Pistachio Cardamom Granola is a crunchy homemade granola with a decidedly Middle Eastern flair.
Some of my favorite recipes start out as a burning desire to taste a simple combination of flavors. In the Middle East pistachios and cardamom are a classic pairing in baklava, Turkish delight, and lots of pastries and cookies. The nuttiness of pistachios complements the floral, citrusy notes of cardamom, creating a really wonderful flavor profile ~ so why not try it in granola? My pistachio cardamom granola is a huge upgrade from plain commercial granolas, and it’s so easy to make!
what you’ll need for pistachio cardamom granola
It’s worth the effort to try to find a bag of unsalted nuts in their shells. They have an unusual sweet flavor that comes through when it’s not masked by all that salt. The color is much brighter, too. And it’s fun to see your treasure pile of green nuts grow as you pop them out of their shells.
- rolled oats
- old fashioned rolled oats are best for homemade granola, they’ll give you the best texture.
- pistachios
- you can use roasted or raw. I prefer raw, but they can be hard to find.
- sesame seeds
- ground cardamom
- almond oil
- honey
- vanilla extract
- jumbo raisins
Today I used ground cardamom for convenience, but if you really want the full experience of the aromatic cardamom flavor, roast and grind your own seeds. Just crack the pods open with a rolling pin, roast them in a dry pan until fragrant, and then remove and grind the little black seeds in a coffee grinder. You can get the step by step directions in my Cardamom and Coffee Pound Cake post.
I used jumbo golden raisins for a color contrast and sweetness, but apricots, dates or figs would be good, too. I usually put everything but the kitchen sink into my granolas, but here I want to keep the extras minimal to focus on the cardamom and pistachio.
This is the perfect granola to pair with Homemade Coconut Milk Yogurt for an exotic breakfast.
Love cardamom?
I’ve got lots of cardamom recipes in my archives, some of them are all time favorites like my Cardamom Coffee Cake and the fan favorite Orange and Cardamom Muffins.
- Orange and Cardamom Muffin Recipe
- Cardamom and Coffee Truffles
- Cardamom Walnut Crescent Cookies
- Cardamom Crumb Cake
- Orange Cardamom Bread
- Jewish Cardamom Apple Cake
- Cardamom Sugar Cookies
- Cardamom Coffee Cake
Pistachio Cardamom Granola
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 cup almond oil
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup jumbo raisins
- 2/3 cups roasted unsalted pistachios*, rough chopped
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F
- Mix the oats, cardamom and sesame seeds in a bowl.
- Whisk the oil, honey and vanilla together and pour over the oats, tossing well until all the oats are evenly coated.
- Spread out the oat mixture on a dry baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Watch it at the end, it can burn quickly.
- When the oats are golden brown, remove from the oven and add the nuts and raisins. Let cool completely on the baking sheet, then store in an airtight jar.
this is almost to scenic to eat, thanks for the inspiration…brilliant
Thanks, Laura!
This sounds so good. I love cardamon, and pistachios too. Great recipe.
cardamom, almond oil, big golden raisins…this is just the most beautiful looking granola, Sue!
Pretty darn gorgeous granola..Love the pistachios~
Oh Sue! this is like a party at breakfast time! wonderful 🙂
Mary x
Isn’t that the old diet advice, ‘eat like a king at breakfast…’ That’s my philosophy, anyway!
Very nice! I adore pistachios and wish they weren’t so expensive. I made pistachio paste some time ago and found 1/2 still in my freezer. While it won’t help me make your wonderful granola it will end up in something sweet this weekend. I am also going to look up information about the almond oil – sounds interesting!
I’d love to taste pistachio butter, I might have to make some just to satisfy my curiosity. And the almond oil I used was actually toasted almond oil because that’s what I had, and it almost had a toasted sesame oil flavor.
What a great granola combination! The flavors almost read like a Middle Eastern tagine–but then the cardamom makes me think Scandinavia. I wonder if there are any dried lingonberries to be found int he stores…
Trader Joes has a dried mix of berries that has all sorts of oddities in it…maybe!
Your granola is so much more exotic than the everyday granola I make. I must take a walk on the wild side and break out of my average box. Gorgeous photos.
and coconut yogurt too? Brilliant! 🙂
Wow! This is right up my alley. I too love pistachios and cardamom. I’ll put cardamom into everything from tea to bread.