How to make homemade granola bars! These granola bars are simple, soft, and chewy. They are delicious and can be adapted with your favorite dried fruits, nuts, and chocolate.
For years, I struggled with homemade granola bars falling apart. So, I went back to the drawing board and created this easy recipe. I am so happy that I did! We’ve made so many batches since then. Our readers love this granola bars recipe! They’ve called them “superb,” “just scrumptious,” and have said their family “went crazy over this recipe!”
These homemade granola bars taste great, are easy to make, and they do not fall apart (see our tips below). This recipe calls for a simple butter and honey base. For a peanut butter base, see this recipe for peanut butter granola bars.
Key Ingredients
- Rolled oats: I use rolled oats to make these granola bars and find that they add to their chewy texture. Instant oats should also work in this recipe if that is all you have. I also use rolled oats when making homemade granola and these energy balls.
- Butter, honey, and brown sugar: Make up the base of our bars and help the ingredients stay together. To make this honey-free, you can substitute brown rice syrup or golden syrup (these tend to work better than maple syrup since they are sticky like honey).
- Nuts: We have used almonds in our photos, but feel free to substitute your favorite nut for almonds in these bars. Consider peanuts, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, or pistachios.
- Dried fruit: We have used dried cranberries in our photos, but feel free to substitute your favorite dried fruit in your bars. Consider raisins, golden raisins, dried blueberries, and goldenberries.
- Chocolate chips: I use mini chocolate chips when making granola bars. Their smaller size holds better in the bars.
How to Make Granola Bars
To add a toasty flavor to our granola bars, we bake the rolled oats and nuts in the oven until lightly toasted, which removes the raw flavor of the oats. They bake for about 10 minutes in the oven, then add them to a large bowl.
While the oats and nuts bake, you can make the sticky glue that holds our bars together. You’ll melt butter, honey, and brown sugar in a saucepan and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Mix this sticky mixture with the toasted oats and nuts.
Allow everything to cool, and then toss in dried fruit and chocolate chips. I don’t mind if some of the chocolate melts a little since it helps the bars stick together even more.
Now it’s time to press and chill our granola bars. You want to really press the mixture into the pan. The better you press, the better the bars hold together.
When you’re happy with the pressed mixture, press a spoonful of chocolate chips on top, and then chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. This hardens everything and makes it easy to cut the granola mixture into bars. This recipe makes 12!
Storing Homemade Granola Bars
Homemade granola bars are best when stored in the fridge or cooler areas of your kitchen (like a dark pantry). I keep mine in the fridge. Remember that the sticky glue holding these together is made with butter, which has a low melting point. So once these bars warm up, they fall apart more easily. When cool to the touch, they hold together very well. They last for a few weeks in the fridge. You can even freeze them for longer!
Soft and Chewy Granola Bars
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
These homemade granola bars are much better than what you can buy at the store, especially since you can substitute for your favorite dried fruit or nuts. You need to chill the bars for at least 2 hours before cutting them.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 ½ cups (230g) old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup (80g) whole almonds, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (113g) pure honey
1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup (50g) packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup (60g) dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (65g) mini chocolate chips
Directions
- Toast Oats and Nuts
1Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch or 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
2Add the oats and chopped almonds to a small baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Stir and bake another 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly toasted. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Make Bars
1Combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts, the mixture bubbles, and the sugar dissolves.
2Pour the butter mixture into the bowl with toasted oats and almonds. Mix well. Let cool for 5 minutes.
3Stir in the cranberries and 1/4 cup of the mini chocolate chips. Some of the chocolate chips might melt, but they turn into glue and help hold the bars together.
4Transfer the oat mixture to the prepared pan and press it into the pan firmly using a rubber spatula. Press hard so that the bars will stay together once cooled and cut. We press for about one minute to be extra safe.
5Scatter the remaining 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips over the pressed granola mixture, and then use a rubber spatula to gently press them into the top.
6Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Remove the block of granola mixture from the pan and peel away the foil or parchment. Cut into 12 bars.
- Storing
1Store granola bars in an airtight container for a few weeks in the fridge. For the softest bars, keep them in a cool area of your kitchen (like a dark pantry). For firmer bars, store in the fridge. Bars will keep in the freezer for up to three months when wrapped well.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Reducing the sugar: We have experienced the best results when making these bars with the sugar and honey amount listed in the recipe. You can try reducing the sugar a little, but they might be a little more crumbly. The honey and sugar mixture keeps these chewy.
- Honey substitutes: Try something that is still sticky like brown rice syrup or golden syrup.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
I didn’t have honey so I substituted maple syrup in the same quantity and they turned out great. I put all the chocolate in the recipe, none on top, and they stuck together very well. Keeping them in the fridge. Have shared with two others so far and we all love this recipe! You have anything similar with peanut butter as an ingredient for more protein?
Hi Karen, So happy you enjoyed them. You can stir a bit of PB into these bars, or take a look at our peanut butter granola bars.
This is the best granola bar recipe I have ever made. My teenage boys loved them and they’re pretty tough critics. Thank you!
You are so welcome! 🙂
I absolutely love these, they turned out so well!! We didn’t have nuts or dried fruit, so we tried it without them, and the recipe still worked like magic!! After I put it into a pan and pressed it down, I baked it for another 10 minutes to make them nice and crispy. The were so good, and they were gone within a day of them being done!! Thank you so much for the amazing recipe, I will be using it again!!
Whole family loved these, and I want to make them again, but would they still work as well without the extra brown sugar? I personally found them a little sweet for my liking.
Hi there, you can reduce the sugar a bit, just be aware that the butter/sugar/honey is what makes the glue for these bars. Reducing any of them does risk them being more fragile.
Okay thank you so much for the information! I did use coconut oil instead of butter because i thought it would be tasty (and it was haha), but maybe doing the butter instead would help also. Take care! These were awesome! Will be on snack rotation for sure
Why preheat the oven to 350????
We toast the oats and nuts in the oven.
I’ll definitely woul try this recepi.I wonder if i can put other dried fruits to make it more healthy?
IM THINKING OF STARTING A SMALL BIZ WITH THIS.THANK YOU
Great! Made 20 large bars and the 4 kids and husband devoured them in a day! I used a 13×9″ pan. I spread the mixture out and pressed it down. I put more parchment paper (I imagine you can also use wax) on top of the mixture and then used another 13×9″ pan to press down on the mixture in the pan below under the parchment paper. I held it down for a minute like recommended. I also went around the edges and pushed down. The bars were so solid. We have zero issues with anything crumbling or falling apart. We keep our knives very sharp and we got the cleanest cuts. The mixture stays together incredibly well when pressed well.
Oh wow, gone within a day is pretty good!! Thanks for sharing all of your tips and coming back 🙂
Thanks for sharing your granola bars recipe
Very yummy! A little on the sweet side for me, but looking forward to tweaking it a little! Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Es absolutamente deliciosa,le agregué quinoa pops y ahora es mi golosina favorita
Substituted ghee for butter and coconut sugar for brown sugar. I then baked at 350 for 20 minutes. The best crunchy granola yet. Thanks
This recipe is incredible. I left the nuts out to make them school safe for my young daughter. Love the mini chocolate chip tip & I added mini marshmallows for a take on smores. Best tasting granola bars!
The recipe looks great, but I can’t send nuts to school with my kids. Do you think it would change the consistency too much to omit the almonds? If so, is there a non-nut substitute that you think would work?
Hi Emily, You can omit them or try sunflower seeds instead.
Hi! This was fantastic! I am wanting to add protein powder to this recipe somehow. What is the best way to do that?
Oh, good question. We haven’t experimented with protein powders in this recipe. If you try it, please let us know how it turns out.
AMAZING! These are so delicious and so easy to make. I substituted dried cherries for cranberries. Wow, I will be making these again and again. Thank you for sharing!
Quick question can you freeze??
Yes! I like to keep them in an airtight container in the freezer. They should last for a while (3 months if stored well).
Where are the cooking instructions???
In the recipe box. You can click the yellow “Jump to the recipe” button at the top of the page.
I had some leftover store-bought granola begging to be used up—and wow, your blend of ingredients turned it into a masterpiece! This batch turned out absolutely amazing, and those dried cranberries? Total game-changers with their perfect pop of tartness! Thank you for the inspiration—it’s granola magic! Do you have any more fun ideas for adding a bit of tangy flair? Thank you again.
Tastes good, but cutting the granola didn’t produce bars. It was very crumbly.
Hi Mark, I serrated bread knife is helpful when cutting the bars or a heavy, sharp chef’s knife.
This looks yummy – what nut is best to swap for almonds, as I’m allergic to peanut and almond!
You could try cashews or finely chopped pecans.
These are delicious!! Would I be able to add peanut butter somehow? My husband loves PB granola bars
Yes, You can add 2 to 4 tablespoons peanut butter to the mixture or make one of these bars that already have it in the ingredient list: peanut butter granola bars and homemade baked granola bars
These are perfect! Thanks for sharing. One suggestion to make the pressing easier: use parchment paper to cover the top, then press. Game changer.
I don’t leave recipe reviews often, but this is my absolute favourite recipe. Most recipes include peanut butter, but I love this one because its a plain oats and you can add in whatever else you want to add. It’s a very nice basic recipe and the texture of the bars is excellent!
We love this recipes adaptability. So glad you enjoy it 🙂
Loved your Granola bars!!! I Love being in control of my food. You are right about the sugar, I made them your way, and then I tried to use Splenda and less Brown Sugar and they were just crumbling.
These didn’t stick together
I’m sorry these were a struggle! The brown sugar and honey mixture is intended to give them a specific chewy texture that honey alone doesn’t provide, but it can be finicky if the temperature isn’t just right. Also, the chocolate melting a little bit in the warm mixture should help them stick together once they cool. That all said, if these bars get too warm (like out in the sun), they will begin to crumble as the butter will soften and stop holding them together.
These granola bars are great! I’ve been looking for a recipe for what seems like years – these are it! I pulse my oats in the food processor a few times before baking them, and they stick together even better.
We are thrilled you love them! 🙂
Wonderful recipe, quick and easy to make & the bars are so good. Thank you!
This is a great recipe. I really appreciate using weight measure as opposed to volume.Followed recipe exactly with excellent results.