For a fun and easy kitchen project, try making these No-Bake Granola Bars made with peanut butter and chocolate! They only require a few minutes to cook down a quick syrup, and some time in the fridge to set. The taste will blow you away!
So we all know that store-bought granola bars almost always have a HUGE list of crazy ingredients that we can't easily recognize - or even pronounce. Well with ingredients that you most likely have in your kitchen, you can make your own super tasty granola bars! It's a great way to get the kids involved as well.
Ingredients
- Quick Oats - Granola pretty much always starts with oats, right? I wouldn't recommend the steel-cut kind - quick oats work very well.
- Crispy Rice Cereal - To add a bit of variety in the texture, we're going to stir in some crispy rice cereal!
- Brown Sugar - Brown sugar (as well as maple syrup) provide the sweetness for the bars.
- Peanut Butter - Peanut butter helps act as a "glue" to keep the bars stable. Plus, it tastes so dang good with chocolate. You can sub this for any nut butter.
- Coconut Oil - Coconut oil helps create the toffee-like liquid that pulls the granola bars together. You won't taste the coconut, promise!
- Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips - We're adding chocolate chips into the bars themselves as well as a layer on the bottom, and a drizzle on top! Grab the mini ones; that size helps the bars stay more in tact.
How to Make Homemade No-Bake Granola Bars
You can eat them as a snack, a breakfast bite, or a dessert - these granola bars are simply delectable. And they're no-bake which is a huge bonus!
The big problem with a lot of homemade granola bar recipes is getting them to stick together. I'll list some tips and tricks below to help you out.
- A big key to this recipe is the right ratio of dry ingredients to our wet ingredients. We're only using about 3 ½ cups of oats and rice cereal.
- Now, we're going to make a sort of toffee-type mixture, to act as the "glue" for our bars. That's mixing together brown sugar, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, salt, and the peanut butter. No corn syrup needed here!
- Next, melt all of that in a saucepan until silky smooth. Then, pour that mixture over your oats and cereal and stir.
- You'll notice that I put in the recipe to freeze the mini chocolate chips. That's because our brown sugar syrup will make everything hot, and freezing the chocolate helps delay the melting process.
- Stir in the chocolate chips as well as shredded coconut. I recommend unsweetened coconut - everything else will be sweet enough. And don't forget to get mini chips; that helps the bars stay in tact more than the normal sized ones.
- Add parchment paper to a brownie pan and pour in the granola bar batter. Pat it down into an even layer; it should be about 1 inch thick.
- Pop this in the refrigerator for an hour and a half, at least.
- Then remove the parchment paper, and cut the granola block. I've found it most helpful to use small motions/cuts. Try not to use a sawing motion!
- Finally, melt a little more chocolate + coconut oil together until smooth, then dip the cut bars and place on parchment paper to dry. Drizzle the remaining chocolate on top.
- Store the bars in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Variations/Substitutions
- For mix-ins: Try dried cranberries, chocolate, and peanut butter. You could also do mini M&Ms!
- Try dipping the bottom of the granola bars in white chocolate!
- Instead of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips, try the coffee-flavored or toffee-flavored kind.
Other Easy and Sweet Recipes You'll Love!
Roasted Sweet Potato Turnovers
Starbucks Copycat Cream Cheese Danish
Halloween-Themed Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods
No-Bake Granola Bars
These easy No-Bake Granola Bars, made with peanut butter and chocolate chips, are super addicting! The best part? They contain no weird ingredients so you can feel good about eating them.
Ingredients
Granola Bars
- 2 cups quick oats
- 1 ½ cup crispy rice cereal
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup smooth peanut butter
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. salt
- ⅔ cup mini chocolate chips frozen
- ⅓ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Chocolate Dip and Drizzle
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp. coconut oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the oats and cereal.
- Add the brown sugar, maple syrup, peanut butter, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and salt to a saucepan.
- Melt this mixture on low heat, stirring constantly, until it's silky smooth.
- Pour the sauce over your oats and cereal. Stir well.
- Stir in the frozen chocolate chips and shredded coconut.
- Line a 9x9 brownie pan with parchment paper. Pour the granola mix into the lined pan, and press it into an even layer.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 1½ hours.
- Lift the parchment paper & granola block out of the pan, then carefully cut the block into 12 even rectangular pieces.See above for tips and tricks on how to cut without breaking too many bars!
- Pop the cut bars back into the fridge to set, while you melt the other chocolate chips and coconut oil together in a microwave.
- Dip the bottom of each bar into the chocolate and place on a parchment-lined sheet tray.
- Add the remaining melted chocolate to a pastry bag or ziplock bag, snip the corner, and drizzle onto the tops of the bars.
- Set the finished granola bars into the fridge once more to fully set.
- Store them in the refrigerator in a sealed container. Enjoy!
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The Coined Breakdown
- Total Cost per serving: $0.22
- Total Cost (12 bars): $2.64
- Those Other Guys: $3.71 per box
Did you make this recipe? Let me know what you think!