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:
Are these hard like the nature valley? We buy the clif bars now, because they are the only ones I can find vegan, but I absolutely miss my favorite genisoy bars the chocolate mint ones! have you ever tried to come up with a vegan marshmallow?
It depends on how long you cook them. Cook them longer for crispiness, and store in a glass container (as opposed to plastic).
LOL I would have no idea where to begin in making vegan marshmallows!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-marshmallows-recipe/index.html
This is the best marshmallow recipe I’ve found that doesn’t have anything to do with eggs. The best part is he tells you how to make mini-marshmallows! I sat there after I read it and couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of that. 🙂
Gelatin in NOT vegan though. You would need a vegan replacement for that.
I’ve always wanted to try a marshmallow recipe, subbing agar (or the one brand of vegan “gelatin” they sell at whole foods) for the gelatin. Someday!
You could order Genutine off the internet. It’s carrageenan and vegan. I saw a marshmallow recipe that calls for it recently, but can’t remember the source.
You could order Genutine off the internet. It’s carrageenan and vegan. I saw a marshmallow recipe that calls for it recently, but can’t remember the source.
Hey Katie,
I can’t have oils because of a lot of things, but is there anything I could substitute in for the coconut oil? Thanks
Sorry, I don’t know.
Why not try applesauce, it is used in place of oil in other recipes, would make them maybe a little softer?
Do I get a gold star? I have already made these, and they’re in my oven right now! I of course tasted some of the raw dough and it was DELISH! 🙂
What size pan? I make nomeatathletes.com quite a bit. They are chewy tho. These look great too…. I wanna make these too. Your recipes are great. I made your single mocha cake a few times this weekend
I used an 8×8 pan… but if you want them thicker/thinner, you can use a different size :).
Thx I use to love kind bars but they aren’t Vegan so no more for me
so impressed you could copycat these.. they seem hard to get all crispy!
how many bars would this recipe make??
It depends on how big you cut them. I got 8 bars.
Hi Katie!
These look so amazing! I can’t wait to try them.
How long can they be stored for?? My husband likes to take them to work to eat in the morning, but he doesn’t always get time for breakfast (he is in the army) so they may not get eaten right away.
I only made them a few days ago, so I don’t know… but I would think they’d freeze well!
god bless you and your husband and thank him for his service for me 🙂
the problem I have with the Nature Valley is they crumble so much. Hope these stick together more. My current favorite is Chocwalla bars by Odwalla. Yum.
Thank you for the wonderful (coconut free) granola bar recipe! Can’t wait to try it!! I love and use coconut oil and coconut milk but just don’t like the texture of real coconut……
Bars that I am eating right now are the Think Thin bars (my favorite is the chocolate with the white chocolate covering ) only because they are gluten and sugar free and high protein~
Love your blog!
I seriously love nature valley granola bars broken up on a cooked chopped apple with cinnamon, tastes like hot apple pie. I just bought some gluten free oats, I’m gonna try making them. Yay.
I used to love Nature Valley bars, especially the peanut butter or brown sugar (I think?) ones! Although I remember them always being a mess because they were so crumbly! My current favorite bars are Pure bars, which I discovered when I was looking for gluten free bars
Total yum, and not many ingredienats. I love it! I’m going to make these!!
These turned out great! I threw in ground almonds and coconut for a little extra flavor. So good! My house smells delicious.
I love your idea… it sounds kind of like an almond joy!
Is it too soon to ask for a Larabar Cappuccino flavored copycat? 😉 I know you don’t like them, but they aren’t available where I live yet and I soooo desperately want to try one. And I’m too nervous to play around with the dates-to-nuts-to-flavor ratios.
I also really like Clif! They’re the most versatile bars, I think. I almost always keep one in my car. It’s tragic that they’re so expensive.
Ok, don’t laugh at me when you see this old, ugly post ;). But I did do tiramisu larabars a few years ago: https://lett-trim.today/2010/01/11/raw-tiramisu-balls/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
No way!! No laughing necessary. Besides, let’ be honest – processed dates have very little hope on their own anyway. This is awesome news. Thank you Katie!
Clif bars!
YUM! I am getting my shipment of banana flavored protein powder this week, so I will make these with an addition of protein powder and let you know how they work (and whether or not more can be added than to just replace the oat flour).