Are you looking for a good granola bar recipe?
This recipe won’t disappoint.
These delightfully chewy granola bars include all the goodness of everyone’s favorite Quaker granola bars, but without the corn syrup, refined sugar, and long list of artificial ingredients. So if you’re looking for a good granola bar recipe…
It’s staring you in the face. 🙂
Unless you are extremely tall or your computer is low to the ground.
Then it’s staring you in the belly button.
It even looks like a face. See the eyes and the nose? Those would be made out of chocolate chips. Yes, a chocolate chip face.
Are you jealous?
I am!
Oh, to live life with a chocolate chip face…
Quaker Style Chewy Granola Bars
(Can be gluten-free)
- 1 cup rolled oats (for all substitution notes, see nutrition link below)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup rice crispies (brown, white, or gluten-free)
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp oat flour (see recipe instructions below for an easy substitution) 55g
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp coconut oil or veg oil (See nutrition link below for notes on a fat-free version.)
- 1/4 cup agave (Honey will also work, but not for strict vegans.)
- 1-2 packs stevia (up to 1/16 tsp uncut) or 1-2 tablespoons brown sugar or extra liquid sweetener
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp applesauce (banana would probably work as well, or pumpkin!)
- Ideas for the add-ins: mini chocolate chips, chopped raisins or other dried fruit, shredded coconut, chopped walnuts, etc.
Unless you’re doing the no-bake option, preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all dry ingredients and mix very well. (If you don’t have oat flour: simply grind rolled oats in a food processor to make oat flour. Be sure to measure the correct amount of flour for the recipe after grinding, not before.) In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Stir wet into dry and use another sheet of parchment (or wax) paper to squish evenly-coated mixture into a parchment-lined 7×5 pan (or double the recipe for a bigger pan). Squish very, very hard, with a can or something heavy. Either fridge until firm (the no-bake option is firmer if you use coconut oil), or cook 18 minutes, then squish very hard again. Cool in the fridge for at least ten minutes before cutting into bars.
These bars can be stored at room temp, but if you use coconut oil they’re best kept in the fridge. Or they can even be frozen. The bars thaw very well. Other homemade granola bar recipes:
(Click on the photos to see the recipes.)
Do you wish you were taller?
Or shorter? Or are you happy exactly the way you are? I’m 5’5, and I always wanted to be taller when I was growing up. But now I actually like my average height. My grandpa used to say that you’re tall enough as long as your feet touch the ground. How are grandparents so wise? 🙂
Woo Woo I’m so glad you did a chewy granola bar, can’t wait to try it!
Grandparents are wise. All the men in my family are tall and the women are short. My grandpa used to say that the shorter you were, the taller you were mentally.. hahah probably tried making me feel better cause I’m only 5″2.
Since going gluten-free, I have longed for a chewy granola bar! I know, so random — but sometimes its the little things you miss! I can’t wait to try out this AMAZING looking recipe! It sounds delish! Thanks for the recipe! Love your blog!
I made these last night and they came out terrific! I love them! But I melted all my wet ingredients in the microwave before I poured them into my dry ingredients and it melted the chocolate chips! Now I have chocolate granola bars! They are still delicious but would you reccomend next time that I let the wet ingredients cool in the fridge before I pour them onto the dry? Or when it would be best to add the chocolate chips?
Sorry, I’ve never tried melting the wet ingredients.
I just stirred mine in after combining the wet and dry ingredients (right before baking) and that works well!
Perfect- some of the ingredients in shop bought just go on and on.On the wanting to be taller front – yip I’m 5″5 too and always wanted to be taller,my lil bro is 6″2 but the tall gene gave me a skip-getting over it now tho-ha!
thanks for the delicious recipe! i haven’t been able to eat quaker granola bars in years, and now that i know all that’s in them, i wouldn’t want to! i made them last night and omitted the rice crispies because i didn’t have them. the taste is amazing – but they didn’t hold together well. i tried the no-bake option, so maybe that’s it – i’ll try to bake them instead next time. you didn’t seem to think the rice crispies were crucial, right?
thanks for all the great healthy recipes, CCK! 🙂
Nope, not crucial. But did you use the coconut oil version or veg oil?
i used coconut oil! i figured that would make it okay to do the no-bake version. i’ll probably polish off the whole batch in a day or two, so i can try to bake them if you think that makes a difference.
Hmmm… that’s weird then! Did you press down REALLY hard? It’s seriously the most important part. REALLY hard lol.
lol maybe not hard enough! next time i will try using a can – when i made them yesterday, i just covered them and pressed down with my hands. but… i can be a little wimpy. 🙂 i’ll try harder next time! thanks for the advice!
These look great! I make different bars each week for my kids’ lunches and these will definitely be on my rotation 🙂
Thanks Katie, I just made these! I put some chocolate chips in, and thought about it…Then I drizzled, *coughs* covered the entire bar with, your PMS chocolate recipe…It was so rich, but so good!
I’m a whopping 5′ 2”. Yeah. How low can you go? I used to be extremely self conscious about it… not so much any more. I mean, why spend your life worrying about and wishing on something you could be? Why not embrace who you are now? I’m not quite 18 yet, so I still have time to grow. But I’m not going to care much. But I AM going to marry a nice tall guy. So my kids will have a fighting chance 🙂
I just turned 15 and im just under 5 foot 1 🙁 yeah I’ve always wished I was taller, especially since my best friend is 5 foot 9! My dad is 6 foot and my mom is 5 foot 5, so maybe I’ll grow?
Btw- do you ever use your granola and Lara bar recipes as protein bars? (Or would they work as a pre run protein bar?)
I don’t see why they wouldn’t work as pre-run fuel!
Larabars aren’t high in protein, though, so I don’t think they can be considered protein bars. But maybe if you added protein powder!
These look amazing! I always spend too much money on bars and these you can play with to make different flavors! A must try…now to find brown rice crispies lol
Very rarely do I get an urge to make a recipe the minute I see it but that definitely happened with this one. The minute I saw it I immediately went to my kitchen and made them. ha and they did not disappoint! I subbed the applesauce for banana, used a sugar-free honey, and added cacao nibs, peanuts, and raisins. They were delicious! Definitely reminded me of Quaker oatmeal raisin bars.
Wowweeeeee These are delicious!
I didn’t have any applesauce or apples in the house and thanks to your delicious banana chai breakfast smoothie I have tons of bananas in the freezer. I used banana and they turned out fantastic. I also put some PMS chocolate on the top and it was delicious!
I have these in the oven now – it’s a dreary day so it’s perfect for fresh baked goodies!
Quick question – what is with the hard squishing? Also, maybe my pans are too big, or maybe I need to get used to actual healthy sized servings, but the recipes of yours that I always try are SO THIN! Am I doing something wrong?
My recipes usually make very small serving sizes, so it’s important to use the pan size I call for in the recipe (or feel free to double the recipe and use a bigger pan). For example, this recipe uses a 7×5 pan.
Thanks! I need to invest in some smaller pans!! I remember also making the chewy cherry bars for Easter and thinking that I wasn’t going to have enough to cover the bottom of the pan. I used a loaf pan. So it was just a thin bar, but still very delicious!!
BTW- thank you thank you thank you for making it easy for me to lose weight and get in my chocolate and sweets fix!!
I used an 8×8″ pan and got 8 small bars out of it. I don’t mind that they’re a little thin (I think they’re pretty close to the pics) since they’re so yummy. (c:
Katie,
I was craving my favorite oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies today and then remembered reading about these granola bars…I couldn’t wait to try to turn them into a cookie! I think I succeeded! I put them on a cookie sheet and used a cookie scoop to shape them into balls. They are a tad bit crumbly, but they are satisfying my craving for those unhealthy cookies that I would have made. I love your blog and have been very pleased with every recipe I have made thus far! Thanks for all you do! (I am 5’3″ and would gladly take some height…it’s hard to find pants that fit!)
No way do i wish i was taller! I’m 6′ ft tall, a self proclaimed amazon haha. Some days i wish i were shorter. It’s hard to find cute pants (skirts and dresses) that are long enough or shoes big enough. Handsome/ intelligent/ tall guys are also in short supply <3
I'll have to give these bars a try! I'm going on a roadtrip in a few days and i've been looking for a healthy recipe. 🙂