Eating real food with real ingredients usually means you need to make things from scratch. Like granola bars. Even the ones with organic ingredients usually have way more added sugar than needed. I was really excited when I found My Whole Food Life’s recipe, and decided to double it and substitute applesauce for a banana-free recipe. But what if you don’t have applesauce? And what if you are allergic to peanuts? I’ve done some experimenting with different ingredients and have come up with this: the only granola bar recipe you’ll ever need!
Ilove this recipe because it really only takes 15 minutes to mix the ingredients together. And you don’t need to break out any small appliances to do it. I’ve tried it with all kind of ingredients and this base recipe really works with anything!
Try using different ratios of rolled oats and quick-cook oats – I have found that if I use all rolled oats, it was too crumbly. If I used all quick-coat oats, it was really soft. I now use half and half of each.
I’ve tried peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower seed butter, and homemade chocolate hazelnut butter (another My Whole Food Life favouriteminus the medjool dates). All of them work great in this recipe.
I love that I can use whatever fruit I have on hand: mashed bananas (if my husband isn’t going to eat them), strawberry chia jam, strawberry rhubarb chia jam, rhubarb stew, leftover smoothie that I made for my daughter, or really any combination of pureed fruit that is in the kitchen or freezer.
Most often I will add raisins, dried cranberries, and/or chocolate chips. (For dairy-free ones, I like Enjoy Life mini chips.)
This failsafe recipe is proof that making real food from scratch doesn’t have to be time-consumingorexpensive.
Try it out and tell me what combination of ingredients you used!
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This is good. “Granola” is supposed to be the ultimate hippy food, and yet the commercial brands even sold in health food stores are so sugar-filled I can’t bring myself to buy them. Whyyyy?
EXACTLY!! Why so much sugar and added junk??
Finally! A lower sugar granola bar recipe – thank you 🙂
You’re welcome! I hope you like it!
And no processed sugar or palm oil either! Most of the time I find myself putting the packet back on the shelf when i see these or any chemical sounding ingredient. Do you have a recipe for homemade hazel nut choco spread you mentioned? 🙂
I made the hazelnut chocolate spread according to a recipe from My Whole Food Life but can’t find the original recipe on her site anymore. However, it’s super easy. Basically it’s grinding up the hazelnuts into butter, then adding cocoa powder, milk and whatever sweetener you like to taste. The closest one on her site is this one – minus the medjool dates. http://mywholefoodlife.com/2013/02/24/healthier-vegan-nutella-bites/
I’ve never made granola bars, but these look tasty and pretty easy. I’ll have to try them!
I hope you like them! I love that you don’t need any real equipment to make these – so simple!
these look amazing!! My family would love these!
Let me know how they work out for you!
This looks like a great recipe. I’ve made a few different kinds of granola bars and this one looks delish! Thanks for sharing!
You’re so welcome!
I love granola bars and they are great when you need something quick. I do appreciate a low sugar version and something can make that is flexible . I am pinning this for later!
Yay! Yes, I definitely needed something flexible because I am not always stocked on everything.
This is a great recipe! I’m definitely giving this a try, but will need to use certified gf oats. Thank you for sharing! Pinning ?
There are definitely certified GF oats out there – I hope you like it!
Love making my own granola bars! This recipe is super easy to follow Thanks (:
Thanks so much for this cheat sheet! I used rolled oats, peanut butter, maple syrup, banana, dark chocolate chips, coconut, dried cranberries, milk, and I also added a tsp of vanilla and sprinkled sea salt on top. They’re in the oven now and I can’t wait!
Oh, that sounds amazing!!! I hope they taste good!!!
What size pan?
I used a large baking sheet that is 15 1/2″ x 10″ and almost covered the whole thing.
Can’t wait to try this! How do you store them once they are cooked? Freezer, pantry? How long are they good for?
I usually refrigerate them, but I’m sure you can freeze them too. We usually eat them up within a week and a half, but they’ll probably be good a bit longer than that. I probably wouldn’t keep them in the pantry just to keep them longer.
Looks like a great recipe! I have been buying protein bars to avoid the mid-morning and mid-afternoon hypoglycemic crashes, but they are expensive. Do you think I could amp up the protein level using hemp hearts?
Yes! Great idea!
Hi, please could you tell me what weight measurement corresponds to a cup, please – I’m English and am constantly baffled by this as we don’t really use it here. Usually if a recipe uses cups I reject it and search for one I can understand in grams or ounces, but yours looks so good that I really want to try it out! Thanks xxx
As far as I understand, 1 cup (250 ml) typically equals 8 ounces!
Made these last summer and had them in freezer almost a year.
They are still very soft and good. Will make them again for snack this summer. Instead of apple I had date purée.
Thanks for recipeI’m so happy to hear that!! Thank you for sharing, I’m glad you’re making good use of it!
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