These Healthy Quinoa Granola Bars are loaded with wholesome ingredients, healthy fats and only a fraction of the sugar found in commercial bars. A true healthy snack!
These quinoa bars are also perfect for kids’ lunch boxes along with protein granola bars.
Commercial versions of protein bars, protein balls, and granola bars are usually either loaded with sugars and chemicals. Or come with a high price tag usually not worth the convenience.
That’s where easy homemade bar recipes like these quinoa granola bars save the day!
With toasted quinoa, oats, and nut base, these granola bars are toasty, crunchy, and lightly sweetened with unrefined sugars and optional chocolate chips.
Even as low sugar granola bars they bind very well, after 5 rounds of tweaking, and are kid approved. Win!
Meal prep these quinoa bars in advance and enjoy them in lunchboxes and as a wholesome snack to sustain you until your next meal.
Ingredients You Will Need
Just 9 wholesome pantry staples come together to prepare the quinoa bars.
- Oats: This recipe relies on quick oats or rolled oats, and steel cut oats. However, feel free to substitute the latter for more quick oats. For gluten free granola bars, use certified gluten free oats.
- Quinoa: Use white quinoa, not other types.
- Almonds: Or another nut like peanuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, or pistachios. Use a seed like sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
- Flaxseed: Ground flax seed will thicken and help bind the bars while adding protein and omegas. Ground chia seeds should also work.
- Sweetener: Brown rice syrup or honey work best.
- Eggs: Use either whole eggs or egg whites. These are important for binding while adding protein.
- Chocolate chips: I use Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips but use what you have.
- Coconut oil: Adds healthy fats and helps hold the quinoa granola bars together. I do not recommend other oil.
You’ll also need a cooking spray. I use Misto.
How to Make Quinoa Granola Bars
Toast the quinoa and oats: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Then bake the oats, quinoa, and roughly chopped almonds for 10-15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Transfer everything to a large mixing bowl and leave them to cool completely.
Mix the dough: Add the ground flax seed and chocolate chips to the large mixing bowl. Meanwhile, lightly beat the eggs, brown rice syrup, and coconut oil in a separate medium bowl, then add it to the larger one and mix well.
Shape the bars: Transfer the quinoa granola bars mixture onto baking sheet, press it firmly into the dish, smoothing over with a spatula.
Bake the bars: Bake granola bars for 30 minutes, allow them to cool for an hour in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack for a further hour before cutting the mixture into 16 equal bars. Enjoy!
For lower calorie granola bar bites, feel free to chop them into 32 pieces instead of 16.
FAQs
Eggs are important as a binder to hold the healthy granola bars together. While you could attempt the recipe with an egg replacer like flax eggs, I can’t guarantee results.
The way coconut oil solidifies helps to hold the bars together. I don’t think other oil or butter would work. However, one reader used avocado oil and she says it was a success. Feel free to try.
The sticky syrups consistency of honey or brown rice syrup helps to function as a “glue” to bind the homemade granola bars. For that reason, I can’t recommend trying the recipe with replacements like banana or applesauce.
Thinner, less sticky sweeteners like agave nectar and maple syrup will also struggle. I do not recommend to use them.
As a side note, I have previously tried reducing the sugars and increasing the egg whites as an option to further reduce sugar. However, the bars just crumbled and fell apart. So I don’t recommend reducing the amount of sweetener.
Dried fruit is my favorite addition alongside or instead of the chocolate chips. Raisins, dried cranberries, blueberries, finely chopped dates, and apricots. We love these additions in healthy granola!
You could also experiment with adding some coconut flakes or shredded coconut. Plus, a pinch of salt and perhaps cinnamon will help to enhance the various flavors.
Why White Quinoa?
White quinoa is neutral tasting with a light texture and short cooking time that allows you to get away with roasting them in just 10-15 minutes.
Do I Need to Rinse Quinoa?
Quinoa has a saponin coating, which is bitter tasting. I’ve been lucky enough that the quinoa I buy is usually pre-rinsed, so no additional step is required. However, if you want to avoid any potential bitterness, feel free to rinse it first.
How to Store These Bars
These quinoa granola bars are a fantastic meal prep snack for lunch boxes for the entire family.
Storing: Once cooled, store these quinoa protein granola bars in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for 2-3 weeks. I store mine in sandwich bags in the pantry.
Freeze: Flash freeze the bars on a baking tray until solid, then transfer them to a freezer safe container or Ziplock. Or you can individually wrap them in parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Remove a bar from the freezer and leave it on the counter until it’s soft enough to enjoy.
More Healthy Bars Recipes
- Healthy apple oatmeal bars
- Blueberry oatmeal crumble bars
- Pumpkin pie protein bars
- No bake peanut butter oatmeal bars
More Breakfast Recipes to Try
You might also like this compiled list of 30 quinoa recipes and healthy snacks!
Healthy Quinoa Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups quick or rolled oats
- 1 cup quinoa uncooked
- 1/2 cup steel cut oats or sub with quick or rolled oats
- 1/2 cup almonds coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup flax seed ground
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 – 3 large eggs or 1/2 cup egg whites
- 1/2 cup brown rice syrup or honey warmed up if necessary
- 1/2 cup coconut oil melted
- Cooking spray I use Misto
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and spread quick oats, quinoa, steel cuts oats and almonds on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 10 -15 minutes or until lightly brown, stirring occasionally. Remove from the oven, transfer to a large mixing bowl and let cool completely.
- Stir in flax seed, chocolate chips and salt into cooled oats. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg whites, add brown rice syrup/honey and coconut oil. Mix well to combine, pour over the dry ingredients and mix well again.
- Line 9 x 13 baking dish with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Transfer mixture into the baking dish and using spatula or wet hands press it firmly. You have to press really well for the bars to hold together!
- Bake for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool completely. I usually let the bars cool in the pan for an hour and then, holding by the parchment paper flaps, transfer on a cooling rack for another hour or so. Cut into 16 bars.
Notes
- Store: Store in a cool dry place for a few weeks.
- Freeze: In an airtight container up to 3 months.
Sounds so good going to make tonight or tmo am depending on whether I want to grind the flaxseed. I hope it is only 1/2 CUP of steel oats(I have irish oats)why instant oats one and 3/4 or 1/2 CUP of steel oats?
Hi Lou! I like to use a combination of quick oats and steel cut oats because they have different textures.
This recipe calls for 1 3/4 cup quick oats AND 1/2 cup of steel cut oats. If you want to substitute the steel cut ones, you can use an additional 1/2 cup of quick oats. Hope that helps.
Do you have to cook the quinoa first or just use it dry?
Use it dry.
I used Avocado oil because I don’t like coconut oil and it worked great. My granola bars were a big hit.
Awesome!!!
Delicious and all 4 kids loved them! I added 1/2 cup of dried cranberries, no problem with sticking
Awesome!!! Happy to hear, Krista!
These granola bars are really good! I love the crunch! I used raisins instead of chocolate chips. It might have been a good idea to soak them in hot water for a bit first, as they popped out of the dense bar. What’s the best way to cut them? I found that waiting until they were totally cool meant the slab was too brittle and I could cut it properly. I was thinking of scoring it as soon as I take it out of the oven.
That is so amazing to hear! Glad you enjoyed my recipe!
I followed the basic recipe but used 50/50 honey & maple syrup; no choc chips in the pantry so added a tbsp of cocoa and a tbsp peanut butter; get a bit creative so tossed in some chopped prunes, dash of left over tinned passionfruit, some pumkin seeds and dessicated cocount, a tbsp of almond meal and coconut flour….why not!! Turned out totally delicious! And no trouble with binding. Definitely need the egg whites and syrup. Thanks!
These were the perfect snack. ?
Kids approved!
I love these bars and make them on a regular basis. I do add either craisins or dried cherries and have not had a problem with them binding OK. I always have some crumbles, so I save them to mix into yogurt.
These look so delicious! I’m on a quest to find a healthy granola bar recipe and I’m so excited to try these. Although I try to incorporate fruit where I can – Would it make sense to add maybe dried cranberries or chopped dried apricots? Or would that ruin the binding?
Hi Kiera. I can’t say because I haven’t tried. It might be risky because these bars are low on sticky sugary binding already to keep them healthier with less added sugar.