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:
I was hoping so hard for a cookie recipe, but I LOVE nature valley bars, so I’m super happy :’D Making these for SURE.
My husband eats one one of these as a pre-lunch snack every day. It’s actually the only processed food we buy! Now, with this recipe, I can make it instead of bending my food morals and buying pre-packed food. Thanks so much!
My husband eats one one of these as a pre-lunch snack almost every day. It’s actually the only processed food we buy! Now, with this recipe, I can make it instead of bending my food morals and buying pre-packed food. Thanks so much!
i looooove nature valley bars. they have an apple crisp flavor that i can only find at one local grocery store. its amazing! everytime i go there i make sure to stock up. i also love the pb flavor and maple brown sugar…..and roasted almond….heck i love em all!! thanks for the recipe!
Clif Mojo Bars! But sometimes they have more sugar than I want–I have ice cream every night and I worry about too much sugar overall. But the Mojo bars (esp. Mountain Mix, White Chocolate, and the new Coconut Almond) are just so good!
Haha, just had to pop in and say that we really DO feed the Nature Valley oats ‘n’ honey bars as treats to the horses! They LOVE them! Haha, and I do, too. Its usually one bite for the pony, and then one bite for me (except one “bite” for a pony is pretty much the entire bar, lol…)
do you cook these with the wax paper in the pan? I’ve never done that before, and it just sounds like it would make the bars waxy!
I love bars! Kashi I think are my favorite. I also used to get the Nature Valley variety pack just for the cinnamon bars (because they didn’t make them in their own box, sad). I <3 cinnamon.
Can't wait to try these 🙂
to be more specific, Kashi TLC chocolate cherry bars 🙂 mmmm
Thanks so much for posting this recipe! But I do have a question my absolute favorite flavor is the peanut butter. Could I just add peanut butter to this recipe?
I’ve not tried it… but if you try it I’d love to know if it works!
I made them with peanut butter last night. I added a lil over a tablespoon of peanut butter and they turned out great! They were a little bit softer than the original, I’m sure if I had cut back on some ofthe other liquid they would have been crunchier. But my husband prefers the chewy kind anyway so it worked out great! Thanks again for the post!
I’m in love with Nature’s Valley <3
SO I tried this recipe and loved it! My local supermarket didn't have any small boxes of Rice Krispies so I put in almonds instead. I was worried it would fall apart but it held together nicely. It tasted so good I only cut it into 5 😉
Do you think i can use applesauce instead of the oil?