These fruity granola bars are easy, fast, and taste even better than store-bought! They're super customizable and make for a great pre-workout snack.
Nut Free Granola Bars
These fruity granola bars use almond butter as part of the "glue" that holds them together. However, you could easily swap the almond butter for sunflower butter or your nut-free butter of choice! Otherwise, these are nut free granola bars.
Dairy Free Granola Bars
My fruity granola bars don't call for any dairy, so if you have a dairy allergy or sensitivity, these are perfect for you! A lot of granola bar recipes call for butter, which mine do not. Plus, they come together in about 10 minutes so they're easy to make and completely free of dairy products.
Ingredient Highlights
- Old-fashioned oats - oats are one of the main ingredients in this recipe. They contribute B vitamins, a tiny amount of protein, and fiber. They're a great complex carbohydrate (if you want to learn more about complex carbohydrates, check out this post!). This recipe calls for old-fashioned oats; I don't recommend using steel cut!
- Cereal - any cereal here will work; the main purpose is to add a crunch to these fruity granola bars! I like to use Chex and crush them up a little bit, but any cereal like Cheerios or Rice Krispies would work great.
- Honey - this acts like a glue to hold these granola bars together. I wouldn't recommend using maple syrup as it tends to not be as sticky.
- Almond butter - any nut butter will work in this recipe. If you want to make these granola bars nut-free, you could use sunflower butter. The nut butter will contribute some healthy unsaturated fats (I recommend using natural nut butters! Check out this post if you want to learn more about dietary fat!).
- Dried fruit - since these are fruity granola bars, we have to add some fruit! I love the combination of tart cranberries, coconut, and almond so I used dried cranberries. Any dried fruit would work well: apples, bananas, mango, pineapple, raisins, cherries, etc.! My main tip with dried fruit is to look for options with no or minimal added sugar 🙂
Recipe FAQ
They can be but they can also be loaded with sugar and fat. It's important to look at the ingredients carefully and try to stick to low sugar/low fat recipes! That being said, these fruity granola bars are great before a workout because they're a great source of carbohydrates, low in fat, and low in fiber, so they should fuel a workout without causing GI distress.
This recipe calls for honey and almond butter, which create a "glue" when combined. This keeps all of the granola bar ingredients stuck together! Some recipes may call for butter or coconut oil but I wanted to keep the total and saturated fat levels low.
I would not substitute maple syrup for honey in this recipe. I prefer to use real maple syrup, which can be pretty runny and thin. That wouldn't really keep the bars together very well!
They can be! If you use gluten-free oats and cereal, this recipe can easily be gluten-free.
Other Recipes You May Like
- Frozen Yogurt Granola Cups
- Pecan Granola Recipe
- King Cake Baked Oats
- Healthy Cookie Dough Dip
- Easy Healthier Banana Bread
Rate & Review
If you made my fruity granola bars, please rate and review my recipe below! I would love to hear your feedback. Also snap a photo and tag me on insta @theperfectpearr so I can see your creation!
Fruity Granola Bars
These fruity granola bars are easy, & taste even better than store-bought! They're super customizable and make for a great pre-workout snack.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 18 bars 1x
- Category: Snacks, Pre-Workout Snacks
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 cups (244g) old-fashioned oats (not steel-cut oats!)
- ¼ cup (13g) unsweetened shredded coconut
- ⅓ cup (128g) almond butter (or any nut/seed butter)
- ½ cup (176g) honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups (82g) Chex cereal (or Cheerios, Rice Krispies)
- ½ cup (72g) dried fruit (look for no-sugar-added!) or other add-ins**
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Spread oats onto baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes. Stir in coconut and toast for another 2-3 minutes.
- While the oats and coconut cool, soften almond butter in a small microwave-safe bowl for ~30 seconds (or until soft). Stir in honey, vanilla extract, and salt.
- In a large bowl, combine oat mixture, cereal, and dried fruit.
- Drizzle nut butter and honey over dry ingredients and toss until evenly coated.
- Spray an 8x8" or 9x13" pan (depending on how thick you want the bars to be) with nonstick cooking spray.
- Press mixture evenly into prepared pan with a rubber spatula. You can use your hands but I would suggest spraying your hands with nonstick spray because it could get sticky! I highly recommend smacking them into the pan with the back of the spatula (yes, smacking - I know it sounds funny!) to reaaally press them in.
- Place bars in refrigerator for least 4 hours (or freezer for 1 hour if you want to eat them sooner).
- Cut into bars when ready and enjoy!
Notes
- Store bars in refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months
- **Optional add-ins: mini chocolate chips, dried bananas, apples, blueberries, raisins, apricots, mango, cranberries, drizzle melted chocolate on top. The opportunities are endless!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 127
- Sugar: 11
- Sodium: 149
- Fat: 4
- Saturated Fat: 1
- Unsaturated Fat: 3
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 21
- Fiber: 2
- Protein: 2
- Cholesterol: 0
Keywords: fruity granola bars, easy granola bars, granola bars recipe, preworkout snacks, healthy granola bars, no bake granola bars, homemade granola bars, how to make granola bars, what to eat before a workout
Alexis says
these granola bars are SO GOOD. you really have to smack them into the pan haha otherwise they get a little crumbly. but overall, delicious!
Lauren says
YAY! I'm so glad! I completely agree. It sounds so silly but you do have to smack the mixture into the pan with the back of the spatula haha. I'm glad you like them!!
Bella says
I tried these but swapped chocolate chips for the fruit and it was amazing. They were a bit crumbly at first but then realized smacking the mixture into the pan really works haha. Thank you!
Lauren says
Yes I know! The mixture needs some extra love for it to hold together well 🙂