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.
Can you sub almond butter for peanut butter?
Almond butter would be great here!
How long are these good outside of the fridge? Looking for something to sustain me at the hot Renaissance Faire in Georgia 😉
If I use a stand mixer to do the hard work, could I use a little extra crunchy peanut butter since I don’t have crushed peanuts on hand? Thanks!
Hi, the reason we recommend keeping the bars in the fridge is that they soften at room temp. So they won’t go bad, they’ll just get sticky. Adding some crunchy peanut butter would be a great sub for the peanuts. Hope you enjoy!
Calories per bar? Apologies if it was provided I don’t see it. Thank you 😊
Hi Melanie, we don’t calculate nutrition info for our recipes. The best way to get an estimate is to use an online nutrition calculator like MyFitnessPal.
I roasted the oats at 350 for twenty minutes. When I placed them into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients they were warm and melted the chocolate which made for a lovely chocolate granola bar. Highly recommend for a variation.
Sounds delicious! So glad you enjoyed the granola bars.
These were great! I was searching for a date-free recipe. I didn’t use chocolate, instead I used sliced almonds, toasted coconut flakes, thinly sliced candied ginger and lime zest. I like them cut into really small squares otherwise I’ll overindulge! Thank you for your time and energy!!
Hi Tania, those add-ins sound delicious! So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
These are delicious! I was hoping to bring them with to the hospital when I go into labor. Is there any way to bake them to make them more portable?
Hi Rebekka, so glad you love them! This is a no-bake recipe, but some other on-the-go snacks we love are these breakfast cookies and these energy balls. Hope this helps, and congratulations!
Hello,
These bars are delicious but they are a little too sweet for my taste. I tried to just put less honey but I think that affects the binding of everything. Do you have any suggestions of how I can cut the sweetness but still maintain the right chewiness and texture?
Hi Sarah, you’re right, the honey is key for binding. If you want to use less, you could try cutting the bars into small squares or rolling them into balls. We’ve found that these shapes hold together more easily than the full bars do.
I love this recipe, it looks yummy and so easy! Can’t wait to try it! I was wondering if you could use regular commercial smooth peanut butter if you warmed it in the microwave first. It would be runny then and easy to mix everything in. I’m just curious if you think this’ll work or if you ever tried it.
Hi Denise, we haven’t tried it, which is why we don’t list it in the recipe. I think it might work fine, but I’m not 100% sure since we haven’t tested it. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Trader Joe’s Creamy Peanut Butter (organic) thins out and pours nicely.
Hi– I tried it this way with peanut butter – I used the bottom of the jar (didn’t read the notes above!) and warmed it up in the microwave and it didn’t hold the bars together. I now have granola for my yogurt instead.
Hi RJ, it’s really important to use peanut butter that’s creamy for this one.
These are WAY TOO GOOD!!!! Excellent recipe!
I’m so glad you loved them!
I have tried this recipe at my home. It came in an excellent way. My colleagues love it very much. Thanks for the recipe. It is a healthy snack, it is rich in protein content. Completely satisfied with this recipe.
So glad you loved it!
Do you have the nutrition info for original recipe? I’ve made it … delicious 😋
Hi Nancy, we don’t calculate nutrition facts for our recipes. If you need them, I recommend using an online nutrition calculator like MyFitnessPal.
Can you use sprouted oat instead of whole rolled oats?
Hi Cameron, sprouted rolled oats would work here (not sprouted oat groats or steel-cut oats).
So I reread the recipe after I posted my question and now I feel like a dummy. You addressed mix ins in the recipe and I just missed it the first time. Looking forward to trying this recipe out!
Hope you enjoy! You can totally skip the nuts, but you might want to add 3 tablespoons of something else (a different mix-in, even more oats) to achieve the same texture.
Hi! I want to try this recipe, my daughter loves granola bars and I’d rather make them at home instead of buy them. Can these be made without the pepitas or nuts? I don’t have those and can’t get to the store for a few days. Thanks!
The flavour is delicious, but when I cut the bars they completely broke and crumbled. Was a little disappointed.
Hi Samantha, oh no – did you change anything about the recipe? Was your peanut butter very smooth or was it more dry (sometimes the bottom of the jar of natural peanut butter gets dry and chunky). Did you use mini chocolate chips vs. larger ones?
What are the calories in these bars?
I added up the ingredients and it’s about 520 calories per bar.
Are you able to freeze them?
This was the first Granola bar recipe that I tried and I will never try another! These are absolutely perfect! Thank you for sharing!
Aww so glad you loved it!
Haven’t made this yet, but sounds yummy. Are these portable at all? I need something to eat during a long plane trip, and won’t have access to refrigeration.
Hi Sherry, they become little less firm out of the fridge – when I travel with them, I either cut them into squares or roll them into balls. Hope that helps!
Need to add another comment to my comment 🙂 – I didn’t want to use all of my lovely local honey, so I broke up the “sweet” as 1/2 honey, 1/4 agave syrup, and 1/4 maple syrup.
These are soo good. I blitzed the oats and choc chips in a food processor to get desired consistency and they held together really well. Don’t think I will buy shop bought ever again.
Aww so glad you loved them!