Granola vs Muesli: Know the differences between the two popular breakfast choices

Granola vs Muesli: Know the differences between the two popular breakfast choices

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and the first choices for this meal usually include granola and muesli. It is relatively easy to get confused between the two due to a similar appearance. So check out the differences between the two to avoid this confusion.

When it comes to having a light yet wholesome, delicious yet healthy breakfast, the first foods that cross your mind are oats, granola, muesli, cornflakes etc. These are perfect as the first meal of the day and provide you with the energy and nutrition needed to get the day started.

It is easy to get confused between granola and muesli as they both look more or less similar and have somewhat same ingredients. They are rich in carbohydrates, protein and dietary fibre. Here is a detailed comparison between granola and muesli for you to not get confused between the two.

Muesli

Muesli is a mixture of oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. The ingredients in this are not baked and are instead raw. It can be soaked in juice, milk or water and can be served cold in a salad or added to yoghurt.

Granola

Granola is made by rolled oats, crushed nuts, dried fruit with oil and sweeteners like honey. It is mostly served cold and is a popular breakfast food in most of the households. It can be eaten with milk or as a crunchy topping on yoghurt.

The differences

One of the major differences between muesli and granola is that while both are made up similar kind of ingredients, muesli is not baked while granola is baked along with a sweetener and oil to bind the ingredients together.

In comparison to muesli, granola has a higher calorie, sugar and carb content due to the added sweeteners.

The sweeteners added in granola to bind the ingredients, increase the sugar content in it. When it comes to muesli, some commercial versions of it can have added sweeteners in it. Moreover, the presence of dried fruit in both foods also increases the amount of sugar content in them.

An antinutrient that binds minerals like zinc and iron known as phytic acid, can impair their absorption. The raw oats present in muesli are rich in phytic acid.  But soaking muesli in milk or juice or water can significantly decrease the amount of phytic acid present in it and result in improved absorption of zinc and iron.