Easy Homemade Toasted Muesli

My easy homemade toasted muesli is a 30-minute breakfast prep recipe with rolled oats, nuts, seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, and honey. Baked at 160°C fan-forced and tossed with light rice puffs, it tastes just like those fancy cafe muesli bowls with all sorts of goodies and no hidden nasties.

I only started making my own fancy-ish cafe-style muesli at home a few weeks ago, and I seriously wished I did this sooner! My pantry is always stocked with rolled oats and all kinds of nuts and seeds for my go-to recipes like porridge and bliss balls, so it makes sense that I’m now adding a toasted muesli prep to the weekly prep.

Hear me out, I’m always upfront about this: I’m not a strict clean-eating person. I can eat well and love salads for a few days, and then I’ll eat pizza for the next two meals like a total gremlin. That’s why if I can control the smaller things that I eat more frequently like muesli (and my plant-based milks), then I think it’s a still a good balance.

Get my go-to muesli formula and this muesli recipe below.

Why I love this Easy Homemade Toasted Muesli

• It’s clean and healthy. The gourmet store-bought muesli brands can be pretty expensive and at the end of the day, they can still contain refined sugars, preservatives and other weird stuff that you don’t want to be eating every single day.
• It’s cafe-style muesli on a budget. You get that gorgeous warm, spiced cafe brekky for a fraction of the cost.
• It’s easy to make. It takes about 35 minutes of active prepping/cooking, and about 1-2 hours to cool down. You can easily make it one morning or evening over the weekend to set yourself up for the week ahead.
• Make it however you like! Once you find the muesli formula you like, whether it’s more/less oats or the ratios and types of nuts/seeds, then the sky is the limit with your weekly muesli creations.

My go-to muesli formula

Before we jump into this specific recipe, the main thing I wanted to share is the formula that I’ve landed on after a few tests. My muesli formula is based on four layers:

• Base
• Crunch
• Flavour
• Sweetener

A good starting point is:

• Base: 400g rolled oats (you can also try quinoa flakes, barley flakes, etc)
• Crunch: 2 cups of nuts and seeds
• Flavour: 2 tbsp ground cinnamon and pinch of salt
• Sweetener: 2 tbsp to 1/4 cup honey (or sweetener of your choice)

Once you play around a few times, you should be able to find your favourite muesli ratio.

Recipe: Easy Homemade Toasted Muesli

Yield: This recipe roughly fills up a 1.8L glass jar (I use this one from IKEA)

Equipment:

• Large bowl
• Large baking tray
• Baking paper
• Large airtight jar (about 1.8L) for storing

Prep time: 35 mins prep + 1-2 hours cooling time

Ingredients: What do I need for homemade seed & nut muesli?

• 400g rolled oats
• 1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 chopped pecans and walnuts
• 1/2 cup whole pecans and walnuts
• 1/2 cup almond flakes
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp cardamom
• 1/4 cup honey
• [Optional] 1/2 cup rice puffs (I had some in my pantry, but you can leave these out)

Instructions: How to make homemade toasted mueslo

1. Preheat oven. Preheat your oven to 160°C fan-forced. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
2. Mix ingredients. Excluding the rice puffs, throw all the ingredients into a large bowl. Stir well so everything is evenly coated in the spices and honey.
3. First bake. Spread the muesli mixture evenly across your lined baking tray. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
4. Toss muesli. Take the tray out of the oven and give the muesli a thorough mix/toss using a spatula so it bakes evenly.
5. Second bake. Return to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes until golden. That lovely toasted cinnamon smell is going to be in the air!
6. Cool completely. Remove from the oven and give it one final mix/toss on the tray. Let the muesli cool at room temperature – it will get crunchier when it’s cooled down.
7. Add rice puffs (optional). Once the muesli has fully cooled, stir through the 1/2 cup of rice puffs. Transfer into a dry, airtight glass jar and store in your pantry.

Keep your homemade muesli in a cool, dry place in the pantry. I love eating my muesli as a quick brekky with milk (try my easy no-strain cashew milk recipe) or even as an afternoon snack with some Greek yoghurt and fruit.

The muesli should last about a week for one person, but we’re a household of two and it’s usually gone in 4-5 days.

Enjoy!