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.
WOW! So many variations and they all look delicious. You’ve put so much work into these and we can hardly wait to try them. Thank you for sharing. Loving your site as well! xo
I’m making these now in a gluten-free version & the “dough” tastes great! (Peanut craisin chocolate chip and almond craisin coconut). I’m wondering if you have tried to make granola clusters with this recipe???
These. are. amazing. Period. I have tried countless granola bar recipes and never had any as good as this. No problems with crumbling either and I kept them at room temp. We took them (double batch) on holiday last week and they were supposed to last all week but only lasted about 2 days. I could eat a whole batch myself in one sitting. My problem is that I actually need to make them taste LESS good cuz I couldn’t stop eating them! Kids loved them too. I did a double batch and put them in a high-rimmed cookie sheet. It was perfect. Making more tonight for this weeks lunches–if they make it past Tuesday!
Best review ever. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment. We love them too! Happy granola bar making friend.
How about making these for a vegan friend… if I sub earth balance for butter could I swap the honey for agave or other sweetener? I am not familiar with adjusting for vegan cooking. Thank you!
I’d do coconut oil for the butter and agave or maple syrup for the honey (though the agave is closer in texture to the honey, so maybe try that first!). I’d love to hear how it goes!
These are a perfect on-the-go snack! Plan on making some of these to keep around the house or throw in my gym bag. Can’t wait to try the endless varieties!
These were delicious! So easy and I added coconut, peanut butter and raisins! Weird mix I know but I used what I had to test the recipe. Definite winner will be making this all different ways! Love it
These are so good! I made the peanut butter pretzel ones and I did dried cranberry, coconut and almonds and the last one I was channeling an almond joy and did almonds, cashews, coconut and chocolate ?. So yum!
Those sound so good! Thank you for sharing! I can’t wait to try your Almond Joy combo, so tasty.
I just made these with the M&Ms, chocolate chips, and PB. I had saw that someone 1.5’d the recipe for a 9×13 so I did that. They didn’t cut into nice shapes and the M&Ms all fell off! Now I see that I should have probably doubled it. Do you think that doubling it instead would fix the crumbly not-holding-together issue?
I’d double it for sure. Also, try cooking the the sugar mixture on the stove just a little less, that might help it not crumble too. How did they taste??
Is there a certain amount of time to cook the sugar mixture? Taste pretty good…wish more M&Ms would have stuck ?
Is there a certain time to cook the sugar mixture? Tasted pretty good…wish more M&Ms would have stuck ?
I have been looking for a good granola bar base recipe and this is it. I am feeding the cross country team each weekend when they travel and this recipe is perfect. I added almonds, pecans and walnuts to the base and then add extra flavors beyond that. The kids love them and so does the coach. The kids are now making flavor requests each week! (No nut allergies, obviously…). Thank you so much for the great ideas.
I love that! Thank you so much for sharing. We make them lots and lots for school snacks and team sport stuff too. Thanks for your comment, totally made my day!
WHat size pan for these?
A 9 by 9 inch square baking dish is what’s called for in the recipe. A double batch works great with a 9×13 inch pan.
Just made these – turned out great but I made some adjustments:
No butter, subbed PB. Added 2tlb milk to thin out mix from PB.
Mix-ins were:
Oven-dried strawberries and bananas, cornflakes, chocolate chips, mixed (unsalted) nuts.
I also added cinnamon, and a little pink Himalayan sea salt.
Delightful! Thanks! I’ll be making these again.