Homemade Gluten-Free Granola Bars Recipe
Published
I make these quick and easy homemade gluten-free granola bars all the time. My kids love these for snack time, and I love that I can give them an easy gluten-free snack. These bars are chewy and soft with a perfect balance of peanut butter and chocolaty flavor.
Homemade Gluten-Free Granola Bars Recipe
Homemade granola bars are so easy. My kids love bringing these to school or as an afternoon snack. They’re made with a few simple natural ingredients and absolutely delicious.
I started making these when my family went gluten and dairy-free. It’s much easier to make them and less expensive than trying to find allergy-friendly bars at the store. You can customize them with your favorite mix-ins like dried fruit, nuts, or seeds to suit your family’s taste. They’re the perfect combination of healthy, convenient, and kid-approved.
Gluten-Free Baking Tips
- Oats are naturally gluten-free, but most oats are processed in facilities that also process wheat, barley, and rye. Oats can also be cross-contaminated in fields where wheat, rye, or barley are also present. Certified gluten-free and purity protocol oats are the safest to eat. There is a difference between certified and purity protocol oats.
- Make sure to use mini chocolate chips because regular chocolate chips are too big. I like Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips because they’re dairy-free.
Homemade Gluten-Free Granola Bar Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter, nut or seed butter
- 2/3 cup honey
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3½ cups gluten-free quick oats
- 1/4 cup gluten-free mini chocolate chips, dairy-free use Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Line an 8-inch by an 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, stir together the peanut butter, honey, pure vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt, until smooth.
- Add the gluten-free quick oats and mini chocolate chips. Stir until fully combined. The mixture will seem dry at first, but it’ll come together.
- Press the mixture firmly into the pan with your hands or a spatula. Use the back of a 1/4 measuring cup to help flatten the mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour, then slice into bars.
- Store the cut bars in an air-tight container the refrigerator.
- The bars can be frozen up to 2 months. Defrost for 30 minutes at room temperature before eating.
Notes
- Use smooth nut butter. This recipe works best with smooth nut or seed butter. If your nut or seed butter is too dry or thick, it will not mix well with the other ingredients.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How to Make Homemade Gluten-Free Granola Bars Step by Step
Gather all your ingredients.
Mix ingredients together: Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Grab a large bowl and stir together 1 cup creamy peanut butter, ⅔ cup honey, 2 tsp pure vanilla extract, ½ tsp cinnamon, and ¼ tsp salt until smooth.
Pour in 3 ½ cups gluten-free oats and a ¼ cup of mini chocolate chips. Stir to fully combine all the ingredients. Don’t worry if the mixture seems dry, keep mixing, and it will come together.
Add to pan and chill: Add the oat mixture to the pan and firmly press down to spread evenly using your hands or a spatula. I like to use the bottom of my measuring cup to press and flatten. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Do not cut the chilling time short. These bars need to be refrigerated to set and become firm.
Cut and serve: Remove the pan from the refrigerator and slice the chilled oat mixture into even-sized bars. Serve for an easy snack, and enjoy!
Substitutions
- You can also use pure maple syrup in place of honey.
- Any smooth nut butter can be swapped out for the peanut butter.
Storage Instructions
Refrigerate leftovers in an air-tight container for up to a week.
I like making a big batch of these and freezing them, so I always have them on hand for my kids and me. Place cut bars in a plastic freezer bag. Use a piece of parchment as a liner between the layers of bars. Defrost at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Anxious to try these. Can they be frozen?
Hi Debra, I don’t see why not!
I love this recipe. I’ve made it many times already and have added different add-ins. this time I added in cherries. I also use pure organic maple syrup in mine and it gives it a whole different flavor. but the honey is awesome as well. I will continue to make these for a long time and I have shared it with my friends. thank you so much for your recipes.
Hi Sandy! I love the idea of using maple syrup in these. Thank you so much!
These are really delicious! I swapped out a cup of oatmeal for a cup of Rice Crispies cereal to get a fun, crunchy texture, too!
OMG these are sooo good!!! I haven’t had a granola bar in years. And when I’ve had any store brands in the past they were gross. I used chocolate sunbutter instead of peanut butter, because of allergy. Also used agave instead of honey for my blood sugar. Used Bob Red Mill quick cook Oats. The bars came out so soft, not gross and chewy like packaged bars. My non gf husband said they are so good. Def will be making these again and playing with other fun toppings!!
I used a half and half mixture of almond butter, and sunflower butter, chopped up some raisins, pecan pieces and dried apricot and mixed with raw honey. Very thick and dense, did need to add a 1/4 cup more of the sunflower butter and a about 2 more tablespoons of honey to make sure the mixture stuck together. The nice thing about these bars is they don’t need baking. Thank you for coming up with the recipe.
This is a great recipe as is and as a base for a variety of mix-ins. The first time I used full sugar peanutbutter and the honey and while very yummy that way, I knew it was too much sugar. So second time around we used no-sugar peanut butter, 1/3 cup honey and 1/3 cup of date paste (has lower glycemic index) and still was yummy and sweet, probably will cut more next time but was concerned they may not hold togther with out the stickiness. Worth a try though! We used chopped dates instead of chocolate chips (daughter can’t have chocolate) and added pecans the second time too, very simiple and versatile recipe for what you have on hand, food allergies and tastes. TY! 🙂
My sister and I love making these! So easy and healthy! Thanks so much!