These Peanut Butter Granola Bars are easy, soft protein breakfast bars loaded with 9 grams of protein and refined sugar-free. Plus, these homemade granola bars are also vegan, egg-free, and gluten-free.
If you love peanut butter and you are looking for a healthy on-the-go breakfast bar, then try these peanut butter granola bars. They are a great peanut-butter-lover alternative to my Peanut Butter Donuts, Samoa Bars, or Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal.
These are baked granola bars packed with a good amount of plant-based proteins from peanut butter and seeds and lightly sweetened with refined sugar-free sweeteners. They are soft, slightly crunchy on the border, but moist, not chewy.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
They are naturally:
- Egg-Free – Many homemade baked granola bars contain an egg or two. Not this one.
- Refined Sugar-Free and honey free.
- Vegan
- Gluten-Free
Ingredients and Substitutions
The ingredients you need to make them are:
- Natural Peanut Butter – I highly recommend using peanut butter with no added sugar and no added oil or sugar.
- Coconut Oil – don’t use another type of oil, or the bars won’t firm up as well. To avoid coconut flavor from the oil, pick refined coconut oil.
- Liquid Sweetener Of Choice – maple syrup tastes amazing but for a low-GI bar, try rice syrup. Other options are date syrup, coconut nectar, or agave.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor.
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats – avoid quick oats or steal-cut oats.
- Puffed Cereal – Choose thin grains like puffed amaranth or puffed quinoa, their texture pack better than puffed rice. Or replace with quick oats -the thinner version of oats.
- Hemp Seeds or any seeds like pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds. I like hemp heart because it’s a naturally high vegan protein source.
- Chia Seeds or a flaxseed meal.
- Chopped Nuts like chopped almonds or walnuts or hazelnuts.
Add-Ons
You can, of course, add some delicious ingredients up to 1/3 cup of the following to the granola bar mixture:
- Dried cranberries
- Mini dark chocolate chips
- Dried apricot
- Coconut flakes
Storage Instructions
Store the bars in the fridge for up to 1 week in a sealed container. You can freeze granola bars for up to 3 months and thaw them at room temperature.
Allergy Swaps
You can swap some ingredients to make the bars fit your allergy:
- Peanut-Free – swap peanut butter for almond butter or sun butter.
- Nut-Free – Use sun butter instead of peanut butter and replace almonds with seeds or dried fruits like cranberries.
- Coconut-Free – Cocoa butter is a great option to replace coconut oil.
Frequently Asked Questions
You must melt the coconut oil before adding it to the dry ingredients. As you may have seen on my Instagram videos, you can also just add the peanut butter and syrup to the bowl if they are runny and fresh. However, if your peanut butter is not as runny, it’s better to melt the 3 ingredients together before adding to ensure the bar mixture is not dry.
If the batter is loose and doesn’t stick well together when pressed in your pan, stir in the mixture of extra tablespoons of sweetener up to 3 tablespoons.
You need to add a crystal sweetener to the liquid sweetener to make the granola bar chewy.
I don’t add any because it adds sugar to the recipe, but if you really love the chewy texture of granola bars, then add 1/4 cup of sugar – coconut sugar, white sugar, or unrefined cane sugar – into the saucepan with the liquid ingredient.
Warm until the sugar has melted.
More Vegan Granola Recipes
If you like granola recipes and vegan bars, you’ll love these:
Peanut Butter Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
- 1 cup Puffed Cereals - Small grains like puffed amaranth or puffed quinoa or use quick oats
- 1 tablespoon Chia Seeds
- ¼ cup Chopped Almond
- ¼ cup Hemp Seeds - or pumpkin seeds
- ¾ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted)
- ½ cup Maple Syrup
- 2 tablespoons Melted Coconut Oil
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Drizzle
- ⅓ cup Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1 teaspoon Coconut Oil
Optional – for chewy bars – increase sugar content
- ¼ cup Cane Sugar - or sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Line a 9-inch x 9-inch pan with parchment paper. Spray oil over the paper. Set aside.
- Note that these bars are only sweetened with maple syrup, no added sugar and they can be crumbly. For a chewy texture add 1/4 cup unrefined sugar.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients: old-fashioned oats, puffed cereal, chopped almonds, chia seeds, and hemp seeds. Stir to combine.
- In a non-stick saucepan, add peanut butter, maple syrup, and coconut sugar if you want a chewy bar.
- Cook over low heat, stirring with a spoon until ingredients are warm and well combined.
- Pour the liquid ingredients onto the dry and add vanilla extract.
- Stir very well until the dry ingredients are well combined and covered with the liquid ingredients.
- Pour the granola batter into the pan and press to evenly spread over the pan in a single layer. Add a piece of parchment paper on top and using the back of a measuring cup, press hard to stick the ingredients together and make the bars firm.
- Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown on top and sides.
- Cool completely in the pan – about 3 hours before cutting.
- After that time, pull out the bar from the pan using the hanging parts of parchment paper and place it on a chopping board.
Decoration
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate and coconut oil. Drizzle on top of the bars.
- Pop the bars for 8 minutes in the freezer to set before cutting.
Cutting and storage
- Cut the bar into 12 rectangle bars and store them in an airtight container in the fridge for a week. You can freeze them for up to 3 months and thaw them at room temperature.
Have you ever tried doing these in a muffin tin?
There’s no reason why it shouldn’t work, but muffin tins are much smaller, so you might have to fill 3 or 4 tins.