5 Ingredient Granola Bars

These No-Bake 5 Ingredient Granola Bars are soft and chewy, and just the thing to make for a snack on the go. Perfect for lunch boxes.

5 ingredient granola bars on metal tray

Snack Ideas for Kids

When it comes to snack time for the children, I frequently reach for easy options like cut up fruit, yoghurt, or maybe rice crackers spread with butter and Vegemite. If we have friends visiting during morning or afternoon tea, I love to make a batch of pikelets which are always a hit with the children.

Homemade Granola Bars

Lately, I have been experimenting with homemade granola bars, primarily because I have a big bag of rolled oats which needs using up.

And when I stumbled across some ideas for a no-bake granola bar, I knew I was onto something good.

5 ingredient granola bars with chocolate chips

Granola Bar Recipe

As you may have gathered from the title, this granola bar recipe contain only five ingredients. And what’s more, you don’t even have to bake them!

It takes next to no time to mix the ingredients together, and they take just a few hours to set in the fridge.

These granola bars started out life plain, which worked really well as an afternoon snack for the children with some dried fruit on the side.

Naturally, the evolution of these granola bars went on to include dried fruit in the mixture and, recently, I thought I would add chocolate chips to make them more of a treat.

5 ingredient granola bars sliced

Cereal Bar

As you can see, you can use this granola bar recipe (also known as cereal bars) as a blueprint and play around with the ingredients to suit your tastes, or just to make things a bit different now and then.

What I particularly love about this recipe is the use of coconut oil; it gives the bars the delicious taste of coconut, although there is no coconut added.

Cooking with Coconut Oil

My local supermarket sells jars of coconut oil alongside the usual oils and vinegars, but health food shops will also stock coconut oil.

Coconut oil has been in the media a lot lately – some say that it is good for you, whilst others suggest it is not as healthy as perceived. My view is to consume everything in moderation for a healthy diet.

Healthy Bars

Right now, I take much comfort in knowing that there is a tray of these 5 Ingredient Granola Bars in the fridge, which means that snack time over the next few days is taken care of.

5 ingredient granola bars on baking tray
Print

5 Ingredient Granola Bars

5 ingredient granola bars

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 6 reviews

  • Author: eatlittlebird.com
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: Makes 12-16 bars
  • Category: Snacks
  • Cuisine: Australian

These No-Bake 5 Ingredient Granola Bars are soft and chewy, and just the thing to make for a snack on the go. Perfect for lunch boxes.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Melt the coconut oil in a medium saucepan and let it cool to room temperature.
  2. Line a baking tray with some baking paper, and lightly grease the sides with some coconut oil.
  3. Place the rolled oats and chocolate chips into a large mixing bowl.
  4. Add the honey and peanut butter to the coconut oil and whisk until everything is combined.
  5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix everything together.
  6. Press the mixture into the baking tray and use your finger tips to even out the mixture.
  7. Sprinkle some chocolate chips on top and lightly press them into the granola mixture.
  8. Place the baking tray into the fridge for 2-3 hours, or overnight, to firm up.
  9. Keep the tray in the fridge and simply cut out slices when you wish to serve.

Kitchen Notes

These slices are best served cold, straight from the fridge, otherwise they will become too soft to hold.

VARIATIONS
As mentioned above, you can substitute the chocolate chips for dried fruit of your choice, or even use a combination of chocolate chips with dried fruit.

CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 16
  • Calories: 186
  • Sugar: 19.8g
  • Sodium: 13.8mg
  • Fat: 6.6g
  • Saturated Fat: 3.7g
  • Carbohydrates: 30.9g
  • Fiber: 2g
  • Protein: 3g
  • Cholesterol: 0mg

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment below and share your photos by tagging @eatlittlebird on Instagram and using #eatlittlebird

Update

This recipe was first published on 18 June 2017. It has been updated with more comprehensive recipe notes.

Shop this recipe

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

19 comments

  1. Yum! I love quick and easy snack recipes like this! Perfect for a little weekend meal prep!






    Reply
  2. Rae 19 June 2017

    These granola bars look too delicious to be that simple to make. I love cold granola bars so I’ll definitely have to try these for myself.






    Reply
    • Eat, Little Bird 19 June 2017

      I’m not too familiar with cold granola bars, but gosh they are good during this hot weather we are having at the moment!

      Reply
  3. Christina Shoemaker 19 June 2017

    We do a version of no bake granola bars at my home too and they’re always a hit! Yours look spectacular! I bet snacktime will be a hit!!

    Reply
    • Eat, Little Bird 19 June 2017

      The children absolutely adore these no-bake granola bars. My son wants to help me make them next time, which shouldn’t be a problem as the recipe looks childproof 🙂

      Reply
  4. Dahn 19 June 2017

    granola bars are such a great snack food and they are always better when they are homemade. These look delicious






    Reply
    • Eat, Little Bird 19 June 2017

      I agree that they are better when homemade. I love being able to control the sugar-content 🙂

      Reply
  5. Rupal 19 June 2017

    These bars look amazing – love that you’ve used such simple ingredients to make something delicious!

    Reply
    • Eat, Little Bird 19 June 2017

      Thanks, Rupal! Yes, these are basic pantry ingredients in our home. So simple!

      Reply
  6. Emily 19 June 2017

    I love how simple these are and they look SO delicious!






    Reply
  7. Alex 19 June 2017

    Yum! Love this idea for kids of all ages 😉 Some coconut flakes would be great in these too.

    Reply
    • Eat, Little Bird 19 June 2017

      Yes, I’ve tried it with dessicated coconut, and it’s totally delicious. Although I love how the coconut oil gives these bars a lovely coconut taste too 🙂

      Reply
  8. Diner thuis Den Haag 7 July 2017

    This looks incredible! Yum!






    Reply
  9. Julia 16 April 2018

    Its fantastic! This looks so delish! Thank you for this great recipe!






    Reply
  10. Marie 11 March 2019

    These granola bars look delicious and so simple to make! A great way to use up leftover granola. I think chocolate chips are a really nice touch to add that extra bit of sweetness. Honey is a great natural sweetener too – do you think that maple syrup would work in this recipe?

    Reply
    • Eat, Little Bird 15 March 2019

      Hi Marie,
      Yes, you could definitely substitute the honey for maple syrup in this recipe. In fact, I have done that a few times myself. I’ll update the recipe shortly. Enjoy!

      Reply
  11. Maura Fay 16 November 2020

    I like this recipe but I have to convert to dairy free ingredients. If you have any more dairy free recipes I would love it if you could send them to me please. Thank you
    Maura Fay

    Reply