These homemade granola bars are SO much better than any kind you'd buy at the store. They're easy to make, and they're chewy, nutty, and delicious.
A few weeks ago, I started craving the granola bars I ate as a kid. They had a chewy texture, a sweet, oat-y flavor, and pockets of mini chocolate chips. These days, I don’t keep packaged snacks around the house, but I always have old fashioned oats, nuts, and seeds in my pantry. I might not have had the exact granola bars I was craving on hand, but I could make homemade granola bars that’d be even better!
Fast forward to now, and I’ve made this granola bar recipe more times than I can count. It’s a breeze to make, and the bars are fantastic. They’re chewy, sweet, nutty, and studded with just the right amount of chocolate chips. Filled with wholesome ingredients like oats, pepitas, and nut butter, they’re healthy enough to pass for breakfast, but they’re also a perfect afternoon snack.
Granola Bar Recipe Ingredients
You only need 7 basic ingredients to make this homemade granola bar recipe:
- Natural peanut or cashew butter – It helps bind the bars together, and it adds protein, healthy fats, and irresistible nutty flavor.
- Whole rolled oats – They give these bars a perfect chewy texture. If you’re gluten-free, make sure that you use certified gluten-free oats.
- Honey – Along with the nut butter, it helps all these ingredients stick together! I love its warm amber flavor in this recipe.
- Vanilla extract – It amps up the bars’ warm flavor.
- Sea salt – To make all the rich, sweet, and nutty flavors in this recipe pop!
- Pepitas, crushed peanuts, or cashews – They add healthy fats, protein, and crunch.
- Mini chocolate chips – Who doesn’t love nut butter and chocolate?! Be sure to use mini chocolate chips here, as regular chocolate chips are too big to make cohesive bars. If you don’t have mini chocolate chips, finely chopped dark chocolate will work in their place.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Granola Bars
You won’t believe how easy it is to make this homemade granola bar recipe! Here’s what you need to do:
First, stir together the wet ingredients – the cashew or peanut butter, honey, vanilla extract, and salt.
Mix until the honey is fully incorporated. It will smell amazing!
Second, fold in the dry ingredients – the oats, chocolate chips, and pepitas. The mixture might seem dry at first, but keep stirring! Everything will be fully incorporated in no time.
Next, press the bars into a parchment-lined baking pan. Scoop the mixture onto the bottom of the pan, and cover it with another sheet of parchment paper. Firmly press the mixture to the sides of the pan with your hands. Then, use the back of a measuring cup to smooth and flatten the tops of the bars.
Finally, chill! Transfer the pan to the fridge, and allow the mixture to chill for one hour before you slice and eat the bars. That’s it!
Granola Bar Recipe Tips
- Use runny nut butter. Look for natural cashew or peanut butter with a smooth consistency to make this recipe, not the dry, stiff stuff that you might find at the bottom of a jar. If your nut butter is too dry or thick, it won’t bind the oats, chocolate chips, and nuts or seeds into cohesive bars. Use creamy nut butter, not crunchy.
- Don’t cut the chilling time short. It’s tempting to slice and eat these bars as soon as you press the oat mixture into the pan, but in order for them to be chewy and cohesive, they really need to chill. Pop the pan in the fridge for at least one hour before slicing and eating the bars.
- Store them in the fridge or freezer. Once you slice the bars, cover the pan and store it in the fridge, or transfer the bars to an airtight container. I recommend storing them with a sheet of parchment paper between layers so that the bars don’t stick together. They’ll keep for up to a week in the fridge, but you can also freeze them for up to 2 months. I like to eat these granola bars straight out of the fridge, but if they’re frozen, let them thaw at room temperature for 20 minutes before you eat.
Homemade Granola Bars Variations
- Change up the mix-ins! I love the combination of mini chocolate chips and pepitas in these bars, but they’re delicious with other mix-ins too. Shredded unsweetened coconut, chopped dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and dried currants are a few of my favorites. Feel free to use what you like, but make sure that you chop any dried fruits or nuts to a small size. You should also maintain the ratios I use in the original recipe. If the mix-ins are too large, or if you add too many, the bars won’t hold together.
- Make them vegan. To make these granola bars vegan, substitute brown rice syrup for the honey. If you can’t find brown rice syrup, you can use maple syrup here. It’s not sticky enough to bind this mixture into cohesive bars, but it makes delicious energy balls! If you use maple, roll the oat mixture into 16 balls before you chill it. They make a perfect bite-sized snack!
More Favorite Oat-y Treats
If you love this chocolate chip granola bar recipe, try one of these oat-y treats next:
- No Bake Cookies
- Homemade Granola
- No Bake Energy Balls
- Strawberry Rhubarb Bars
- Perfect Oatmeal Cookies
- Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
Then, check out this post for 47 more healthy snack ideas!
Homemade Granola Bars
Equipment
- 8x8 Baking Pan (I always use this pan from Ateco)
Ingredients
- 1 cup very smooth creamy natural peanut butter , or cashew butter
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Heaping 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2½ cups whole rolled oats
- 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips*
- 3 tablespoons pepitas or crushed peanuts or cashews
Instructions
- Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, stir together the peanut butter, honey, vanilla, and salt, until smooth.
- Add the oats, chocolate chips and the pepitas (or nuts). The mixture might seem dry at first, but keep stirring and it'll come together. Stir to combine and press firmly into the pan. Use a second piece of parchment paper and the back of a measuring cup to help flatten the mixture. Chill for at least 1 hour, then slice into bars.
- Store bars in the fridge.
To answer a couple of recent questions, I never froze mine – I just mixed it, put it in the fridge, no freezer time, and they were very firm (but I also added about 3T coconut oil to mine, not the liquid version). As for how long they last in the fridge, ours lasted a week because that’s how AMAZING they are! We couldn’t leave them alone. I cut them into 1″ x 2″ pieces, which makes for a great little treat. Thank you for the recipe!
I’m so glad you loved them!
These sound good. I am curious why they need to be frozen…all of the ingredients are shelf-stable right?
I’m just wondering why one couldn’t just put them in a bag in the pantry.
Hi Jason, since they’re not baked, these chewy bars keep their shape best when stored in the fridge.
Hi, does anyone know how long these last for in the fridge?
Hi Manisha, about a week. They also freeze well.
Would this work with sunflower seed butter instead of peanut or cashew? My daughters schools are nut free but my oldest loves granola bars so I’m always looking for a good recipe.
Hi Becky, sunflower seed butter would be great here.
I make them with sunbutter! Delicious.
Very good!! My husband and I just tried these today and we couldn’t believe how great they tasted!! I made mine exactly to the recipe and I used pepitas. I really like bringing granola bars to snack on at work and I wanted to start making homemade ones without all the chemicals and preservatives in it and these are great!!
Looking good so far! Can’t wait to try them in the morning thank you for the recipe. I wish
I could post a photo!
Hi! These granola bars are wonderful. Thank you for sharing. I may have overlooked but I can’t find the nutritional info. Could you please let me know.
Thank you!
Christy have
Hi Christy, we don’t calculate nutrition info for our recipes, but if you like, you can plug them into an online nutrition calculator like MyFitnessPal.
Good, but very honey forward. It’s the overwhelming flavor of the bar. I use ‘bar’ loosely. They are very soft and flimsy.
They will get eaten! Just not what I was going for.
Love these.
Any idea about the calorie count? I read in another bar that toasting the oats made them outstanding. Might try that next time.
I was wondering what the macros are. I need to figure it out so we can use them for our long cycling rides.
Type the recipe into a calorie counting website/app that has a recipe builder to get the nutritional info/macros..
These are amazing!! I made with brown rice syrup to make them vegan. I can imagine mixing this up with almond butter, cranberries, and pecans for variety! I’ll be making these again soon! Yum!
I make these regularly for my family. So. Good. They rarely last the week! The mini chips do make a difference but I’ve had success just running a knife through regular chips too. Be sure to take time to press them well. I cut the parchment long, fold it over the top and use it to help press the mixture into the pan.
I’m so glad you’ve loved them!
Okay wow delicious. I adjusted the recipe a bit. I used about 2 cups of oats, grinded them down a bit in the blender and used 1 cup of crispy rice cereal as well. This created the most awesome bar that sticks together so well. Will be continuously making these weekly!
I’m so glad you loved it!
Love the recipe better frozen not quite like a granola bar but reminded me of frozen cookie dough and oh my gosh so glad to have a healthier alternative!
Good flavour, but like some other reviewers, I found these also not firm enough. Put them in the oven at 350F for 20 minutes after realizing they would still flop over the day after I made them and refridgerated them.
How was this? And did cooking before refrigerating help?
So easy & my kids devour them!
I’m so happy they loved them!
Made these several times. They are
so good!
I’m so happy to hear!
Hi! Would these work with almond or sun butter? We have a peanut allergy, and I think cashew allergy too! Thank you! They look delicious!
Yep, that should be fine!
These are my son’s and husband’s favourite cereal bar. The tray is finished within a matter of days! Thank you for posting this recipe.
I’m so glad they’ve been loving them!
I made the granola bars exactly the way you said and left them in fridge for 2 hours but when I went to cut they would fall apart.
Hi Deborah, I would pop them in the freezer for a little bit to firm up more.
These taste really good, however they are very soft which isn’t super convenient for taking on the go for kids. They are also very sweet. I would probably cut the honey in half the next time. I used all natural peanut butter. It has no added sugar so I figured that amount of honey would be ok, I won’t use that much again. The flavor is great though and the ingredients are simple and clean, which I love.
These were too sweet for us, as well – delicious, but definitely in the cookie realm rather than the healthy snack I was looking for. I’ll try again with half the honey.
They’re definitely a sweet treat, I’m not sure if they’ll hold together well with less honey.
I added almond butter to the sauce pan to add protein. I used less butter. I had to 1.5 ish the liquid portion as the first time I tried this (w/o nut butter), it crumbled apart. May add less oats next time. Definitely tastes better with Oates & nuts toasted a bit.
Hi Laura, I wonder if you’re commenting on this recipe – there’s no sauce pan (they come together in a bowl) and there’s also no butter. And/or if you changed the ratio of nut butter that would probably cause these to fall apart.