Guess what? I have created a no bake homemade chewy granola bars recipe that is going to knock you off your seats!
I’m telling you.. this recipe is really good. I am a little angry at myself for not creating it sooner. After all, I have been making my own granola for years now to eat with yogurt and fruit. My kids love it, but it seems like they like these granola bars better. Maybe it’s because of the chocolate chips, not sure… either way these are really really delicious.
Have you seen the ingredients on store-bought granola bars? Lots of processed ingredients. But I wanted to make a more healthy granola bar, with real ingredients, and it needed to be kid friendly. This homemade granola bar had to be the soft chewy kind, and had to be easy. Lastly I wanted to make a large quantity so that I could freeze the bars and plop them into my kids lunches.
I played around with the ingredients that I wanted to use and made a few batches until I came up with the prefect concoction. Muwhahaha (that’s my evil scientist laugh). They tasted like heaven. My kids couldn’t get enough! I was worried that I was going to be in a lot of pain from eating so many — I really should have thought twice before inhaling that 8th granola bar. This was the actual thought that went through my head that night. I know, it’s quite sad.
I hope you and your family enjoy these no bake homemade chewy granola bars as much as we did.
No Bake Homemade Chewy Granola Bars
Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw sugar or brown sugar
1 1/2 cups honey (Buy some on Amazon here)
1/3 cup coconut oil (Buy quality Coconut Oil here)
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt (Buy on Amazon here)
1 cup 100% all natural crunchy peanut butter – ( I used the Adams brand)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 cups crisped rice cereal – (Buy on Amazon)
2 2/3 cups old fashioned oats
2/3 cups ground flax seed
1/2 – 1 cups mini chocolate chips
Method:
In a large bowl, combine your oats, crispy rice cereal, and ground flax seed. Stir with a large spoon until well combined. Set aside.
Measure out sugar, honey, coconut oil, and sea salt and place in a sauce pan over medium heat. Bring it to a boil. Stirring the whole time, boil for exactly 1 minute so mixture combines and sugars dissolve. Take pan off the heat and add in the crunchy peanut butter and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth. Pour this Peanut buttery honey deliciousness over your bowl of oat/crispy rice cereal mixture.
Stir until well combined.
Let this mixture sit and cool for about 5-8 minutes. Meanwhile, grab a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan (mine is sized at 12½ x 17½ by 1 inch), and some parchment paper. Place cookie sheet on a large piece of parchment paper and trace around the outside of it. Cut it out and place this on the inside of your cookie sheet. It should fit perfectly. This will help later to keep the granola bars in one piece before cutting up. Believe me on this. I tried greasing the pan and it didn’t work.
After the mixture has cooled enough that the mini chocolate chips wont melt upon contact, pour the granola mixture out onto the large cookie sheet.
Spread mixture out evenly.
Next, tear off another large piece of parchment paper and place this over your granola mixture. Take another jelly roll pan or cookie sheet the same size and place it on top of the parchment. Press down. This will help to compact the granola so that the bars will stay together and not fall apart. Little helpers love to do this part.
Remove cookie sheet and parchment, sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top and repeat the process above, taking the parchment paper and extra cookie sheet and pressing the two together so that the chocolate chips get pressed into the bars.
Remove parchment paper and cookie sheet. If you have fridge space, place cookie sheet in the fridge to finish cooling. If not, it can finish cooling on the counter just as well. Once the bars have cooled completely, slide solidified mixture out of your pan. Yell hallelujah and pat yourself on the back for using parchment paper. Didn’t that make things so much easier? At this point they should look like this….
Now take a cute knife… and yes, the knife has to be cute (don’t ask dumb questions), and cut the bars into the size of your choosing.
Here is a grid to help you see just how I cut mine.
Be prepared to be blown away. I was amazed at just how easy these were to make and how good they tasted. They are so soft and chewy and honestly, I don’t know if I will ever go back to store bought. Not only are my homemade chewy granola bars tastier, they are healthier too. I’d be willing to bet that bar to bar, they are cheaper than store bought.
To Freeze: Wrap each bar in plastic wrap.
Place in a freezer safe zip lock bag and freeze. In the morning, I pull out a bar and put it in my children’s lunches. By lunch hour they have thawed, becoming soft and chewy again.
Below I have added the printable version of this recipe. Enjoy!
- 1/2 cup raw sugar or brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups honey
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 cup 100% all natural crunchy peanut butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups crisp rice cereal I used organic
- 2 2/3 cups old fashioned oats
- 2/3 cups ground flax seed
- 1/2- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
-
In a large bowl, combine your oats, crisped rice cereal, and ground flax seed. Stir with a large spoon until well combined. Set aside.
-
Measure out sugar, honey, coconut oil, and sea salt and place in a sauce pan over medium heat. Bring it to a boil. Stirring the whole time, boil for exactly 1 minute so mixture combines and sugars dissolve. Take pan off the heat and add in the crunchy peanut butter and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth. Pour this Peanut buttery honey deliciousness over your oat/rice crispy mixture. Stir until well combined.
-
Let this mixture sit for about 5-8 minutes. Meanwhile, Grab a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan sized(mine is sized at 12½ x 17½ by 1 inch), and some parchment paper. Place cookie sheet on a large piece of parchment paper and trace around the outside of it. Cut it out and place this on the inside of your cookie sheet. It should fit perfectly. This will help later to keep the granola bars in one piece before cutting up.
-
Next pour out granola bar mixture onto cookie sheet. Press with a second cookie sheet so it is flat. Then immediately spread your chocolate chips on the top and press again.
-
Allow to cool. You can add it to your fridge or leave on counter to cool. Once the bars have cooled completely, slide solidified mixture out of your pan. Now take a cute knife and cut the bars into the size of your choosing. (I cut 5 bars across and 7 bars down making 35 bars total).
To Freeze: Wrap each bar in plastic wrap. Place in a freezer safe zip lock bag and freeze. In the morning, I pull out a bar and put it in my children's lunches. By lunch hour they have thawed, becoming soft and chewy again.
If you loved this recipe and are hungry for more check out the from scratch or freezer meals section of my website. Oh and if you try this recipe out please come back and let me know if you liked it too!
Hi, have you tried this recipe without the peanut butter? I wonder, if I was to leave it out, if I would need anything else to replace it? I don’t always prefer peanut butter in a granola bar, and we also have friends with allergies, so it would be a nice option. What do you think?
Thanks! These do look wonderful, I’m going to try this recipe soon!
Tami
You might try using more coconut oil, but I am not sure what else would work in place of the peanut butter. Let me know if you find any alternatives.
I was also wondering about a substitute for peanut butter since most schools do not allow peanuts or their products because of allergies. I might try almond butter, but it is somewhat expensive to use a cup at a time.
Almond butter, sunflower seed butter?
Any of those would work!
We can still have peanut butter at our schools, but this year we had our first peanut allergy show up. They sent home a paper giving alternatives and one was called Wow Butter. I found it at Walmart and it the taste is very close to peanut butter.
Have you tried this recipe using the peanut butter alternatives? I am making these today using sunflower seed butter.
My friend did it with sun butter and said it was good. I assume any putter substitute would work though.
My chocolate chips would not stay in so I melted chocolate and spread it over the top and it was almost better than before.
Cookie butter 🙂
what about honey???
You could probably replace it with sunflower seed butter or some other nut butter
I just made them with soy nut butter and they’re great!
Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
hey! forgive me if this was already asked, but there are a lot of comments here. have you ever done a version with some cinnamon and raisins? maybe sub for peanut butter? just wondering, before i take a swing at it and probably strike out lol.
I personally haven’t but I feel like there have been a lot of substitutions and people really like it. I think the addition of cinnamon and raisins would be great!
This recipe is pretty similar in taste (just make yours Karrie, and they are delicious as well) and I like it as well and it doesn’t use peanut butter:
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2013/01/chewy-granola-bars.html
I use sunflower seed butter that I make at home or almond butter would work with this recipe I think.
Use Sunbutter! (Sunflower seed butter). You can find the cheapest price at Trader Joes. It’s a great allergy free option.
I wonder if prunes would work? They might hold it together. Oooh I wanna try both. Thanks for the recipe.
Wow those look good! That is a REALLY cute knife!
I was just thinking about homemade granola bars! Yours look ah-amazing!
I’m new to cleaner eating, so just wondering if the crisp rice cereal is considered clean? Thank you for all of your amazing ideas!
I use organic crisp rice cereal. 🙂
Love this recipe!!!! Haven’t made one of yours my family and I don’t love.
Keep them coming! 😀
This recipe looks wonderful! I can’t wait to try it.
would it work if I left the flaxseeds out?
I was wondering about this also. Would ground chia seeds work just as well?
I haven’t used ground chia seeds in this recipe. If you try it let me know how it turns out! 🙂
I used sunflower seeds and my kids and I loved it!
YUM!
Ground chia seeds worked very well!
I think you would need to add another dry ingredient or a larger quantity of the other dry ingredients in its place if you took out the flaxseeds. The ratio between the wet ingredients and dry ingredients make the chewy yummy part of the granola bar! 🙂 Let me know if you try something in its place!
I made these tonight and I must say…yummmmy! I did not use the flax seed, in its place I used chopped almonds and chopped pecans. The bars are chewy and delicious, and my family allowed me to put some of them up. Thanks for a great recipe.
great idea – what measurement of nuts did you use? I like my measuring tools because i’m not a wing-it girl in the kitchen!
I completely understand! There are no nuts in this recipe–only the ones in the crunchy peanut butter which is 1 cup. It is a great way to get finely chopped nuts in the granola bars without finely chopping them! 🙂
I was curious too about the peanut butter. While peanuts are not a concern in our family, only 1 of my 3 daughters likes the taste of peanut butter. I wonder if tahini would work and I would like to try the sun butter as suggested
I just thought of something… NUTELLA!! Oh man would Nutella make these super delish. Give that a try perhaps, I know I will be for sure the next time I make them.
I’ve tried a similar recipe, but it kind of bothered me that the oats don’t really get cooked at all. It doesn’t bother your tummy to eat them somewhat raw like that?
Roast the oats in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 first – gives that nice toasted flavor!
I will have to try that out next time!
When you put the hot mixture on top of the oats that somewhat “cooks” them. Also, I make overnight oats. I think when they are absorbed in something it makes it easier to digest as I was concerned when I started eating overnight oats.
On a totally different note, I LOVE this recipe and quadruple the recipe now to freeze. My sil in Maryland loves these too. It’s her son’s go to snack now! I think I may try some of these other but butters as well from now on!
Thank you for posting this! I would be super interested to know how they compare cost-wise if you ever break it down. It’s hard for me to cook due to disability, so for me to do homemade it’s gotta be worth the pain 😉
It’s pretty pricey..If you don’t have any of the ingredient in your kitchen already .
These look super yummy. I will definitely be making these this weekend. I’m wondering though if a step has been left out of the printable version. I’m not seeing the instructions for the chocolate chips.
Thanks for catching that! 🙂 The recipe should tell you to remove the cookie sheet and parchment, sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top and repeat the process above, taking the parchment paper and extra cookie sheet and pressing the two together so that the chocolate chips get pressed into the bars.
Hi karrie,
I Used a mix of organic and non organic..I also did not use flax seed I did not have any on hand, so I use chopped up walnuts then I realized I was using chunky peanut butter..I really made a mess of ur recipe..I also used table sugar..lol nothing about these gronula bar seem healthy in my oponion..I’m going to follow ur recipe next all the way thru.
I wondering how long can I keep them before the expire ?
^typo “was”
Sorry about the typo’s… I was wondering how long they we’ll keep before expiring ?
They will last about 4-6 months in your freezer…if they can last that long without being gobbled up! 🙂
Thank You.
These are very yummy, though I was having trouble not eating the granola/peanut butter mixture just by itself!
Interesting no-back granola bar recipe but I would never make it. Too much sugar and honey, and too much oil. Is there a version that won’t send the kids into outer space on a sugar high, or feed more fat to one of my children who needs to watch his weight? I often substitute applesauce for oil, but I’m not sure that would work in this case.
I haven’t tried making that version of granola bars. But if you do let me know what you think! 🙂
May I suggest that you investigate what sugar does to your body verses oil? The oil is necessary for our bodies as long as it’s healthy, natural oil. Processed sugars, on the other hand, turn into fat in our bodies almost immediately. Check out research by Dr.’s Mercola and Perlmutter. They have the answers as to why our children suffer from obesity. Good luck to you in your investigations.
I made these and used pure, organic maple syrup in place of the honey. I also left the sugar out. They turned out great!
Thanks for that comment, was wondering about the maple syrup…figured as much but confirmation is always nice before you go and waste such an expensive ingredient 🙂
These were delicious! Almond Butter could be used in the place of peanut butter.
By far, the best granola bars I have ever made…and I love that they aren’t baked! Chewy and delicious. I only used 1 c. honey because that’s all I had, and I think they are plenty sweet and chewy.
That’s good to know Sadie, so for those of you who want to lower the sweetness of them try it with only 1 cup of honey!
Can you make these without the sugar/brown sugar? Would the honey and pb make it sweet enough?
Not sure – give it a try!
Yes I leave out the sugar all the time and it works great.
Yes I leave out the sugar all the time and it works great. Like them but want to know if anyone has tried it without the rice cereal and just added more oats?
I’ve been looking for a decent recipe for a while now because my toddler is a huge fan of the quaker chewy granola bars. I’m so glad you posted this! 🙂 Thanks!
I was wondering what the calories were since I’ve been eating them because they are so good?
They are 175 calories per bar.. just did the math. 🙂
These are soooo good! 2 of my 3 kids devoured them! I used sunbutter instead of peanut butter so my kids could take them to school. The only problem was that mine don’t stick together very well. I used large flake oats (not sure if I was supposed to use the quick cooking ones) and I did use half the honey in order to cut the sweetness. Any thoughts?
I am glad you like them! Using all of the honey may be the solution–that sticky goodness really helps bond them together. I also found when making them that pressing them firmly in the pan and then putting them in the fridge for about 20 minutes really helped them to stay together well. Hope that can help for next time! 🙂
I just made these and they’re excellent! I used used coconut sugar instead of raw sugar, delicious!
Thanks for another great recipe!
Great idea! Glad you liked them!
Is there something I could substitute for the coconut oil. One of my kids loves it, my other son does not. I’m allergic to it, and it’s one of the few I cannot cheat with. Sad day, because I was given a 5 gallon bucket full of pure coconut oil.
I’d also like to know if there is a substitute for coconut oil as we are out and can’t go to the store for awhile!
I am not sure if there is a good substitute for the coconut oil. If you find something let me know! 🙂
Is is weird that I love my own recipe so much that I have made this like 4 times already? It’s true. These are so good.
I think that’s great 🙂
These were easy and good! But I think I will reduce the vanilla and skip the brown sugar next time, they were very sweet, more like a no bake cookie than a granola bar. Not necessarily a bad thing depending what you’re going for : )
Are they gluten free? I dont know because I need to make something for the family, they can’t have any gluten.
You would have to buy gluten free oats, chocolate chips, and make sure the ground flax seed is gluten free (not sure on that one?)
Couldn’t you substitute more peanut butter for the coconut oil? I don’t know – just a thought. I don’t really care for the taste of coconut.
That is a lot of total sugar plus chocolate chips! Sounds more like a candy bar, no wonder your kids love them..
Hi , I subscribe to The Prairie Homestead, and your, ” NO BAKE HOMEMADE CHEWEY GRANOLA BARS” recipe appeared tonight. I have been on a ‘quest ‘ of sorts to find a healthy- delicious fruit and nut bar. I think this one is the closest that has come to fitting that description since I ‘ve begun looking . ITs also simple enough to substitute a few ingredients for others. I like the proportions of ingredients as well . Many thanks for posting and best wishes on the success of your blog.
Wonder how the bars would hold up to using Stevia? I still have a ton of dried leaves from my last harvest. I try to stay away from using Sugar. Will let you know. : ) Great posts btw!
Did you ever try the stevia?
Love these! Although I really made the recipe my own because i was to eager to wait till I can get to the store next. I left out the coconut oil and was a wee bit light with the honey, peanut butter and brown sugar. I also added dried cranberries, almonds and dark chocolate. I also had to substitute the rice cereal for my sons banana flavored rice based cereal. They turned out great with so many options. Awesome base thanks. Keep up the wonderful work. I am newly married and and so i inherited a small farm frton city to country we are working our way to being self sufficient.
I’m glad to see yours turned out great without the coconut oil. I was planning to try this with sun butter, but was wondering if it was possible to leave out the coconut oil or use a different oil in it’s place…. My son has a tree nut allergy so he can’t have coconut (recently added to the tree nut list).
This was way too sweet for me and I love sugar. I think I would like it better with 1/2 to 3/4 cup honey and more peanut butter. Do you think the texture would be okay?
I haven’t tried it before but I don’t think it would change it too much. If anything it would probably just be more peanut buttery which is not a bad thing at all! It’s definitely worth a try. Let me know what you think!
I am looking for healthy treats to send to my son overseas. I wondered how long these would last. No, he would not be able to freeze them. I so want to make him cookies, but he won’t really eat them. lol Healthy does not always ship and last very well. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Trish,
I used 1 cup of honey instead of 1 1/2 so I can’t speak for the recipe exactly. But I know that when I had mine out of the fridge for a few hours they became soft. Not bad just really soft. It is about 64* in my house. I bring this up only because if you are sending them someplace really hot they might melt. At least mine would have. 🙂
Did some quick calculations to figure out the price per bar, and I came up with about 50 cents per bar. Not bad! Obviously, this number will be different depending on where you’re buying your ingredients and what types you’re getting, but it’s probably cheaper per bar in general. And probably better for you!
I agree that with 1.5 c of honey, they’re a little sweet for me. The next batch I make, I’m going to use less honey and more peanut butter and see how it turns out.
We finally got around to making these today. My toddler likes them. I like knowing all of the ingredients. For everyone concerned about sugar content, I have a toddler who is very sensitive to sugar in the sense that she gets very hyper and over emotional at the smallest amount. I decided to only put 1 cup of honey instead of 1 1/2. We did keep the raw sugar the same. The bars still stuck together great. In the end , if you follow Karrie.s directions you get 35 bars. They are not that large. I gave her one as a trial two hours ago and no adverse reactions. 🙂 she can not eat store bought granola bars without becoming a wild child… so thank you very much Karrie!
For those of you looking for a way to combat some of the sweetness of the honey—one of my friends tried making these granola bars using 3/4 cup honey and 3/4 cup corn syrup instead of just the 1.5 cups honey. She said they take out some of the sweetness of the granola bars and give it a firmer texture while still staying true to the flavors. I haven’t tried it as I don’t use corn syrup but for those that do it might be worth a try!
Could molasses be used instead of part of the honey?
I haven’t tried that before! Let me know if you do and how it turns out!
I only had my Irish quick-cooking oats around and had no cereal, but not being the patient type I used the oats I had and skipped the cereal. The recipe sounded so good I had a craving that had to be served! This time, my impatience did not prove disastrous – the bars were delicious! I love to make food from scratch, and these were the perfect snacks to wrap and take with us on a day we were going to be traveling. Apparently, the recipe is forgiving, so I encourage you to use the basic recipe and play around with whatever you have on hand.
Thanks! We love it, too!
Hi! These look good! I’m trying to come up with my own granola bar recipe that’s approved for the eating plan I do, and I was just wondering how many grams of fiber are in each bar?
I made this with Nutella since my son is a huge Nutella fan. It’s a BIG hit in my family! It tastes very similar to Little Debbie’s Star Crunch snacks all it would need would be a caramel drizzle for taste! My 6yr old and 1 yr old gobble these up fast! My son says he likes these way better than the Quaker brand chewy granola bars!
I just made these substituting crunchy almond butter due to a peanut allergy in our household. Yum, Yum, Yummy (okay, the mixture was, the bars are still cooling). I do think I may reduce some of the sugar next time as they are quite sweet, but the sea salt combats it so I don’t think it is a flavor that my children will dislike (ha…children…disliking sweets!).
I was impatient to try these so thought rather than waiting to get mini chips I would just chop regular-sized ones in a food processor. I wouldn’t recommend it, quite a mess, but I’m sure they will still taste great.
I’m not convinced on the money saving, though. These seem like pretty premium ingredients and though I have plenty of coconut oil left (well I had some on-hand and still have lots left), I used it most of the jar of almond butter and more than one of the honey. I definitely think knowing what is in your food is more important than cost, though.
If they go over well I will try next time with some dried fruit, too. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I am allergic to Peanut Butter so I used natural Almond Butter and I love these. Although I think they do not stick together because AB is a different texture then PB. I read a few of these and am not sure what do add more off to make them stick together?
I think I’ll try PB next for my hubby and son – until I’m enjoying what I have.
PS It would taste amazing on ice cream!
I was wondering if these would turn out chewy if I omitted the sugar? Possibly more honey?
I made them & they are delicious! Just one problem…they fall apart & don’t stick together in a bar. They are like clumps. Any advice?
Just tried to make these and the coconut oil sugar mixture turned into a smokey black nasty smelling mass :/
You might have burnt it on accident. Make sure you keep the heat on low or medium so you don’t burn it.
Love, love, love these! I have made a couple of versions and all have been hits. I have one dd that eats no sugar so I sub coconut sugar for the brown sugar and sugar free choc chips. She LOVES them better than Larabars which are very expensive. The other versions I’ve made are with 1/2 vanilla 1/2 mint extract and chocolate chips (not my fav but kids LOVED them). Also sub 1/2 vanilla, 1/2 almond extract and peanut butter chips plus some chopped peanuts……these are the reigning champs. I always use smooth peanut butter since that is all we eat and put a little less honey than it calls for. They press into the pan beautifully and always stay together. I’ve passed the recipe on many times.
I am giving these a 5 star for consistency… the texture, chewiness, etc is fabulous. My husband is eating them as if they’re big warm chocolate chip cookies, so are my kids. That being said, I do think they’re a little sweet! I mainly taste the honey when I eat them, so I wonder if I cut the honey by 1/2 a cup, would they that nice consistency but lose a little sweetness? Or would omitting the sugar be a better option?
I know people have tried using less honey and it has worked out for them. I have stuck by the recipe pretty faithfully so far so I am not for sure! 🙂
I just made these and they are AMAZING!!! My husband and son have already had 2 a piece! I used all organic, gluten free ingredients! Also, I make my own peanut butter and these turned out perfect! I do plan to freeze them, out of fear they will fall apart! Best granola bar recipe I have tried yet!! Thanks!!
Mine are cooling in the refrigerator now! So excited!
I like to use real maple syrup instead of the honey. Yummy
I tried making these and they were a bit too sweet and soft. I think next time I will use less honey. I also used hemp seed instead of flax but it worked nicely. The flavour is great, just probably too much sugar for school!
Made these on Sunday with my 6 y/o and 3 y/o and boy oh boy, yum…I can’t get enough of them! They are very sweet, so next time I am going to try with less honey, which would be fine because the one I ate as a snack today had a strong honey flavor…
The crunch from the rice cereal and the peanut butter-y goodness are to die for.
Thank you so much for sharing, keep up the awesome blogging!!! Love the way you write, mom to mom, it makes me giggle (especially the post about pureeing veggies for pasta sauce, I have been doing that for a few years now…suckers…)
The family loves them too, forgot to mention that, whoops…
Way too much honey. They’re good, but a honey overload! I’ll cut it in half next time.
Maybe you’re using the wrong honey? Organic, raw is the way to go. I use more than the recommended amount and get terrific, chewy granola.
I agree with the honey overload. We only buy local, raw honey and when we double the recipe… 3 cups is way too much. We just cut it in half.
It took one bite….now, I’m a believer. I will never buy granola bars again. These are waaaay too easy!
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi there! Thank you for sharing this recipe! My daughter suggested we make homemade granola bars and so far we both fell in love with your recipe! Can’t wait to try this tonight! Thank you very much for posting!
Let me know what you think!
I LOVE these. I made them today because my 2 1/2 year old is in love with Quaker Chewy Granola Bars and I was tired of buying them with all the processed junk in them. These bars taste so much better than the store bought ones. I accidentally bought whole organic flax seed instead of ground so I ground it myself but it turned out well. My only issue has been they fall apart really easy. I am trying to put them in the freezer for a little while to see if it helps stiffen them up a little. Any suggestions for how to keep them together?
Hi Gang….I’ve made this granola recipe three times now over winter break. I have three teenagers, one in college. All three of them enjoy this, my hubby eats it too.
I modified it a bit to use gluten-free organic oats (whole foods), organic peanut butter, etc…..I can find everything at WF, Trader Joes has a lot too. I also add fine shredded coconut, dried blueberried and cranberries. These bars are so chewy and good, they go fast!! I LOVE that you are recommending the Celtic Salt. Folks, this lady knows what she’s talking about ( the salt is also available at Whole Foods if you don’t want to wait on the shipping). Love this site!!
Hi Karrie
As I read the comments on this recipe, there is plenty of feedback on how sweet they are. Might I offer a suggestion? I use Coconut Palm Sugar as a substitute for the sugar asked for in the recipe. Its an organic sugar from the coconut and not sugar cane. Its a different kind of sweetness, much healthier for the body though. Using organic peanut butter also cuts down on the sugar – regular brand peanut butter contains some sugar and is much “sweeter” than the organic.
Just a thought.
Cheers!
How do these compare to the store bought bars in terms of price? I am headed to the store to pick up 6-packs of granola bars at $0.99 per box. Does this beat that price?
It depends if you have any of the ingredients on hand. I do so it is always cheap to whip up a batch. More than that though you can’t beat the ingredients on this list!
Wow!! These are amazing! I seriously could not stop eating them as I was cutting them into bars! This was my first time attempting to make a homemade granola bar and I was amazed at the results… the flavor is fantastic and the texture is absolutely irresistable! I would describe the texture as a cross between a rice-krispy treat and a chewy granola bar. I agree they are too sweet, more like a dessert granola bar than a breakfast one. They actually remind me very much of Kudos bars with peanut butter and chocolate. Next time I will make it with less honey or maybe skip the brown sugar, I hope that doesn’t change the texture too much. Thank you for the recipe!! Will definitely be making again and again 🙂
These were very good, but a tad too sweet for my husband to eat for breakfast. Could I leave out the sugar and maybe lessen honey?
I haven’t made it without the sugar but it would definitely be worth a try. One of the other commenters said she tried it and used maple syrup instead of honey and liked it!
I just made these for my daughter’s dance team. They LOVED them! Personally, I thought they were too sweet, and my son didn’t like them because he does not like the taste of honey. I made them with SunButter, because my kids are allergic to all nuts, and they were perfect.
Just a note: as suggested, they do stay together better if you refrigerate them right away after pressing in the chocolate chips, and then freeze them.
Now, I am off to the kitchen to make them with pure maple syrup so my son will try them. And I’ll have to use chunky Wow Butter because I’m out of Sun Butter. I’ll let you know how those turn out!
Great! Yes, please let me know how they turn out!
I made these and substituted crispy rice with grape nuts for a litte more nutrient packed action and YUM! These are getting added to my monthly staples
Made these last night and they were a winner for all 3 kids, me and my mom! I did add too many chocolate chips, but that’s easy to fix next time. Kids voted that they want them in their lunch boxes instead of store bought.
These worked out really good but they are super super sweet. I wonder if it would still make as much if I used less honey. I added raisins and sliced almonds. Probably will not make them again as they are way too sweet for me. For those who like sweet though it is a great recipe.
Try it with only half the honey next time. Other comments have found it successful!
I have a similar recipe that calls for 1/4 cup honey and NO sugar, and it’s plenty sweet. I’d consider cutting WAY back on the honey next time. Of course, it makes a smaller batch so cut back on the oats and crispy rice too. And I add a scoop of protein powder.
I’ve tried lots of granola bar recipes from around the net, and so far, this one has topped them all. The others have been crunchy and crumbly. This one is not. Most of them tasted fine, but who wants to find a bag of granola in their lunch box when they packed a bar? my only (slight) complaint is that it has a bit too much honey. I have a honey sensitivity, so have to watch how much I have.
I made this recipe as written. It was a little too sweet for my taste so I will cut back on the honey next time. Regardless, my three young children LOVED these bars! This is a lunchbox request now. Super easy to make too!
I haven’t read all of the comments, but has anyone attempted to make them like a fudge dipped version??
This looks really good can’t wait to make them.
I found you through the Summer Favorites Giveaway!!! And I am loving tons of your freezer meal ideas!!! This is one of my favorites! I love the idea of making an easy and yummy snack ahead of time and being able to freeze it!!!
Another one here through the giveaway, and I *love* this recipe! I need some good gluten-free options for a trip I’m taking this summer, and this looks like it may be a perfect fit. Thank you!
I made these but used sunbutter instead of peanut butter and chia seeds instead of flax seed. It turned out really well and my boss loved the idea of the kids at work having them on outings or hiking trips.
Great additions! I haven’t tried the chia seeds in it but I bet it would be great! I will try those on my next batch!
We love this recipe! The only thing we noticed was that it tasted very coconuty. We did half butter and half coconut oil and it was much better. also we added cranberries, sunflower seeds, walnuts, granola and more, instead of all 4 cups of rice cereal. Thank-you
Great idea–I bet the addition of the nuts and cranberries were a great addition!
Tried these today and they were great! The kids especially LOVED them! Best and easiest chewy granola bar recipe I’ve tried or seen!
I think I might add some brewer’s yeast to a batch and make “lactation chewy granola bars” for when my baby is born in May!
These sounds really good and a lot of good hints from reviewers too….which I think I might use some of them…..but they do sound delicious….and being homemade no matter what you put in them beats the store bought ones with all the additives added in that we can’t even pronounce….think about it people……
I like when good things come easy, and these do not disappoint. And the great thing is you can add what ever you want to it; we put in pumpkin kernel seeds and coconut, and who would forget the chocolate chips.
I have tried several recipes on this site and I am so pleased to say that I we have enjoyed every single one. This is a definite go-to site for me!
These were AMAZING!!!! Thanks for sharing.
I’ve made these a couple of times now and I can’t get them to stick together. They keep breaking apart into granola- which isn’t totally bad because it’s delicious in a bowl with milk! But…any idea where I might be going wrong?
Make sure and cook those ingredients on the stove top correctly, that could be the problem.
Did you buy ground flax or grind it yourself? I’ve read that the fresher ground the flax (or chia) is the better it binds. I use flax or chia in my veggie burgers and I add a little more than the recipe calls for to help it hold together better. It doesn’t affect the taste. On that note I am going to try this recipe for the first time with a few tweaks. I plan to use some mashed banana to replace the sugar. I’m hoping that adding a little extra flax will make sure it still holds together.
I just bought it already ground. 🙂
Carrie: I have a son who is allergic to coconut. Is there another oil I can substitute for the coconut oil.
I used 1 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of maple syrup because I didn’t have enough honey. They turned out great. My husband loved them.
If I am not adding the sugar, do I need to boil it that long or just heat it up to get things melted well?
Also, I like to use the sprouted grain cereal which puffer than the regular crisp cereal. It doesn’t quite stick as well. What should I increase to help with that?
Thanks!
What a fabulous recipe! So yummy. We played around with different flavors, using Kashi Go-Lean instead of crisped rice, adding dried cherries to one batch, pnuts and mini M&M’s to another. Thanks!
How would adding berries or mango work. My daughter and I hate peanut butter but with her going to school soon, I’m wanting something like this that DAD can whip up her lunch box and not have her sent to the office for having “inappropriate” foods. (Daughter also doesn’t like nutella).. any thoughts would be great. TIA 🙂
They worked out well but they are a sugar bomb. I didn’t add the sugar and only one cup of honey and they were still very sweet. Next time I’ll use puffed rice as the rice cereal has sugar and even less honey. To make up the volume, I added more sunflower paste (no nuts allowed at school) and maybe next time some tahini as the sunflower paste has sugar in it too.
Just made these and they are awesome! I love a bit of sweet but not too much. So did not add any sugar and used half the minimum choc chips suggested. Used brown crispy rice cereal (only 1gm sugar) and was enough to make two batches. Still too sweet for me for anything beyond dessert (kids had no complaints) but so yummilicious! Thanks for the post, my 9yo and myself had a great time making them for back to school treats.
Next time I will do the 1 cup honey only and try almond butter for fun variation with 1/4 cup choc chips! Great suggestions for variations above!
Of note, I had tons of costco dried bp from summer needs and used it on one batch. Just mixed up right before putting with honey and worked and tasted great too (compared to crunchy adams).
I followed this recipe exactly and I found that it was waaaay too sweet. Next time, I would cut the honey in half and probably omit the sugar completely. I cannot eat more than a few bites of a bar without gagging or needing an entire glass of water to wash it down.
Luckily, I’m an endurance athlete so I’ll most likely cut these into tiny bite-sized pieces to take with me on my distance runs or backpacking trips as a quick hit of sugar … but I may need a ton of water to stomach it.
Hey! So I made this so amazing !
Do you happen to know the macros of one bar?
I make granola bars quite often. This recipe is a winner! Like your recipe, my original recipe (from a friend) had PB and chocolate, but I like to change things up by substituting ingredients. Almond butter, dried fruit, unsweetened coconut, pumpkin or sunflower seeds… the delicious combinations are endless! Also brown rice syrup works as well as honey. Just don’t change the total dry ingredients and total cooked ingredients. The totals have to be the same or the dry/sticky ratio will be off and the bars will either be too runny or too dry..
One slight difference in our recipes- I cook the sticky mix to 235 degrees ( that’s “Soft Ball” state, like making soft candy). Someone in the comments mentioned that her bars fell apart and this will prevent that from happening. I’m careful not to get it any hotter or the bars won’t be soft and chewy they’ll be more like hard candy.