Taste Test: Granola
Who doesn’t love granola? It’s sweet, crunchy and satisfying; perfect served with milk, yogurt or fresh fruit for breakfast, and equally delicious eaten by the handful as a snack.
Granola typically starts with a base of rolled oats, nuts and honey – and while it’s relatively easy to make at home, it’s even easier to pick up a bag of packaged granola at the store to keep in your pantry! These days, there’s a granola for every taste preference. Love dried fruit? There’s a granola for you! Need to get your afternoon chocolate fix? There’s a granola for you, too.
We sampled 10 popular store-bought granolas to find the best of the best. Here were the big winners:
BEST OVERALL
Bakery on Main Bunches of Crunches Coconut Cacao Superfood Granola
Great news for chocolate lovers: This rich, chocolaty “grain-ola” was voted the #1 favorite overall by our testers. Made with superfoods amaranth, millet and cacao and combined with a delicious combo of chocolate and coconut, this is one granola you can feel good about eating. Everyone raved about the big, crunchy clusters! As one tester said, “Now THIS is worth getting out of bed for.”
BEST FOR YOGURT PARFAITS
Bear Naked Original Cinnamon
Cinnamon and granola go hand in hand – and this tasty granola did not disappoint. “Great cinnamon flavor!” several testers agreed. “Tastes exactly how you want granola to taste,” another person commented. This hearty granola features large clusters of honey-sweetened whole-grain oats mixed with sunflower seeds, flax seeds and chewy dried cranberries, which our testers agreed were a great complement to the crunchy clusters. The perfect yogurt mix-in!
GREAT FOR SNACKING
Bear Naked Fruit & Nut
If you like a lot of “stuff” in your granola, then Bear Naked Fruit & Nut is for you! This hearty granola is made with honey-sweetened whole-grain oats and packed with almonds, raisins, coconut, dried cranberries, pecans and walnuts. “Pleasantly nutty and toasty,” one person commented. “A great balance of fruit and grain,” said another. Everyone agreed that they could eat this granola by the handful!
HONORABLE MENTION
Gustola Granola Almond Cherry & Coconut
With a wonderful sweet-tart flavor and a satisfying crunch, this granola was also a strong contender. In fact, while it didn’t score the highest overall in any category, it came in second place pretty much across the board. Made with whole almonds, big flakes of unsweetened coconut, tart dried cherries and a hint of cinnamon, this granola is definitely worth checking out.
Look for all these granolas and more in our cereal aisle!