Sadly, many granola bars on the market these days are nothing more than glorified candy bars, with as much sugar as a Snickers and a long list of ingredients you can’t even pronounce. But not only is it possible to make a naturally-sweetened granola bar recipe that actually IS healthy, you might end up liking them so much you’ll never want to buy another granola bar ever again.
Did I mention these healthy granola bars taste like Nutella?
The following recipe, adapted from my popular Chocolate Chip Cherry Chewy Granola Bars, is sweetened only with fruit – no sugar is needed. Even if you do opt to use sugar in yours, the amount will be much less than is found in most store-bought bars (and no high fructose corn syrup!).
They are perfect for a lunchbox and are also great for on-the-go snacking, and you can easily freeze leftovers for up to 2 months.
Nutella Granola Bars
(makes 8-10 bars)
- 1/2 cup applesauce or mashed banana (120g)
- 1/4 cup chocolate hazelnut spread or Homemade Healthy Nutella (60g)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (4g)
- packed 1/3 cup dried dates (55g)
- 1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts (35g)
- 1/2 cup puffed wheat or puffed rice (9g)
- 1/2 cup rolled oats (45g)
- 1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
- pinch pure stevia, or 1 1/2 tbsp sugar of choice
Preheat oven to 325 F and line an 8-in square baking pan with parchment paper. In a bowl, stir together the applesauce and chocolate hazelnut spread until smooth. Stir in the vanilla, then set the bowl aside. In a food processor, combine the dried fruit and hazelnuts until they form fine crumbles. Pour into a large mixing bowl and stir together with all remaining dry ingredients. Add the nutella mixture and stir until evenly combined, then smooth into the prepared baking pan and cover with another sheet of parchment paper. Press down VERY firmly. Bake 26 minutes, then allow to cool 10 minutes before slicing into bars. Frost with more chocolate hazelnut spread if desired.
Click to view: Granola Bars Calories & Nutrition Facts
Question of the Day:
Do you have a favorite homemade or store-bought granola bar?
Link of the Day: Dole Whip Recipe – Bring Disney to your kitchen!
These look great! I always like finding new recipes for granola bars.
I love Nature Valley bars, but they’re so crumbly. I feel like a 3-year-old, covered in crumbs, by the time I’m finished.
YES. They are so tasty but so, so, so very messy. I look forward to trying Katie’s creations soon!
Love this, Katie! I agree with you – the granola bars on the grocery stores are hardly nutritional. Even in the organic and health foods section, many are still loaded with so many grams of sugar, that they would be hard to justify as anything other than treats. Yours look like a great option! 🙂
I love granola and seed bars and just as I was posting a recipe for oat, seed, honey and tahini bars on my own blog, your recipe popped up on bloglovin. Will definitely try your recipe. I love to make things like this rather than buy them in the shop – at least you know what you’re eating -and I love the taste of nutella (and anything with hazelnuts really). Fantastic recipe – thanks for sharing!
Katie, my teen daughter will love these. I can hardly wait to make them for her, thank you! One question: How should I store these? In the fridge? Can they be frozen?
— Cara O’S
Yes, either is fine.
Great recipe, I love all the ingredients that you used.
Hi Katie! You are my favorite food blog! 🙂 Is there anything I can sub in place of the applesauce/banana? I have several food allergies and am allergic to both of those.. Thanks a bunch!! 🙂
Sorry, I haven’t tried anything else.
Maybe you can try pureed pumpkin, sweet potato or butternut squash?
Very ripe pear.
Or avocado
I love this recipe! I’m on a Candida diet at the moment and sugar and fruit in all forms is off limits but I have created a chocolate spread that I can eat so I may well try revamping this recipe to cut out the fruit and used avocado instead… Wish me luck!! 😉
I hate to be a negative Nelly here, but I think it’s a little misleading to say that these are “sweetened only with fruit” when the chocolate hazelnut spread or Homemade Healthy Nutella are sweetened with ingredients other than fruit. I understand that the Homemade Healthy Nutella can be sugar free, but the recipe does can for sweeteners other than fruit. So there are actually other sweeteners in this recipe besides fruit. Does that make sense? I don’t want to offend you, but I just wanted to point it out in case you hadn’t realized it.
Hi Michelle,
I actually did think about this when writing the post. You can use any chocolate hazelnut spread you want, which means you can easily either make the linked one with dates or date sugar (or some readers have sweetened it with banana), or you can use one of the raw “nutella” spreads available on the market. 🙂
Oh, okay. Good to know. Thank you 🙂
I love all of your recipes that I have tried, and I want to try them ALL. This one looks GREAT too! What I don’t like, is that you often say a recipe, like this for Nutella Granola Bars, makes 8-10 bars and then you give the calories & nutritional info & the Weight Watchers Points Plus, but don’t always say it is based upon 8, 9 or 10 bars!!!!!!!! I am so tired of figuring out the calories, protein, fat… when you have already done it, but FAIL to put down how many servings it is based on & if the frosting is included in the nutritional info! Please understand that a lot of us need/want this info. I would make a lot more of your recipes if this info was already figured for me. I bet I am not the only one that feels this way. Thanks, though, because I still love your style of cooking.
They will always be based on the higher number of servings, without optional ingredients, unless otherwise noted.
This looks so yummy.
L x
http://workingmumy.blogspot.com
Nutella in a healthy granola bar form….perfection!
Oooooh yummmmmm….!!!
I haven’t got a favourite granola bar, but these may just be the ones that steal my heart!
Thanks, Katie- looking forward to trying these =)
Mmh, nutella … ! Great idea for a granola bar.
I don’t usually eat them, but my health food store shopping career began with the most awful rock hard, dry and overly sweet granola or muesli bar ever, sometime around 1980. I was ten and curious about health food, and luckily that awful bar didn’t kill my interest LOL
This bar here sounds so much better 🙂
These look delicious! I love the fact they are healthy and nutritious too!
Katie, these look delicious! I’m on a granola bar kick at the moment and love Nutella, so these could be my snacks for this week 🙂 How well do these hold up unrefrigerated?
You can leave them out for a day… maybe even two.
Could this be made with almond butter instead of the hazelnut spread? I assume I could, I just don’t want flavor to be sacrificed.
Do Larabars/Kind bars count as granola bars? Actually stupid question, they have no oaty goodness. I guess I’ll have to say my two ingredient pumpkin-oat cookies. Not really “bars”, but they easily could be! All it takes is a few shaping adjustments.