Crunchy Cricket Granola

There are a lot of granolas out there which are too high in sugar and too low in protein for my liking. This recipe still hits that sweet note, but does not contain any added white sugar – the sweetness comes from honey and fried fruit. Also, it packs a serious protein-punch thanks to the addition of crunchy dried crickets.

I use this recipe to make 7 servings of the granola, to have enough for breakfast for one week. If you want to make more, simply increase the amount of each ingredient proportionally. It takes around 5-10 minutes to prep, and 10-15 minutes of cooking time.

This granola is sweet and works well with natural yoghurt, filmjölk, skyr, kefir, viilli, and similar fermented milk products.

crickets

Ingredients

120 grams of dried fruit and berries, e.g. cranberries, raisins, apricots, apples

50 grams of dried crickets

20 grams of rolled oats (old-fashioned oats)

60 grams of pumpkin seeds

60 grams of coconut flakes

4 tablespoons of runny honey

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Instructions

  1. If necessary, cut the dried fruit and berries into smaller pieces. (Roughly the size of raisins.)
  2. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C (170 degrees C in convection oven).
  3. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir gently until everything is coated in honey and oil. Alternatively, place the ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake around gently to achieve the same result.
  4. Line a baking tray with oven paper and spread the granola evenly over it.
  5. Bake the granola in the oven for 10-15 minutes in the centre of the oven. During this time, you will need to turn it once, to make sure it gets evenly browned.
  6. Remove the granola from the oven when has been evenly browned, and leave it to cool down to room temperature.
  7. Store the granola in an airtight container.

Tips!

You can tinker with this basic recipe in various ways to make it suit your preferences.

  • If you want it less sweet, reduce the amount of honey. You can also replace some of the dried fruit/berries with nuts, seeds and oats.
  • If you want more protein, increase the amount of crickets. You can also experiment with adding other dried insects. If they are large, you need to crush them first. A mortar and pestle works well for this.
  • If you want more beneficial fats, replace all or some of the fruits/berries with fatty seeds.
  • I recommend that you use a fairly neutral oil (e.g. canola) the first time you make this recipe. Then, you can start experimenting by mixing in a bit more flavourful oils, such as sesame oil.Important: Some oils have a low flash point. You can mix them into the granola after removing it from the oven if you want to avoid heating them up to 190 degrees C. Use a more heat-resilient oil as you main oil, and add a small amount of the flavourful oil afterwards.