No-Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bars
With generous amounts of old-fashioned rolled oats, crispy cereal, sliced almonds, cinnamon, honey, and peanut butter, these homemade peanut butter granola bars are not only delicious but healthier too!
If you like this healthier version of a favorite snack food then you will also want to try our healthy pumpkin bran muffins, healthy pumpkin doughnut muffins with maple vanilla bean glaze and Chocolate chip cookies dough energy bites!
Homemade Peanut Butter Granola Bars
Happy October #Oatober!!! Today I’m teaming up with the lovely folks at Peanut Butter & Co. and Bob’s Red Mill to bring you my latest obsession… these crazy delicious healthy no-bake peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars! Whew, that was a mouthful!
My kids love peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars and let’s be honest, so do I!! However I prefer to make my own with fresh ingredients and healthier ingredients!
Today’s bars are packed full of wholesome ingredients and only take 10 minutes to make. They don’t require baking, they don’t fall apart, they don’t contain refined sugar or oil/butter and they can be dairy-free and gluten-free! Oh yeah, and they actually taste good!!
I have to admit, I’ve never really had success with homemade granola bars, until now. They’ve always been too crumbly, too bland or just a pain to make. But these, they’re amazing- I’ve made them 3 times already!
How to Make Granola Bars
Before we begin let me share with you a little trick to help your bars stick together! Make sure you pack them really well and use thick peanut butter and honey!!
If you don’t have honey then another good option would be maple syrup, agave nectar or molasses (make sure to not use dark molasses because it will overpower the other flavors).
Wet Ingredients:
- To start, you’ll want to grab a medium-size microwave-safe mixing bowl and combine the peanut butter and honey. I used Peanut Butter & Co.’s Smooth Operator, but any of their flavors would be amazing!!
- Heat it on half power for 1 minute, stir and repeat.
- Add the vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
- Let it cool while you prepare the remaining ingredients that way it doesn’t completely melt all of those little chocolate chips that get mixed in.
Dry Ingredients:
- Meanwhile, pulse your oats in a food processor for a few seconds to break them down a bit. It’ll help create a better texture as it absorbs the wet ingredients a bit more.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oats, cereal (love the crunch), sliced almonds (also love the texture they add), flaxseed meal (full of nutrients and helps to hold them together), ground cinnamon (very subtle but adds flavor), and salt (always). Everything has a purpose, yet nothing is overwhelming!
Mix Together:
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix, mix, mix.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix some more.
- Press into a parchment-lined square baking pan and refrigerate for about 2 hours.
- When they’re solid, remove them from the pan, cut them up and enjoy!
What if you don’t have parchment paper? The trick is just making sure the bars don’t stick to the pan. So spray the pan really well with non-stick spray!
How To Change Up + Store
I love you can customize these bars to your flavor preferences!! Add in:
- mini chocolate chips
- chopped nuts
- dried fruit
- mini M&M’s
- coconut
- or seeds
Storing: These should last for about a week at room temp in an airtight container or up to 3 months in the freezer.
These are perfect for school lunches or on the go snacks! You can wrap them in foil or wax paper and then if they aren’t staying shut you can tape the paper shut.
I hope you enjoy these delicious, chewy, and flavorful peanut butter granola bars!! And check out more of our yummy granola inspired recipes!!
For more recipes, check out:
- Chunky Homemade Granola
- Oatmeal Cookie Granola
- Dark Chocolate Tropical Granola Bars
- Triple Chocolate Granola Bars
- 1 c. + 2 tbsp.Smooth Operator or other creamy peanut butter
- ⅓ c. honey
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats, pulsed in a food processor for about 6 seconds
- 1 c. crispy rice cereal (brown or white)
- ⅓ c. sliced almonds
- 2 tbsp. golden flaxseed meal (optional)
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- ¾ tsp. salt
- ¾ c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
- Line a 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, set aside. NOTE: I prefer criss-crossing them for easy removal.
- In a medium size microwave-safe mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter and honey. Microwave on medium power (I did 5) for 1 minute, then stir and repeat. Remove from the microwave, add the vanilla whisk vigorously until smooth. Allow the mixture to rest for about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, rice cereal, almonds, flaxseed meal, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Pour the cooled peanut butter mixture into the dry ingredients. Using a large spatula, fold the ingredients together until no dry spots remain, then pour in all but 1 tablespoon of the chocolate chips. NOTE: it's ok if the chocolate chips melt a little bit, it adds more flavor to the bars! Mix until combined, then pour into the prepared pan. Press firmly to create an even layer. Sprinkle the reserved chocolate chips on top, then cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 2 hours. Remove from the pan using the edges of the parchment paper and transfer to a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut into 12 rectangular bars or 12 squares. Store in a ziploc bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
-Almond butter is a great alternative to peanut butter and works really well in this recipe.
Recipe source: adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction
I want to try pumpkin spice and cinnamon raisin!
Yummy ! These look amazing!
I would love to try Dark Chocolate Dreams. Thanks for the chance to enter.
I would choose the White Chocolate Wonderful and Dark Chocolate Dreams.
i would love to try the pumpkin spice and the dark chocolate dreams!
Crunch time and smooth operator
I’d like to try the pumpkin spice and bees knees
I’d love to try Old Fashioned Smooth and White Chocolate Wonderful! I like making no-bake energy bars – these are ones I’d like to try!
I want to try pumpkin spice and mighty maple! Separate and together haha
I’d like to try the dark chocolate dreams and cinnamon raisin swirl.
Pumpkin spice and smooth operator are my choices!
I would like to try pumpkin spice and dark chocolate dreams.
I’d like to try Pumpkin Spice and Dark Chocolate Dreams
I love The Bee’s Knees and I would love to try the Crunch Time. I haven’t had crunchy peanut butter in forever!
I would love to try the pumpkin spice and the Bees Knees.
bee’s knees and smooth operator!
I would love to try the Bee’s knees.
Mighty Maple and pumpkin spice
I would love to try the Crunch Time and Bee’s Knees.
I want to try pumpkin spice! I LOVE PUMPKIN!
Mighty Maple and Dark Chocolate Dreams. YUMMO!
I would love to try the Cinnamon raisin swirl and the Pumpkin spice, they both sound so good.
Crunch time and smooth operator sound awesome
The Dark Chocolate is my favorite, but I’ve never tried the white chocolate or the bee’s knees.
Bees Knees and Mighty Maple
The bars look really good 🙂
The Smooth Operator All Natural is my jam! I’m going to try this recipe the way it is, then change it up with blueberries and dates!
An dm second one to try is the cinnamon raisin swirl, because let’s face it, that is every child’s childhood favorite, including mine!!
Looking forward to making these bars! I’d like to try Smooth Operator and Crunch Time.
Mighty Maple & Pumpkin Spice
pecan butter and cinnamon
I’d love to try Bee’s Knee’s and Dark Chocolate Dream!
Pumpkin spice…and crunchy! 🙂
My favorites are the dark chocolate dreams and of course I was to try the pumpkin spice!
Dark Chocolate Dreams sounds good to me, my family might like the maple!
I’d love to try bees knees and white chocolate!
I’m already in love with the Dark Chocolate Dreams, but I’d love to try the Mighty Maple flavor!
I’d like to try Crunch Time & Old Fashioned Crunchy.
Nutritional info was not given. I’ve done my best to calculate: per bar – 261 calories, 23 g. carbs, 3.8 g. fiber, 9 g protein, 16 g fat, 12 g sugar.
I just made these last night and let them sit in the fridge overnight, but they are still falling apart. What did I do wrong?
They taste amazing, by the way!
Ugh, I don’t know why so many people are having problems with this recipe, I really apologize!
Just made these for my son’s first day of preschool and we love them! Had to make a couple of minor changes but this is an excellent and flexible base recipe that we’ll be using a lot for lunchbox treats. First, we substituted sunflower seed butter for peanut butter so they are nut-free for school (had to skip the almonds, too). Second, we only had 1/4 c of honey left so topped it up with maple syrup. Also, instead of heating the ingredients we just mixed them together (so the chocolate chips wouldn’t melt), first with a spoon then with our hands to combine everything and pack the mixture into the pan. My 3 1/2-year-old loved that part, and it seemed to help keep the bars together. Love these!
These sound gorgeous. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Simon
Of course! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Can I substitute the honey with something else?
Hello! I just tried the no bake peanut butter, chocolate chip granola bars. The taste us AH-mazing!!! But my bars never really solidified and are really flaky. It’s more of a granola at this point. Any suggestions to make it stick together a little better? And maybe I just did something wrong. LOL. Thanks!
This is awesome recipe !! Tried first time with almond butter and customized quite a bit by adding granola , sesame seeds , grated coconut , raisins . Came out delicious . Thanks for the recipe !
Do you happen to have the nutritional info?
I don’t. I don’t provide that for my recipes because nutrition varies depending on the specific ingredient (brand) you use. You could definitely paste it into an online calculator to see 🙂
They keep falling apart ?but I still liked the chunks of it?
I’ve made this recipe heaps of times… Definitely my favourite recipe ever. A couple of tips… Be sure to pack it down hard to get it to stay together and also add a little bit more peanut butter and honey… That helps it stay together.
The natural peanut butter I used is pretty thin so I didn’t microwave it and it worked out great! Then I just used my hands to mix everything and press it into the pan. My kids love them! Thank you for recipe!!
Yum, yum!! I never have enough granola bars around home! We love them for breakfast, for soccer games, anytime we are on the go! Love the hint of cinnamon in these!
I love that these are Healthy and NO BAKE. This is my kind of recipe! It’s a win, win!