8 Easy Granola Bar Recipes
on May 05, 2017, Updated Oct 23, 2024
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These 8 easy granola bar recipes come together in a snap for a no-fuss, no-bake healthy snack. Made with oats, honey, nut butter, and EIGHT different flavor mix-ins, you’ll find the perfect granola bar mixture for your dream granola bar!
Homemade granola bars are awesome! They taste delicious, travel well, are just plain easy to make, and are inexpensive. Need a snack for preschool, after t-ball, or to take in the car to a game? Granola bars will be there, no matter what needs to be done! This recipe makes perfectly chewy granola bars.
One of the best things about granola bars is that they are highly customizable. You can make your own at home, changing the ingredients to suit your preferences. This allows you to control the amount of sugar used and avoid any additives or preservatives found in some store-bought bars.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Prep Ahead: These store super well in the fridge or freezer.
- Easy Snack: These are a super healthy snack and packed with nutrients.
- Make At Home: They are quick and easy to make at home with simple ingredients you have on hand in the pantry. No more granola bars from the grocery store.
- Great Consistency: These bars have a chewy texture, just the way my family likes their granola bars!
Recipe Ingredients
- Old-fashioned rolled oats
- Nuts
- Honey
- Butter – unsalted
- Brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Homemade Granola Bars
Step 1: Toast the nuts and oats and boil the sugar, butter, and honey.
Step 2: Add the wet ingredients and dry ingredients to a bowl and stir.
Step 3: Press the mixture into a pan and refrigerate to set.
Step 4: Remove from the pan, cut, and enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
Press the bars into the pan very firmly. I normally grease the bottom of a glass cup or measure up and use it to stamp down the mixture in the pan.
They last a good long while just at room temperature in an airtight container and even longer in the fridge! I’d say 5-7 days on the counter and 10+ cold in the fridge.
Yes, it will work fine, but you will need to cook it a few minutes longer since the syrup has more moisture than the honey.
Expert Tips
- Honey Fans: If you like a stronger honey flavor, use 1/3 cup honey and 1/4 cup brown sugar in this recipe.
- Chocolate Tip: If you are going to add chocolate, you’ll want to wait until the hot honey and oat mixture cools a little bit and is closer to room temperature (about 15 minutes), or all the chocolate chips will melt (it still tastes great but doesn’t look as nice).
- Toasting is Good: Toasting the nuts and oats is optional, making the granola bars taste like cookies. I highly recommend it.
- Great for Trips: Granola bars make an excellent on-the-go food. Pack up a tote bag with these bars, some maple banana muffins, and drinks, and you’re ready for anytime hunger hits!
Tips & Tricks for Making Homemade Granola Bars
Here are My 8 Granola Bar Variations
Blueberry Granola Bars
- Master mix
- Almonds
- ½ cup dried blueberries
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
Dark Chocolate Cherry Granola Bars
- Master mix
- Pecans
- ½ cup dried cherries
- ¼ cup dark chocolate chips
Tropical Granola Bars
- Master mix
- Cashews
- ½ cup chopped dried fruit (pineapple, mango, and mandarin oranges)
- ¼ cup coconut
White Chocolate Cranberry Granola Bars
- Master mix
- Almonds
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup white chocolate chips
Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Bars
- Master mix
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter (add this when you add the vanilla and salt and stir well to combine)
- ½ cup M&M’s
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars
- Master mix
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter (add this when you add the vanilla and salt and stir well to combine)
- ⅓ cup broken pretzel pieces
- ¼ cup peanut butter chips
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
Spiced Nut Granola Bars
- Master mix
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ cup pecans
- ½ cup cashews
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon (add this when you add the vanilla and salt)
Sunflower Pecan Granola Bars
- Master mix
- Almonds
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup candy-coated sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
More Healthy Snack Recipes to Consider
Breakfast Recipes
Protein Shakes
Snacks
Breakfast Bars
Breakfast Recipes
Chia Seed Pudding
From Scratch Recipes
Celery Juice
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Easy Granola Bar Recipes
Ingredients
Master Granola Bar Recipe
- 2 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup nuts, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cups total extra mix-ins, (About 1/4 cup of 3 different ingredients such as dried fruits, coconut, chocolate chips, etc. Please see the following recipe mix-ins for options.)
Blueberry Granola Bars
- Almonds
- ½ cup dried blueberries
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
Dark Chocolate Cherry Granola Bars
- Pecans
- ½ cup dried cherries
- ¼ cup dark chocolate chips
Tropical Granola Bars
- Cashews
- ½ cup chopped dried fruit, pineapple, mango, and mandarin oranges
- ¼ cup coconut
White Chocolate Cranberry Granola Bars
- Almonds
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup white chocolate chips
Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Bars
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter, add this when you add the vanilla and salt and stir well to combine
- ½ cup M&M’s
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter, add this when you add the vanilla and salt and stir well to combine
- ⅓ cup broken pretzel pieces
- ¼ cup peanut butter chips
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
Spiced Nut Granola Bars
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ cup pecans
- ½ cup cashews
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon, add this when you add the vanilla and salt
Sunflower Pecan Granola Bars
- Almonds
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup candy-coated sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper or aluminum foil and lightly spray with cooking spray.
- Place the oats and nuts on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly toasted.
- While the oats are toasting, add the honey, butter, and brown sugar to a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. Let the mixture bubble, while stirring, for 1 minute and then remove from the heat.
- Place the nuts and oats in a large bowl.
- Stir in the vanilla and salt to the butter mixture. Pour this mixture over the oat and nut mixture and stir to combine. Add any extra ingredients (except for chocolate) and stir to combine. Make sure none of the oats are dry.
- If you are adding chocolate, wait about 15 minutes for the mixture to cool a bit before adding the chocolate and then stirring to combine.
- Place all of the oat mixture in the prepared pan. Use a rubber spatula or the bottom of a greased measuring cup to press the mixture into the pan. Press it in very firmly, this is what makes the bars stick together.
- Chill the granola bars for at least 2 hours. Lift the bars from the pan using the edges of the foil or parchment and place them on a cutting board. Cut into desired shape/sizes and serve.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 10 days. If you are stacking the granola bars place a piece of parchment between the layers to help prevent sticking.
Video
Notes
- The nutritional information was calculated by using almonds for the 3/4 of a cup of “mix-ins”.
- If you don’t want to use nuts, skip them or replace them with something like shredded coconut.
- You can skip the step where you toast the oats and the nuts, but it really takes them to the next level of deliciousness. I highly recommend it. If you’re in a hurry, though, you can skip it!
- Don’t cook it higher than medium heat; the honey will scorch if you cook it at a higher temperature.
Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe! I made the base recipe with raisins and coconut and the peanut butter chocolate chip one and froze them so I have some healthy postpartum snacks ready for after I give birth soon. The non peanut butter one was more crumbly, but that’s okay, it will be perfect for crumbling into yogurt! Love it, thanks again!
Ohhh that combination sounds soooo good! Thank you for letting us know what worked for you. And congrats on the baby!!! I have some no bake oatmeal energy bites that mix together really fast, you might love those for postpartum snacks too!
I used to make these a couple of years ago and I’m not sure why we stopped, but my 5 year old still remembers them and we are about to make some.
I used to freeze mine
Thank you very much for the yummy recipe
I love that! I haven’t made it in a while either, I think I will today too!
They get crumbly if you measure a little too heavily and they are spread in an 9×9 inch pan. The sugar count was done on the base bar recipe, no additions included.
Quick, easy, and yummy! So easy to make variations on the base recipe. I made a batch for my mother who has dementia and eats mostly bread. These got her to change her diet a bit. I’ll be making bunches of batches in the future.
That’s so kind of you to help!
Holy Moly! This is mana from Heaven! I’ve made this twice now and my second batch is even more amazing than the first! First time I did a chocolate/hazelnut/raisin combo. The second batch I toasted some pumpkin/sunflower/flaxseeds mixture with the oats and also toasted my coconut add-in with that. Then after I added dried cranberries. Soooooooooo yummy! Thanks so much for bringing back granola into my life! P.S. We make our own butter and keep bees that make honey, so you can imagine how happy I am that you shared this recipe.
Bees and butter! I’m a bit jealous that you have both of those on your farm. I’m working towards both too.
OMG! The best recipe I have ever found! Made them with cashews and almonds in the toasting phase, and pecans, cranberries, blueberries, cherries and shaved coconut at the end. Absolutely excellent! One bar can keep you going for the whole morning! Thank you for inspiring me to make something really delicious!
Ohhhh so many great mix-ins! Those sounds so good! Thank you for sharing your success!
Hi! I tried the recipe, it’s delicious (i switched the butter for equal parts of coconut oil and almond butter to make them vegan). I just wanted to know how long you reckon their shelf life is ? I’d like to make big batches but don’t want to waste.
They’ll keep about 5 days on the shelf but they’ll stay almost 2 weeks in the fridge, that’s where I normally keep mine if I make a big batch for snacks and school lunches.
Me and my husband love these. My second time making them and I didn’t have honey so I used light corn syrup. I also only used 2 cups oats so I could put more trail mix in. Put them in my small muffin pan with liners and scooped them 1/4 cup and made 11 granola cups. They turned out great!!
Ohhh the cups are a GREAT idea! Portable and takes some of the fussiness out of cutting them into bars. Thank you for sharing the idea!
Great idea using the muffin cups. A little less mess for my little helpers in the kitchen . Haven’t made them yet today, but right after lunch is our plan.
These are fabulous!! I was thinking of adding mini marshmallows this time. Have you ever tried that?
ooohhh I love that idea! Let me know if you try it, I think it’ll work great!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I cant wait to try them. We are trying to create less waste as a household and one of our biggest plastic waste is granola bars. My toddler loves them. I love that I can control the sugar co tent too!
Congrats on being aware of the waste you produce, that’s an important thing! I’m really glad I could help you out with some of your goals too, happy granola bar making Clarissa!