These No-Bake Granola Bars are lightly sweetened with honey and packed with chia, flax and hemp seeds. Full of fiber, protein, and healthy fats, they make a healthy, kid-friendly afternoon snack!
*Originally published July 2014. Post, recipe & photos updated May 2018*
Hi Friends!
Let’s talk about these No Bake Granola Bars. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 4 years since I first shared this recipe on the blog. A few weeks ago, I took Little Miss to a toddler playtime at our local community center. Can we also talk about how she almost never gets to do all the fun things by herself with mama like her brother did at that age? Second kid problems. Anyways, as we headed to pick up brother, I realized I’d forgotten to grab his after-school treat. So we made a quick stop at the vending machine and I snagged a $0.50 chocolate chip granola bar.
It was a big hit with the Squish man…..which made me think about this homemade version I’d made so many years ago. I’ve found most homemade granola bars to be overly sweetened in order to help them stick together…but really if you also use nut butter, and you store them in the fridge, you really don’t need that much sweetener.
No Bake Granola Bars
So yes, these crumble a little bit…but for the most part, if you eat them straight out of the fridge, they do their part to hold up as a no-bake granola bar. When I originally made these, I mixed in chopped almonds and pepitas…which I love, but my three-year-old would immediately spit out. So, for this updated version, I omitted those and went with a mix of chia, flax and hemp seeds. They’re all kinda the same color as the oats which helps them blend in so that the only thing that really stands out is the mini chocolate chips, which is what I wanted the focus to be.
So, here’s the updated recipe. For those of you who are fans of the original recipe, I’ve included it in the comments.
PrintNo Bake Granola Bars
An easy snack packed with healthy ingredients that’s also sweet enough for dessert!
- Yield: 8
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup Rice Chex (or other cereal)
- 2 Tablespoons chia seeds
- 2 Tablespoons hemp hearts
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup chopped almonds (or your fav nut)
- 1/2 cup nut butter
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 Tbsp chocolate chips, optional
Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Microwave honey and nut butter in a separate bowl for 45 seconds and stir to combine.
- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until well coated.
- Press into an 8×8 or 9×9 pan (line with parchment paper for easy removal) and freeze for 30 minutes.
- Cut into 8 bars and store in the fridge.
If you don’t have one of the types of seeds, feel free to leave them out. As mentioned in the notes, I think they’re sweet enough with 1/4 cup honey, but feel free to bump it up to 1/3 cup if you want!
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
Umm your photographs look fantastic as always! And these are calling my name! I’m all about no bake recipes, granola, & bars!
I LOVE no bake bars and these look like a winning variation- the key I find is to store in the freezer and thaw slightly before eating- or just break them over yogurt!
I love granola bars but always find mine crumble too! Need to try the fridge/freezer tip 🙂
I love the ingredient list on these! My big problem with homemade bars is my family eats them up so quickly. 😉
I am such a granola bar lover! Just pulled one out of the freezer that I made a while ago to keep on hand. I love my granola bar recipe, but I have to bake them for quite a while, which is always a huge factor when deciding to make them or not! I’ll have to give these no bake bars a try!
ahhh it is HOT HOT HOT here…for here 🙂
no bake after CAMP today FTW.
xoxo
These sound fantastic. I love almonds in granola bars. And we’re trying to not turn the oven on for any reason right about now. Have you tried adding in protein powder to these by chance?
Oooh!! these look so yummy!
These sound AWESOME! And I know my son will love to help me with them!
Thanks so much!
WOO! Yum! So need to make these, they look delish!
Yum!! Good tip on the fridge (and I’ll try Arman’s tip on the freezer, too).
I’ve never tried hemp hearts before, what do they taste like? The honey bourbon peanut butter sounds amazing!
yum! these look spectacular! and super easy too!
★★★★★
These looks so good! I might have to make them this weekend.
YUM! These look so good and easy too. I think I could tweak them Paleo pretty easily.
Those look amazing!!!
I love no bake granola bars! They are my go-to snack these days and it’s so much better than store bought ones. I’ve never used chex mix in mine. That has got to be good!
OMG you included A Loving Spoon Honey Vanilla Bourbon Peanut Butter….how on God’s green Earth did I miss this?! THANK YOU! Sharing this awesomesauce recipe everywhere!!!
I love no-bake granola bars- so simple! I actually love when then crumble, I put them in a bowl with almond milk- my favorite snack! 🙂
Love that they are no bake! They look perfect!
Oh yum!
Honey bourbon vanilla peanut butter?! wowowow. I don’t do a ton of bars, but I’m drooling already thinking of this on top of ice cream.
You have got some lovely colours in those granola bars Lindsay. I am totally with you on not wanting to get the food processor out – mine is really heavy! And then there is the cleaning…!
Can you substitute the rice chex or cereal? Or can you omit it all together? Thanks.
I wouldn’t omit them. You could try adding more oats? I’m not sure how it would work but worth a try!
Looks great! I’m definitely going to make these. I’d have to make it without honey and instead use agave because honey is not vegan but I am :-).
★★★★
I have been looking for a granola bar recipe that was healthy and tasted great. These fit the bill. I didn’t have any nuts, so I added sunflower seeds instead. Very good.
These sound so delicious! I like that they are kid friendly too!