Make these granola cups with yogurt and fruits to jazz up your breakfast or as snacks! Plus, these yogurt granola cups are freezer-friendly & kid-friendly!
Why You Will Love Breakfast Yogurt Granola Cups
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Old-fashioned rolled oats: The base for our yogurt granola cups! Use gluten-free options if you have gluten sensitivities!
- Chopped nuts/seeds/more rolled oats: Granola is usually mixed in with other seeds, nuts, or dried fruits, so I added some sunflower seeds here. But feel free to keep it simple and just use more rolled oats.
- Salt: Enhances the natural flavors of the ingredients.
- Apple pie spice/Pumpkin pie spice/Cinnamon: Adds a warm, cozy flavor.
- Banana: Acts as a natural sweetener and binder, keeping things moist.
- Feel free to sub with applesauce!
- Peanut butter: Helps crisp up the granola cups.
- Sub with any seed or nut butter like almond butter, pumpkin seed butter, etc!
- Maple syrup: Feel free to substitute with any liquid sweetener.
- Vanilla extract (optional): Adds that vanilla aroma we love.
And for our toppings:
- Yogurt: Creamy filling that pairs perfectly with the crunchy granola.
- Use your favorite (vegan/dairy-free) yogurt, Greek yogurt, or even quark!
- Fresh berries or any other fresh fruits: Adds a burst of freshness, color, and various nutrients!
- Nuts or seeds (optional): For garnish! I just sprinkled mine with chia seeds.
Step-by-step Instructions
Preheat your oven to 345°F (175°C).
Mix oats, (optional) seeds/nuts, salt, and your pumpkin/apple pie/cinnamon spice in a large bowl.
Add the mashed banana, peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract into the oat mixture. Mix well.
Press 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture into silicone muffin cups, pressing to the bottom and the sides of each muffin cup to form the granola cup shape.
Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden and crispy, then cool completely.
Fill the cooled cups with yogurt, then top with fresh fruits and optional nuts or seeds.
Enjoy your homemade granola yogurt cups!
Top Tips
- Use silicone muffin cups: These help in popping the granola cups out without sticking.
- If you don’t have silicone, grease a regular muffin tin with a cooking spray. You might then also need to slide a dinner knife around the granola cups to loosen them from the muffin pan.
- Check for the ‘dough’ consistency.
- Even after mixing, the dough would look a bit dry, but when pressing it into the muffin cup, they should mostly stick together. Since banana size varies, it’s important to check that you get a similar consistency as what is shown in the process shot above!
- If it’s too dry, add a bit more mashed banana. If it’s too wet, add a bit more oats.
- Add toppings just before serving: This keeps the granola cups crunchy.
- If meal prepping, please see the Storage section!
Prefer to Watch Instead?
6 Flavor Variations
Want to jazz up your yogurt breakfast granola cups? Here are 6 options!
- The good old yogurt and fruits
- Chocolate and Banana: Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate chips, then top with 1-2 banana slices on top.
- Bounty (chocolate coconut). Mix 2 Tablespoons of of desiccated coconut with 1 Tablespoon of yogurt. Then pour in 1 Tablespoon of melted chocolate chips on top. Sprinkle with more coconut, then chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Apple, cinnamon, and raisins. Dice your apples, combine 1/2 cup of yogurt with 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, then sprinkle the raisins and apples on top.
- Speaking of apples, you might like my applesauce overnight oats!
- Matcha and berries. Combine 2 Tablespoons yogurt with 1/4 teaspoon of matcha powder, then pair it with your favorite berries.
- Ginger, mint, and peaches (or pineapple), inspired by my 15-minute pineapple carpaccio. Combine 2 Tablespoons yogurt with 1/4 teaspoon of grated ginger, chopped mint leaves from half a sprig, then top with peach slices or pineapple chunks.
Serving Suggestions
If you’re not a fan of the fruity yogurt combo, try filling it with stuff like pumpkin puree, unsweetened applesauce, or more mashed banana!
If you’d like to make this closer to a dessert than breakfast, add one Tablespoon of peanut butter, freeze, then add a layer of melted chocolate chips on top. Then you get chocolate peanut butter granola cups!
Anyways, breakfast doesn’t feel complete without milk, so serve this with my 5-minute strawberry oat milk. My coconut milk matcha latte, mango matcha latte, or lavender matcha latte also pairs great here!
Clearing The Confusion Between Granola, Oats, Muesli
Is granola different than oats?
Yes. Oats are the raw grain form, often rolled or steel-cut, and they’re used as a base in many recipes. Granola is made by mixing oats with sweeteners like honey or syrup, along with oils, nuts, and sometimes dried fruits. Then you bake them to create a crunchy, clustered, cereal-like texture.
Can you eat raw oats as granola?
Well, kinda. If you don’t care much about taste and texture, sure you can add raw oats to your milk or yogurt in the morning to substitute for granola. But you won’t get the crunchy and sweet texture of granola.
Is granola just muesli?
Nope, traditionally, they are different. If you add nuts, seeds, and sometimes dried fruits with other types of rolled grains to rolled oats, then you get muesli. Now when you bake muesli with extra sweeteners and oil, then you get granola.
So muesli is typically a less processed version of granola. However, some brands started to market their product as “crunchy muesli”, where the muesli is baked, making it very similar to granola.
Storage and Meal Prep Instructions
Storage and Meal Prep: Keep the unfilled granola cups in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you are meal prepping, chop up your fruits and store them in separate containers in the fridge.
Reheat in the oven at 345°F (175°C) for about 3-5 minutes to crisp them back up before serving. Add yogurt and toppings just before eating so the granola won’t get soggy!
Freezing: You can either freeze just the granola cups (without the yogurt) and only add the yogurt just before serving, or make some frozen yogurt granola cups by freezing the assembled granola cups!
Freeze them in an air-tight container for up to 2 months.
If you’re freezing just the granola cups, reheat in the oven at 365°F (185°C) for about 5-8 minutes to crisp them back up before serving. For the frozen yogurt granola, let them thaw at room temperature for about 15-30 minutes until the frozen yogurt softens a bit.
FAQ
Want More Healthy Breakfast That Taste Like Desserts?
You’re in the right place! Try my Oreo overnight oats, Biscoff overnight oats, or overnight Weetabix cheesecake. My popular flaxseed pudding (with 3 variations) is also popular for a really good reason: it’s delicious!
If you prefer something more cakey, try this popular baked oats with applesauce (with 5 variations) or this chocolate chip baked oats (no egg). Or try my chocolate mousse tart for a healthy dessert!
The BEST Granola Cups with Yogurt and Fruits
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats or quick-cooking oats (but NOT instant oats)
- 0.5 cup chopped nuts/seeds/more rolled oats (I used sunflower seeds, but feel free to skip them and just add 0.5 cup more oats)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon apple pie/pumpkin pie spice or sub with cinnamon
- 1 medium banana mashed, or sub with applesauce
- 3 Tablespoons peanut butter or sub with any nut/seed butter (like almond butter, pumpkin seed butter, etc)
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup more to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
For the Toppings
- ½ cup yogurt
- fresh berries or any other fresh fruits
- nuts or seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 345°F (175°C).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the rolled oats with the salt and your choice of spice (apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon).1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon apple pie/pumpkin pie spice, 0.5 cup chopped nuts/seeds/more rolled oats
- Then add the mashed banana, peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract (if using). Stir until everything is well combined.1 medium banana, 3 Tablespoons peanut butter, 2 Tablespoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Scoop about 2-3 tablespoons of the oat mixture into each silicone muffin cup. Use the back of a spoon or your fingers to press the mixture firmly into the bottom and up the sides of each cup, forming a well in the center. This will create the "cup" shape that will hold the yogurt.Note: If you don't have a silicone muffin tin, first grease your muffin tray with some oil.
- Bake the granola cups in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until they are golden brown and the sides get crispy. Allow them to cool in the muffin tin before removing them.
- Once the granola cups are completely cooled, remove them from the muffin tin.
- Just before serving, fill each cup with about 1 Tablespoon of your favorite yogurt. Then top with the fruits and the optional nuts and seeds. Enjoy!1/2 cup yogurt, fresh berries or any other fresh fruits, nuts or seeds
So delicious, thank you for the flavor options too!
Turned out perfect. Not too sweet which was nice.