These bars are thick, chewy, loaded with oats and peanut butter, naturally sweetened with honey, and topped with a quick + easy chocolate drizzle for a no-bake granola bar that’s reminiscent of the inside of a peanut butter cup. If you’re a peanut butter lover, these are going to be your new favorite snack!
I interrupt your regularly scheduled local summer produce filled recipes to bring you the ultimate peanut butter snack: No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bars.
Made in 1-bowl in less 30 minutes with simple pantry ingredients like peanut butter, oats, honey, and hemp seeds (or flax/chia seeds if hemp seeds aren’t usually kicking around in your pantry- they’re always in mine!), these granola bars were inspired by my new favorite store-bough bar: Perfect Bars.
Have you had them? They’re kept in the refrigerator section of the grocery store because they are made with ingredients that don’t last long on the shelf: i.e. fresh, real, good stuff. They also happen to be a little expensive, as bars go, so they’re just an occasional treat for me, not an everyday thing.
That is, until I woke up one morning and scolded myself for being such a fool: I know how to make soft, chewy granola bars at home, thankyouverymuch. I don’t need to spend $3 for a packaged stick of peanut butter when I can, in fact, spend $3 on a jar of organic peanut butter and make a whole pan of bars myself!
And now, friends, you can, too.
Let’s do this:
Peanut butter, oats, honey, hemp seeds, coconut oil, vanilla, and salt get mixed together in a bowl to form the thick, peanut butter-y dough for these soft, chewy granola bars. Those seven ingredients are always in my pantry, so it’s literally a no-brainer to keep these bars on hand at all times.
Dough then gets pressed into a loaf pan, popped into the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up, then cut into bars, drizzled with a little bit of melty chocolate (if you want- if not, that’s cool too), and you’re ready to eat.
Like the Perfect Bars I was inspired by, these homemade ones also need to be kept in the fridge to hold their shape and stay fresh all week long. That’s not to say that they’ll go bad if you pop one into a backpack, lunchbox, or leave them sitting out for people to snack on all afternoon. Not at all. They’ll just soften up a bit at room temperature, but will still be every bit as good.
Sending kids back to school soon? This recipe is another great one to double (it can be pressed into an 8×8 pan in this case) and store in the freezer for easy grab-and-go snacks for lunchboxes. They can go straight into your kids’ (or your own!) bags still frozen, and within a few hours- say, by snacktime or lunchtime- they’re defrosted and ready to be eaten.
If you’re a peanut butter lover like I am, you are going to be OBSESSED with these easy no-bake bars. They’re packed full of protein, carbs, and healthy fats (i.e. all the essentials for a satisfying, filling snack), have the texture and flavor of the inside of a peanut butter cup, and don’t even require you to turn on the oven. Score!
If you make them, let me know how they turn out! Leave a comment below, or take a picture and tag me in it on Instagram so I can see all your beautiful creations!
- 1 cup creamy, all-natural peanut butter*
- 1/4 cup raw honey
- 2 Tablespoons virgin coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup quick or instant oats**
- 1/2 cup hemp seeds (aka hemp hearts)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons dark chocolate chips, for topping
- 1. Line a standard loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- 2. Put. all ingredients, except chocolate chips, into a small mixing bowl and stir well to fully combine. Scoop the dough into the loaf pan and use your hands or a spatula to press it into an even layer, all the way out to the edges of the pan.
- 3. Put the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes, or the fridge for 30 minutes, to firm up. Once bars have chilled, put chocolate chips into a small microwave safe container and microwave in 20-second increments, stirring after each time, until melted. This took me 60 seconds, total.
- 4. Remove the pan from the freezer/fridge and drizzle with chocolate, then place back in the fridge/freezer for a few minutes to let the chocolate drizzle harden. When ready to eat, cut into 8+ bars (depending on the size you want- this recipe can easily make 12 smaller squares for snack bites, or 8 bars for more filling snacks). Best eaten when cold (as they hold their shape better) but can be served at room temperature, if needed. Store extras in the fridge for up to 1 week or the freezer for 2 months.
- *Look for a peanut butter that only has peanuts and salt in the ingredients. I usually find the best prices for organic peanut butter at Trader Joe's, or glass jars of Teddy or Santa Cruz organics PB at every major grocery store.
- **If you only have rolled oats in your pantry, just put a slightly heaping cup into a blender or food processor and pulse 3-5 times until broken into smaller chunks.