Homemade Granola Bars (4 flavor variations)

These homemade granola bars are so much better than store-bought! They're sweetened with dates instead of regular sugar, but still have a satisfying chewy texture. We made four flavors: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Almond, Blueberry Cashew and Apple Cinnamon. It's so easy to customize these and they can be made vegan, gluten free and nut free!

Store-bought granola bars are often loaded with added sugar, and higher quality options can be pretty pricey. So we set out to create a recipe that ticks all the boxes: It has the same chewy texture as any good store-bought bar, but we use dates instead of regular sugar, it's easy to customize, and uses up odds and ends that you already have in your pantry!

These are easy to make and they're kid and adult friendly! If you don't want a full bar, you can cut them into even smaller snack-sized portions.

The base recipe below is for a peanut butter chocolate chip granola bar (everybody's favorite, right?), but we've also provided 3 other variations. We also included a few more flavor ideas at the bottom of the post, so feel free to experiment on your own!

We like to keep a batch of these in the freezer for long term storage. You can pull a few out as needed for a quick snack or an on-the-go breakfast on a busy morning. I love that they're satisfying, but not too sweet! Plus, they're a great way to get your daily dose of fiber.

If you want to try a few more homemade bars, try our Dark Chocolate & Sea Salt Nut Bars (KIND bar copycat) or our Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bars (Perfect Bar copycat) next.

Jump to:

• What You'll Need To Make This Recipe
• How to Make This Recipe
• Storage
• Lexi & Beth's Best Tips
• More Variations
• More Homemade Snack Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

What You'll Need To Make This Recipe

• Oats: Make sure to use old fashioned whole rolled oats, NOT quick cook or instant oats.
• Nuts or seeds: We use raw (unroasted), unsalted nuts and seeds as mix-ins. You can use just about any nut, including peanuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, pistachios or walnuts. To keep your granola bars nut free, you can use sunflower seeds or pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds).
• Nut butter: A creamy, natural nut butter (no sugar or other ingredients added) works best. You can just peanut, almond, cashew, pistachio, or sunflower seed butter.
• Medjool dates: We blend pitted dates into a paste to sweeten and bind the bars together. This ingredient cannot be substituted, it's the most important component!
• Dried fruit: The base recipe (peanut butter chocolate chip) doesn't call for any extra dried fruit, but the other recipes use dried blueberries, cranberries and apples. You can also use dried cherries, apricots, figs, etc or leave them out altogether.
• Honey: We tried this recipe just with dates, but found that it works best with a small amount of honey to make the mixture a bit stickier. You can also use maple syrup or agave.
• Vanilla, cinnamon and salt for extra flavor. If you don't like cinnamon, you can leave it out completely. Feel free to add or substitute other spices, like pumpkin spice, cardamom, nutmeg, etc.

How to Make This Recipe

Add the dates to a bowl, cover with very hot water and soak for 5-10 minutes to soften. Reserve a few tablespoons of the water, then drain the dates.

Place the dates in a food processor with 1 tablespoon of the reserved water. Pulse several times until it forms a mostly smooth paste. Add in another tablespoon of water if needed. Measure out ¾ cup of date paste, and reserve any leftovers in the refrigerator.

Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, stir together ¾ cup of date paste, honey, nut/seed butter, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. If you are adding zest, other extracts, or spices, add them at this time.

Add the oats, dried fruit, chopped nuts, and any other mix-ins, and stir thoroughly to combine (this may take a few minutes, as it will be a thick mixture).

Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and press firmly into the pan, using your fingers or the flat bottom of a sturdy measuring cup. Freeze for 1 hour (or up to overnight) – this makes cutting the bars much easier. You can cut them right away, but they may fall apart slightly. You can reshape any loose pieces with your hands.

Preheat the oven to 325˚F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove the bars from the freezer. Transfer the granola bars to a cutting board (on top of the parchment paper). Slice in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 6 evenly-sized bars for 12 bars total. The bars may crumble slightly when cut, so just press any loose pieces back into the bars.

Transfer to the baking sheet and bake for 20-22 minutes, until they are light golden brown on the bottom. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Storage

Keep the granola bars stored in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper. You can store them at room temperature for about a week, the refrigerator for a few weeks, or the freezer for up to 6 months.

Lexi & Beth's Best Tips

• Freeze the bars before slicing: While this step is not 100% essential, we tested this recipe multiple times and freezing makes it much easier to slice the bars. We slice before baking so all of the edges dry out and get chewy, which is how store-bought granola bars are made. If you skip this step, just keep in mind that the mixture may crumble quite a bit, but you can always press it back together with your hands.
• Along the same lines...firmly press the mixture into your pan. If it's too loosely packed, the bars will crumble when cut.
• Save any leftover date paste! It's delicious spread onto toast or stirred into yogurt.

More Variations

Here are a few more suggested combinations to experiment with!

• White Chocolate Coconut Pistachio: Use chopped pistachios, pistachio butter, white chocolate chips and coconut flakes.
• Birthday cake: Use any nut butter and nut of choice, white chocolate chips and sprinkles.
• PB Banana: Use chopped peanuts, peanut butter and chopped banana chips or freeze-dried bananas.
• Chocolate Cherry Cashew: Use cashew butter, chopped cashews, mini chocolate chips and dried cherries.

More Homemade Snack Recipes

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