Chewy granola bars made from scratch. If you love Quaker granola bars, this recipe is just what you need. Perfect for lunch boxes, after school, or even breakfast on the run.
The classic chewy texture we all love. Made with ingredients you can pronounce! I even have a great no-bake granola bar recipe too.
No need to buy boxed snack bars when you can easily make homemade healthy bars instead. Did you know you can make homemade muesli too?
RECIPE and INSTRUCTIONS for these healthy homemade granola bars can be found at the bottom of this post.
Haven’t you always wondered about ingredients? The mysterious scientific names are on labels. Do you ask yourself ‘how good is this for me”?
When I was a kid Tang was the popular drink at the time. In fact, even the astronauts drank it in space. At least that is what they told us in the commercials.
If it’s good for the astronauts it’s good for us right? It was like a science experiment in a glass. You add this orange powder to water, give it a mix, and viola, you have orange juice. Who needs fresh oranges when you can have this?
Ingredients For Chewy Granola Bars
I promise you can pronounce all of these!
- wheat berries
- flaxseed
- oatmeal
- almonds
- quinoa flakes
- cocoa
- applesauce
- vanilla
- spices
- dried cranberries
- unsweetened shredded coconut
Be sure to read the suggestions/recipe tips I have listed below.
Once you give this recipe a try, you will want to make more great granola recipes. Here are a few to try:
- Holiday Granola makes the perfect food gift for the holidays.
- This Artisan Granola Dust is the perfect topping for yogurt and more.
Making Homemade Granola Bars From Scratch
If you have never made granola bars from scratch, let me tell you they are super easy. Whether you choose the baked or no-bake versions, you will have healthy snacks in no time. Homemade does not mean hard.
My mom and baba made everything from scratch. Perhaps it was because when I was a kid, there were not as many options in the grocery stores. Yes, there were cookies, cereals, chocolate bars, and potato chips. Certainly not to the extent they are today.
My philosophy is “Food doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to taste good”. Pure, simple ingredients create wonderful, tasty results.
The rundown of this making this recipe is:
- Prepare your baking pan.
- Dry ingredients in one bowl.
- Wet ingredients in another bowl.
- Combine the ingredients together.
- Place in a baking pan, and bake.
- Cool and cut into bars.
Full instructions are in the recipe card below.
Suggestion/Recipe Tips
Take this granola bar recipe and change it to what you have to work with, or what you like to eat. Whatever you have, just use it.
- Swap out the flaxseed for chia seeds or hemp hearts.
- Change the almonds to walnuts, or any nut you like. Pumpkin seeds are an excellent choice.
- Use raisins instead of cranberries. Dried blueberries are wonderful too. Chocolate chips always work for me.
- I used large flake oatmeal, but regular oatmeal will work.
- Applesauce can be plain or flavoured, homemade or store-bought. I used sweetened since I have not added any additional sugar to this recipe.
- For the spice, I used a chai blend, but use cinnamon, nutmeg, or your favorite blend.
I like unsweetened shredded coconut. Feel free to use sweetened if you like. Both will give you that chewy texture. If you love chewy coconut recipes, you need to give these easy no-bake chocolate coconut drop cookies a try.
If you like things sweeter, add a bit of honey or maple syrup to the mixture. You can decide on the amount.
Wheat berries can be replaced with whole wheat flour, especially if you are not combining the dry ingredients with a blender.
Quinoa flakes can be replaced with oat bran or additional oatmeal.
I placed all my dry ingredients in a blender. This creates a finer texture. You can mix everything by hand. The texture will be a little different, but the taste will be the same.
You might consider chopping the nuts and dried by hand before adding them to the mixture. If the ingredients are too large, the bars tend to fall apart.
Store in the fridge. They will last for about a week. You can also freeze these bars. Thaw before eating. Just leave them on the counter for about 20 minutes.
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Looking for more healthy snack ideas? Give these a try:
Homemade Chewy Granola Bars
Ingredients
For the Dry mix:
- ¼ cup wheat berries (you can use whole wheat flour if you wish)
- ¼ cup flaxseeds
- ¾ cup old fashioned oats
- ½ cup whole almonds
- ¼ cup quinoa flakes
- 2 tablespoons cocoa
For the Wet mix:
- 1 ⅓ cups applesauce (I used strawberry flavoured) (homemade or bought)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon chai seasoning blend spice (you can add any spice you like here)
Add Ins:
- ½ cup cranberries (and a bit to sprinkle on top)
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut (and a bit to sprinkle on top)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F.Spray an 8×8 inch baking dish with cooking spray, and line with parchment.
- Using a blender, combine the dry ingredients (wheat berries, cocoa, oats, quinoa flakes, flaxseeds and almonds). Blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Place this mixture in a bowl.
- In a bowl combine the wet ingredients (applesauce, vanilla, & chai spice).
- Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, and combine well.
- Add the cranberries and coconut, and mix to combine.
- Pour the mixture into the baking dish, and spread evenly in the dish.
- Sprinkle with additional cranberries and coconut.
- Bake for approximately 25 minutes.
- Remove from oven, and let cool in pan.
- Once cool, remove from pan and place on a cutting board. Cut into 12 (or whatever size you like).
Marta
I am NOT a morning person, even less a breakfast person, but I made these chewy granola bars as a quick option and have been eating them ever since. They’re so packed with flavor and fill me up for the better part of the day.
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
Awesome, so glad this recipe has helped you get your morning off to a delicious start.
Aimee Mars
I swapped cashews in place of the almonds and it was still so good and filling! Will be making these again!
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
Any type of nut will work in these chewy granola bars.
Dana
These are absolutely delicious! So chewy and addicting! Great for on-the-go breakfasts.
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
Move over Quaker….these chewy granola bars rock!!
Glenda
What a great breakfast on the go! I left out the cocoa and used half pumpkin puree and half applesauce. They are extraordinary! Thanks for sharing the tasty recipe!
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
I love the sound of adding pumpkin to this homemade granola bar recipe.
Beth
This is such a delicious recipe. I’ve made homemade granola bars before, but never quite like this. I love their texture, and they taste ah-mazing.
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
Super chewy for sure. Glad you enjoyed these bars.
Michelle
My kids love these and they’re so much healthier than store bought!
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
I agree, my grandkids love homemade granola bars too.
Bernice
I’m a firm believer in being self sufficient and that homemade is always better. However, I have completely missed the boat on granola bars! I could have been making them for the kids all those years and they missed out too. Thank you for this easy and delicious recipe.
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
Well I am glad you will give some homemade granola bars a chance. I know you won’t be disappointed.
Jessica Formicola
I made these granola bats yesterday and they are AMAZING! The perfect after school snack for my kiddos!
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
So glad you and your family enjoyed this chewy granola bar recipe.
Giangi Townsend
So much goodness in those little bites. I love them and enjoy them often.
Thank you for sharing.
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
You are welcome. I need to make more of these delicious chewy bars soon as well.
Debra
Loved that chai flavor in these. So unique for a granola bar.
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
I love chai, and it was fun to see if it works. And it does.
Natalie | Natalie's Food & Health
Homemade stuff is SO much better than store bought. I don’t like to eat food that contains ingredients I can’t even pronounce. SO cheers for homemade granola bars 🙂 This looks really delicious Gloria. Can’t wait to try this combo.
Homemade & Yummy
They were a hit here….and worked for snacks and breakfast on the go too.
Abra
Fructooligosaccharides are quite beneficial for gut health, they are prebiotics – “nondigestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon”. In other words, they are the necessary “food” for the good bacteria (probiotics) to feed on.
Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are naturally found in certain foods like garlic, onion, Jerusalem artichokes, and chicory root and they target the microbe bifidobacteria. So if you are taking a probiotic with the bifidobacteria strain you will want to eat fructooligosaccharides to feed that probiotic.
Without prebiotics, probiotics can’t survive.
Anyhoo, I totally get your point 😉 I am a functional medicine nutritionist so my nutrition nerd radar went off with FOS as an example of an unpronounceable “ingredient”. We should 100% stay away from chemicals and bizarro food like products. I don’t know if you were referring to a specific product that contained FOS? Or just using that as an example of something we can’t pronounce and thus shouldn’t eat? but FOS is beyond safe, beneficial in fact, unless you have SIBO, then that’s a whole other scenario!
Ok… stepping down off my soap box to say your granola bars look delicious! and real food for the win (just that FOS is also real food) 😉
Homemade & Yummy
HAHAH…well thanks for the response. Yes I was referring to FOS as “unpronounceable”….and most people would have no clue that it is actually good. My point is that we really should pay attention to labels….most times you have no clue what is in food…even after reading the label.
Rebecca {foodie with family}
I love that every single ingredient in here delivers sustained, quality energy. These look great!
Homemade & Yummy
Yes these are perfect for breakfast or snacks.
fabiola@notjustbaked
I am always on the lookout for a good hiking bar, these are perfect!
Homemade & Yummy
Yes they sure would be.
Megan @ MegUnprocessed
Love everything about this – good, healthy eating! Wish I had some of this now!
Homemade & Yummy
So easy and totally delicious.