Improv Skillet Granola

That’s the lesson mentality that we left with when we departed for a 6-week trip down the Baja Peninsula exactly one year ago. We packed up the truck, our mountain bikes, camping equipment and some basics for cooking along the road. We were certain that we had everything we really needed, and ya know, we were right.

There were so many things about traveling that way that I fell in love with. We had no idea where we were going. We didn’t really know when we would be back. We had only a rough idea of where we would be sleeping, and never any guarantee that we would find what we were looking for. Shortly after we returned, the world locked into pandemic mode. And so in many ways, this mentality of having everything we needed – and knowing it was enough – has been a state that we never really let go of. And this Improv Skillet Granola is a great example of that.

I love a great granola recipe. And I LOVE making my own granola. It’s one of my regular recipe practices that really makes me feel like I’m caring for myself in the world because store bought granolas are rarely what I would call, “good,” and are almost always packed with sugar, fat or preservatives, basically cookies masquerading as a breakfast cereal.

In fact, the only problem I have with making my own granola is that so often I find myself out of just one of the ingredients I need to make a specific recipe. Or I’m in need of the granola right now…but the recipe suggests that I’ll need an hour to turn and bake the batch carefully in the oven to crisp it up just so….GAH.

Enter this Improv Skillet Granola. It’s one of the recipes I developed on the trip because when you’re short on electricity and running your pantry pretty slim, you have to get crafty for how to make granola. I still make it now that we’re home when I’m short on time, or have a handful of ingredients that might not be the equivalent of elaborate granola, but will crisp up just beautifully and take my yogurt to 11.

SO! Improv Skillet Granola!

At a bare minimum, you’re going to want to have some oats on hand. If not oats, buckwheat groats, spelt flakes or barley flakes will work great. The rest you can riff but the idea is that you’ll have some amount of crunchy-texturey stuff to add. The recipe below calls for shredded coconut (which you can see was one of the main staples in the recipe I made in Mexico – the big flakes!) as well as a quantity of nuts and seeds. If you only have coconut or nuts or seeds – whatever nuts – it’s cool. If you can’t have nuts or seeds, you can add coconut or cacao nibs or hemp seeds or anything else in place.

To bring it all together, you add a big drizzle of maple syrup (or honey! Or agave! Or brown rice syrup!) to the skillet along with a dollop of fat. I love ghee here, but again – IMPROV – so use coconut oil, or olive oil…or whatever you have and love.

At this point, I’d also like to mention that if you only have 1 cup of oats and have to skimp on the crunchy-texturey things, you can still make this granola. Just scale down the sweetener and fat by the same proportion as you scale down the dry ingredients. Or just eyeball it all. I’m *pretty sure* it will still give you something delicious.

Then stir it all up for a bit! In roughly 10 minutes (instead of the hour it takes me to make and tend and cool a batch of baked granola) you’ll have a crunchy breakfast companion.

In summary, this recipe is a favorite because it’s clean, delicious and fast. It’s not fussy about ingredients or technique, and it’s just as delicious eaten with yogurt on a gorgeous stretch of beach as it is out of a little baggie from your backpocket in the middle of the wild. Or that random Thursday morning when you JUST. NEED. A. GREAT. BREAKFAST.