These granola bars are simple, wholesome and chewy. Not only are these bars easy to make, they’re also loaded with nutritious ingredients–oats, sunflower seeds, pepitas, and raisins. Granola bars pass for a healthy breakfast, yet they’re also perfect for an afternoon snack.
How To Make This Recipe
We very rarely prefer to use quick oats, but we do recommend them in this recipe. That said, we don’t always have quick oats on hand. When we only have rolled oats handy, we just give them a quick pulse in the food processor to break them down slightly for use in this recipe.
Oats, seeds, raisins, applesauce, agave nectar, and cinnamon.
For our granola bars, we love using a combination of sunflower seeds, pepitas and raisins. But, this recipe is versatile enough to accommodate any combination of finely chopped nuts or dried fruits that you prefer to use. Both cinnamon and vanilla add flavor, and our unsweetened applesauce and agave nectar serve as a binder.
Prepare Bars
We begin by preheating our oven to 325°F. Meanwhile, we’ll spread our oats and seeds out in a rimmed baking sheet. Once the oven preheats, we’ll bake them for roughly 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. To ensure they toast evenly, we’ll grab our spatula and stir them occasionally.
Toast those oats and seeds.
Next, we’ll remove our toasted oats from the oven and pour them into a large mixing bowl. Then, we’ll add everything else and mix well. We find that both the applesauce and agave nectar work wonders to keep these bars together.
Oat mixture ready for pressing.
Once combined, we press our oat mixture into a non-stick loaf pan. When using a regular loaf pan, we’ll line it with parchment paper or give it a quick spritz with cooking spray. Then, we bake our pressed granola until the top is lightly golden.
Pressed oat mixture.
We’ve found that it’s important to really press that granola mixture into the pan. The harder and longer you press, the better they will hold together. So, firmly press that mixture to the sides of the pan with either clean hands or the back of a measuring cup.
Ready To Serve
Now comes the hardest part–waiting. In order for these granola bars to stick together, they really do need to cool down. So, allow them to cool to room temperature before slicing.
Slice those bars at room temperature.
These granola bars will keep well for up to a week in an airtight container. Now, grab a bar and dig in!
Enjoy those granola bars.
More oat-based recipes:
Recipe Card for Granola Bars
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Granola Bars
Equipment
- Rimmed baking sheet
- Loaf pan non-stick or prepared
Ingredients
- 1 cup quick oats
- 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds or other chopped nuts
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds or other chopped nuts
- 2 tablespoons raisins or chopped dried fruit of choice
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons applesauce unsweetened
- 3 tablespoons agave nectar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Spread oats and seeds on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Stir occasionally. Remove from oven and place into a large mixing bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients to the bowl with the oat mixture. Stir to combine.
- Press mixture into a prepared loaf pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden. Cool to room temperature before slicing.
