These no bake granola bars are jam-packed with goodness and couldn’t be easier to make. There’s a date base which keeps it all together and wholesome ingredients like chia seeds, almonds and oats. Totally portable, these homemade granola bars make for a delicious breakfast on busy mornings or afternoon snack.
Do you love granola bars as much as we do?
Well, forget store-bought and make your own scratch-made granola bars with some simple, wholesome ingredients.
Once you make your own, there’s no going back!
Plus, this granola bar recipe is easily customizable so you can use what you have on hand or enjoy. Sound good? Let’s get to it!
If you like these scratch-made granola bars, check out this homemade granola recipe!
How To Make Granola Bars
Full details on how to make these homemade granola bars are in the recipe card below, but here are the basics:
- To processor, add dates, almond butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, salt and vanilla. Process. Mixture will be thick and paste-like.
- Stop processor, uncover and add oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, almonds and cranberries. Process until combined. Mixture will be moist, but loose.
- Line a baking dish with parchment paper, just enough to overhang over the sides (for easier removal later) and pour granola bar mixture into dish.
- Press down hard with your hands or use a measuring cup (or the like) to really compact the mixture.
- Freeze.
- After freezing, cut into bars.
Storing and Enjoying
Store these homemade granola bars in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within a week.
Tips and Variations
- The key here is to press down the mixture into the parchment paper-lined pan. Like, really, pack that goodness into the pan. Just when you think you have it packed in enough, press again.
- Don’t have almond butter on hand? Use peanut butter!
- Have walnuts on hand and no almonds? Use those!
- Rather use chocolate chips instead of dried cranberries? Go for it!
These no bake granola bars are pretty versatile, which makes it easy to use what you have on hand.
If you make this homemade granola bar recipe, be sure to leave a comment below!
Easy No Bake Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups dates, pitted
- ¼ cup almond butter, or peanut butter
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup chia seeds
- 1 cup almonds, roughly chopped
- ¾ cup unsweetened dried cranberries
Instructions
- To a food processor, add dates, almond butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, salt and vanilla extract. Process until combined and dates broken down, about 2 minutes.
- To processor, add remainder of ingredients and process until combined, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- In a wax paper or parchment paper-lined freezer-safe dish (I used about a 8-inch x 11-inch dish), add mixture and firmly press down until packed into pan and level. Freeze until firm, about 40 to 45 minutes.
- Remove from the freezer and cut into bars (I cut into 16 pieces, but you can do more or less, depending on the size you want). Store these homemade granola bars in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within a week.
A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
© Girl Heart Food Inc. Photographs and content are copyright protected.
Tried this recipe?
If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!
Gaila
Oh my Dawn! These really look absolutely delicious. The “no bake” part is the best part, so easy. I love your video! Love it!
Ashika | Gardening Foodie
These really look delicious Dawn. I love how easy it is and a no bake….even better. Definitely much better than shop bought. Oh, and the video is absolutely beautiful. Love it!
Girl Heart Food
Thank you Ashika!! Appreciate the kind words 🙂
annie@ciaochowbambina
First of all – love the video! LOVE IT! I can’t believe it’s only your second one! You’re a pro! Second of all – love the manicure! Your hands are very pretty! Third of all – I need these bars in my life! We did some traveling and celebrating this weekend so it’s back to reality! These will do the trick! Thank you for sharing this healthy and tasty recipe, sweets! Pinned and shared and all the stuff!! XOXO
Girl Heart Food
YAY!!! Thank you SO much, Annie!! You’re too too sweet, my friend! If we were neighbours, I’d be on your doorstep with a big batch of this right now (and a big pot of coffee). Appreciate the Pin and shares too! Hope you had a lovely celebratory weekend! XOXO
Mary
I’m a huge fan of making my own granola bars. I’ve only made them a few times and they were darn tasty, but I’ve never tried no-bake granola bar. These bad boys look scrumptious. I like all the ingredients, dates, chia seeds, almonds, oats, yummmmmmy. I love making homemade pizza its so easy and super delicious. Thank for the fun video, I love the music and your nails are adorable.
Girl Heart Food
Homemade is definitely the way to go. I pretty much make these every week and eat throughout the week – nice and filling…plus, can’t hurt a little snack in the afternoon, lol. Love doing my nails! Thanks for the sweet comment, Mary!
Nicoletta @sugarlovespices
Such a lovely video, Dawn! And the recipe is a keeper! I love these bars as my snack when some sweet craving hits. They are easy and fast to make, and so delicious! Pinned!
Girl Heart Food
Thank you very much Nicoletta!! Hope you love ’em as much as we do 🙂 Appreciate the Pin too! xo
Nicole @ Foodie Loves Fitness
Nom nom nom, I loveeee homemade granola bars! So good. And I feel like my food processor is always my BFF… I use that thing so much!
Girl Heart Food
Right? Homemade granola bars are the best! Thanks Nicole!
karrie @ Tasty Ever After
Look at you with the second video!! I’m going to hire you to do my videos because I hate doing them. It takes me 4 days to do mine! lol!
Why do people buy granola bars when they can make healthy, yummy ones like this? I’m making these to have for breakfast throughout the week and to take on our next camping trip. Or you could make them and mail them to me. Oh never mind, you are probably busy shooting your third video 😉 #overachiever 🙂
Girl Heart Food
Haha! Thanks girl! The videos definitely are time consuming! These would be perfect for your camping trip 🙂 Hope you love ’em as much as we do! XO
Jamie Bevia
Love these! I like how you put them in the food processor, so there are no big chunks. That is great for the kiddos =)
Girl Heart Food
Thanks so much Jamie 🙂
Mary Ann | The Beach House Kitchen
Perfect bars for summer Dawn. No bakes are always a winner when the temps start rising. You guys are killing it with the videos too! Well done! Love the new profile pic too. Pinning and can’t wait to try these yummy bars!
Girl Heart Food
Thank you Mary Ann! Appreciate that very much – you’re too kind! XO
Milena | craftbeering.com
Love me some sticky dates:) and all the other ingredients stuck to them. Definitely a snack bar to have around when hunger strikes. You are getting so good at the videos:) Love your nail polish in this one (even though this is not related to the yumminess). So summer is arriving up there… maybe soon you’ll post some more pics of the gorgeous coast line… I mean now that you have bars to take with you if you went on a short hike:)
Milena | craftbeering.com
OMG – Chris just had me taste a raspberry saison that is fermenting (even though it is not even 9:00 am here) and I ‘m thinking it will be so perfect for these bars when it is ready. I wonder if I can find dried raspberries to add to the mix or if we’ll need to figure out this one ourselves, haha, the dehydrator again. There is always the sun I guess…
Girl Heart Food
OMG – that sounds so good! Dried raspberries would be so yummy here, Milena 🙂 Have an awesome week, my friend!
Girl Heart Food
Thank you SO much, Milena!! Haha…I always like to have my nails painted 😉 And I definitely do have to go on a hike now with these bars – great idea!!
Kelsie | the itsy-bitsy kitchen
Homemade pizza! I’m so on a homemade pizza kick lately. You seriously had my perfect weekend :). These bars look soooo heavenly. I’m a huge fan of granola bars, especially when they’re homemade. And these have all my favorite things in them! Have a great week, my friend!
Girl Heart Food
It was a pretty fun (and delicious weekend) for sure! Thank you for the bar love, Kelsie! Have a great week too 🙂
Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary
Well, you already know what my weekend involved, so I can’t just skip writing it here. 😉 I love that we are no bake twinning today! These bars look just fabulous, Dawn! I’m a huge fan of granola bars, but the store bought ones have way too much unnecessary ingredients, so I’m ALL for a little DIY! Especially when it looks this good! I just loooove that date base! And HOORAY for another awesome video, Dawn!!!! You rock, girlfriend! Cheers!
Girl Heart Food
Yes, I do 😉 Thanks Cheyanne! Appreciate the sweet comment, my friend! Hope you have an awesome week! xo
David @ Spiced
Haha! We totally had a homemade pizza night last Friday, too. 🙂 And it was the best night ever! Also, Love Connection. Holy cow is that a throwback! I used to catch episodes of this one on rerun, and they were hilarious! Love that you guys spent Friday night watching this one. Haha! These granola bars sound amazing, too, Dawn. I mean they come together in a pinch, and they’re packed with all kinds of good stuff! I wonder if Robbie would be willing to try something like this…he’s been giving us trouble with picky eating lately, so I’m on the hunt for new ideas! Thanks for sharing this one, my friend!
Girl Heart Food
Haha! Pizza twinning 😉 Such a great show, isn’t it?? I would love it if Robbie enjoyed these! That would be awesome; let me know if you try 🙂 Thanks so much and happy Monday to ya!
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop
These look amazing! I love using my food processor. It just makes life so much easier. I need to give these homemade bars a try. So much better than anything you can buy in the store! Loving the video!!! 🙂
Girl Heart Food
Thanks Kathy!
Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice
Yay for pizza on Fridays! That’s my favorite tradition too, though I need to make the homemade kind more often. And I’ve heard that Love Connection is making a comeback, but have yet to see it! No bake treats are a favorite of mine, especially in the summer when it’s too hot to turn on the oven. I love the texture of these bars! And I love the sunflower seeds and cranberries in here, too. What a perfect breakfast or snack! Pinned. Hope your week is off to a great start!
Girl Heart Food
Thank you Gayle! Hope you get to try ’em out! They’re a favourite around here 🙂 Have a lovely week!
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers
I’m all for no bake and I love to have granola bars around, for a quick snack. So I’m loving these 🙂 And great job on the videos!!
Girl Heart Food
Thank you very much, Jennifer! Appreciate that 🙂