Easy No-Bake Granola Bars (Healthy & GF)

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This granola bar recipe is so easy and so delicious! These wholesome bars are naturally sweetened, gluten free, and the perfect healthy snack.

Updated byKathryne Tayloron August 29, 2024

Meet my favorite granola bar recipe. These bars are delicious and easy to make with basic pantry ingredients—and you don’t even have to bake them!

These granola bars pass as a quick breakfast and make a perfect snack. I love packing them for road trips and flights, and I love hearing from moms who make them regularly for their kids. They’re a big hit with all ages.

As you’ll see, the recipe is versatile, so you can easily fold in your favorite flavors—nuts, chocolate, dried fruit. You’ll find my go-to flavorings in the recipe below if you want to follow my lead.

These granola bars have rescued me from more than a few hangry moments lately. They’re satisfying, just sweet enough, and stick with me for hours. Granola bars to the rescue!

Granola Bar Ingredients

Oats

Old-fashioned oats or quick-cooking oats both work here (steel-cut oats will not). Old-fashioned oats lend a chewier, more “rustic” texture. Quick-cooking oats melt more into the bars. If you like, briefly blitz old-fashioned oats in the food processor to mimic quick-cooking texture.

Mix-ins of your choice

Here’s where we add more flavor! See below for options.

Nut butter

Nut butter helps hold these bars together and adds protein, healthy fat and fiber. You could use peanut butter, almond butter, or even pecan butter. For a nut-free option, sunflower butter works beautifully.

Honey or maple syrup

These natural sweeteners also help bind the bars and make them deliciously sweet (though not too sweet). Or make date paste from fresh Medjool dates—dates add extra fiber that honey or maple syrup don’t. See the recipe notes for details.

Cinnamon, salt and vanilla extract

These add extra flavor to your bars. Technically, you could omit any or all of them, but the bars are far more enticing with them. Salt enhances every other ingredient—cut it in half if you’re sensitive to salt.

Watch How to Make Granola Bars

Mix-In Options

Two cups of mix-ins add flavor, texture and extra nutrients. Choose from any combination of the following:

Granola Bar Variations

Here are some variations on this granola bar recipe I’ve dreamed up over the years. I love them all!

Granola Bar Tips

These granola bars are quite simple to make, especially if you have a food processor (affiliate link).

Chop up your ingredients if they are large.

These bars hold together best when the ingredients are quite small. If using almonds, start with pre-sliced or chop them in the food processor or by hand (same goes for all nuts). Easiest approach: toss all your mix-ins into the food processor and blitz a few times.

Press the mixture down as firmly and evenly as possible.

Air pockets cause problems. Use a sturdy, flat-bottomed jar to press the mixture down completely. Then press with your hands to make sure it isn’t sneaking up the sides or corners.

Let the mixture rest for one hour or longer before using.

The oats need time to soak up the moisture from the nut butter and sweetener. Chill the mixture for at least one hour (or up to a day) before slicing.

Slice and store properly.

Use a sharp chef’s knife to slice these bars. I like to cut them into squares. Another option is to slice them into bars like this. I think the squares are a bit sturdier. Don’t stack the bars on top of each other or they’ll stick. Store them flat and covered, or wrap them individually in plastic wrap or parchment.

Please let me know how your granola bars turn out in the comments! I always love hearing from you.

Looking for more healthy snacks? Try my favorite granola recipe, sweet and spicy roasted nuts, stovetop popcorn, or browse a wide variety of snacks here.

Easy No-Bake Granola Bars (Healthy & GF)

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This granola bar recipe is so easy and so delicious! These wholesome bars are naturally sweetened, gluten free, and the perfect healthy snack. Recipe yields 16 bars.

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

*Mix-in options: Any combination of nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc.), seeds (pepitas or sunflower seeds), chocolate chips or roughly chopped chocolate, shredded coconut and/or dried cranberries or cherries. For the bars shown here, I used 1 cup pecan halves, 1/2 cup pepitas, 1/4 cup shredded coconut and 1/4 cup roughly chopped dark chocolate. Anything larger than your pinky nail needs to be broken into smaller pieces. If you don’t have a food processor, chop by hand.

**Granola bar texture: If you’re using old-fashioned oats and prefer a smoother, less chewy texture (shown in my photos), blitz the oats in a food processor for 3 to 5 seconds to break them up. Then add them to the bowl.

Change it up: These bars can be sweetened (mostly) with Medjool dates if you’d like to boost the fiber. Soak 12 dates in piping hot water for 10 minutes, then tear them in half and remove the pits. Place them in a food processor with 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey and blend until completely smooth.

Make it gluten free: Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats.

Make it nut free: Skip the nuts (pepitas and sunflower seeds are great options) and replace the nut butter with sunflower butter.

Make it vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey.

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