Our recipe for no bake granola bars is the perfect snack for so many reasons. They’re so delicious and customizable to your favorite ingredients. Making homemade granola bars is going to be a favorite snack for your whole family.

no bake granola bars recipe stacked

Why Make No Bake Energy Bars Recipe?

We’re obsessed with making homemade granola bars or energy bars. Here’s why we love this recipe so much:

  • First of all, they’re no bake meaning you don’t need an oven or have to heat up the house! That alone is a win-win. Not to have to bake anything and just assemble the ingredients.
  • They’re made with easy pantry ingredients that you can customize. Add a little more of this or a little more of that and you can make each batch unique and interesting.
  • Second of all, they’re easy to make and can easily be prepared in less than 15 minutes.
  • You will need to chill these balls for a bit to let them set. But other than that these no bake energy bars and super quick and easy to make!

Video: No-Bake Granola Bars Recipe

Tips on How to Make Homemade No Bake Granola Bars

  • Melted butter, honey and some peanut butter binds the ingredients together to make the bars. You can use any combination of these ingredients if you want as long as the granola bars bind.
  • You can use almond butter or any nut butter to replace the peanut butter.
  • Add what ever type of dried fruit and dried nuts that you want. These energy bars or balls are totally customizable to what you have in your pantry or what ever your allergies require you to have.
  • Add them to your kids lunch box and they’ll swoon over how delicious these are. These energy bars are healthy too so it’s good for the adults who need a quick pick-me-up before or after a work out.
no bake granola bars on board

Can you make these into energy balls instead of bars?

Yes you definitely can!  You can totally make these into balls as well if you don’t want to make bars. Just use a small ice cream or cookie release-style scoop to keep the portion sizes consistent. After that, roll the batter into little bite sized balls! When we made these energy balls for the test kitchen they loved the energy ball shapes more than the bar shapes. So we just might have to re-photograph some pictures to show them as energy balls!

no bake granola bars recipe stacked

No-Bake Granola Bars w/ Peanut Butter

Yield: 10 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Chill Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 20 minutes
Use whatever dried fruits and nuts you prefer. Our favorites for the dried fruits are raisins, dried blueberries, cranberries, and dried apricots. For the chopped nuts, our favorites are pecans and roasted peanuts. 
5 from 6 votes

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Ingredients

  • 2 cups (162 g) Quick Oats or Gluten Free Oats
  • 1 cup (150 g) Dried Fruit , cut into bite size pieces if needed
  • 1 cup (144 g) chopped roasted Nuts
  • 1/2 cup (90 g) Chocolate Chips or chopped Dark or Milk Chocolate
  • 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Butter
  • 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) packed Brown Sugar
  • 1/3 cup (113 g) Honey
  • 3/4 cup (195 g) Peanut Butter
  • Sea Salt or Kosher Salt , to taste

Equipment

Instructions 

  • Line an 8″x8″ pan with foil and lightly butter foil or spray with cooking spray.
    Pan lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray
  • Combine quick oats, dried fruit, nuts, and chocolate in a large bowl. Set aside.
    Oats, nuts, and dried fruit combined in a bowl
  • Heat small saucepan on medium heat. Add butter, brown sugar, honey, and peanut butter until butter melts, whisking until mixture is smooth. 
    Peanut Butter, butter and honey melted in a pan
  • Pour peanut butter mixture over dry mix. Stir until evenly combined.
    Peanut butter mix being poured over dry ingredient mix
  • Spread into prepared 8"x8" pan and press firmly down.  Lightly sprinkle salt on top of bars. Chill until firm, about 1 hour.
    Mixture spread into the lined pan
  • Using the foil, lift bars out of pan. Cut in half, then cut into preferred bar width.
    Cutting the chilled mix into bars

Video

YouTube video

Nutrition Information per Serving

Calories: 406kcal, Carbohydrates: 46g, Protein: 9g, Fat: 22g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 7mg, Sodium: 131mg, Potassium: 248mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 31g, Vitamin A: 90IU, Vitamin C: 0.2mg, Calcium: 42mg, Iron: 1.6mg
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Calories: 406

Different Substitutions and Types of Nuts and Dried Fruit for No Bake Energy Bars (Granola Bars)

  • Chopped cashews, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, sesame seeds
  • Dried fruit like raisins, craisins, cranberries, dried apricots, dried cherries, prunes
  • Chocolate chips are optional, but they definitely make these homemade granola bars more delicious. You can also substitute them for mini M&M candies, or chopped pieces of your favorite chocolate candy bar.
  • Instead of peanut butter you can use any type of nut butter.
  • If you have a nut allergy, use a little more honey and butter until the mixture combines. Don’t use too much honey or else it can get too sweet.

How to Store Homemade Granola Bars or Energy Balls

Best way to store these is to eat them as soon as you can first. They can be stored at room temperature in an air tight container for about 3 days. But after about 3-4 days if you haven’t finished eating them, store them in an air tight container in the fridge.

More Easy Recipes:

no bake granola bars cut on board