Thick and chewy No Bake Granola Bars that wont fall apart! This easy recipe is easily adaptable to include your favorite add-ins, like chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, coconut and peanut butter!
I feel like a supermom when I have homemade snacks on hand for my kids. It just makes life easier! Whenever I make these no bake granola bars I have to factor in my husband taking some to work too, because we all love them so much!
I’m not going to tout these as the healthiest granola bars ever, but I love that I can at least control what ingredients go in them. Store-bought granola bars are typically packed with sugar and they don’t even taste very good.
There are a few reasons I obsess over these no bake granola bars.
- No baking required: all you need is a microwave or stovetop. I live in Arizona, so turning on my oven during the summer months is just not an option.
- They are thick and chewy and they wont fall apart when you cut or eat them!
- You can customize these granola bars a million different ways. Take the base recipe and add coconut, dried fruit, nuts, peanut butter etc. You can’t go wrong.
If you’re looking for an even healthier kids snack, you should definitely try these Healthy No Bake Granola Bites.
How to make No Bake Granola Bars:
Line an 8 or 9 inch pan with parchment paper, or no-stick foil. Leave some overhang on the sides so that you will be able to pull the bars up and out of the pan when it’s time to cut them.
Add the oats, rice krispies cereal and flaxseed to a large mixing bowl.
In a separate large bowl add the butter, brown sugar and honey. Be sure to use a large bowl so the mixture doesn’t boil over in the microwave.
Cook for 1 minute, then stir the mixture until the butter has melted and everything is smooth. Microwave again for 1 ½ minutes.
Carefully remove from the microwave and stir in vanilla. Pour hot mixture over the oat/cereal mixture and stir gently to coat.
Stir in chocolate chips. Just give them a quick stir, so they don’t have time to melt too much.
Pour mixture into lined pan and smooth into an even layer.
Grab another piece of parchment paper and lay it over the top of the bars. Use the palms of your hand to press down really firmly on the bars. You can’t press them too firmly. This will help them stick together well.
Press extra mini chocolate chips on top, if you’d like. Refrigerate them for 1 to 2 hours. If you’re in a hurry you could stick them in the freezer for 20 minutes or so until they’re really firm.
Once you see how easy granola bars are to make from scratch, you’ll never go back to the packaged ones.
Also, did I mention you can FREEZE the finished bars? They’re perfect for those of you who are uber organized and want to have grab and go snacks ready for your family.
LOOKING FOR MORE HEALTHY SNACK IDEAS? TRY SOME OF MY OTHER FAVORITES:
- Healthy Applesauce Oat Muffins
- Strawberry Banana Protein Smoothie
- No-Bake Granola Bars
- Healthy No-Bake Granola Bites
- Tomato Avocado Melt
- Citrus Fruit Salad
You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for more great recipes!
Recipe
No Bake Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
- 1 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal (like Rice Krispies)
- 2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed (optional)
- 6 Tablespoons butter (*see note)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar , packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips , or other favorite add-in's
Instructions
- Line 8 or 9’’ square pan with parchment paper, with paper some overhang.
- In a large mixing bowl stir together oats, rice krispies cereal and flaxseed.
- Add butter, brown sugar and honey to a large microwave safe bowl and heat mixture on HIGH power for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and stir mixture until butter has melted. Return to microwave and heat on HIGH power for 1 ½ minutes.
- Carefully remove from microwave and stir in vanilla. Pour over oats mixture and stir gently until coated evenly. Gently stir in chocolate chips.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan. Lightly grease your hands with cooking spray and press the mixture evenly into the pan.
- Lay a piece of parchment or wax paper over the top of the bars and press extra firmly all around the pan to flatten the bars. This is the most important step to insure they don't crumble when you cut them.
- Sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top and press them gently onto the tops of the bars.
- Refrigerate for about 1-2 hours before pulling up on the parchment paper to remove them from the pan and cut them.
- Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for firmer bars or at room temperature for softer bars). Bars are best enjoyed within 7 days.
Notes
Nutrition
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
I originally shared this recipe in May 2015. Updated May 2018.
To get away from more chemicals I substituted the rice crispies (which are loaded with crap plus bht to boot) with arrowhead mills brown rice puffs. It is just the puffs nothing more! I use the stove top too. I Add pb, chia seeds, nutritional yeast and collagen too. Sooooo good! My kids prefer Lily’s white chocolate chips. Thank you for this easy recipe!
Excellent!
I added 1/2c. flaked sweetened coconut and 1/2c. Craisins.
I used cupcake liners in a muffin pan to make individual treats with no clean-up!
Outstanding! Made it as is, although I think I used the wrong oatmeal…old-fashioned instead of quick cooking. But even with that mistake the bars are delicious. As with just about every recipe I’ve tried from TBFS, this is one is a keeper.
This is the recipe I return to when I want to make granola bars. I reduce the sugar to 1/2 c and add about the same amount of natural peanut butter. They stay together and taste great!
Made these and found them to be way way too sweet. Will make again with 1/2 the brown sugar and honey.
We loved these. My son has a peanut allergy so homemade granol bars are hard to find, as most have peanut butter in them. These were so tasty. My picky eater took a bite and then took 6 bars! He said they were like the marshmallow rice crispy squares. I put in paleo oats and coconut sugar and they were amazing!
A make again treat in our house. Thank you!
If I added peanut butter, would I reduce the butter in the recipe?
I was searching for a homemade version of the granola bars my kids love. These were easy to make, fun for kids to help with, and seriously DELICIOUS. We will be making these again for sure.
Even though I reduced the honey & sugar, these bars were too sweet for me. They also crumbled even though I pressed them into the pan as firmly as possible. I’ll never make these again.
Hi Laura, you can’t reduce the honey and sugar and expect them to stay together (those are the “glue”). Sorry you didn’t like them!
This was easy to make.