Healthy Oatmeal Bars

These Healthy Oatmeal Bars are made in one bowl, with no oil or eggs and with all the delicious add-ins you like in your morning bowl of oats! A perfect healthy breakfast or snack on the go!

Don’t miss these other healthy breakfast ideas like carrot cake baked oatmeal bars, homemade cereal and healthy oatmeal muffins.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Convenient: These healthy oatmeal bars replace a bowl of oatmeal you don’t have time to make in the morning. They last 1 week in the fridge.
• Easy recipe: Just mix everything in one bowl and “throw” in the oven.
• Naturally sweetened: Mini chocolate chips are there but because bars are sweetened with only ripe bananas and Medjool dates, they are not very sweet.
• Versatile: When it comes to add-ins and substitutions, the options are endless. Please see Variations section below.

Ingredients for Healthy Oatmeal Bars

To make these breakfast oat bars, you’ll need super simple ingredients and most you’ve probably got on hand already.

• Bananas: The riper bananas, the better for optimal sweetness. If you have over ripen bananas, here’s how to freeze bananas to use them later. If you have under ripe bananas, here is how to ripen bananas faster.
• Applesauce: I use unsweetened applesauce but you can also use sweetened one too. It provides moisture and a subtle apple flavor which is a great pairing with oats and cinnamon.
• Oats: Quick or old fashioned rolled oats will both work in this recipe. The texture and nutrition may be different in the end, but the taste will be the same.
• Milk: Any milk will do. To keep it dairy free, I use unsweetened almond milk. You could try oat milk, cashew milk, or even coconut milk too.
• Ground flaxseed: Flax has a ton of fiber and Omega 3s. You could also use hemp hearts for increased protein. When mixed with a liquid it also acts as a binder, since we’re not using any eggs!
• Medjool dates: High in fiber, iron, and magnesium, they also are just delicious. They’re sweet and when chopped they can replace all kinds of dried fruit. Feel free to swap them for raisins or another dried fruit.
• Walnuts: Or any chopped nut like almonds, cashews, pecans or even hazelnuts!
• Baking powder and baking soda: We need these to ensure our bars don’t fall flat. We want them nice and decadent! Look for aluminum free baking powder.
• Cinnamon: A delicious warm spice that adds incredible flavor.
• Salt: A little bit of seasoning is needed to enhance the flavor of all of the other ingredients.
• Chocolate chips: I like to use mini chocolate chips for even distribution in each bite.

How to Make Healthy Oatmeal Bars

• Mash the bananas and prep: First, using a fork mash your bananas in a large bowl. Also now is a good time to preheat the oven to 375 F and line square 8×8 inch baking dish with parchment paper.
• Add the liquids and seasoning: Add applesauce, milk, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well.
• Add dry ingredients: Then add the oats, dates, walnuts, half of chocolate chips and mix. The batter should be quite thick.
• Bake: Pour the mixture into baking dish and level with a spatula. Add remaining chocolate chips and lightly press on them to sink them in. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Take the bars out of the oven and let them cool before slicing.

Variations

• Gluten free: Based on the ingredients listed, these bars are naturally gluten free. Use certified gluten free oats to ensure this recipe remains gluten-free.
• Instead of flaxseed: Use equal amount of hemp hearts or 1 large egg.
• Instead of applesauce: Yogurt or any other fruit puree or pumpkin puree should work. You can also add more mashed banana.
• Add nut butter: Add 1/3 -1/2 cup peanut butter, almond butter or sunflower seed butter for an extra boost of healthy fats and protein.
• Extra flavor: Add 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract or almond extract, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice.
• Extra additions: Add up to 1/3 cup of coconut flakes, raisins, fresh or frozen blueberries.
• Higher in protein: Add 1-2 small scoops of collagen or 1 scoop of whey protein powder. If you add plant-based protein powder, you may need to add a bit more milk.

Serving

These healthy oatmeal bars are meant to replace your morning bowl of oatmeal, so they are quite soft.

They can be enjoyed hot, warm or cold. On their own or with a side of yogurt, drizzled with maple syrup or honey, or slathered with peanut butter.

However you like your oatmeal, eat the bars the same way!

How to Store

• Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
• Freeze: Individually wrap each bar in a plastic wrap and freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight or on a counter for a few hours.

For meal prep, I recommend to make a double batch in a large 9×13 baking dish. Refrigerate one half and freeze the other half for later.

More Oatmeal Bars Recipes to Try

• No bake peanut butter oatmeal bars
• Carrot cake baked oatmeal bars
• Healthy apple oatmeal bars
• Blueberry oatmeal bars
• Healthy strawberry oatmeal bars
• Pumpkin protein bars
• Protein granola bars