11 Purely Elizabeth Granola Flavors, Ranked
Sometime in the not-so-distant past, sugary, fruity breakfast cereal lost a bit of its monopoly on breakfast. People began turning to a new source of breakfast carbohydrates: granola. In case you've been living under a rock, granola is made of crispy, crunchy baked clusters of (typically) oats plus something to bind the clusters together — coconut oil, olive oil, butter — plus something to sweeten the deal — like sugar, honey, or maple syrup. The best granolas also make good use of flavors and add-ins such as nuts, dried fruits, and even chocolate chips. Once you start mixing and matching there are countless kinds of granola to discover and enjoy.
One of our favorite brands of granola is Purely Elizabeth. Named after founder and CEO Elizabeth Stein, Purely Elizabeth products are Certified Gluten-Free, contain no artificial flavors, and are made with organic ingredients. Elizabeth has created cereals, oatmeals, and more, but today we're focusing on the granola, which comes in a variety of delicious flavors from Maple Almond Butter to Double Chocolate Chip Cookie. These are some great granolas, and we were happy to have discovered some new favorites. Hopefully, this list will help you find yours.
11. Cinnamon Peanut Butter Grain-Free
Lots of people have to or choose to go, grain-free — and they deserve to eat good food, too. Purely Elizabeth has a few grain-free granola options, like Banana Nut Butter and this Cinnamon Peanut Butter choice we decided to try. Since this mix doesn't use oats, its texture is a little different than the others on this list. The ingredients include pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, coconut flakes, chia seeds, peanuts, and more, stuck together and sweetened with coconut oil and coconut sugar.
It was not the best granola out of all the options that we tasted for this ranking, but it was a definite win for the grain-free consumers out there. When you really think about it, oats themselves don't have a ton of flavor; but replacing them with nuts and seeds actually added many more tasting notes and subtleties rather than subtracting them. Our negative comment was that this granola almost tasted too sweet, and in a slightly artificial way — even though it's not at all artificial. How did that happen? It might be the coconut sugar since you can't just swap it in for regular sugar without risking a difference in your baking endeavors. But since its flavor is distinct, who knows, maybe you'll find you like it much better than we did.
10. Grain-Free Vanilla Almond Butter
Another of the grain-free granolas we tried was the Vanilla Almond Butter. And hey, though we did indeed say (and mean) that all the granolas were good, unfortunately, the two Keto options just didn't quite taste as nice as the rest. The vanilla flavor tasted slightly insincere, like the sweetness in the aforementioned Cinnamon Peanut Butter. You know the sugar-free vanilla coffee syrups you can choose to put in your Starbucks drink instead of the regular vanilla? It's a bit like that. Also, the almond butter flavor was more muted than we would like.
Still, this one is a great simple granola if you're looking for a staple, everyday choice for your grain-free lifestyle. Our serving recommendation would be a high-protein vanilla yogurt, which altogether creates a nutrient-dense meal or snack. Now that you know our favorite Purely Elizabeth granolas, why not discover our favorite yogurts?
9. Cranberry Pecan
The Cranberry Pecan granola follows a common granola formula; choose a fruit, choose a nut, add to the oats, and voilà, a nice granola. Cranberries have a lot going on; the crimson fruit is incredibly tart, relatively sour, and very acidic. You can't really eat them raw, and when turned into pies or sauces, there is usually a substantial amount of sugar added to make it even remotely enjoyable. Once they've been dressed up, though, cranberries are a gorgeous, bright flavor that uplifts foods like this granola. We actually wished that there were more bits and pieces of the red berries scattered throughout. Pecans, one of the best nuts in the business, is very tender, buttery, and mild — the perfect foil to aggressively bold cranberries.
This granola has a lot of energy and pizzazz, which some may like more than others. A lot of people may want a granola that's a little smoother and sweeter. This one kind of reminded us of Thanksgiving, but the pecan pie and cranberry sauce part, not the turkey part, you know?
8. Maple Almond Butter
The Maple Almond Butter is one of the best of the more basic granolas we tried from Purely Elizabeth. Though it might seem like it has a lot going on, it's a smooth and simple flavor that's perfect for any flavor of yogurt or smoothie bowl. Everything about it is subtle and won't hit you in the taste buds with strong flavors like chocolate or fruit.
If you're worried (or excited) by the idea of tasting pure maple syrup, hold your horses. The maple is just, like honey or brown sugar, a way to quietly sweeten the almond butter. The nut butter brand Justin's, for example, offers a Maple Almond Butter you'll enjoy whether or not you have a peanut allergy. Almond butter is less pronounced than peanut butter and has a softer, more generalized "nutty" flavor. Maple, with its amber sweetness and warm undertones, enhances and brings out the toasty flavor of roasted almonds better than, say, generic white cane sugar. It's a great match. If you're all about the vegan and gluten-free properties of Purely Elizabeth and also the burnished, golden taste of almond butter, you'd better bake a batch of these delicious Vegan Gluten-Free Almond Crinkle Cookies. They're basically made for you.
7. Honey Almond
Let's face it, Honey Almond granola sounds boring. It sounds like every other generic flavorless granola you could find in a to-go parfait at the airport market. No one was especially excited to taste this one, but it ended up being a real crowd-pleaser. It has that great Purely Elizabeth texture; crunchy and crisp but not a jawbreaker, holding its shape in milk or yogurt, with layers of oats plus almonds for a balanced consistency. You can clearly taste both the sweet, golden honey and the equally sweet, golden almonds.
Oats, honey, and almonds are standard granola ingredients, of course, but Purely Elizabeth's doesn't let the three individual elements get lost in the mix. It's all very pleasant, but not too monotonous. The key is making the most of each ingredient and making sure they shine. We found that the brand was great at this overall mission — the flavor profiles of the granolas were always just as advertised on the front of the bag.
6. Double Chocolate Cookie
Here we have the first instance of Purely Elizabeth's new Cookie Granola. The brand has created three flavors of granola inspired by classic treats: Oatmeal Cookie, Chocolate Chip Cookie, and Double Chocolate Cookie. It was a great idea, and each Cookie Granola was wonderfully developed to create a fun yet familiar experience.
The Double Chocolate Cookie Granola is rich, chocolatey, and pulls out all the stops. This is the kind of granola that you eat out of the bag to satisfy a sweet tooth when there are no fresh-baked chocolate desserts on hand. Like all Purely Elizabeth granolas, it has a mixture of big clusters and little crumbles, and we have no notes on how to improve the texture. Unlike all Purely Elizabeth granolas, it's a little too much for the average granola-lover. Chocolate on top of chocolate is always welcome, but in cereal, it reads more like a novelty than a new go-to. We loved it, and we'd also probably only buy it every so often rather than routinely.
5. Chocolate Peanut Butter
Chocolate and peanut butter is one of the best food combinations ever. It's only slightly below peanut butter and jelly on the list, but that's not the ranking we're talking about today. Anyway, on a great blank slate like granola, chocolate and peanut butter makes perfect sense. Purely Elizabeth has created one of the best ones we've tried.
Now if you're thinking that this might mean getting a Reese's cup in cereal form, think again. Neither cocoa nor peanut butter is necessarily sweet, and neither is this granola. It's a subdued breakfast flavor rather than a dessert flavor. It's very well done, especially since many peanut butter/chocolate products tend to go overboard on the chocolate at the expense of the peanut butter; though neither is exactly a subtle flavor, chocolate tends to overpower everything it touches. We appreciated that Elizabeth struck just the right balance, and we could really taste both flavors. It's a great pick.
4. Oatmeal Cookie
When we were made aware of the "cookie" line of granolas from Purely Elizabeth, we didn't really think much of it. Plenty of times, in our experience, when a healthier food starts to invoke desserts like cookies — even when the cookies are as controversial as oatmeal cookies — it doesn't taste like dessert. It just ends up tasting like the healthier food. Well, we were humbled, because all three of Purely Elizabeth's cookie granolas taste mysteriously like crumbled cookies.
The Oatmeal Cookie granola is studded with raisins. Yes, raisins, not chocolate chips. The chocolate chips are for the Chocolate Chip Cookie granola, obviously. These raisins have a purpose; the pop of chewiness and natural sweetness was really nice. The granola clusters themselves were also sweet, like brown sugar, and cinnamony. We were impressed by how much eating this granola actually tasted like eating the crispy edges of any good fresh-baked oatmeal cookie. If you love the namesake dessert and believe it should get more credit than it does, you'll really appreciate this granola.
3. Berry Crisp
The berries looked a little chewy and unappetizing in the bag but were surprisingly juicy and sweet when mixed with the granola. Milk definitely helps, too, if you're someone who likes to eat their granola like a bowl of childhood breakfast cereal. The fruit in the Berry Crisp did seem to nod at old favorite fruity cereals but in a much more grown-up and wholesome way. There are traces of cinnamon and spices that might typically be found in a homemade berry crisp, but not enough to drown out the sweet, and just a bit sour, taste of ripe berries.
We expected this particular granola to fall a little flat, since it's so hard to make anything shelf-stable actually taste like real, fresh fruit. Though most other cereals and granolas with the same flavor profile and ingredients never really stood out, we thought this Purely Elizabeth version was a solid pick. If all this talk is making you want to bake a real-deal fruit crisp, we don't blame you. Some of our favorites include this Southern Blackberry Cobbler and, of course, this Classic Apple Crisp.
2. Pumpkin Cinnamon
It goes without saying this would be a great choice when September 1 rolls around. It's essentially the Purely Elizabeth addition to the "Pumpkin Spice" canon. And while some may roll their eyes at the whole concept, we quite enjoy a good pumpkin spice product at any time of the year — especially when it's this good.
Pumpkin-flavored foods do not often have much flavor on their own, which is why they lean on spices like cinnamon and ginger to jazz things up. This Pumpkin Cinnamon granola, however, doesn't rely on the cinnamon for its good taste. There's a distinct pumpkin flavor, too. We can taste the squash! Sure, that might sound like a bad thing, but we promise, it lends the granola a creamy, tangy flavor that's much more complex than the basic pumpkin spice product. If you also like the flavor of pumpkin itself, try cooking a more savory recipe that lets it shine, like this sophisticated Roasted Feta Pumpkin Pasta dish. It's way too good to only eat during the fall.
1. Chocolate Chip Cookie
Okay, everyone, this is some darn good granola. Honestly, it barely tastes like granola. It might even taste sweeter and more indulgent than the ridiculously sugary breakfast cereals many grew up with. Cookie Crisp had better watch its back because this Purely Elizabeth Chocolate Chip Cookie granola is our new cookie-inspired breakfast. And it's definitely more of a feel-good pick than so many of those albeit fantastic childhood classics.
These thick, crunchy, toothsome granola clusters taste just like crispy chocolate chip cookies. We loved the buttery vanilla flavor that shined through – and also loved that it was hard to find a bite that didn't provide a burst of chocolate. The balance is perfect, the texture is ideal, and the sweetness is authentic rather than overdone. If the Double Chocolate Chip Cookie flavor was a little bit decadent for everyday granola consumption, this is the platonic ideal of dessert-meets-breakfast. We would definitely recommend this granola and will be buying backups for ourselves ASAP. Since cookies and milk are such an unbeatable combination, you don't need anything else to properly enjoy a bowl of this snack. But if you want to feel like your crumbling chocolate chip cookies on top of anything and everything else, go right ahead.
Methodology
To complete this ranking, we went over to the Purely Elizabeth website and purchased a wide assortment of granolas to taste-test. We couldn't find as many options in grocery stores as we did on the website, clearly, so if you're looking for a particular flavor on this list, there's a fair chance you will also have to order online instead of in person.
This list is not exhaustive; we couldn't try every single one of the brand's granola lineup due to the higher price point on higher-quality products. It's understandable in our opinion, since we could definitely tell by the ingredient lists and taste that these granolas were elevated above other brands, but we're pretty happy with what we got. To keep everything fair and even, we tried each granola in simple forms, either straight out of the bag or in our choice of milk. After we tasted them all, we ranked them from worst to best, even though nothing even came close to being inedible. It was a hard ranking to complete if we're being totally transparent, simply because it was such a tight race.