Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
210 Comments
Updated Jun 12, 2024
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After lots of testing, I can attest that this is the perfect batch of chocolate chip granola bars. They’re the ideal portable snack that strikes a balance between sweet and salty. But most importantly – they nail that chewy texture we all know and love in a classic granola bar.
It’s no secret that I love chocolate, especially in a granola bar. But as always, I look for ways to give a healthier, homemade spin to packaged versions. So today, it was about time I made my own chewy chocolate granola bar recipe!
Not to toot my own horn – but I really nailed the texture on this one. All thanks to several failed batches (the 4th time’s the charm right?). Unlike my trail mix granola bars that are hard and crunchy, these ones are soft and chewy. Both are great, just different – and variety is always welcome! So if you’re in need of more on-the-go healthy snacks, these granola bars will certainly fit the bill.
What’s In This Chewy Granola Bar?
Luckily, you might have many of these ingredients already in your pantry. Especially if you tend to bake a lot. If not, everything on this list is easy and accessible – no complicated ingredients here!
- Quick Cooking Oats: After testing with both old fashioned rolled oats and quick cooking oats, I found that quick cooking oats resulted in a better texture. Where it wasn’t too oat-y, and created a smoother granola mixture for a softer, chewier bite.
- Puffed Rice: Yes, there is a difference between puffed rice and rice crisps cereal. Puffed rice is a single ingredient that’s undergone a dilating process (i.e. how it gets “puffed”) and it remains fairly soft. On the other hand, rice crisps are usually crunchier and have added sugars and other ingredients (like your typical “rice krispies” cereal). Both can work in this recipe, this is just my reminder to always read labels.
- Nuts: Use any of your favorite nuts! Personally, I love to use a mix of pecans and walnuts for granola bars.
- Chocolate Chips: Depending on your chocolate preference, you can use dark to milk chocolate chips. Just make sure to grab mini chocolate chips so they blend well with the rest of the ingredients.
- Flaxseeds: These powerhouse seeds add healthy nutrients to these homemade granola bars. Feel free to substitute with chia seeds.
- Honey: This is the sticky “glue” that holds the granola bars together. I haven’t tested this recipe with maple syrup yet, so if you do, let us know in the comments below how it turns out!
- Creamy Nut Butter: I’m using almond butter, but any nut or seed butter will work just fine!
- Coconut Oil and Vanilla Extract: Two baking essentials to bind the dry ingredients together with a hint of vanilla.
Find the printable recipe with measurements below.
How To Make Homemade Granola Bars
A simple mix of wet ingredients into dry ingredients brings these granola bars together. Here’s how you make them!
Stir the dry ingredients. Preheat your oven to 325°F/165°C. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, with extra paper popping up the sides. Then in a large bowl, stir together the oats, puffed rice, chopped nuts, flaxseeds, chocolate chips, and salt.
Stir the wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, stir together the honey, almond butter, coconut oil, and vanilla, until smooth.
Mix together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, stir together, and scoop the mixture into the pan.
Press the mixture. Use a piece of parchment paper to press the mixture into a super flat and even layer. Then bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until there’s just a bit of golden color around the edges. For crunchier bars bake 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool and firm up. Let the granola bars cool to room temperature in the pan. Then place the pan in the fridge for 1 hour to firm up. Gently lift the parchment paper out of the pan, and slice into 12 even granola bars!
Tips For The Best Granola Bar
- Use a creamy nut / seed butter. Make sure to choose a creamy butter, and not the crunchy kind. If the butter is too dry, the ingredients won’t bind together very well after baking in the oven.
- Chop up any large ingredients. For the best chewy texture (that won’t fall apart), it’s best to keep your ingredients on the smaller (or finer) side. So again, use quick cooking oats instead of rolled oats, and chop up your nuts to smaller pieces. Pro tip – you can use a mini food processor to quickly blitz the nuts!
- Make sure the mixture is super compact. I cannot emphasize this enough when making the granola bars! Any empty spaces in between the mixture will result in bars that will fall right apart. So make sure to press down hard with the parchment paper, or roll it down with a mason jar.
- Be patient with the chilling time. The longer you let your bars chill, the better the texture will be once they’ve reached room temperature. So don’t cut the 1 hour short!
Storage Tips
This is what Sunday meal prep is all about! Make a batch of these granola bars, and you’ve got a snack to enjoy every day of the week (or for future weeks if you freeze them).
- To store: Place the sliced bars in a bag or container and store in the fridge for up to one week. And to prevent them from sticking to each other, add a slice of parchment paper in between each bar.
- To freeze: Yes, these are freezer-friendly! Add them to a freezer-safe bag or container (with parchment paper in between), and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before eating.
Granola Bars Recipe Video
This granola bar recipe is pretty straightforward, but a step-by-step video always helps – right? Follow along with me in the video below!
More Healthy Snack Ideas
It’s always a good idea to prep some healthy snacks to enjoy for a midday bite. And whether you’re looking for something sweet or salty – you’ve got a few options below.
- No Bake Energy Balls
- Zucchini Chips (or Kale Chips)
- Ultimate Seed Crackers
- Baked Plantain Chips (or Apple Chips)
Goodbye packaged chocolate chip granola bars! This healthy snack is one that makes total sense to make at home. Give it a try and let me know how you like them in a comment below!
Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Description
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups quick cooking oats (not old fashioned rolled oats)
- 1 cup puffed rice
- ½ cup roughly chopped nuts
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup honey
- ⅓ cup creamy almond butter (or other nut/seed butter)
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 325°F/165°C. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, with the paper coming up the sides.
- Stir the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, puffed rice, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, flaxseed, and salt.
- Stir the wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, stir together the honey, almond butter, coconut oil, and vanilla, until smooth.
- Mix together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir together until well combined.
- Press the mixture. Scoop the mixture into the pan and press it into an even layer, using another piece of parchment paper to firmly press the mixture flat. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until barely starting to get a little bit of golden color around the edges for chewy granola bars. For crunchier bars bake 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
- Firm up. Let the granola bars cool to room temperature in the pan. Then place the pan in the fridge for 1 hour to firm up the granola bars completely. Gently lift the parchment paper out of the pan, and slice into granola bars.
Lisa’s Tips
- Puffed rice: If you’re unsure about what kind of puffed rice to buy – you can purchase this bag of puffed rice straight from Amazon! This is the one I’m using in this recipe.
- Mini chocolate chips: if you have a hard time finding the mini chocolate chips, you can also use your favorite chocolate bar and finely chop it up!
- If you find that your bars are still not sticking together very well, try adding a little bit more honey and baking them a little bit longer.
Nutrition
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Just wondering if I can use rice krispies instead of puffed rice since I do not have it on hand and no time to order from Amazon.
Yes, no problem!
Lisa, thank you for this recipe that’s tasty, easy to make, and very customizable to tastes and pantry inventory… and a perfect snack to fuel long bike rides. I used old fashioned rolled oats, chia seed instead of flaxseed, peanut butter instead of almond butter, all because it’s what I had. I may try flaxmeal and quick cooking oats in the future to see what the difference in texture might be, but I liked how they turned out. I threw in chopped pecans, a couple of handful of unsweetened, shredded coconut and 1/2tsp. cinnamon. I heated the pb, coconut oil and honey over low heat while stirring until they were combined into a homogeneous mixture, then whisked in the vanilla. Chilled overnight, then in the morning cut with a long serrated knife I use for slicing bread – that worked great, and I’m enjoying a bar with my morning coffee. Chocolate chips and dried cherries might be next, or mocha. The possibilities are endless. I’ll be making this recipe regularly, I’m sure. Great recipe development on your part – you’re so right about the puffed rice – what a difference!! Thanks again.
Kids love them! I love them! They freeze great for after school snack! Thank You Lisa!
Whats the difference between using old fashioned and quick oats? Some granola bar recipes say strictly old fashioned and others say only quick oats.
You can make granola bars with either, it’s just personal preference on texture.
Just made these on a rainy day. What a treat! Absolutely delicious and healthy! Thank you, Lisa!
I’m happy you loved them Candice!
I made these yesterday for my husband to take to work as a mid-morning snack. He loves them, and it was all he could do to save them for work.
I snuck in a taste as well. So good! ❤️
Thanks for sharing this recipe! 🙏🏻
I’m glad both you and your husband loved the recipe, Sandra!
Hi! The Bars are amazing! Is it necessary to store them in the fridge? I usualy do my own granola and do not store it in the fridge. Thanks!
I find that they hold better together longer after storing in the fridge versus room temperature.
Delicious
Made these bars today and they were by far the tastiest granola bars I’ve had so far 😋🤤
Aw, happy to hear that Afzal!
Hi Lisa
I want to thank you that you sharing this recipe. This granola bar is AMAZING, Im glad that I found this recipe. We love it so much. You are ROCKKKK..
Thrilled to hear you loved this granola bar recipe Devi!
Is there anything I can sub for the puffed rice if I don’t have any currently?
I highly suggest to order a bag of puffed rice for this recipe (I’ve linked one you can buy in the post + Shop page). It helps with the softness and chewiness of the bars!
These granola bars are a huge hit at my house, I made them nut free so my daughter can take them to school, I used sunflower seed butter instead of almond butter and a mix of shredded coconut and pumpkin seeds in place of the mixed nuts! It worked amazing! I wrapped them individually in Saran wrap and freeze , even frozen they have a lovely texture.
Glad you were able to tweak this recipe for your daughter Bruna!
Too Good! I ate them all in a few days! made them with chia seeds instead of flax seeds. and chopped Pecans. Going to make a second batch now – but going to try without the dark chocolate chips, and maybe a little less honey. Hoping they will last a little longer.
Lisa, thank you for sharing this recipe! I got all the ingredients ready to make, but when I started making it, I think the metric seems to be the wring amount. So I tried with the us customary, but since I first started with the metric, it ended up failed. Could you calculate the metric amount again please? I’d love to try this again!
Hi Misaki – sorry to hear that! Can you let us know exactly what went wrong, so we can see maybe which ingredients need to be tweaked on the metric side?
My son has been diagnosed with celiac. I am so excited to try this recipe! Could you please tell me what brand oats you use. I think I understand that oats are naturally gluten free but can become cross contaminated with wheat during the harvest/ processing. Just curious if you purposely buy oats that say “gluten free” on the label or if you just buy any oats. Thank you so much for sharing all of your recipes!
I always use Bob’s Red Mill certified GF oats! Just make sure the packaging mentions that :)
Made these with my 6 year old and we both loved them! Great snack just in time to pack for school.
These granola bars a so yummy! I am working on making healthier snacks for my kids lunches and they LOVE THESE!!! Now I don’t have to buy the quaker Chewy bars anymore! :)
Thank you for this recipe! I am making the trail mix granola bars today!
Happy to hear the kiddos are loving these granola bars Rebecca!
Do I have to bake it? I tried it without baking and tasted great….there isn’t any eggs so why not?
I find that baking it helps the bars to hold together better at room temperature, rather than not baking them.
I made these today and they are delicious. Mine did not stick together very well. Maybe I didn’t compress them enough or it could be that I used whole flax seeds? I didn’t see that you said ground flax seeds until I added them to everything else. Next time I will definitely use ground flax but do you think that is why?
I would try using ground flaxseeds to see if that sticks better, as well as making sure to make the bars super compressed in the pan.
Best Granola Bar ever! Absolutely delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Glad you love these granola bars!
Is there any substitute for the puffed rice? Can I skip it?
Can I substitute coconut oil with avocado oil?
Unfortunately no. Coconut oil hardens at cooler temperatures and avocado oil doesn’t.
What about using butter instead of coconut oil?
I haven’t tried it, but I think it could work.
Made this to have healthy snacks on an upcoming cross country flight. Easy and delicious and made with ingredients I can pronounce. Thanks for yet another great recipe!
Hope these come in handy during your trip Jennifer!
These are amazing! Made them 2 weeks in a row!
Yay! Glad you’re loving these granola bars :)
These are so good!! I used rolled oats and regular sized chocolate chips since that’s what I already had, and they still turned out great!
Glad these granola bars were a success Emily!
If I don’t have quick oats, only the other, will these still work?
You can grind up the rolled oats with a food processor to make it finer.
These are husband approved. I sprinkled with sea salt and used peanut butter. Great snack that does not taste healthy but is.
Incredible, not chewy but delicious. I love the flavour !
So good! Like a cookie! I used raisins and peanut butter.
Finally! A good granola bar recipe! Thank you, thank you! I have searched for years! Lol…
These are so great. I love that they don’t use piles of nut butter (which is super expensive). These will be my go-to.
Made a batch as written (well, except for subbing M&M’s for half the mini chips due to supplies on hand) and then gave have the pan away as a gift. As I was cutting the rest for storage, my mom sampled, then took a piece to my dad, and then STRONGLY encouraged me to make another batch to use up the small amount of remaining almond butter! Of course I didn’t have enough of that so the second batch was a mix of almond and peanut butter, a blend of honey, agave, and maple syrup, and 100% M&M’s. They smelled heavenly coming out of the oven and I am impatiently waiting for them to cook!
Hope you loved these granola bars Kathy!
The moment my partner tried these he yelled “Downshiftology has done it again! 10/10!”
Need I say more… 😂
Aw, happy to hear you enjoyed these granola bars!
For the chocolate chips, should we use semi-sweet ones? Also is there a particular brand you recommend?
I’m using 365 Brand mini chocolate chips.
So delicious! Me and my family loved it. Thank you, Lisa.
What are the nutrition facts? All I can see is the they are healthy but that is relative.
You can always find the nutritional information towards the bottom of the recipe card!
And that is for one bar, right?
These are absolutely delicious. I didn’t have the quick cooking oats, but I did have the old fashioned variety, and the consistency was great. I used peanut butter instead of cashew butter, and some walnuts and chia seeds as the alternatives. Super easy to make, and really do taste better than the store bought varieties! Thank you!
Happy to hear these granola bars were a success Sarah!
I don’t have coconut oil. Is there something I can substitute?
You can also use butter or ghee!
These are delicious, thank you!
Even my husband likes them. 😉
I used half the recommended amount of honey and it was perfect.
Will make another batch tomorrow as we are expecting company.
Amazing! Glad these worked out perfectly and hope your guests enjoy them as well Mona :)
I baked these today. The taste is good. A little sweet for me. My honey was crystallized so that could have been the reason. Mine crumbled a little bit when cutting. My family will enjoy them. I plan to make them again maybe with a little less honey.
Lisa never misses!! Every recipe I’ve tried from Downshiftology has been 10/10, this is no exceptions. My 2 year old and I will be devouring these! Make sure to really press the mixture into the pan before baking (as Lisa states in the instructions), I did not press firmly enough and they were a bit crumbly. I also substituted the puffed rice with brown rice crisps because it’s what we had and this was still incredible.
These were easy & delicious. The chewy texture was perfect. I did a mixture of cashews & coconut and also added some chia seeds. They were a bit sweet for me (tho my 5 year old loved them) so I might try a bit less honey as one of the comments suggested. Such a great, versatile recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!
Let me know how it turns out with a little less honey Toni!
I made these exactly as written and they are so good!! They are the best granola bars I have ever had! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
So glad you’re loving these granola bars Kate!
I made these last night and they are fabulous! So incredibly tasty. The hardest part was waiting for them to cool before we tasted them :) I had to bake a few minutes longer since they were a little soft but can’t wait to make them again! Thank you for the wonderful recipe & your tips were super helpful!
Chilling time is key for this! But, glad they turned out great in the end Lori :)
These are so yummy Lisa, thanks for the recipe! Worked perfectly, I’m going to have a play and try coconut and dried apricot next batch. A huge thumbs up from me!
Let me know how that coconut and apricot batch works! Curious to see how this holds up with those ingredients :)
Loved them! So easy to make. Wonderful snack for biking or hiking:)
Can I sub the coconut oil for olive or avocado oil?
You can sub it for butter or ghee, as olive or avocado oil won’t harden as it chills.
Am hoping to try this one this coming weekend. Is puffed quinoa a suitable substitute?
Yes, you can use puffed quinoa!
I made the recipe using maple syrup instead of honey to keep it vegan. I baked it at the higher suggested cook time and cooled it in the fridge longer than suggested. The taste is incredible but I do think the honey is probably a better binder. Although most of the bars stayed intact, they were definitely crumbly.
Thanks for testing this recipe with maple syrup and sharing the results! I also think honey is a better binder for this recipe. But, I’ll be sure to create more variations with maple syrup in the future.
Made these today and the flavor is perfect and yummy! I didn’t have puffed rice, so I put 2 rice cakes in the blender and that worked well! Used rolled oats and pulsed them in the blender first and used those as I didn’t have quick cooking oats. All other ingredients were the same. Would make these again, but maybe keep them in the fridge a little longer or even put in the freezer for a little to help them stick together.
Glad these turned out great with your small tweaks!
Can I substitute maple syrup for the honey?
Someone else tested this with maple syrup and found it to be more crumbly. So I suggest to try and stick with honey!
Looks delicious. I know the recipe specifically says to use quick cooking oats, but I only have the old fashioned rolled oats and not wanting to purchase additional oats just for this recipe, will the recipe turn out ok if I do use the GF old fashioned rolled oats?
Hi Lauren – you can use rolled oats, they’ll just be thicker and less chewy. You could also blitz the rolled oats in a food processor just 1-2x for a finer texture. Hope you enjoy the granola bars!
Can I use this recipe to make granola and not bars? Thanks.
Yes, definitely! Just spread it out and bake it all loose on a sheet pan.
What can I use instead of the rice? Can i just put more nuts/seeds?
Yes, you can sub it with more oats, nuts, and seeds.
I have a nut allergy-any recommendations for substitutes?
Hi Michelle – you could sub the nuts with your favorite seeds. I personally love pepitas in this recipe. And for the almond butter, feel free to use any seed butter like sunflower seed butter. :)
Do you use salted nut butter? Mine is unsalted so I’m thinking I should add more salt.
You can use either or for this recipe!