No-Bake Oatmeal Bars (Healthy)

These healthy no-bake oatmeal bars are soft, sweet peanut butter chocolate breakfast bars made only with healthy plant-based ingredients!

It’s a healthy vegan oatmeal breakfast bar ready in 20 minutes and made with less than 10 ingredients.

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Calling all the peanut butter lovers to try these healthy breakfast oatmeal bars! Really, you won’t believe these treats are that healthy. If you enjoy peanut butter and maples, like in my No Bake Peanut Butter Oat Cups, Peanut Butter Caramel, or Vegan Cookie Dough Balls.

Let me describe these vegan chocolate oatmeal bars better. Imagine a sweet, smooth peanut butter maple caramel covering crunchy pieces of rolled oat, slaughtered by a thick chocolate peanut butter ganache.

Did I get your attention now? Oh, and should I add that you only need 20 minutes to make this whole recipe? And believe me, kids and grown-ups will love it. There will be no leftovers.

What Are No-Bake Oatmeal Bars?

Making your homemade breakfast bars is a great way to avoid all the additives from store-bought bars. Plus, there is nothing easier to bake than no-bake oatmeal bars since there is no oven needed!

If you just started a vegan lifestyle and want a healthy breakfast every morning, start making these healthy no-bake peanut butter oatmeal bars.

Want more reasons why you should try making your own healthy breakfast bars? Let’s see:

• Ready in 20 minutes but basically 10 minutes of mixing and kitchen work.
• Healthy, they contain all the protein, fiber, and slow carbs needed to get a steady level of energy up to lunchtime.
• Store well – they cover 1 week of breakfast, so you don’t have to cook every morning.
• Freeze well – you can double the batch, meal prep on Sunday, and freeze them for a later breakfast or snack.

Ingredients and Substitutions

This healthy snack can be made with a handful of basic ingredients.

• Rolled Oats – this refers to the larger oats, not instant oats or steel-cut oats. While the other options will work, the bars will be softer and will lose texture. This recipe is gluten-free as long as your oats are certified gluten-free.
• Unsweetened Desiccated Coconut – coconut adds a lovely chewy texture to the bars.
• Flaxseed Meal – flax seeds are full of plant-based proteins and omega-3, both highly important on a vegan lifestyle, so a perfect addition to healthy vegan chocolate oatmeal bars. Another healthy option is ground chia seeds or oat flour.
• Fresh Peanut Butter – no added oil, no added sugar. This is very important that you use a fresh jar of peanut butter without additives to keep the bars healthy. Plus, peanut butter with added oil will make the bar very soft. In the same way that sweetened peanut butter will make the bars overly sweet.
• Maple Syrup – it is a delicious refined-sugar-free liquid sweetener that can also be replaced by different vegan-friendly sweeteners like brown rice syrup, coconut nectar, or agave syrup.
• Vanilla – For even more taste.

How To Make No-Bake Oatmeal Bars

There is nothing easier than making no-bake breakfast bars, so don’t worry, even if you never made your own before, I will guide you through it.

The best way to succeed in baking is to first measure all your ingredients in small bowls. This way, you are sure that you have all the ingredients on hand, with no last-minute substitution that could make your recipe fail. Then, separate the dry ingredients from the liquid ingredients.

1. Combine all the liquid oatmeal bar ingredients into a large mixing bowl and give it a good stir to combine. Set aside.

2. Pour the dry ingredients on top of the liquid batter and use a spatula to evenly combine both and form a sticky batter.

3. Transfer the batter into an 8-inch x 8-inch square pan or a rectangle 9-inch x 6-inch baking dish that you previously covered with parchment paper. Move the base to the freezer and leave it there while making the next steps.

4. While the bar freezes and sets, melt the chocolate peanut butter ganache ingredients into a saucepan under medium heat. You can reuse the previous saucepan without cleaning it to save time!

5. Pour the melted ganache onto the bar and return the bar to the freezer for about 10 minutes to set the top layer.

6. Slice the no-bake oatmeal bars into 16 or 20 squares when the top chocolate layer has fully set.

Recipe Tips

• Combining The Liquid Ingredients: You only need 3 liquid ingredients to make these no-bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal bars. I recommend bringing all the liquid ingredients into a saucepan and melting under medium heat, stirring often. This will ensure a soft, smooth sweet peanut butter batter that combines perfectly with the dry ingredients.
• Leave Parchment Paper Overhanging: This is very important to prevent the batter from sticking to the pan and to make it easier to lift the bar from the pan by pulling out the paper.
• Freezing The Base: Freezing the bar is a technique in no-bake recipes that sets the ingredients together quickly.
• Chocolate Layer: You can use either dark chocolate chips or chocolate bars. I like to use 70%+ cocoa to give the bars an intense chocolate flavor.

Vegan Oatmeal Bar Swaps

Some ingredients can be replaced in this granola bar recipe.

• Peanut butter – you can replace it with any nut butter, like almond butter or cashew butter. You can also use sunflower seed butter as a nut-free alternative.
• Maple Syrup can be replaced by agave syrup or rice syrup.

However, you can’t swap coconut oil! Coconut is solid at room temperature and there aren’t any good alternatives. It is the key ingredient of most no-bake vegan recipes. If you swap coconut oil for liquid oil, your bar will never set and will result in a messy oatmeal batter.

Storage Tips

These no-bake oatmeal peanut butter bars are a bit soft at room temperature. In fact, no-bake breakfast bars are mostly made of soft ingredients like peanut butter, maple syrup, and coconut oil. Therefore, they tend to soften at room temperature.

That is why it’s better to store them in the fridge in an airtight container. Also, it’s better to lay a piece of parchment paper between each bar to prevent them from sticking to each other.

So if it’s summer or hot where you live, and you want to take away one of these bars, make sure you carry them in a small container to avoid having a chocolate mess.

More Vegan Breakfast Bars

Vegan breakfast bars, no-baked or baked, are very convenient grab-and-go breakfast.

Most of us don’t have time to cook in the morning, and meal preparation is the key to enjoying a clean-eating breakfast, even on a vegan lifestyle. Below are our favorite vegan breakfast bars:

Healthy Date Bars

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

Gluten-Free Protein Bars

Healthy No-bake Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars

Easy, no-bake vegan oatmeal breakfast bars perfect for a quick healthy breakfast.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Total Time: 15 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings: 16 bars

Calories: 219 kcal

Author: Carine Claudepierre

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Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

Dry ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
• ▢ ½ cup Quick Oats - or unsweetened coconut
• ▢ 3 tablespoons Flaxseed Meal - or ground chia seeds or oat flour
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Salt

Liquid ingredients

• ▢ ¾ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - fresh jar, no added oil, no added sugar, at room temperature
• ▢ ½ cup Maple Syrup - at room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Vanilla

Chocolate peanut butter ganache

• ▢ 3.5 oz Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Peanut Butter (Unsalted)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Melted Coconut Oil

Instructions

• Line an 8-inch x 8-inch square pan or a rectangle 9-inch x 6-inch pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Set aside.
• In a microwave-safe bowl or medium saucepan, combine fresh runny peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla. Microwave the bowl for 20 seconds, stir and repeat until the ingredients are smooth and easy to combine to form a sweet peanut butter batter. You can also melt and stir the ingredients in a saucepan under medium heat. Remove from heat when smooth and evenly combined.
• Pour the peanut butter/maple mixture onto the dry ingredients.
• Combine with a spatula to incorporate all ingredients together and form a sticky batter.
• Press the batter all over the prepared square pan. Use a spatula to smoothen the layer and spread evenly.
• Freeze while you prepare the chocolate peanut butter ganache.
• In a small mixing bowl, combine dark chocolate, peanut butter, and coconut oil. Microwave by 30-second bursts, stirring between, repeat until fully melted.
• Remove the pan from the freezer.
• Pour the chocolate ganache on top of the bar and evenly spread with a spatula.
• Return to the freezer for 5-10 minutes or until the ganache is set.

Storage

• Slice into 16 bars and store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
• You can freeze the bars in ziplock bags and defrost them 2 hours before your breakfast.

Notes

• Peanut butter swap

Fresh, runny almond butter or cashew butter can be used as a peanut butter replacement. Use the same amount. 

• Flaxseed meal swap

You can replace flaxseed meal with the same amount of ground chia seed or oat flour. Don’t use all-purpose flour. It is not safe to be eaten raw.

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Nutrition

Serving: 1bar | Calories: 219kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 78mg | Potassium: 215mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 9g | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 1mg