Chewy Gluten Free Granola Bar Recipe

This chewy homemade gluten free granola bar recipe is endlessly customizable with different mix-ins and nuts (or no nuts at all). Perfect for school (or work) lunchboxes or an after school snack, they have so much flavor and texture, and really hit the spot!

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Why this recipe works

A good granola bar recipe like this one is flexible. There are a few variable elements that provide sweetness and flavors (sugars, vanilla, nuts and seeds, berries), structure (oats, oat flour, and egg white), richness (butter, egg yolk, and sugar), and texture (oats, egg, nuts and berries)

. As long as each element is present in its required relative amounts, you can easily make it your own, to suit your family's tastes.

The bars are chewy and rich, and they aren't just sweet but they have a lot of depth of flavor from honey, molasses, and maple syrup. But, if you don't like maple syrup, or molasses isn't your thing, you can use more of the other type of liquid sweeteners that you prefer.

Recipe ingredients

• Oats and oat flour: this combination serves as the base, providing structure for the bars and most of the chewy texture. Adding oat flour helps bind the bars together better than using only rolled oats. If you're gluten free, make sure to use oats marked “gluten free.”
• Dry mix-ins such as nuts, seeds, dried fruit, dried coconut, or chocolate chips: for texture, taste and appearance purposes (really). You really can use any combination of these elements. My favorite combination of mix-ins is chopped raw almonds, pumpkin seeds, broad, flat coconut flakes, dried cranberries, and miniature chocolate chips .
• Sugars: provide sweetness and hold the bars together. Here, we begin with brown sugar, and then add 6 tablespoons total of honey, maple syrup, and unsulphured molasses. They each have a different flavor, and all add richness and, when melted in the oven, a sticky network to hold the bars together.
• Fat: A fat that is soft-solid at room temperature, like butter or virgin coconut oil works best. It must be melted to ensure that it moistens all the other ingredients in the bars and adds chewiness as the bars bake.
• Egg: for baked, chewy bars like these, the egg is a binder and a texture-enhancer, helping the bars hold their shape even after they cool.

How to make chewy gluten free granola bars

These chewy graham crackers are made by baking a soft granola mixture in a square baking pan, then slicing them into rectangular bars. You’ll see just how easy they are to make!

Make the soft granola mixture

1. Whisk together lightly processed rolled oats, oat flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Break up any lumps in the brown sugar by pressing them against the side of the mixing bowl with the back of your mixing spoon.
2. Add chopped nuts, seeds, coconut flakes, and dried fruit, and mix to combine. You can really use any combination of pieces that you like best, provided that they’re dry so they don’t add additional moisture to the mixture.
3. Mix together melted butter (or virgin coconut oil), a combination of honey, maple syrup and molasses (I like to use 1/3 of each for an equal mixture, but if you prefer one flavor over another, use more of that), a beaten egg, and vanilla extract.
4. Make a well in the center of the dry oat mixture with your mixing spoon, and pour the wet butter, sugar and egg mixture into the center of it.
5. Mix everything together. This is your soft granola mixture.

Shape and bake the granola bars

1. Scrape the soft granola mixture into a lined 9-inch square pan. It’s best if the pan is lined with paper that overhangs all 4 sides, so you can lift the uncut granola bars out of the pan after they’ve baked and cooled.
2. Press the mixture in the pan firmly, so that everything bakes as a cohesive bar, rather than staying separate during baking.
3. Bake until the mixture is golden brown all over, about 25 minutes.
4. The mixture should cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, or until it’s not hot. As soon as possible, transfer the uncut bars still in the pan to the freezer to chill for about 30 minutes. This will make them so much easier to slice cleanly into bars.
5. Remove the uncut bars from the pan by lifting the paper lining straight up, and placing the bars on a flat cutting surface. Slice in half, then slice each half into 6 bars, for a total of 12 granola bars.

Ingredient substitutions

Dairy free

These bars call for butter, but the butter is easily replaced with virgin coconut oil, which is the type that is soft solid at room temperature. Use that instead of butter, and your bars are dairy free.

Oat free

There are ways to use a substitute for oats in most baking, but it isn't always the easiest thing to do. Here, we are using a combination of quick oats (or rolled oats that have been processed a bit further), and oat flour. In place of the quick oats, you can try using coconut chips or beaten rice, but they will be less chewy and have more pronounced flavor than oats. In place of oat flour, try using quinoa flakes.

Egg free

There is only one egg in this recipe. I bet a “chia egg” would work well here in its place, if necessary. I make a chia egg by mixing together 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds and 1 tablespoon lukewarm water in a small bowl. As it sits, the mixture will gel, and is then ready to be added to the granola bar mixture.

Nut free

In place of nuts, simply use seeds like pumpkin seeds and/or sunflower seeds. Be sure it's something that has a flavor you like, though, as the taste will be prominent.

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Chewy Homemade Granola Bars Recipe

4.97 from 61 votes

By Nicole Hunn

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 25 minutes mins

Cooling time: 45 minutes mins

Yield: 12 bars

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This chewy gluten free granola bars recipe is endlessly customizable with different mix-ins and nuts. The perfect snack for school or work!

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Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 ¾ cups (175 g) gluten free old-fashioned rolled oats, processed by about half in a food processor
• ▢ 1 cup (120 g) gluten free oat flour
• ▢ ¾ cup (164 g) packed light brown sugar, (or granulated coconut palm sugar)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 1 ⅓ cups (160 g) raw pecans, almonds and/or pumpkin seeds, roughly chopped
• ▢ 1 cup (80 g) coconut flakes/chips
• ▢ 8 ounces mini chocolate chips, dried raisins and/or dried cranberries or other small dried fruit
• ▢ 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter or virgin coconut oil, melted and cooled
• ▢ 6 tablespoons (126 g) combination of honey, pure maple syrup and/or molasses, (I like to use 2 tablespoons of each)
• ▢ 1 (50 g (weighed out of shell)) egg, lightly beaten
• ▢ ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions 

• Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease a 9-inch square pan, and then line it with unbleached parchment paper that overhangs 2 opposite sides of the pan. Set the pan aside.
• In a large bowl, place the oats, oat flour, brown sugar, ground cinnamon and salt and whisk to combine, breaking up any lumps in the brown sugar.
• Add the chopped nuts, coconut chips, chocolate chips and dried fruit, and mix to combine.
• In a separate, medium-size bowl, place the melted butter or coconut oil, honey/maple syrup/molasses, egg and vanilla, and mix to combine well.
• Create a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and press firmly into an even layer.
• Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake, rotating once during baking, until golden brown all over, about 25 minutes.
• Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then transfer the pan to the freezer until very firm, about 30 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the freezer and lift the bars out of the pan by the overhung parchment paper. Peel back the paper, and slice into 12 rectangular bars with a sharp knife.
• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week, or the freezer for longer.

Notes

Nutrition information is based on using pecans, unsalted butter, and all honey, without any of the suggested alternatives. It is not to be relied upon as health advice. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1bar | Calories: 460kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 77mg | Potassium: 195mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 35g | Vitamin A: 302IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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FAQs

Recipe variations

The result is my favorite homemade granola bar recipe, one of my favorite gluten free breakfasts and quick snacks. The combination of partially processed rolled oats and oat flour creates just the right texture and helps the bars hold together while maintaining their chewiness.

The delicate balance of mini chocolate chips (not too many!) and dried fruit keeps things interesting. And a mix of honey, maple syrup and molasses, plus brown sugar, provides just the right sweetness without becoming cloying. And all of that moisture keeps them chewy even once you've browned them nicely in a moderate 325°F oven.

I almost always double the recipe, and bake them in two separate square pans to ensure proper browning. You can also make a double recipe in a 9-inch x 12-inch baking pan. Try baking the bars for about 35 minutes, and then turning down the oven to 300°F and continuing to bake until the center is lightly browned and set. Before removing the bars from the pan and cool on the counter for 20 minutes and then chill in the refrigerator.