8 Easy Granola Bar Recipes
on May 05, 2017, Updated Oct 23, 2024
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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
From Scratch Recipes
Celery Juice
Snacks
Sweet Potato Chips
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.
i made the bars yesterday
DELISH
Can this recipe be rolled into balls?
I bet you could!
Make sure you press REALLY HARD and they should hold together really well.
Make sure you press REALLY HARD and they should hold together really well.
So glad you liked them Beth!
I know I’ve made these before and they were delicous, so I’m going to try them again. Kids are home and need snacks!! Just wondering, can I replace the honey with maple syrup? I don’t have honey in the house and can’t go out. Thank you!
I haven’t tried it, if you experiment with it, will you let us know?
I love this recipe and have made your delicious granola bars dozens of times. Have you ever used quick cooking oats? Unfortunately with everything that is going on in the world right now it’s hard to leave the house and I accidentally bought a big box of quick cooking oats instead of old fashioned lol
It’ll work great, slightly different texture, no real issue! So glad you could find something that would work.
This was my first time making homemade granola bars, and I’m so thrilled with them! They were so easy to make and delicious. Like other people have said, I may never buy granola bars at the store again. I’m so excited to make new flavors too! They were a touch sweet for me, do you know if I cut some of the brown sugar or honey if they’ll still hold together well? Tips on that appreciated!
You can reduce the brown sugar by half and they’ll still stick together great!
I’m pretty sure I’ll never buy granola bars again! The varieties are endless and so yummy! Just made the cranberry white chocolate pecan and I want to eat all of them! Easy recipe to follow as well.
What a compliment! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a comment.
My kids love the basic with chocolate chips. The last time I made them I added a tablespoon of Nutella, 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder and cinnamon and they are delicious!! Thank you!
Ohhh that sounds so good! Thank you for sharing what worked for you.
When they don’t stick together it’s generally because you measured your dry ingredients too generously, so that’s something to be mindful of. And for a more store bought flavor swap out the honey for more brown sugar, that’ll help!
Never buying box granola bars again. This is the recipe I have been looking for. Our fave is toasted coconut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seed and dried figs. Sooo delicious….thank you for sharing this recipe!
Ohhhh you used allll the good stuff, sound delicious. And thank you for coming back to leave a comment. I really appreciate that!