereal.
Most muesli recipes call for just plain, raw oats, but if you want to make phenomenal muesli, you need to toast the mixture in the oven. The heat brings out the best in the oats, almonds and coconut. The oats crisp up a bit, so they retain more texture as well, which I love.
I’ve been playing around with muesli flavors like I have with granola. In fact, you could take inspiration from any granola recipe and turn it into muesli using the recipe below as your guide. Muesli reminds me of cereal, which reminds me of France, so I decided to add a reasonable amount of tiny chocolate chips to the mix. It’s basically the Almond Joy of muesli.
Oats are inherently gluten free, but often contaminated in the field from nearby crops or in processing plants where flour is present. I’m so glad that Bob’s Red Mill offers meticulously tested gluten-free oats so that I cook my favorite oat-based waffles and pancakes for my gluten-free friends!
Toasted Muesli with Almonds, Coconut and Dark Chocolate
- Author:
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 7 cups 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Simple and delicious toasted muesli with almonds, coconut and dark chocolate. This muesli is a healthy, homemade breakfast. Feel free to change up the mix-ins; just replace the almonds, coconut and chocolate with about 3 cups nuts and/or dried fruit (add the dried fruit after the muesil has cooled, like you do with the chocolate in the recipe below). Recipe yields approximately 7 cups muesli.
Ingredients
Muesli
- 4 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1 ½ cups sliced almonds
- 1 ½ cups large, unsweetened coconut flakes
- Scant 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup mini dark chocolate chips
Serving suggestions
- Milk of choice (I like almond milk) or plain yogurt
- Sliced bananas, berries or fruit of choice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. For easy cleanup, line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (I was out, so I did not and it was fine).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, almonds, coconut, salt and cinnamon. Mix well. Pour in the maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla extract and mix well. Do NOT add the chocolate chips; we’re saving those for later.
- Pour the mixture onto your baking sheet and bake until the oats and coconut flakes are lightly golden and fragrant, tossing halfway, about 15 minutes.
- Let the muesli cool completely before mixing in the chocolate chips (if you add them too soon, the chips will melt and you’ll have a delicious mess of chocolatey muesli). Serve individual portions in bowls with almond milk or yogurt. I like to let my muesli rest for a few minutes so the oats soften up a bit. Enjoy!
- Store cooled muesli in a freezer-safe bag with the air squeezed out. It keeps best in the freezer (no defrosting time required).
Notes
Recipe roughly adapted from my cranberry orange granola.
Make it vegan/dairy free: Be sure to use dairy-free chocolate chips and non-dairy milk, like almond milk.
Make it gluten free: Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats.
▸ Nutrition Information
This post was created in partnership with Bob’s Red Mill and I received compensation for my participation. Opinions are my own, always. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support C+K!
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Jojo
First time on your blog and I just made the muesli. I omitted the choc chips and added raisins instead. Ate it with plain yogurt with blueberries on top. Absolutely scrumptious! Can’t wait to try more recipes. Actually, just purchased your cookbook. I need more recipes for nutritious whole foods that are easy to make in order to help manage my illness. Thank you!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Jojo! Thanks for your feedback and for purchasing my book.
Tanya Sloan
Hi Kate – this is the first of your recipes that I found and loved. Have tried and enjoyed many more since. Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Tanya!
Kay
I made it with honey instead of maple syrup, but I’m sure it would be so good both ways. It was SO GOOD, my whole family kept stealing it ): so I’ll have to make another batch ASAP!
Kate
Hooray! I love that. Thanks for your comment, Kay. If you would like to leave a star review since it was a hit, I would appreciate it!
Anita
Generally I love your recipes but I found this one way too salty and I even added extra maple syrup, also the “scant” measurement is really unclear. I will try it again without salt as the rest of the recipe seems good.
★★★★
Meeka Karger
I made this for topping on my morning Greek yogurt & blueberries. It is so delicious! I also added a cup of raw pumpkin seeds to the muesli before baking.
★★★★★
Pat Coleman
I love all the recipes I have tried but have just been diagnosed with Anemia and need to eat “fortified cereal”. Rather make my own. Would your Muesli recipe be considered “fortified”and what actually makes a cereal fall into that category?
Kate
Hi Pat! That’s a good question. I believe that “fortified” cereal (also called “enriched”) means that additional vitamins and minerals have been added, rather than naturally occurring within. This muesli doesn’t qualify, since it’s made with real-food ingredients (and I understand that’s why you find it appealing)! I checked the “nutrition information” offered below the recipe, and one serving (1/2 cup) contains 16% of your daily iron needs. I’m not sure how that compares to fortified cereals, but I imagine it’s less. Iron is found in many foods—here’s a rundown.
Laura
Fortified means it has added vitamins and minerals such as B vitamins, iron, D, etc. This is not fortified. If you have anemia, I think you should be taking an iron supplement consistently as per your doctor and recheck your labs again in about 3 months. If by then you are still anemic and have not improved, your doctor will likely run tests to check for other underlying causes. Google vegan or vegetarian iron rich foods for more suggestions to get more iron in your diet. Cook with a cast iron pan, use black strap molasses, plenty of green smoothies and dark leafy greens in soups, salads, stir fries, etc.
Marisa
I love this recipe!!! So good!! I’m sending a big batch of it and your granola recipe for my daughter who starts college this week!! She loves it for breakfast and snacking. I added the shredded coconut after baking. I was afraid it was going to burn because it felt dry even though I just purchased it.
★★★★★
Jude
This is an awesome recipe! We use it almost every morning. Yogurt, fruit and a couple of teaspoons of muesli is just the way to start the morning! I don’t add the chocolate chips but have added sunflower seeds. pumpkin seeds, a few whole almonds and few raw cashews. I also added raisins for a bit of sweetness.
Thank you – your recipes are great!
★★★★★
Tom
Hi all,
I would like to know how the freezer is better than keeping it at room temperature, does it not affect the taste?
And how come there is no defrosting time needed?
Cheers!
Amy
I am soooo happy I found your blog and this recipe! It’s fast, easy, and allows me to control the level of sweetness. I use this recipe as a base and often modify the mix ins; last week instead of using just vanilla extract, I also added some lemon extract and then when the meusli cooled off threw in some dried blueberries.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy you found it too, Amy! Thank you for sharing.
Tabby
Hey
This recipe was super easy, and tasted amazing!! Love it so much!! I love muesli, and am gluten free, so most good mueslis are not GF!
Thanks!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for your review, Tabby!
Rev
Hi! Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe. May i ask what is the Caloric value of each cup or the entire recipe on the scale 1X?
★★★★★
Kate
Hi Rev, The nutritional information is below the recipe and it’s per serving.
Carol
This has become a go-breakfast in our household. It’s very adaptable, and I often substitute honey for maple syrup or throw in raisins, golden raisins or chopped dried apricots in lieu of chocolate chips. We’ll use it as a topping for yogurt or cottage cheese along with whatever fresh fruit is in season, serve it in a bowl with milk, or just snitch a handful. Not too sweet, not too oily, it’s pretty much perfect.
★★★★★
Kate
I love it! A great way to start your morning, Carol.