Pumpkin Protein Granola
The humble pumpkin is just so darn versatile - you can roast it, bake it, make it into soup, you name it. Our favourite part though, is its seeds.
Pumpkin seeds are little heroes full of goodness. They contain magnesium, which our bodies use for muscle and nerve function and making protein among other things. They also have plenty of zinc, which helps us with our immune system, cell growth, sleep, mood and skin health. Think that’s enough? Well pumpkin seeds don’t because as well as all that, they’re full of omega-3 – those essential fats our bodies don’t make but need to absorb from food.
You can eat pumpkin seeds as a snack, or use them in other recipes to add those essential nutrients. At Neat Nutrition, we thought we’d combine pumpkin seeds with something else we love to eat – Granola. Yummy, scrummy granola that’s perfect on Greek yoghurt with some fruit before a busy day.
Making granola is a lot easier than you think. As long as you have a big bowl and a baking sheet, you’re good to go. So why not have a go at our Pumpkin Protein Granola recipe below, we promise it’s better than any you’d buy at the supermarket.
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 190C and if you’re using a fan oven, adjust to around 170C.
Add all the dry ingredients together and mix with a spatula. Add the sugar, syrup and oil and mix again. Finally, add your Neat Nutrition protein and mix a final time. Pour your mix out onto a generous sized baking tray (or use two) and pat down.
The cooking process for granola is a little bit of a faff. To get the grains evenly toasted, you need to keep moving them around. This guide should give you evenly cooked granola without making too much of a meal of the process:
- Bake for 8 minutes
- Remove granola and let it cool for 10 minutes before breaking up the mixture and turning it.
- Bake for another 5 minutes
- Remove and let it cool again before breaking up
- Bake for a final 5 minutes
- Let the mixture cool completely, then break it up and store in an airtight container.
Check out the video below to see the process in action...
We like to eat ours with yogurt or even as a snack on the go because it’s so tasty. If you want to, you can add cinnamon for an added depth of flavour, or even use our chocolate protein for a cacao hit. Whatever you try, let us know how it turns out in the comments below, or better yet, take a picture and tag us on instagram!
Pumpkin Protein Granola
- 220g of rolled oats
- 60g wholewheat flour (you can leave this out if you want a gluten free granola)
- 80g of pumpkin seeds
- 40g chia seeds
- 170g buckwheat
- 210g of cooked red lentils
- 3 tablespoons of maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar
- 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (melted)
- 2 servings of Neat Nutrition Protein
(Nutritionals per serving: Calories = 178; P = 9g, C = 24g, F = 6.2)*
*All calorie and macro calculations are estimates and will vary depending on portion size and ingredients used