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Homemade Granola Bars (Gluten-Free)
Over the last few months, we’ve been on a bit of a health kick. We’ve been trying new foods and revisiting old ones, and we’ve been looking for ways to make easy snacks and breakfasts that are more filling and have less sugar than their in-store counterparts. Not to mention, we’re trying to make things that are gluten-free, celiac/coeliac friendly, and in line with all of Isabelle’s dietary restrictions.
While we still love some of these kinds of pre-packaged foods (like Kind Bars, which we eat a lot of), the cost of these can add up fast and we’re sometimes left hungry after we finish them.
Our homemade granola bars. These can be made with dairy-free chocolate or carob chips.
We had been making some of our old favorites, like these 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies that have been around for a while, or our own oatmeal banana peanut butter cookies, but we wanted something a little less sweet.
One night recently we decided to do a little experimenting with some of the ingredients in these recipes to see what we could bake that would actually hold together. We wanted to make something with oats, so it was just a matter of finding some binding agent (or agents in this case), baking it, and hoping for the best.
That’s when we came up with these homemade granola bars. It only took us the one try to make it work, but it was so good (and so easy to make) that we knew we needed to share this recipe.
*We should note that while these homemade granola bars might look like cookies, they’re definitely not nearly as sweet. They taste great on their own, but if you want something sweeter then you can add a chocolate/carob drizzle or try these cookies instead.*
Easy to Make
When we say that this recipe is easy to make, we’re not exaggerating. It took us about 10 minutes to mix the ingredients (all in one bowl) and under 15 minutes in the oven.
Tips
We use Jif Creamy Natural peanut butter in our recipe because it is not overly sweet, but it’s easy to mix into the recipe. We’ve used 100% natural peanut butter with no sweetener in other recipes, but for these homemade granola bars they need some level of sweetness because there’s no added sugar.
The oats we use also play a big part in how this recipe comes together. The most important part is that they are certified gluten-free. Oats are naturally gluten-free, but they are often processed alongside other grains that contain gluten, like wheat. Certified gluten-free oats are processed on their own so they are safe for Celiacs.
The other key aspect of the oats is that they need to be quick oats. We don’t pre-cook the oats before making these homemade granola bars and there are only a few ingredients. It’s the quick oats that make these bars actually hold together when you cook them (we tried another version with whole oats and they were not the same). If you don’t have quick oats, then an easy fix is just to put the oats in a food processor and “pulse” them 6-8 times.
Healthy
Despite how good these homemade granola bars taste, they are actually pretty healthy. We make them with only a few ingredients – many of which are high in protein. We also don’t add any sugar to the recipe. although the semi-sweet chocolate chips/carob chips (depending on your preferences) and peanut butter do contain some sugar already.
The protein in the peanut butter and oats, along with the fiber in the oats, also makes these pretty filling.
Possible Substitutions
The first substitution that we already included for these homemade granola bars is carob chips in place of chocolate chips. We’ve talked about this before, but with Isabelle’s chocolate sensitivity these are the next best thing. We’ve been following this recipe for a while and it has always worked out, but there are now more options in the store than before (such as these carob chips).
We included dairy-free chocolate chips in the chocolate version of this recipe because everything else is completely dairy-free (including the carob chips), but you can use any semi-sweet chocolate chips that work for you.
You can also replace the peanut butter in this recipe for another nut butter, or even sun butter. So long as the consistency is similar, the results should be great.
If you want to make this recipe vegan, then you could use an egg replacer or make a vegan chia egg. We did include chia seeds as an optional add-in for the recipe, but we used them dry so they were not our binder.
Nutritional Breakdown
| Total Servings: 12 | |
| Per Serving (1 bar): | |
| Calories | 230 |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Fiber | 2 g |
Making Homemade Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups gluten-free quick oats
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup carob chips or dairy free semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp chia seeds (optional)
- Vegan butter (enough to grease the pan)
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease a 9″ x 9″ cake pan with vegan butter.
- In a large bowl, add the gluten-free quick oats, peanut butter, egg, and chia seeds (if you’re including them). Mix these ingredients thoroughly. It might take a while to break down the peanut butter, but stop when everything looks evenly mixed.
- Add your chocolate or carob chips to your mixture and fold in until they are evenly dispersed.
- Transfer your mixture into your baking dish. Press it down into the dish until everything is an even height. Your mixture will not be liquid, so you will need to ensure that it reaches all 4 sides.
- Bake for 12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven when it is done. A fork or toothpick should be able to come out clean (or with chocolate/or melted carob only).
- Cut your homemade granola bars while they are hot. Leave them in the pan to cool before serving.