Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is settling nicely into a new week. Remember yesterday, when I hinted at the fact that I’d made some chocolate date paste? That’s basically just my normal recipe for date paste, with about 1/4 cup cacao powder and 1/4 extra cup water added.
Now, with the unveiling of this wonderful buckwheat cocoa granola, I can tell you all about it.
I love raw granola. It’s one of the first dishes that I actually made in raw form, and I think it’s highly versatile: you can put it on top of smoothies, cover it in almond milk and eat with a spoon, sprinkle over fresh fruit, and snack on it just the way it is. Over the years, I’ve shared a few recipes with you; recent favorites include my raw, vegan “cheater’s granola:”
My sunflower oat bars, which can be crumbled instead of pressed into bar shapes, and thus turned into granola:
And my personal favorite: my “only raw, vegan granola you’ll ever need:”
Today’s recipe offers a new and whimsical twist on plain ‘ole granola: it’s chocolate granola, and it’s sure to astound chocoholics and regular breakfast lovers alike!
Cacao nibs from Navitas Naturals play a big role in this recipe. You could absolutely use any cacao nibs you like or have around, or, if you’re cacao-less, try using chocolate chips or carob chips (you may want to decrease the quantities, because chocolate goes a long way in granola). Round this out with nutrient-rich buckwheat, vitamin-rich sunflower seeds, and a touch of almond milk for a very special treat!
Raw Cocoa Buckwheat Granola (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)
Makes about 6 servings
2 full cups buckwheat, soaked for 2-3 days and dehydrated fully (see instructions for my buckwheat cereal)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup cacao nibs
3/4 cup chocolate date paste
1/4 cup almond butter
1) Mix buckwheat, sunflower seeds, and cacao nibs together.
2) Mix almond butter and date paste with a fork, and add them to the buckwheat mixture. Mix well with hands.
3) Place mixture onto a Teflex-lined dehydrator sheet and dehydrate overnight (8-10 hrs) at 115 degrees. Alternately, you can bake this mixture at 325 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.
Check out the fantastic texture!
Chef’s Notes: This is actually a very mildly sweetened raw granola, in spite of the dates! If you taste it while you’re making it and it’s not sweet enough for you, try adding a bit of stevia to get it sweeter (alternately, maple syrup will be great).
I haven’t yet had this for breakfast—I’ve been too busy snacking on it! But I can’t wait to have my first bowl with homemade almond milk and berries tomorrow. Yum, yum.
Before I go, I should mention that this is the week of creative use of Thanksgiving leftovers. It started in earnest today, as I threw some leftover succotash (cherry tomatoes, corn, lima beans, roasted) on top of zucchini pasta, and covered it all in cashew dill cream (my cashew alfredo with dill added). It was pretty excellent.
Bet you can’t wait to see what other Thanksgiving leftover concoctions I come up with.
Night!
xo
I'm a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, a former book editor, and a post-baccalaureate pre-med student at Georgetown University. I'm passionate about helping people to discover and enjoy plant based foods in a simple and healthy way. My name is pronounced like "Jenna." 
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
I <3 Raw buckwheat granola, but I haven't made it in awhile. This pregnant, chocolate loving gal who is FINALLY getting some energy back just might need to make this tomorrow
Thank you!!
yum! I love buckwheat granola, but never have had it raw, only at the 325 degree oven option. this looks fantastic — and chocolate and dates are such a sweet and wonderful combo!
I love chocolate granola! And when it’s raw and made with buckwheat, even better.
I am always a sweets over savory girl but the “leftover succotash (cherry tomatoes, corn, lima beans, roasted) on top of zucchini pasta….” THAT sounds awesome. I love cherry tomatoes so very much and they caught my eye.
The date paste and the granola sound wonderful. Love your creativity & thanks for the reminder to try your sunflower oat bars. Yum
YES! APPROVED. Lisa is making this for me. I have decided.
Yum! Granola was the first raw dish I ever made too! I made Sarma and Matthews from their book “Raw Food, Real World” It was pretty tasty! Their book was actually the final straw the convinced me never to eat cooked food again, because their raw stuff was so beautiful. Now I make raw granola for My Love and My Baby Sister on a constant basis.
Oh yumm! This looks soo good! Never made chocolate granola before, shall have to try.
Mmm this looks so good. I love raw granola. Buckwheat has such a distinctive, nutty taste. I’ll try to do a non-raw version and see how it goes! Much cheaper than buying that raw food brand – I forget the name – that sells raw granola for $12 a bag. I was so silly for buying that once – way too expensive!
I usually chuck groats into my normal granola… but your recipe sounds delicious – love the idea of chocolate date paste (really, chocolate anything is good isn’t it?)
what amazing eats! i love buckwheat granola too, but always bought it in stores. I do not have a dehydrator unfortunately….. sometimes though I eat kasha (roasted buckwheaties) and mix them in my muesli. soo nice and crunchy!
That is just the perfect breakfast food! I try to eat my most dense meal of the day in the morning, and also most of the sugars i consume are for breakfast as well, so your chocolate granola is a perfect fit! The date paste is an awesome sidekick, i love its sweetness and flavor. I am definitely adding that in instead of sugar with my next breakfast. I would, however, use less butter, considering that the sunflower seeds are already pretty high in oils and i don’t want to overdo it. I just read this amazing recipe for a nut based chocolate smoothie on a different blog and i realized that i’d be consuming a lot of fats if i ate both of them.
I love making my own granola because I can add healthy things such as flaxseeds and nuts. Love this recipe!
There’s a raw chocolate granola I always buy at the health food store and I love it. . . but so expensive! Yours looks fantastic and I bet even better than the one I buy. Must-try!
Is it from Kaia Foods? Because that stuff is ADDICTIVE! And EXPENSIVE! I hope to try this recipe to see if the flavour & crunch is similiar.
The chocolate date paste sound wonderful. Although, if I made it, I’m not sure it would even make it into a recipe. I might just dig in with a spoon.
Gah, I need to get a dehydrator! It’s been on my wishlist for a few years, but I have no idea where I’d put it and it’s a little pricey, especially when your car keeps breaking
that looks amazing though. I may try something similar but less raw in the oven.
You know I’m all over this one. Love the buckwheat! Such a creative idea. The date paste sounds absolutely fantastic!
Yum! I can’t wait to get back from Colombia just so that I can make this! I always do my own raw buckwheat granola, but never thought to try chocolate date paste. Thanks, Gena!!
I have homemade almond milk and berries in the fridge. This is definitely going into the “raw honeymoon” recipe pile!
This sounds fantastic, Gena. Chocolate and dates is such a wonderful combination, so to add that to crunchy granola has to be a winner!
Thanks to your recipe, raw buckwheat granola became one of my staple foods this summer! The first time I made it was during Ramadan and it tided me over nicely during a long day of fasting. I can’t wait to try this choco version, chocolate cereals were my favourite as a kid (although whose wasn’t?)
So excited to try this now that my natural buckwheat dehydrator (i.e. the sun) is out in full force! Soaking some buckwheat as I type this in preparation for tomorrow’s 34 (93 F) day! I’m going to have to experiment with the sweetener though, I think, as I’m on the low FODMAPs diet now, and dates are okay, but only in very, very small amounts.
This look awesome! I’m all about getting my chocolate fix in first thing in the morning
I love your site! Thank you so much for sharing these great ideas! I’m really looking forward to some granola…
Hi Gena, I’ve made this granola twice and I love it! As I commented above, the flavour is similar to a raw cacao granola from Kaia Foods that I also love. Oh, and this also tastes great with the addition of pumpkin seeds.
I just wanted to comment that I used the oven method but it definitely needs longer than 20 – 25 mins at that heat. I made a full batch yesterday and it took ~40 mins to dry out. I think it all depends on the wetness of your date paste.
Thanks for a great recipe!
Great comment. I’ll update to mention that.
Gena I have this in the dehydrator as I type and I can safely say that I am quite certain I will eat it all before it’s done. This is delicious, as are so many of your recipes! I made your outstanding miso dressing yesterday and what a winner it is. Breakfast was your buckwheaties granola (YUM), your chia puddings are my favourite and I’m so excited to now ‘cook’ up more stuff from your site. Love your work! Had it not been for your site I would never have used buckwheat like this, nor chia to make puddings. LOVE them!
Oh, I’m so glad. I love that recipe.
Just a question – is there any way to do this all in one shot, without dehydrating the buckwheat separately then doing it altogether for a second round?
Cheers!
Hi This looks like a great recipe! I love eating this as a breakfast treat at weekends. I want to make it myself but so far I have not had the time, so I have been buying it from a brand called Inspiral, which is great and very natural. I was just wondering if you know the GI value of this kind of cereal? As I have to watch my blood sugar levels, I want to know if its ok for me to eat and enjoy in moderation? Is it high in calories?
would love to hear back thanks xx
p.s love your site!
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