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Packed with sweet, salty, chewy, and crunchy ingredients, these easy Fall Harvest Healthy Granola Bars are an ideal make-ahead snack to keep on hand for your busiest days. They are hearty, satisfying, and full of nutritious ingredients to energize you, curb your cravings, and nourish your body.
Hi, friends! I’m so excited to share one of my newest favorite snacks with you today! I originally received this healthy granola bar recipe from a registered dietician that I worked with on a blog project, and our whole family has been enjoying them ever since!
Seriously, you guys. Salty, sweet, chewy, crunchy.…it’s ALL in here for one satisfying powerhouse of a snack!
How to Make Easy and Healthy Granola Bars:
While the oats, almonds, and pumpkin seeds are toasted in the oven, this healthy granola bar recipe does not require any additional baking! Once the ingredients are combined, you simply press the mixture into a parchment-lined dish and freeze the bars for about 20 minutes. This allows them to firm up so that they slice easily. SIMPLE!!!
I prep a batch on the weekend, cut them into bars, and keep them in the refrigerator for grab-and-go fuel when I need it during the week. They are easy, nutritious, and delicious (plus, they freeze well too if you wrap them individually).
Recipe Variations — Homemade Healthy Granola Bars:
- Swap out the pumpkin seeds for sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, or sesame seeds;
- Use raisins or chopped dried apricots instead of the dried cranberries;
- Replace the almonds with chopped walnuts, pecans, pistachios, or peanuts!
- Use creamy peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower seed butter, cashew butter, or any other nut butter of choice.
You might also like these other fall-inspired healthy snacks:
- Gingerbread Pumpkin Smoothie
- Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins
- Healthy Apple Crisp Yogurt Parfait
- Apple Pie Protein Smoothie
- The Best Nut-Free Granola Recipe
Fall Harvest Healthy Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats (don’t use instant or quick-cooking oats!)
- 1 cup whole almonds, roughly chopped
- ½ cup pumpkin seeds
- 1 cup packed pitted Medjool dates
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup creamy almond butter or peanut butter
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spread oats, almonds and pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet with sides. Toast in the oven until slightly golden, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
- Chop dates in a food processor in short bursts until you have a rough paste. Scrape into the bowl with the oat mixture.
- Warm maple syrup, almond butter, and salt in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring to blend. Add to the bowl along with the dried berries. Mix well to evenly distribute the chopped dates.
- Line an 8x8in pan with baking parchment so the paper hangs over the sides. Spoon the oat mixture into the pan and pack it down with the back of the spoon. Freeze for 20 minutes.
- Lift the contents out of the pan and set on a cutting board. Cut into 16 bars. Store the bars in an airtight container for a few days or freeze for longer storage.
Notes
- Swap out the pumpkin seeds for sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, or sesame seeds;
- Use raisins or chopped dried apricots instead of the dried cranberries;
- Replace the almonds with chopped walnuts, pecans, pistachios, or peanuts!
- Use creamy peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower seed butter, cashew butter, or any other nut butter of choice.
I love the fall flavors in these granola bars. They would make a great on the go snack!
Thanks, Jen! That’s right — and that’s exactly how I use them! 🙂
Blair
Love the granola bars. Make them lots. One question. Our fall apart as soon as you take a bite. Very brittle. Any idea on how to fix that? More peanut butter or something? Don’t stop us from making them, just real messy.
Hi, Jarrett! Hmmm…that’s weird that they’re so crumbly. I would definitely add more peanut butter. That should do the trick! 🙂
Mine was too! I used a 9×11” glass pan so they weren’t as thick, also didn’t have dates so used sweetened coconut. Maybe that’s why? Dates would’ve made it stickier I bet.
When do you add the 1/4 tsp salt? I added mine to the peanut butter, maple syrup mixture but wasnt sure if that was the right step.
Hi, Lauren! That’s correct! Sorry for the typo — I just fixed it now. 🙂
I’m so excited you got to share this granola bar recipe! It looks really, really yummy (and so much better for us than most at the store!) Can’t wait to try it out for myself! Pinned!
I hope that you can try them, Anna. They’re such great fuel and they are delicious!!
What are the nutritional facts on these bars? They are delicious!
Hey, Courtney! I just added a Nutrition Facts panel to the bottom of the post so that you can see the full details. Hope that helps! 🙂
These look delicious but i am confused by the nutrition info. Is the info for 16 bars or for 12??? THANKS!
Hi, Lisa! Sorry about that typo! I fixed the recipe so there’s no confusion. The nutrition info is for 16 bars! Enjoy. 🙂
9 x 13 or jelly roll “baking pan with sides?”
Hi, Jan! I used a jelly roll pan (or “rimmed baking sheet”), but it doesn’t really matter too much. You just want something that’s large enough so that you can spread out the ingredients to toast them. Then, when it comes time to actually prepare the bars in a pan, you’ll want to use an 8 x 8 pan (as the recipe suggests in Step #4). Hope that helps, and just let me know if you have any other questions. 🙂
Hi! Thanks for the recipe. Is the maple syrup for flavor or to hold them together? Just thought about subbing it out for something else, but didn’t want them to fall apart.
Hi, McKenzie! The maple syrup definitely adds sweetness and flavor, but it also helps to hold everything together. You can substitute with honey, brown rice syrup, or another similar wet/sticky ingredient. Hope that helps! 🙂
I can’t wait to try this recipe, where can i find extra thick oats?
Hey, Ellen! The regular Quaker Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats are perfect (just don’t use quick oats or instant oats). 🙂
Hey, these look delicious! I am making these as I type, but am confused as to why these are frozen and not baked? Thanks!
Hey, Marissa! There’s no need to bake these bars — just chilling them will firm them up perfectly! 🙂 PUtting them in the freezer just helps them chill faster so that you can slice them into bars. Then you’ll store them in the refrigerator — you won’t eat them frozen.
I eat mine straight out of the freezer. Mine are soft not crunchy and that’s okay with me as I do not like a crunchy bar.
They may even break apart but that’s still okay with me because they are so healthy.
I use sunflower, almonds, and pepitos, with almond butter or natural peanut butter whichever I have on hand.
Along with the rest of the ingredients, it’s the best grab me snack ever!
I cut them and put one each in a bag or container, or eat one straight out of the freezer.
It’s my favorite go to for snacks!
Thanks, Charmayne!
Very tasty. I made the recipe as is, put in freezer as instructed, but they are very soft. Was hoping to take them as a snack while golfing but am thinking I will have to take them with an ice pack for them to be edible. Next time I will cut back on the dates to see if that helps.
Flavor is delicious, but mine don’t stay together and fall apart even if kept in the freezer. They were too sweet for my family so now I just don’t use the date paste and we eat it as granola. So yummy!
Thanks for the recipe