Healthy Homemade Granola Bars

Easy homemade healthy granola bars that are protein packed and full of chocolate chips and gooey peanut butter! No added sugar, vegan, and gluten free, they make a great snack for kids and adults alike!

Personally, I’ll never purchase another granola bar again, because these homemade healthy granola bars are just too dang easy.

I’m talking 5 major ingredients that you probably already have in your cupboard.

What’s even cooler is that these no bake granola bars taste even better than anything you can find in stores.

With toasted oats and a sweet vanilla note, these homemade chewy oat bars are an oaty piece of heaven in a bite.

Plus, if you have kids who love granola bars, try out these homemade granola bars on them, and you’ll have snacks covered for days!

Why these vegan granola bars are awesome

What I love most about these granola bars isn’t even the taste, because sure, there are many great tasting granola bars out there. I’m not going to pretend my take on granola bars is the best version out there, even though they do taste rather amazing.

I can tell you, though, that these vegan granola bars are made from the simplest budget friendly vegan pantry staples.

What’s more, they’re packed with vegan protein. I used pea protein in these homemade granola bars, which helps to bring the protein count up to 6 grams per bar.

Plus, rolled oats have many benefits, including being high in soluble fiber. Not only that, but we’re also not adding any refined sugar or sweeteners. We’re just using nature’s candy: dates!

Now, before you begin that dates are high in sugar, these granola bars are actually low in added sugar (8 grams per bar); additionally, dates may even promote a healthy brain.

Aside from the health benefits, these no bake granola bars are also highly meal prep friendly. Simply spend 10 minutes making a batch on Sunday for over 2 weeks worth of daily snacks or breakfast bars!

Ingredients for healthy granola bars

It’s so funny to me because we purchase some of the simplest things to make in stores. Trust me, I do it too. As a kid, I was a huge fan of the chewy granola bars.

What’s really cool is that not only are these homemade granola bars just so easy to make, but they’re made with the simplest ingredients- ingredients you probably already have in your pantry!

For these healthy oat bars, you’ll need:

• Rolled Oats: I used sprouted oats here, but you can use regular rolled oats! Just make sure they’re gluten-free if needed.
• Dates: this helps bind these no bake granola bars together. Go for the pitted ones, it’ll make your life easier 😉
• Peanuts
• Peanut Butter: you can use chunky or smooth here.
• Pea Protein Powder: I recommend using a neutral flavor pea protein, but you can also use a vanilla flavored one
• Chocolate Chips
• Sea Salt
• Cinnamon
• Vanilla Extract: trust me, this is necessary! Adds a wonderful flavor and really knocks these easy granola bars out of the park!

Kitchen equipment for no bake granola bars

In terms of equipment, you really don’t need much to make granola bars at home.

I recommend a nice big bowl, to fold all of the ingredients together, along with a rubber spatula. The rubber ones are great for folding together ingredients, and I heavily rely on it when making my cakes so that I don’t over mix the batter.

Finally, you’ll need a food processor or high powered blender. Please do not use a NutriBullet for this recipe- it just won’t work!

How to make homemade vegan granola bars

To make these chewy healthy granola bars, start by making sure that your dates are soaked and soft before beginning to make the bars. This allows the dates to be pureed much smoother and ultimately binds the granola bars together much easier.

You just need to soak them in some hot water for 10 minutes. That will do the trick!

Now, I did mention that these are no bake granola bars, but I do recommend toasting the nuts and oats together if you want a more aromatic homemade granola bar.

To do this, mix the oats and peanuts together on a baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon and sea salt. Then place in the oven to bake for a few minutes to bring out that toasty aroma!

Then puree the dates in a food processor while the oats cool. Add in the peanut butter, pea protein, and vanilla extract, and puree again until smooth.

Add the oats and peanut butter date combo into a large bowl and mash it all together with your hands. Let the granola batter cool before folding in the chocolate chips (this ensures that the chocolate chips or chunks don’t melt! This is important!).

Once the chocolate chips are mixed in, press the granola batter into a baking pan lined with parchment paper, and place into the freezer.

• 

• 

When they’re set, remove the peanut butter granola bars from the freezer and slice! Enjoy as is or you can melt some chocolate and drizzle over them 🙂

Healthy granola bar add-ins and ingredient swaps

These homemade granola bars specifically uses peanut butter, peanuts, and chocolate chips, but what’s really cool is that you can actually customize these.

So maybe you’re nut free, or your kids can’t bring peanuts to school, or maybe the whole peanut butter chocolate combo just isn’t the combo for you (don’t worry, I won’t judge!).

Here’s what you can do:

• Swap in peanut butter for pumpkin seed butter, sunflower seed butter, or coconut butter
• Swap the peanuts for freeze dried berries, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds

For additional ingredient swaps, I recommend:

• Add in cacao nibs for chocolate chips
• Swap out the peanut butter for walnut butter, pecan butter, cashew butter, or even chocolate hazelnut butter
• Swap in hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, cashews, etc.
• Add in puffed quinoa or amaranth, chia seeds, or flax seeds
• Sprinkle in additional warming and sweet spices, such as nutmeg, cardamom, and star anise

What I don’t recommend is swapping out the dates or removing them entirely. Like I said earlier, the dates serve as the binder of these healthy chewy granola bars, along with the nut butter.

How to store homemade vegan granola bars

I recommend storing these in the freezer if you’re going to be eating them long term (although truthfully, these have never lasted my household for more than a week haha!).

If you’re going to be consuming them within the week, you can absolutely store them in an airtight container or ziplock baggy and place them in the freezer.

Sometimes, the granola bars get a little sticky or soft when left at room temperature for too long, due to the dates and peanut butter combo. If that happens, just pop them into the freezer for 30 minutes, and you’ll be good to go!

I hope you love these healthy homemade granola bars as much as I do! It seriously just beats out any store bought version for me, and it’s just so easy, you’ll have no excuse not to make them.

Plus, how fun is it to bring your own granola bars to school, or work, or as a travel snack and be like, “Yeah, I made these!”?!

Maybe I’m a dork, but I would be impressed with anyone who did that haha!

Let me know if you give these no bake granola bars a go in the comments below, and as always, I love seeing your beautiful recreations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!

Happy granola bar making!

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

Print