The Surprising Method for the Easiest 5-Minute Granola

I’m a fan of freshly baked granola, but taking the time to mix and bake it from scratch at home? Not so much. Most traditional recipes for a jumbo batch of baked granola require more than an hour to make, and at least 20 minutes of scrubbing bowls, measuring cups, countertops, and a cookie sheet. While this often results in delicious granola, it’s time-consuming, labor-intensive, and I’m left with a huge batch that’s likely to turn stale before I even finish it. I could turn to the store-bought stuff, but it’s often overpriced and underwhelming.

My solution is this easy, crispy microwave granola, which takes just five minutes to make and comes together in a single bowl. Even on the busiest of mornings, when I’m scrambling to get ready for work, I can whip up a small batch without worrying about preheating the oven and creating a bunch of dishes. It’s great for jazzing up a bowl of yogurt or munching by the handful scooped straight from the bag on a hike. 

This granola is lightly sweetened with maple syrup, well seasoned, and hearty: The crunchy clusters of oats are studded with a kaleidoscope of dried fruit, crunchy nuts, and/or toasty seeds. Vanilla provides a sweet, floral note, while an optional pinch of cinnamon gives the granola a spiced warmth. Here’s how to make your own.

How to Make Perfect Granola in Five Minutes

Skip the oven. Preparing granola in a microwave may seem unusual, but the appliance is a powerful little box that’s especially handy when you’re short on time (or, let’s be honest, motivation) or want to make a small batch of granola. 

As Serious Eats contributor Summer Rylander wrote in her article on how microwaves work, the appliances operate by firing electromagnetic radiation at your food. These waves effectively target the food's internal water molecules, agitating them at a rate that produces enough friction to generate heat and evaporate water.

The problem is that the waves can’t penetrate much deeper than about an inch into food, and therefore struggle to cook large pieces of food evenly. But the microwave is actually ideal for zapping smaller pieces of food like oats: Oats are thin enough that a microwave's heat penetrates all the way through each piece in a short time. 

So, while a microwave may not be the preferred tool for cooking, say, a centerpiece-worthy steak or an entire apple pie, it’s a useful tool for toasting small batches of granola.

Stir frequently. As tempting as it is, don’t walk away. There’s a reason most oven-baked granola recipes call for baking at a low temperature for a longer period of time—often up to an hour—and stirring every now and then. The gentle heat toasts the oat and nut mixture evenly, preventing it from scorching. 

In the microwave, however, food cooks through at a much faster rate, which can increase the risk of your granola toasting unevenly or burning. To avoid this, it’s crucial to stir the granola every 30 seconds or so during its very short cooking time, which will ensure even heat distribution for uniform crisping.

Press the granola into an even layer before cooling. One of the best perks of making granola at home is that you can customize the size of the granola clusters to your liking. To make your granola easier to break up into your preferred size—whether that’s loose crumbles for sprinkling or large clusters for snacking—it's important to stir in the dried fruit of your choice when the granola is piping hot out of the microwave and still pliable. (Raisins, dried cherries, and chopped dried apricots are all great options.) Then, using the back of a large spoon or spatula, gently press the hot pliable granola into an even, tightly packed layer. Once it’s fully cooled, the maple syrup’s sugars firm up, sticking the oats, nuts, and dried fruit together into a granola “bark” that you can break into crunchy clusters of any size.