Pumpkin Maple Granola
Oven-dried at home, eaten by the handful on the trail. No stove, no water, no bowl.
- calories
- 370
- weight
- 2.4 oz
- cal / oz
- 154
- protein
- 11 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 45 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Snack
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Day hike
- Thru-hike
- Car camping
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Eat in the bag
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Old-fashioned rolled oats | 1 1/2 cups | quick oats turn to dust |
|---|---|---|
| Slivered almonds | 1/2 cup | |
| Pumpkin seeds (pepitas) | 1/2 cup | |
| Pumpkin pie spice | 1 tsp | |
| Cinnamon | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Canned pumpkin puree | 1/3 cup | plain puree, not pie filling |
| Maple syrup | 1/3 cup | dark grade has more flavor |
| Vanilla extract | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried cranberries | 1/3 cup |
Method
- At home: heat the oven to 300 F and line a sheet pan with parchment.
- Stir the oats, almonds, pepitas, spices, and salt together in a bowl.
- Add the pumpkin, maple syrup, and vanilla. Mix until every oat is coated and the whole thing looks damp.
- Spread it thin on the pan. A thick layer steams instead of drying.
- Bake 25 to 40 minutes, stirring every 10. Pull it when it is golden and no longer sticky to the touch.
- Cool completely on the pan. It crisps as it cools, not in the oven.
- Stir in the cranberries after cooling, then bag it.
- In camp: open the bag and eat. Nothing else to do.
Granola is one of the few backpacking foods where all the work happens at home and none of it happens at camp. The pumpkin puree is the reason the batch clumps: it is mostly water, and as that water leaves in the oven it glues the oats and syrup together into clusters. That same water is why the bake takes 25 to 40 minutes and why you stir it every 10. Underbake and you carry a bag of soft, damp cereal that will mold on day three.
The pepitas and almonds are doing the calorie work. Oats alone run thin for the weight, and this mix packs roughly a third of its calories as fat, which is what you want in something you eat by the handful. Cranberries go in after cooling because dried fruit in a 300 F oven turns into small hard rocks.
Packing
Cool it all the way before bagging or trapped steam will soften it in a day. Quart freezer bags, one per person per morning. Squeeze the air out, since air is what makes the fat go stale.
Variations
- Powdered milk or powdered coconut milk in a side bag turns it into cereal with cold water.
- Swap the cranberries for chopped dried apricots or raisins.
- Drop the almonds and double the pepitas if someone in the group avoids tree nuts.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/pumpkin-granola