Imagine yourself eating your favorite granola…
Now imagine eating your favorite granola… in the form of a granola bar! Nature Valley Granola Bars… Do you know the ones I’m talking about?
Those crunchy bars in the green wrappers? My friend Sarah calls them “horse food” because they’re made up of oats and sugar—things that horses like to eat. But the following granola bar recipe is much too good to share with horses. Sorry, horses.
Soccer Fuel
When I was in high school (it seems like a lifetime ago!), I played on the varsity soccer team, and our daily practices fell right after school. So I got in the habit of grabbing a bar—often a Nature Valley granola bar—to munch in the locker room while dressing out.
I’d completely forgotten about my past with Nature Valley until a few days ago, when I tasted an attempt at what was supposed to be a chewy granola bar.
“Woah, these taste exactly like Nature Valley oats-n-honey bars,” my roommate proclaimed after trying a bite. “Except, maybe these are even better!” (She quickly proceeded to eat two whole bars.)
Nature Valley Granola Bars Recipe
Category: Healthy & Gluten-Free Recipes
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup rice crispies (I used brown rice crispies)
- 3 tbsp oat flour (You can make your own by grinding oats in a food processor*.)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp coconut oil or veg oil
- 3 tbsp agave or other liquid sweetener
- 1 packet stevia (or 1 tbsp dry sweetener)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients, then mix in wet. Transfer to a 7×5 baking dish (lined with parchment paper), and press down. Squish HARD. Hard hard hard. Then cook for around 18 minutes. Wait at least 20 minutes before trying to cut into bars. *If making oat flour, measure the 3tbsp after grinding.
Other bars I’ve done:
These are simply perfection! So easy and so delicious. Thank you for the recipe! I have a camping trip this weekend, and I suspect I will be making several batches before then because they keep disappearing.
Planning to make these soon! Question – in the recipe it says to use a 7×5″ baking dish (which I’ve never heard of!) but in some of the comments you say you used an 8×8″ pan. Which is correct?
I’ve made these successfully in a 7×5. Double the recipe and you can put them in either an 8×8 or maybe a 9×13.
great recipe, except i kind of burnt mine. 18 minutes was too long for me, maybe 15 minutes would of been better. but still good!
I am always looking for copycat recipes, or healthier alternatives to my favorite store bought foods. This recipe was perfect! I am pregnant and craving the new Nature Valley Oatmeal Squares….I could eat a box a day! I would love this recipe to help cut down on our food budget.
Thanks!
Any ideas for what to use instead of rice? I’m actually rice intolerant. (I know a lot of folks with celiac or gluten intolerance in the family, and most of them have someone who’s rice intolerant, instead.)
As a health note, agave actually spikes your blood sugar worse than corn syrup or brown rice syrup, so diabetics should avoid it. I’m also unfortunately allergic to stevia, but I can use raw sugar there, instead.
I ground up some flaxseed and it worked just fine. I omitted the tablespoon of dry sweetener since I was out of that, too. I only added one tablespoon of agave nectar and half a stopperful of liquid stevia. However, since the batter looked very dry and loose, I added an extra tablespoon of coconut oil and two tablespoons of water. YUM. Thanks for sharing, Katie.
So glad there is a recipe like this out there. I was wondering if you could replicate the Nature Valley strawberry yogurt bars. They are my favorite and I’m eating them as we speak.
The first time I made these, it was kind of a disaster. My new oven, unbeknownst to me, apparently ran at a higher temperature than it should be. The entire pan of granola bars were charred and I could just salvage one tiny corner. It tasted EXACTLY like the real Nature Valley Bars. So I decided to make them again, putting my own spin on it. I doubled the recipe for a 8 x 8 pan, added a generous sprinkle of cinnamon, grounded up some dried apples that no one wanted to eat anymore, and used it to replace the oat flour. Guess what? I now have my own Apple Crisp bars! Thank you soooo much for the recipe, Katie! 😀
Hi,
Love your site. I have three questions – I made the bars last night they tasted great but were not crispy…any advice? higher temp, longer cook time etc?
I also have the same question as someone else – should I use 7×5 or 8×8 ? – as this will determine the depth it may relate to question one above.
And lastly the Stevia packet I used was about 1/4 tsp – should I use four or is this ok (tasted fine so I guess ok)
Yes, higher cooking temp is good. I’d use a 7×5.
I Love Love your website! Pinned a few things but just now able to read up on some of your recipes. On this particular one …. granola bars… do you have to use stevia or liquid sweetener? I have demerara sugar which we love. Could I use that instead?
Thanks!
You could always experiment, but I am not sure what would hold the bars together.
These were amazing!!! So sweet and addictive that I went on a little binge last time. However, mine kind of fell apart so this time I will try harder 🙂