Warm and cozy masala chai granola made all crunchy and clustery with aquafaba–that liquid leftover in a can of chickpeas that I am admiring the powers of more and more each day. Inspired by the spices you would typically use for masala chai, and obviously, serve it with masala chai tomorrow morning.
I’ve never been a morning chai person, but I do love the flavors in it. So I took my mom’s loose-leaf black tea, added all the typical masala chai spices, and put that in my granola! A truly wonderful way to enjoy the flavors of chai any time of the day. My favorite way to eat it is simply with milk and frozen blueberries, like it’s cereal! It forms the biggest clusters I’ve ever seen in granola, and I attribute that to the aquafaba.
Aquafaba is the viscous liquid leftover in a can of chickpeas. You can technically also cook dry chickpeas and use the water you cooked them in, but it’s pretty thin and takes some skill to work with–I haven’t bothered trying it. Anyways, if you eat chickpeas as often as I do, you end up with a lot of aquafaba. It is basically a substitute for egg whites! You can even whip it up into a merengue, which is what I did for this granola. You can learn how to whip up aquafaba here. You just use a hand mixer and whisk for 5 minutes or until it’s the right texture! Aquafaba doesn’t taste good on its own, but when you combine it with the deep flavors in this granola, its only purpose is to create the best clusters ever.
The Rundown
1. Whip aquafaba. See above for how to do this! I don’t have an exact sub for you in this recipe, so I’d recommend finding a basic granola recipe (like vanilla cinnamon granola or something) and using the masala chai spices I list in the recipe if you still want to make this splendid flavor!
2. Grind whole spices: cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, black peppercorns. You can also use the ground version of the spices if you have them, but I suspect that most people don’t. And whole spices just hit different!
3. Chop up a cup of nuts. I use almonds, pecans, and pistachios! I also add 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds and 1/4 cup of coconut.
4. Sweeten with coconut sugar (any sugar is fine) and maple syrup.
5. Mix it all together and bake for 35 minutes!
Masala Chai Granola made with Aquafaba
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup aquafaba
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup mixed nuts *pictured with almonds, pecans, and pistachios
- ¼ cup coconut flakes
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- ½ tsp black peppercorns
- 5-6 cardamom pods
- 1 tsp cloves
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F.
- Whip aquafaba in a bowl with a hand mixer for 3-5 minutes, or until it is white, fluffy, and thick. If you don't know how to do this, I linked a how-to above.
- Add oats, nuts, coconut, and pumpkin seeds to a mixing bowl. Grind whole spices with a mortar and pestle. Add the ground whole spices and the ground ginger and cinnamon to the mixing bowl.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the mixing bowl: coconut sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, aquafaba, and sea salt. Mix it all together and spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 35 minutes, checking once at half way to flip the granola. Once it's out of the oven, let it cool to get those beautiful clusters!
For more sweet treats made with aquafaba, check out…
