Healthy Oatmeal Breakfast Bars | Homemade Breakfast Bars with Oats

5 Ingredient Healthy Oatmeal Breakfast Bars – How to Make Homemade Breakfast Bars

These healthy oatmeal breakfast bars have all the comfort of a hearty bowl of oatmeal, but in a convenient, on-the-go form! Deliciously easy NO BAKE homemade breakfast bars with just 5 main ingredients, perfect for meal prep.

Unlike most homemade breakfast bars, this healthy oatmeal breakfast bars recipe requires no baking at all. Simply heat your wet ingredients over the stove, toss in your dry ingredients and mix ins, and press into a pan to refrigerate.

Just like that, with only 5 minutes of prep and an hour in the fridge, you’ve got a batch of healthy breakfast bars ready for the entire week! An easy gluten free meal prep breakfast idea that’s totally customizable to your tastes and preferences.

Healthy Oatmeal Breakfast Bars Recipe Ingredients

The prep work for this healthy oatmeal breakfast bars recipe will only take you about 5 minutes or so. Better yet, you can make these homemade breakfast bars with just 5 main ingredients! Take this base recipe and run with it—customize it with your favorite seasonings and mix-ins.

Since these quick and easy oatmeal breakfast bars aren’t going to be baked, we don’t need any eggs or other leavening agents. Which keeps our healthy breakfast bars vegan friendly! Here are the ingredients you’ll need, and some substitution ideas depending on your lifestyle:

Almond Butter

This sticky, creamy, salty element is essential to our healthy oatmeal breakfast bars recipe. Not only does it add some tasty flavor and chewiness, but it also helps to hold all of the ingredients together.

But, you could really use any nut butter that you like here—peanut or cashew butter would work just fine! If you wanted to keep your homemade breakfast bars nut free, you could also try sunflower seed butter. Your bars might not hold together as well since it tends to be a bit runnier in texture, but they’ll still taste delicious.

Honey, or Sticky Sweetener of Choice

In addition to the almond butter, we need a sticky sweetener to hold these no bake breakfast bars together. And to add some sweetness, of course!

I prefer to make my healthy breakfast bars with a natural sticky sweetener like honey, which is nice and viscous and rich in micronutrients. Or, you could also use maple syrup or agave to keep this recipe vegan.

Coconut Oil

This is an essential, non-negotiable wet ingredient for this healthy oatmeal breakfast bars recipe. Coconut oil is a liquid when heated, but solidifies when cools—so it helps to “glue” all of the ingredients together!

You could omit the coconut oil and just rely on the almond butter and sticky sweetener, but I can’t say for sure how your homemade breakfast bars would turn out. The only viable substitute for coconut oil that I can recommend would be butter.

Rolled Oats

If we’re making healthy breakfast bars with oats, naturally, we need some oats! No need to cook them or make any oatmeal—simply stir them into your melted wet ingredients.

You can make this oatmeal breakfast bars recipe with rolled or quick oats, but I prefer rolled. I think the texture turns out chewier and the bars hold together a bit better!

Almond Flour

Finally, the last of our five main ingredients is almond flour. It adds a bit of nutrition to our homemade breakfast bars in the form of healthy fats and protein, making them more filling and satisfying. And it makes for a nicer, chewier texture!

You can find pre-made almond flour in the baking aisle of your local grocery store, or you can save some money by making your own at home. Simply add almonds to a food processor or high-powered blender and pulverize into a flour!

Optional Seasonings

You could stop here with this healthy oatmeal breakfast bars recipe for the simplest preparation. Or, you’ve got the option to add some seasonings and mix-ins for flavor. It doesn’t need to be complicated!

For seasonings, I’m sticking with simple cinnamon for some natural sweetness and comfort, along with salt to enhance all of the other flavors in these bars. You may or may not need to add salt, depending on the saltiness of your nut butter. Add any other flavorings that you like!

Optional Mix Ins: 1 cup

For mix-ins, I went with shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds, and dried blueberries. They add some wholesome nutrients to my healthy breakfast bars AND some fun texture and flavors!

Of course, you don’t have to add any mix-ins at all. But, adding about 1 cup of your favorite nuts, seeds and/or dried fruit can really take your homemade breakfast bars to a new level of delicious!

How to Make Healthy Breakfast Bars with Oatmeal

To make healthy breakfast bars with oats, start by lining an 8x8-inch pan with parchment or foil. Trust me, it’ll be much easier to remove your bars if you line the pan!

Then, add your nut butter, sticky sweetener, and coconut oil to a pot over medium heat. Allow this to melt down and simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring until the mixture is thick and integrated.

Next, fold in the oats, almond flour, any optional seasonings, and the mix-ins of your choosing. Make sure to stir well so all of your ingredients are well coated! Finally, press that mixture into your prepared pan and transfer to the fridge for an hour or more.

Once your healthy oatmeal breakfast bars are set and firm, you can lift the foil or parchment out of the pan. All that’s left to do is slice into as many bars as you’d like! I divided mine into 12 servings, but you could cut bigger or smaller bars to suit your needs.

Storing Homemade Breakfast Bars for Meal Prep

Storing these healthy breakfast bars couldn’t be easier. Once they’re sliced, transfer to the airtight container(s) of your choosing. If you’re stacking bars on top of each other, you can place cut sheets of parchment between to prevent sticking but it’s not necessary.

Once stored, simply place your homemade breakfast bars in the fridge so they’re ready to enjoy throughout the week! These will last for about 5 days stored in the fridge.

But, if you need to store them longer or there are more servings than you’ll eat in a week, it’s an easy fix. Just place however many bars your like into a freezer-safe container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months! When ready to eat, allow frozen bars to thaw overnight in the fridge before serving.

Easy Healthy Meal Prep for the Week in 1 HOUR!

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