These are my favorite granola bars of all time! Nuts and seeds folded into a sticky mixture of coconut oil, honey and vanilla. Simple and sweet. Nothing complicated.
These bars can be adapted with dozens of different ingredients. Substitute your favorite dried fruits for the seeds, add a little flax (I suggest this only for the dehydrated method so the flaxseed oil doesn’t oxidize), or spread the mixture out on a larger sheet and make a sticky-sweet granola to use as a cereal in the morning.
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Granola Bars – Grain Free
Just like most foods described as “sticky and sweet,” remember to eat these in moderation. I used this method for soaking and dehydrating my nuts and seeds. My friend Molly also wrote a post about the benefits of soaking and dehydrating nuts and seeds.
Makes 12-16 bars
For the bars:
1 1/2 cups chopped almonds (dehydrated or toasted)
1 1/2 cups chopped cashews (dehydrated or toasted)
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups seeds (I used dehydrated pumpkin and sunflower seeds)
3 tablespoons coconut oil (or unsalted butter), melted
2/3 cup light honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300ºF and adjust rack to middle position. Line an 11 x 7-inch baking pan with parchment paper so the sides of paper overhang.
Place the almonds, cashews, coconut and seeds in a large mixing bowl. Heat oil, honey and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Stir in the vanilla and pour mixture over nut mixture. Fold until incorporated. Pour mixture into the baking dish and press into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting (this step is very important. If you cut while they are warm, they will fall apart). Holding onto the parchment, gently lift the bars out of the pan and place on a cutting board. Using a large knife, cut granola into bars. Keep in an airtight container for 10 days.
Dehydration Method (If you took the time to soak and dehydrate your nuts and seeds then you might want to use this option to bake the bars):
Follow instructions above and dehydrate at 170ºF (or as low as your oven will go) for about 7-8 hours, until the outer edges are just slightly golden brown. Cool completely before cutting.
A few tips: To ensure the granola cuts into clean uniform bars, I usually start in the middle and cut with a large chefs knife. You can also put the granola bars in the refrigerator after baking for 30 minutes to ensure the honey (the glue that binds the bars together) hardens to make cutting easier (this step can be helpful if you live in a humid climate).
{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
These look fabulous Carrie! Love the homemade wrappers, so cute!
These look delicious! Question though: what is “light” honey?
A light colored honey, such as clover.
Animom – I think she means “light colored” honey, as opposed to dark. Is that right?
Carrie – What a lovely grain-free granola bar. I never knew you could make them this way, but I’ve got to try them for myself. Thanks for sharing your inspiring recipe!
What would happen if the seeds and nuts were kept raw? Or if the seeds were ground instead of left whole? Is there a reason they need to be dehydrated? Thanks!
If you keep the seeds and nuts raw then they won’t be as crispy in the bars. I haven’t tried grinding them up so I don’t know how the end product would turn out. The benefits of soaking and dehydrating can be found in the last paragraph of this post: http://deliciouslyorganic.net/sweet-crispy-pecans-and-a-giveaway-from-mighty-nest/
My friend Molly also wrote a post about soaking and dehydrating nuts and seeds: http://www.organicspark.com/portfolio/technique-dehydrated-nuts/
I love granola Bars! and grain free! amazing!
Is there a benefit to dehydrating vs. baking? Do they turn out differently?
They won’t turn out differently. I soak my seeds and nuts to release the phytic acid (gives me tummy problems) and then I dehydrate to get them crispy without oxidizing the good oils. It’s just personal preference.
woo hoo! been waiting for this one, thanks so much! going to try these in the next couple of days. They sound delicious. Thanks for providing such great recipes.
Yay. I think I am going to skip the coconut though. Maybe replace with some sesame seeds? And I think I want to toss in some blueberries. Yummy. Thanks.
These look so tasty! If I wanted to add dark chocolate chunks or chips, where in the process would I do that?
You can replace a cup of seeds or nuts for chocolate chips if you’d like. Just add them in with the rest of the dry mixture.
Thanks! So excited about this recipe. This is one of those items in my pantry that my kids love. I am always wishing I could make some they’d love as much homemade. No luck yet. Maybe these will do the trick. Silly question, are these more crunchy or chewy? Will either suggested cooking method give me the crunch? Thanks so much for all your efforts. I also can tell a huge difference with soaking nuts.
They are more on the chewy side. Because of the ingredients, both methods will lend a “chewier” granola bar.
wow. What a great idea!
Loving up these granola bars Carrie!
Any suggestion for a substitution for the nuts ( we have a nut allergy here ).
Oatmeal maybe? Pretzel pieces?
You can substitute with whatever ingredients you like.
You could add more varieties of seeds – chia, hemp, sesame, and more coconut. You might want to add a small amount of no-sugar-added dried fruit, such as pineapple chunks.
If you use another grain, like oats or cracked wheat, be sure to soak it as well (oats are really high in phytates).
wow, these look amazing! Love the simplicity and the ability to customize.
I love a good granola bar! Soaking the nuts and seeds is always a great option. Such a simple and classic recipe to keep and customize for years to come!
So awesome!! I bet these are a huge hit! I love the photos too! Mmmmm
These sound like granola bars I’d actually love to eat! Thanks for sharing, Carrie!
Wow – these sound terrific…but…is there any way that stevia could be substituted for the honey to get rid of the sugar aspect? Usually when I try subbing stevia it is either bitter or the consistency is not good. Any suggestions here?
Unfortunetly, the honey can’t be replaced because it’s what holds the bars together. If you want to make granola, then you can use stevia.
I have to try this! I rely on granola bars when I’m out or traveling and it would be nice to have a homemade version.
I clicked on you’re site looking for a flavored coffee creamer recipe and found that. Later today I wanted a granola bar recipe and once again I found that on your site. It sounds yummy and I will be making it. I make as much food as possile from scratch. I am sick and tired of all the chemicals in foods and sooooo many prepare mixes. No wonder people/kids are soooo sick! I’m 59, work in an elementary school and have seen an increase of kids with cancer/ADD/ADHD, etc. over the years. I personally think the culprit is food.
These are absolutely delicious! Thanks for the recipe. I try to go lower carb, so was a bit nervous about the honey content, until I realized there’s just under a tablespoon of honey per bar, if you cut it into 16…with all that protein it’s not that big a problem.
I made these this weekend with a few variations and YUM. I made mine really thin (35 bars per batch) and they are totally satiating and satisfying. Here’s my take on the recipe: http://type1momma.com/grain-free-homemade-energy-bars/
I am so inspired to get rid of all the processed food in our house and start making my own! Thanks for being such a wonderful resource.
If though I waited until they were cool, I couldn’t get them to cut into bars. It ended up becoming granola that I could toss into oatmeal or yogurt. Still delicious! I’m just wondering what went wrong.
Hmm…I’m not sure what happened. Did you make any ingredient substitutions or alterations? Maybe you baked them a bit too long?
I made these this weekend, and mine too fell apart. But gosh were they good!! I let them cool all the way but they just didn’t hold together. But honestly, I don’t see how heated honey & butter would hold anything together! Could you add an egg or would that just ruin it? The flavor is awesome as it but I want to be able to cut them into bars, Any suggestions?
Did you by any chance make any substitutions? Did you bake or dehydrate? I made these again this weekend to take to a friend and didn’t have any issues with crumbling. You can always add a bit more honey for extra stickiness. Also, when you fold the ingredients, make sure everything is coated with the honey/oil mixture (maybe all of your ingredients didn’t get coated?). When you put them in the pan, press the mixture into the pan. When I cut them, I use a large chefs knife and usually start cutting in the middle. For some reason, starting in the middle makes it easier. Let me know if that helps!
I made these again this weekend and they still fell apart! And I really pressed them into the pan, using my palm. I’m thinking maybe my oven’s not getting hot enough….I think I will buy a thermometer….
Is the mixture wet and falling apart, or dry and falling apart? If wet, then it needs to be baked longer. If dry, then it needs to be baked less. Checking the oven temp is a good idea too! I read that if you are having trouble with the granola bars coming apart when cutting, then put them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to fully set the honey (the honey is the “glue” that holds them together). If it’s humid where you are, this could play a part in your granola not binding. I live in the desert. Lots of dry air here, so my bars bind easily.
Here are some other granola recipes that use honey and butter/oil as a binder. Maybe the tips on these can help: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-bars-recipe/index.html, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/homemade-granola-bars-recipe/index.html
These sound fantastic, Carrie! We like to have granola bars on hand to grab as a pre- or post-workout snack.
Mmm, those look perfect, Carrie.
Carrie…these turned out delicious!! We can’t do cashews b/c of Kyle’s allergy but we substituted pecans! They worked perfectly and I let them cool, then stuck them in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes “just in case”….they held together well and I’m just having to limit them so that we can have them around for snacks this week, otherwise they’d be all gone! Thanks for a great snack idea for our GAPS family!
I’ve made these twice and both times, they didn’t stick together very well. The first time, I thought it was because I chopped the cashews and almonds too fine. The second time I made sure they were bigger chunks and it still didn’t keep together. I let them sit for awhile, were completely cool but when I cut them, they just crumbled. Any suggestions? They taste yummy but were messy.
Sorry to hear about that! I’ve had many write in and say they were perfect and others say they fell apart. I tested them again, and had a friend that lives in a humid area test them (since I live in the desert) and we both had good results. So, I called the test kitchen “the cooks that tested all of the recipes for my cookbook” and they said the reason granola bars will fall apart is if the mixture isn’t stirred enough. Everything needs to be wet from the butter/honey/vanilla mixture. If some pieces don’t get wet, then they won’t stick together. So, stirring until all of the mixture is wet should do the trick. Does that help?
I’ll give them a better stir next time around. I felt like everything was wet, but who knows?! It could also have been the pan I used…it was one of those flexible, disposable pans. I used that because it was more of the size you had said to use. Will try to fix both of those next time and hopefully get better results!
Thanks so much.
Justine – I think the pan might have been the culprit. I bet it was too thin and caused the granola to dry out too much. I always find it so interesting that even the smallest things can change a recipe!
I just bought some nuts in bulk from Azure…
Since I don’t want them to go rancid, and I typically soak and dehydrate, I was wondering in what order do I do that if I want to store them in the freezer so that they keep longer. Do I take all of the nuts and soak/dehydrate, then freeze until use? OR, do I have to freeze them, then thaw/soak/dehydrate when I am ready to eat? I don’t want to ruin the integrity of the oils and such and am not sure how to go about this.
From my understanding it’s the heat that destroys the oils, not the cold. You can freeze them raw until you are ready to soak and dehydrate. After you dehydrate them, they last a couple months at room temperature.
These turned out perfect! I decreased the honey to 1/2 cup and dehydrated them at 155 F in greased silicone pans. It took awhile in the dehydrator (maybe 8+ hrs?), but once they were done, they cut perfectly, and store really well in the freezer. I gave them to friends and they couldn’t believe how good they tasted…without oats! So I think you may have a few more blog followers after my week of hosting and plugging your recipes
I’m so glad you all enjoyed them! I haven’t stored them in the freezer. Great idea!
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