This recipe for easy homemade chewy granola bars should win an award. I tested and tweaked this baby COUNTLESS times (seriously, I lost count) in order to make it perfect. And, today, I present to you the final product: Easy homemade chewy granola bars!
Growing up I basically lived off of Chewy bars. Ya know, those soft granola bars they were chocolate chip, s’mores or peanut butter flavor? My fave was totally s’mored. But, as I grew up I started to see granola bars as “bad”- THE CARBS! So, I avoided them for a solid six years, such a travesty. Now that I am living life with no food rules (which is SO much better!) I understand how important carbs are to my body and actually can enjoy those chewy slabs of goodness again. Snag your free e-book on how to live with no food rules here!
I’m not opposed to buying the Chewy bars VS making them. But I firmly believe everything homemade instantly tastes like, 20x better. Am I right?! Made with love- must be the secret (super delicious) ingredient the store bought stuff is missing! Wow. That was cheesy, Colleen.
Anywho, these easy homemade chewy granola bars are STUPID simple. They take all of about 7 minutes to whip together. Not even kidding. Take a second and pin this recipe to your Pinterest board- you do NOT want to lose it.
What I love about these granola bars is that you can make them however YOU like, and you can make them different every time if you want! I made, like I said, what feels like a million plain bars but when I got the perfect base I opted to go for a blueberry cashew combo. Seriously amaze. I used my go-to dried fruit, Graceland Fruit blueberries. I can’t preach enough about how flavorful Graceland Fruit products are. It’s my PET PEVE when I get dried fruit that has zero flavor. These blueberries tasted like they were directly off the bush, the flavor was TOTALLY still intact.
These easy homemade chewy granola bars are sophisticated enough for an adult snack (they’ve been going in me and my husband’s lunch boxes!) yet totally cool to bring to a soccer game for a team treat. Actually, you’d probably be the talk of the town. Karen would be all “She MADE those?!” Yeah, Karen, yeah I did. Little does she know it took about zero time or energy. Score.
Easy Homemade Chewy Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup puffed rice cereal
- ~ ½ cup desired mix-ins
- ¼ cup honey
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup butter
Instructions
- Line a bread pan with wax paper lightly sprayed with non-stick spray
- In a large bowl combine oats, puffed rice cereal and mix-ins. Set aside
- In a small saucepan heat butter, honey, and brown sugar
- Bring to a boil for 3 minutes, stirring continuously
- Pour butter mixture over oat mixture and stir to coat evenly
- Press oat mixture into the prepared baking dish. Firmly press mixture so it is packed well.
- Refrigerate for at least 1.5 hours
- Cut into bars and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition Facts
So, now that you’ve got the recipe in your hands (i.e. on your Pinterest board!) what sort of mix-ins sound the best to YOU?! Let me know in the comments! Give me some more ideas!
XOXO
-Colleen
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**This post has been sponsored by Graceland Fruit, however all thoughts and opinion are my own**
Rebecca says
Hi!
I‘m not sure there is puffed rice cereal in germany… Could I use cornflakes instead? Or puffed quinoa?
Colleen says
Do you have Rice Krispies? Flakes may work too!
Jacque says
These were so so so yummy! I love how they are without all of the added ingredients which are in store granola bars. This is my go-to recipe! We like to make ours with 1/2 cup chopped peanuts and drizzle with dark chocolate. Yum! Thanks for this recipe!
Colleen says
Oooh peanuts and chocolate sounds delish! So glad you love the recipe!
Thanks for sharing =]
Jacque says
These were so so so yummy! I love how they are without all of the added ingredients which are in store granola bars. This is my go-to recipe! We like to make ours with 1/2 cup chopped peanuts and drizzle with dark chocolate. Yum! Thanks for this recipe!
Sam says
Can I add Cheerios instead of rice crispies?
Colleen says
You could try it! I haven’t personally done it so I can’t confirm!
Devon says
All this fits in a loaf pan??
Colleen says
Yes!
Jeremy says
Store in fridge? Will they keep at room temperature? These were amazing. Used a little maple syrup and cinnamon. Yum
Colleen says
I kept mine in the fridge! They got quite cold, so counter would work as well!
Laura says
Hi Colleen, I’m excited to try this recipe thanks for sharing it. I’m thinking of trading part of the butter for coconut oil as it “holds” better at room temp, to make it easier to take with me to the office. I’ll let you know how that goes…
Colleen says
Hi! Fabulous! Please report back I’d love to know and I’m sure other will too!