Passion Fruit Granola Bowls Featuring Homemade Almond Butter Granola

A family member recently shared with me a few passion fruit that their friend from San Diego grew. It was a lovely gift given how much I adore them. Passion fruit have the most incredible tropical floral aroma and they automatically make things feel more special and fancy. However, their rarity has always led me to making fancy, beautiful, Great British Bake Off inspired desserts like a passion fruit curd filled cake or sugar-filled cocktails.

Passion fruit can work really nicely as an acidic note in savory dishes as well. A few months ago, I had the rasam puri at Copra in San Francisco and it is divine. It’s like pani puri but the puris are served with a chilled passion fruit rasam instead of a spicy tart mint cilantro pani.

These days, I am mostly drawn to making dishes that are healthy-ish and quick. Of course I can also enjoy passion fruit plain but it is always nice to have a compendium of more creative options. If you’ve ever had the same conundrum with passion fruit, look no further. My new favorite way, and one of the easiest ways to enjoy fresh passion fruit is as a topping for a granola bowl.

I’ve bolded the previous sentence because I think this is an easy passion fruit recipe even if you make it with a nice store bought granola. The passion fruit pulp shines against a complementary backdrop of granola and plain creamy yogurt. A granola bowl is also a nice way to serve the pulp since it stretches out the passion fruit, which can be a relatively expensive fruit (unless you know a grower).

How to tell if your passion fruit is ripe

Recently, I learned that the best way to tell if a passion fruit is ripe is not only looking for wrinkling but also shaking it. If you can feel the liquid, it means there is plenty of pulp inside. If you let the fruit get over wrinkled, it risks the fruit drying up.

Granola Bowl Notes

In case you’re feeling up to it, the recipe for this passion fruit granola bowl uses a homemade almond butter granola inspired by Michele’s Almond Butter Granola. My homemade almond butter granola is distinctly less sweet than most store bought brands so if you prefer granola on the sweet side, increase the honey in the granola recipe itself or drizzle some on the granola bowl.

In terms of yogurt choices, I am in camp plain, all the way. My favorite storebought brands for granola bowls is a mild, gelatin-free and gum-free full-fat plain yogurt like Stonyfield or Gopi. If I want more protein, I use a plain 2% or full-fat Greek yogurt.

Passion Fruit Granola Bowls Featuring Homemade Almond Butter Granola

Recipe by Preeyanka

Servings

8*

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

The granola recipe makes at least 8 half-cup servings but it stays good for a few days in an airtight container. You will want 1-2 passion fruit per person.

Ingredients

• Almond Butter Granola

• 1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil

• 1/2 cup honey

• 1/3 cup almond butter

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 4 cups (0.8 lb) old fashioned rolled oats

• 1 cup flaked almonds

• 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• For the Granola Bowls (all measurements per serving)

• 1/3 cup granola

• 1/3 cup plain yogurt

• 1-2 ripe passion fruits

Directions

• Almond Butter Granola
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Mix together the oil, honey and almond butter until well combined in a large bowl. If it’s hard to blend in the almond butter, you may want to gently heat the almond butter and honey together for about 20-25 seconds in the microwave before combining.
• Add in vanilla extract, oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds and salt. Mix well to combine and evenly distribute everything.
• Dump the mixture onto the lined baking sheet and spread to fill the pan in a flat even layer. Press down firmly.
• Bake the granola for ~25 minutes, stirring the granola halfway through. If you like clumpy granola like me, remember to press firmly to make a flat even layer.
• Let the granola cool down fully before transferring to an airtight container for storage.
• Passion Fruit Granola Bowl
• Slice passion fruits in half.
• In individual bowls, add granola. Top with plain yogurt. Scrape 1-2 fruits worth of passion fruit puree atop each granola bowl allowing the yellow juices to artfully drip down the yogurt.
• Serve with additional honey on the side.

Notes

• If you don’t have passion fruit puree, a swirl of a tart-sweet lemon curd would be another way to add a tart-sweet pop to a granola bowl.