These easy and homemade healthy granola bars are packed with rolled oats, crispy cereal, and mini chocolate chips!
Super Healthy Granola Bars
Back in 2012, when I first posted a recipe for homemade chewy granola bars, I had no idea it would still be so popular five years later, with over 28,000 repins and twelve pages of positive reader reviews.
Even the best recipes can be improved upon, and today I’m sharing my updated version of the classic granola bar recipe, complete with six new flavor variations.
The recipe makes double the amount of the original. I also fixed up the photos and added a few new ones as well. This is one of those recipes that’s withstood the test of time. Five years later, readers are still making it!
Also Try These Vegan Brownies – NO Crazy Ingredients
These homemade granola bars have slightly better nutrition facts than store-bought Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, but–more importantly–they have a MUCH shorter and cleaner ingredient list!
How To Make The Healthy Granola Bars:
Stir together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk liquid ingredients together in a separate bowl, then stir wet into dry.
Transfer the granola bar mixture to a pan lined with parchment paper, and press down as firmly as you can.
Either bake in a preheated oven for 18 minutes OR simply chill until firm, then slice – there is no baking required!
Healthy Granola Bar Flavors:
- Chocolate Chip Granola Bars: Stir 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips in with the dry ingredients.
- Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bars: Stir 1/2 cup chopped raisins and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in with the dry ingredients.
- Nutella Granola Bars: Replace the oil with my Healthy Nutella, and add mini chocolate chips and chopped hazelnuts if desired.
- Vanilla Almond Granola Bars: Stir 1/3 cup finely chopped almonds in with the dry ingredients, and add a few drops pure almond extract to the liquid ingredients.
- Trail Mix Granola Bars: Stir 1/4 cup each chia seeds, shredded coconut, and chopped, dried cranberries in with the dry ingredients.
- Peanut Butter Cookie Granola Bars: Replace the oil with 1/4 cup peanut butter or nut butter of choice.
Edit: and now there is a pumpkin version!
Healthy Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup rice crispies (brown, white, or gluten-free)
- 3/4 cup oat flour, or process oats in a blender to make your own
- 1/4 cup melted coconut or vegetable oil OR nut butter of choice
- 1/2 cup raw agave or honey
- 1/4 cup brown sugar OR 1/8 tsp pure stevia
- 1/4 cup applesauce or mashed banana
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Variations: see flavor list under the third photo in this post
Instructions
- Line an 8-inch pan with parchment paper. Set aside. If you wish to bake the bars, preheat oven to 350 F. Stir together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk liquid ingredients together in a separate bowl, then stir wet into dry. Transfer to the prepared pan. Smooth down firmly, using a second sheet of parchment or wax paper. Press down as hard as you can. For no-bake healthy granola bars, chill until firm. (The no-bake option is also firmer if you use coconut oil.) For baked granola bars, cook on the center rack 18 minutes, then press down firmly again. Let cool completely before cutting into bars. View Nutrition Facts
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Allie says
Thank you for this recipe! My son is on the Nemecheck protocol diet so instead of coconut oil we used California extra virgin olive oil and we used maple syrup in place of apple sauce. My son is picky about textures so we blended the rice crispy’s and oats into small pieces. We used Stevia in place of sugar and also used Stevia dark chocolate chips. These turned out better than our store-bought bars. My kids ate like 10 of them.
Sarah says
Sorry, but is it compulsory to add brown sugar or sweeteners to the granola bar mixture?
Jess says
I made these using honey and banana and would NOT recommend that combo. The honey and banana flavours clash weirdly. I might try maple syrup and applesauce next time, as honey can be quite overpowering. I left out the brown sugar/stevia entirely, as the bars were already very sweet and definitely didn’t need more sweetener! I had to add a little unsweetened cashew milk to the dough, as it looked a little too crumbly, but once baked, the bars seemed to hold together nicely.
Tania says
How many bars (servings) is your nutritional data based on? Thanks! Can’t wait to try these!
Jen says
These are my go-to granola bars right now! My kids need healthy snacks at school and I’m so tired of buying packaged bars – so I’ve tried different recipes out – this one is the final product! I use Almond Butter (because all the peanut allergies in school), honey and banana and I love them. 🙂 I even pack one for me at work! I tried one with Almond Butter, Applesauce and part honey/part maple syrup. I definitely prefer the honey, banana, almond butter combo. 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing this!! It’s part of our weekly routine now.
Virginia says
Have you ever tried this without the honey? I’m looking for something with a little less sugar but I’m wondering if they would still stay together.
Jason Sanford says
You can add extra nut butter to make them stay together 🙂
Lydia says
The flavor is great! I’ve made the original and the cinnamon, raisin. Both have come out crumbly as well. I’ve read other comments about this but no response or suggestions. I used the applesauce instead of banana. Anyone have any suggestions? I’d love to know what I’m doing wrong. They taste so great. For now, we use the crumbles in yogurt as a topping. Thanks, love your recipes!
Melanie says
Did you bake? They do crumble some but baking them works out pretty well. With healthier ingredients, all granola bars will crumble some. I’ve made tons of bar recipes from different places and I’ve just gotten used to some crumbling
Jean says
Delicious!! I added mini chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and chopped almonds. Didn’t have oat flour, so I used whole wheat flour.
I will definitely make this again.
Melanie Hancock says
We LOVE these! Our favorite is the basic recipe with banana instead of applesauce (although that’s good too in a pinch!). Sometimes I’ll add Lily’s dark chocolate chips. I’ve found that I have to double the recipe to make them last more than half a day lol I love them so much this way that I haven’t tried them any other way 😆
CCK Media Team says
Thank you so much for making them!
lori says
These look delicious. Any thoughts about what i can sub for rice krispies as I don’t have in the house during a snow storm!
Janice Gamble says
These have definitely become a staple in our house–SO much better (and healthier!) than store-bought! My fave way to make these is to use peanut butter, applesauce instead of the banana, chocolate chips, coconut and a mixture of flax, chia and hemp. And I have NEVER added the brown sugar; we feel they are sweet enough using just the honey, especially with the chocolate chips.
Ariel says
Omg these are SO good, but SO sweet! Is there a way to reduce all sweeteners (without artificial) to make these more toddler friendly? Also.. can these be frozen and how to store if not?
nicole says
These turned out pretty good!
I used 1/4 cup honey and 4 large medjool dates with 1 T water for the sweetners. And used half a banana. Also, used PB instead of coconut oil and added in chocolate chips, coconut, and chia seeds.
I thought i pushed them down really good before baking and tried my best to push them down again after they came out of the oven. They still seemed a little fragile and squishy. Do you think I should have baked them longer? I did exactly 18 minutes.
I also did not love the banana flavor in them, and am wondering if I could replace the banana with flax or chia egg… but I’m not sure how much “egg” would replace 1/4 cup.
Next time I make them I may try to process everything in the food processor and just add in the oats, cereal, and mix ins at the end… not sure… would like a way to make them less fragile.
Thank you for the recipe!!
CCK Media Team says
Hi, unfortunately we have not tried making them with dates substituted for the other 1/4 cup liquid sweetener but would guess that would make the bars stick together less and have more water in general. The recipe lists applesauce as a good option instead of banana if you do not want any banana flavor whatsoever. If you try chia eggs instead, let us know how it goes.