The Best Granola Brands, According to Highly Opinionated Bon Appétit Editors
Sprinkled atop a morning parfait or chia pudding, tossed into pancake or muffin batter, eaten by the handful directly from the bag—you can always count on oaty, toasty granola to add a satisfying crunch to mealtime. But while I’m all for a project in the kitchen, I’m often too busy to make my own granola. And if I’m being honest, the best granola brands cook up batches that taste better than what I can whip up in my own kitchen (although I will say these recipes for grain-free tahini granola and chai-spiced granola never miss).
Our top picks
- Our team's all-time favorite: Simple Trail Cardamom Crunch
- Best nut-free granola: Purely Elizabeth Blueberry Hemp
- Best superfood granola: Kroma Super Granola
- Best for snacking straight out the bag: Michele’s Granola Cinnamon Raisin
- If you want a mix of sweet and salty: Early Bird Farmhand's Choice
- If you're a granola skeptic: Tom’s Perfect 10 Ginger Zing
- Best paleo granola: Nana Joes Paleo Sunrise Granola
- Best allergen-free: Stellar Granola
We’ve been hard at work sampling granolas at BA HQ—seriously, our snack drawers overfloweth—in order to find morsels. With 16 varieties making the cut, we’d call our quest a success: salty, chocolaty, nutty, fruity, grain-free, crunchy, or chewy, we’ve found something to please every palate. Just note, we can’t promise you won’t want to eat the entire bag in one sitting.
Simple Trail Cardamom Crunch Granola
I've eaten a lot of granola in my day, but the one I can't stop coming to (and the one I've gotten pretty much every friend and colleague to fall in love with) is the Cardamom Crunch granola from Simple Trail. Because the brand makes all of its granola in small batches, it tastes as if it came directly out of your kitchen or as a gift from your best baker or chef friend. It's the perfect texture of crunchy meets chewy from a mixture of oats, buckwheat groats, and seeds of all kinds, plus it has a delightful hint of spice from organic vanilla, cardamom, and cinnamon and just the right amount of sweetness from organic maple syrup. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager
Purely Elizabeth Blueberry Hemp
Sweetened with coconut sugar and full of ancient grains like amaranth and quinoa, every flavor of this granola is warmly spiced, deeply toasty, and covetably clustery. I add the Blueberry Hemp (which is studded with tiny dried blueberries) to bowls of Greek yogurt, swirled with blueberry jam. It’s been in my daily rotation for years, and I’ll be a loyal customer as long as nuts still send me into anaphylaxis. —Zoe Denenberg, contributor
Purely Elizabeth’s newer cookie granolas are made for dessert lovers (present company included) who would prefer to eat sweet treats for every meal. But because doing that is generally frowned upon, I sprinkle them on my morning yogurt or reach for them when I want an afternoon snack. Like all of Purely Elizabeth’s granolas, the cookie flavors (peanut butter, chocolate chip, double chocolate, and oatmeal raisin) are made with 100% whole grains and are gluten-free and vegan. The peanut butter variety is my go-to—each crunchy cluster has a double-dose of PB thanks to a drizzling of peanut butter and peanut butter chips. And if that wasn't already enough granola options, the brand also recently launched a protein line with 10 grams of protein per serving from just nuts and seeds. My personal go-to is the Almond Butter & Berries. —K.K.
Early Bird Farmhand’s Choice
I love Early Bird for its super simple ingredient list—which is also a bit frustrating, because when I try to recreate their mixes at home using exactly the same ingredients, mine never turn out as perfectly balanced and crispy-crunchy (no rock-hard granola boulders here) as theirs. All the varieties are great, but my fave is Farmhand’s Choice. It includes coconut chips and pecans, is sweetened with maple syrup, and is just savory enough thanks to a glug of extra virgin olive oil.—Kendra Vaculin, former Test Kitchen editor
Kroma Super Granola
It seems about time that the brand behind things like OMG Cookie Butter and Superfood Porridge would release a really good granola. In true Kroma fashion, their super granola focuses on nutrient-dense superfoods like maca, goji berries, mulberries, nuts, seeds, and Himalayan pink salt.
The base is made from gluten-free oats sweetened with coconut sugar and flavored with vanilla bean, cardamom, and cinnamon. It’s more like a cereal than a snackable cluster, so it’s best in yogurt, with milk, or on top of a smoothie—but that doesn’t stop me from eating it straight from the bag. —K.K.
Sakara Classic Superfood Granola
When I tested Sakara’s plant-based meal delivery service, I also received a few bags of the brand’s beloved granola, which comes in flavors like coconut praline and dark cacao with Brazil nuts, and I am hoarding them the way a dragon hoards a pile of jewels. It’s super crunchy, not too sweet, and has inspired me to stock up on my favorite plant-based yogurt and lots of seasonal fruits to keep the healthy breakfast vibes going.—Carina Finn, former commerce editor
Sweet Deliverance Sour Cherry and Pistachio Rose Granola
The dominant flavor in this seed-heavy granola is neither cherry nor pistachio nor rose. It’s cardamom—which is frankly just fine by me. The warm spice is a winning foil to the tart dried cherries, whole pistachios, and flakes of coconut. Rounding out the ingredient list are oats, millet, and amaranth; sesame, flax, and chia seeds; honey, coconut sugar, and olive oil.
The texture is on the sticky side, but the granola still maintains its crispness; it looks, not unappealingly, like clusters of birdseed. I also enjoyed the peanut butter and jelly vibes of Sweet Deliverance’s Strawberry and Salty Peanut flavor, although truth be told I only had a few handfuls before a certain Bad Dog ate the entire bag. Bonus points for the packaging, which feels less like granola branding and more like album art for a ’70s psych rock band. —MacKenzie Chung Fegan, contributor
Tom’s Perfect 10 Ginger Zing
I was initially reluctant to try Tom’s Perfect 10. It’s nothing personal. I’ve just always considered granola to be sad and sand-like: the underwhelming fish in an overwhelming sea of breakfast cereals. But when I tore open a packet and shoved a handful into my mouth, I immediately understood all the hype. Aside from the chill, brown-bag packaging and the rolled oats, nothing about this granola is expected.
I’ve tried the Ginger Zing and Original varieties, and each one offers a burst of flavor. The Zing—spiked with candied ginger, Vermont maple syrup (also infused with ginger), and a hint of black pepper, is spicy and bracing, like ginger chews in granola form. A whole bowl of the stuff will fire up your morning routine, but it’s also the perfect afternoon snack. The cinnamony Original was a crowd-pleaser among the friends I shared it with, dessert-sweet and packed with chocolate chips, pistachios, and dried cherries.—Ali Francis, contributor
Grandy Organics Original Coconola
Upon my first bite of Grandy’s Original Coconola, I was disappointed. I’d misread the “coco” in the title for “cocoa” and had purchased the bag expecting a big chocolatey crunch. After that initial shockwave, however, I was quickly able to reevaluate. I realized that what I had in my hands was the very best granola I’d ever eaten: super crunchy, full of hearty warm flavors, and sweet enough to keep things interesting.
Though I am an avid consumer of grains, you’ll note this is a grain-free granola. That means that it’s heavy on the nuts and seeds. The “coco” denotes its coconut-flake base, but I wouldn’t say this granola is overly coconutty. The heavy hand of sesame and sunflower seeds brings a savory balance, while cashews, pumpkin seeds, and pecans add fatty richness. And just in case you’re wondering: Yes, they do make a dark chocolate version.—Joe Sevier, senior editor, cooking & SEO
Michele’s Granola Cinnamon Raisin
If you, like me, love eating granola straight out of the bag just as much as you love sprinkling it over yogurt, you’ll appreciate the perfect marriage of snackable clusters and supreme crunchiness found in Michele’s Granola. Made from scratch in small batches and hand-packaged in Maryland, Michele and her team make upwards of 8 flavors—think Lemon Pistachio, Ginger Hemp, and seasonal additions like last winter’s Cranberry Pecan. The Cinnamon Raisin is my favorite granola, though, which comes as no surprise: I’m team oatmeal raisin cookie through and through, and this flavor is reminiscent of the toasty, crisp, and lightly spiced cookie edges I so crave. —Alaina Chou, shopping writer
Bola Barely Sweet Gluten Free
It's a good thing Goldilocks didn't have to choose between bowls of granola. Too sweet, not sweet enough, sticky, dry, all oats, no oats, chewy nuts, and leathery dried fruit shards… I think she would agree with me that granola is in a full-blown state of crisis. No wonder so many people have turned to making their own since the chance of liking anything store-bought is about nil. With one exception. Bola's Barely Sweet granola is gluten-free, with just-enough sweetness and richness to break out of muesli territory while also not tasting like dessert. You wouldn't put it on ice cream, and that is a compliment. There's a touch of vanilla and salt, but that's it.
Bola's revelation is texture: The almonds shatter rather than go chewy when eaten, and every element, from gently toasted oats to pepitas, feels and tastes distinct—or should I say, just right.—Chris Morocco, food director
Jamie's Farm Chai Streusel Granola
I love this Jamie’s Farm Chai Streusel granola for the way it makes use of my go-to morning caffeinated beverage. Jamie’s Farm bakes their granola with grass-fed ghee and Dona Chai dust, upcycled from the brewing process of their chai concentrates. The warm spices from the chai, plus local honey, almonds, coconut chips, pumpkin seeds, and a hint of brown sugar make for a comforting addition to my morning yogurt bowl or on top of some fresh fruit when you’re craving a slice of pie (but don’t want to bake). —K.K.
For Good Toasted Sesame Citrus Buckwheat Granola
It’s no secret that I’m a sucker for buckwheat. I also can’t refuse anything sesame-flavored, so I was doubly excited to try For Good’s Toasted Sesame Citrus granola, a mix of buckwheat groats, almonds, and pumpkin seeds flavored with tahini, sesame seeds, lemon and orange extracts. As if that’s not enticing enough, the bright citrusy granola also includes unsweetened coconut, puffed amaranth, chia seeds, and flaxseed meal for lots of layers of nutty, earthy goodness. This one is lightly sweetened with maple syrup, but the brand also has flavors that lean savory like Sweet Curry if that’s more your jam. —K.K.
Nana Joes Paleo Sunrise Granola
I keep a rotating selection of granolas in my desk drawer to add to my yogurt every morning. The one I’ve been reaching for most recently? This paleo granola from Nana Joes. It’s flavored with a hint of orange zest and features a mix of roasty toasty nuts and almond butter that keeps me full as I power through my morning meetings.
If you prefer an oat-based granola, Nana Joes has that too—in several different flavors, for that matter. Once I’ve finished my bag of Paleo Sunrise Orange, Almond Butter & Pecan, I’ve got my eyes on the Cashew Butter & Peach. My colleague Kate Kassin says that if you’re ordering directly from the brand’s website, the brand’s grain-free and gluten-free breakfast brownies can’t be missed. —A.C.
Stellar Granola The OG Granola
Calling all people who are known to pick the clumps out of a bag of granola: Stellar Granola is the brand for you. Each of the four flavors is allergen-friendly, made in Chicago, and made up of delightfully crispy clusters that are fun to snack on straight from the bag or crumble over yogurt. While you can’t go wrong with any of the brand’s offerings, the OG (short for “Original Granola”) is a personal favorite, strewn with shredded coconut and grains of puffed quinoa that lend additional crunch, plus just enough sea salt to balance the maple syrup and coconut sugar.—A.C.
