We tested 11 chocolate granola brands – there are our favorites

I can always count on a spoonful of chocolate granola to energize or embellish my favorite ice creams and yogurts. Although it is possible to make your own granola with cocoa powder and chocolate, I don’t always have time. For this reason, I like to keep a bag of chocolate granola bought in store in my pantry. With so many options available, the question is: which deserves to be purchased?

To find the best chocolate granola, our publishers have sampled 11 different brands that you will find likely to find in your local or online grocery store. We are glued to oat -based granolas flavored with chocolate. We each poured into bowls, then sampered them in a random order without knowing which brand was which one. Some publishers have tasted granolas in two ways: simple and with milk. After having made a way through 11 chocolate granolas, we have tabule the results and crowned a global winner, as well as three worthy pretenders that we would be happy to eat for breakfast or at the top of an ice cream.

The criteria

Like all the granola, a good chocolate granola must be clean and satisfactory to snack. It should have parts the size of a bite which is very crunchy but not so fragile as they are difficult to chew. It must be uniformly toasted, but not excessively, it should not have a bitter or burned taste. It can be obvious, but the chocolate granola should have a taste of chocolate – and not in a shest. Although a touch of sweetness is welcome, it should not be disgusting, and there should be just enough salt to complete it. The chocolate granola purchased in store does not have to taste freshly cooked in the oven, but it should not have a taste as if it had been sitting on the shelf for weeks or months.

General winner

Cascadian Farm Organic Nark Chocolate Amander

Everyone has approved the crunchy texture of this granola. “No notes,” wrote Kelli, our editor -in -chief of senior social media, although she then gave very positive notes: she thought that the flavor was pleasant, rich and “recalling the chocolate cake”. Geneviève, our editor -in -chief, thought that her flavor was a bit moldy when she tasted her, but she loved her better with milk. Amanda, our director of the associated visuals, appreciated that Granola had a taste that there was “real chocolate.“” She is not wrong – this granola contains, in fact, dark chocolate chips.

Finalists

• Good and gather the granola of double chocolate piece
• Nutrail dark chocolate chocolate granola

Our publishers thought Good and gather the granola of double chocolate piece Was the group’s junk food, but they thought it in the best way. In fact, each taster loved this granola. “It’s like the Cocoa Krispies of Granola – Kinda Junky but as well,” wrote Daniel, our editorial director. Kelli thought it had the taste of “Dutch Process Cocoa”, that she found pleasant, but that it was a touch too sweet. His final verdict will appeal to fans of chocolate cookies: “If you like Oreos, you will like it.”

“It really looks more like a mixture of snacks than a granola,” wrote Kelli de Nutrail dark chocolate chocolate granola. Meanwhile, Geneviève appreciated the crunchy and appropriate size clusters – not too large and not too small – and their “chocolate” flavors. Daniel thought he needed salt, but that didn’t care about the whole flavor. Since this granola lacked oats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds were more visible in Amanda.

The contenders

• Cascadian Farm Organic Nark Chocolate Amander
• Good and gather the granola of double chocolate piece
• Grandry Organics Organon with Granola Dark Chocolate
• Kind Healthy Gluten grains without granola grass with gluten -free dark chocolate
• Granola Kodiak, chocolate
• Cocoa chocolate pobricles with Michele granola
• Crunchy crunchy granola with dark chocolate dark chocolate
• Nature’s Path Love Crunch Double Chocolate Chunk Granola
• Nutrail dark chocolate chocolate granola
• Purely Elizabeth Chocolate Sea Salt Granola
• Trader Joe’s Chocolate Coffee Granola

The main dishes and conclusion

Our biggest point to remember from this taste test? The chocolate granola is delicious! In fact, our publishers gave high notes to almost all the granolas that we tested – our winner and the finalists obtained the highest brands.

With the exception of a brand, all the chocolate granolas that we have tasted have oats as the main ingredient. Most are sweet with cane sugar, brown sugar or coconut sugar. Many also contained oil and nuts and / or seeds. Some granolas contain preservatives such as tocopherol, a form of vitamin E used to maintain freshness.

To obtain this signature chocolate flavor, many chocolate granolas contain cocoa powder and chocolate chips or pieces. Some granolas are made with cocoa powder transformed with alkali – in other words, cocoa powder treated with Dutch. The pieces of chocolate are commonly made of sugar, chocolate alcohol, cocoa butter and vanilla. Generally, our publishers preferred granolas at the same time with cocoa powder and chocolate chips, which contributed several layers of chocolate. Our winner, Cascadian Farm Organic Nark Chocolate Amandercontains both dark chocolate chips and cocoa powder.

Our publishers have found chocolate granolas based on cane sugar to be sweeter than granolas based on other sweeteners such as barley malt syrup and honey. Our tasters also found that granolas containing rice starch – an ingredient generally used to give the granolas a clear texture – tolerated slightly stingy and had dull chocolate notes, so we ignore this when buying granola for our own pantry.

Our test methodology

All taste tests are carried out with completely hidden and discussion marks. Tasteers have a samples taste in a random order. For example, the taster can taste the sample a first, while the B tootter B has first taste the sample six. It is a question of preventing the fatigue of the palace from unjustly give a single sample an advantage. Tasters are invited to fill tasting sheets, classifying the samples according to various criteria. All data is tabulent and the results are calculated without editorial entry to provide the most impartial representation of possible real results.