A method for producing granular metallic iron by heating and reducing a raw material mixture which includes an iron oxide-containing material, a carbonaceous reductant and a Li2O supplying material in a thermal reduction furnace, wherein the iron oxide-containing material includes a hematite-containing material, and the raw material mixture includes at least Fe, Ca, Mg, Si and Li as constituent elements in such a manner that slag which forms as a by-product during heating and reduction contains CaO, MgO, SiO2 and Li2O, has a Li2O content of 0.05% by mass or more, and the slag has a basicity [(CaO+MgO)/SiO2] in a range of from 1.5 to 1.9. This method enables granular metallic iron to be produced at a high productivity even when a hematite-containing material is used as the iron oxide-containing material.