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Homemade Chocolate Chip Granola Bars are so easy to make, you’ll wonder why you ever bought them in stores. They’re super healthy, slightly crunchy with a bit of sweet chocolate in every bite and absolutely delicious!
Table of Contents
Why I Make Homemade Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Do you know off the top of your head how much money you spend on granola and/or nutritional bars for your kids? Take a minute and add it up. I would bet it’s more than you think! Before you say “they’re convenient”, trust me, I get it. On those busy mornings when you don’t have time for breakfast, there’s nothing easier than tossing a bar into your child’s lunch box and another one into your bag. But, a majority of the brands on the market are not as healthy as their manufacturers would lead you to believe and are way more expensive that making them at home.
I got so fed up with what my we were spending on bars, I devoted myself to figuring out how to make Protein Bars myself. I worked so hard at it, I even flirted with starting my own business! These Chocolate Chip Granola Bars are unbelievably delicious, and if you wrap them individually, they’re just as easy to grab when you’re on-the-go as the ones you buy at the market. Plus, you’ll have no problem pronouncing all of the ingredients in these.
The Ingredients
- Old fashioned oats: For these bars we use old fashioned oats (also know as rolled oats) as the base for our bars.
- Whole wheat flour: I use whole wheat because it has more health benefits than all purpose, but any flour you have on hand will work.
- Shredded unsweetened coconut: I know coconut can be polarizing, but you barely taste it in this recipe. If you still give coconut a hard no, you can leave it out!
- Brown sugar: This adds a touch of sweetness to the bars.
- Mini chocolate chips: If you want, you can substitute raisins or other dried fruit for the chocolate chips.
- Kosher salt: A pinch of salt balances out the sweetness.
- Oil of choice: You can use vegetable, canola, avocado or an other oil of your choosing.
- Vanilla extract: Another ingredient that just adds a little sweetness and warmth.
- Honey: The majority of the sweetness in these bars come from naturally sweet honey instead of processed white sugar.
*Exact measurements and instructions are in the recipe card below*
Variations and Substitutions
- Don’t have whole wheat flour? No worries! You can use any flour you prefer. All purpose, a cup-for-cup gluten free flour or even almond flour will work. I use whole wheat because it has more health benefits than all purpose, but use what you have on hand.
- Don’t want chocolate chips? If you’re hesitant to give your kids chocolate chips in the morning or for snack time, you can easily substitute them with naturally sweet dried fruit like cranberries, cherries or raisins.
- Not a fan of coconut? I get it. Sometimes people are just don’t love coconut. You can leave it out completely if you want. I will say, you hardly taste it in these, but do what feels best to you.
Chocolate Chip Granola Bars Recipe Video
How to Make Homemade Granola Bars
Step 1: In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients – oats, flour, coconut, brown sugar, chocolate chips and salt.
Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients – oil, vanilla extract and honey.
Step 3: Make the granola mixture by pouring the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients mixture and stir thoroughly to combine.
Step 4: Form a large granola slab. Place the granola mixture on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and shape into a rectangle about 13 x 9 x 1 inches thick. Press firmly so that the granola sticks together. Bake for 30-40 minutes in a pre-heated 325°F oven.
Step 5: Allow to cool completely then, using a large serrated knife, cut into 3 x 1 inch bars.
Storage Tips
You can store granola bars in an airtight container or individually wrapped on the counter for up to two weeks or in the refrigerator for up to a month.
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Frequently Asked Questions
I get this question a lot with homemade granola bars. First of all, let the bars cool completely before you try to cut them into bars. Also, using a large serrated knife in a sawing motion (don’t press down super hard) will help you cut them without making them crumble.
This usually happens for two reasons. One, the wet and dry ingredients weren’t incorporating together thoroughly enough. Next time, mix them really, really well so that every piece of the oat mixture gets coated in the honey/oil mixture. Two, when forming the granola rectangle before baking, press everything firmly together so it sticks.
Absolutely! To freeze these chocolate chip granola bars, add them to an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 4 months. Just make sure to let them thaw for about 20 minutes before you eat them!
More Healthy Bar Recipes
These Chocolate Chip Granola Bars are delicious, healthy, cost effective and so easy to make! You’ve got to give them a try and let me know what you think by leaving a rating and comment below.
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Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 4 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup chocolate chips (You can substitute raisins or other dried fruit for the chocolate chips.)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable, canola, avocado or other oil of choice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the oat mixture and stir thoroughly to combine.
- Place granola mixture on a parchment lined baking sheet and shape into a rectangle, about 13 x 9 x 1 inch thick. Press firmly so that the granola sticks together.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes.
- Allow to cool completely, then cut into 3 x 1 inch bars.
Notes
- Storage: Individually wrapped, the bars will remain fresh for several weeks.
- To Freeze: To freeze these chocolate chip granola bars, add them to an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 4 months. Just make sure to let them thaw for about 20 minutes before you eat them!
- Don’t have whole wheat flour? No worries! You can use any flour you prefer. All purpose, a cup-for-cup gluten free flour or even almond flour will work. I use whole wheat because it has more health benefits than all purpose, but use what you have on hand.
- Don’t want chocolate chips? If you’re hesitant to give your kids chocolate chips in the morning or for snack time, you can easily substitute them with naturally sweet dried fruit like cranberries, cherries or raisins.
We made these yesterday and they are soooo good, they taste like cookies! I used a smaller baking pan and took them out of the pan to cool after they cooled in the pan. I tried to cut them after just 10 minutes of cool time in the pan and they were still pretty crumbly, but once they cooled out of the pan on the cutting board they cut much more easily and kept their shape.
I was thinking about using raisins too. Good to know that it was so dry. I’ll try to soak mine in warm water before using them. That usually prevents them from drying out too much.
Yup, 40 min too long for me too. And it stuck to paper.
Crumbled up what i could peel the paper off of and will use as topping for yogurt. Gonna try again though! Oh and my raisins were hard as a rock after baking. Will stick to chocolate.
I just made these and they are in the oven right now! Can’t wait to try them!
Absolutely delicious! Made with safflower oil instead of canola and only baked for 25 minutes and they were nice and chewy! How long do you think they will keep when wrapped in saran wrap and in a zip lock?
I am so excited to make these!!!
Just made these and followed the recipe exactly, but 40 min was way too long for me. After 30 min mine were over cooked, almost burned. Thank god I checked them! Great recipe though, these will be a staple in our house.
I greased a metal baking pan with vegetable oil and they turned out just fine.
Just wondering….could we lightly grease the pan instead of using parchment paper? Has anyone tried this?
I put the recipe into my fitness pal as well but got something different… The only difference in what I made is I added about 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds. The recipe does not make 30 bars, unless you are making teeny tiny bite sized squares 🙂 It makes about 18 if you cut them to normal granola bar size. My recipe was 200 calories per bar, It was around 180 something before I added the sunflower seeds. 27 carbs, 10 fat, 3 protein, 18 sugar, and 71 sodium. The next time I make it I will use less sugar, OH another thing I forgot I had to use sweetened shredded coconut; the store did not have unsweetened so that probably made a big difference. So the next time I make these I’ll aim for about 120 – 150 calories per bar. Still not bad since I eat more calories in the morning. YUM!
I put the ingredients into myfitnesspal.com and it says the total calories in the recipe are 4367 so if you make 30 bars that’s 146 calories each. 20 grams carbs, 7 grams fat and 2 grams protein. I was curious about the calories too. 🙂 Hope that helps!
Do you have any idea how many calories are in each bar? my husband eats zone bars for breakfast because he’s always counting calories. curious if you think these stack up to about the same per bar?
Could I use quick cooking oaks??
Made these this morning and they are devine. I did half and half cranberries and chocolate chips. Could only find sweetened coconut so I reduced the sugar any I think it could be reduced even more as they are pretty sweet. Put the mix into a parchment lined metal 13 x9 pan and baked as directed. I did wait until they were completely cool before cutting and they did just fine. Soooo yummy!
I made these subbing oat flour for whole wheat to make them gluten free. Omitted vanilla. Used 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup brown rice syrup instead of all honey. Did 1/2 cup cranberries and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Baked for exactly 30 minutes. Crispy on outside, chewy on inside. Totally awesome.
I made these last night. I used Kamut flour because I didn’t have ww flour on hand. The mix didn’t seem to stick together so what I did was I added more oil and honey(still not sure if this was the right thing to do). Raisins in place of chocolate chips. Omitted vanilla. After baking, they still didn’t seem to stick together well so I waited to see what the texture would be after cooling and they seemed to stick a little better but still falling apart. I cut them up VERY carefully into bars and refrigerated them overnight and today they were nice and crispy…which I don’t mind. I think the end result turned out good. Not sure if they were suppose to be chewy crispy but either way I enjoyed then and hope my son will to. BTW my son helped me a lot with this recipe and he enjoyed it…especially eating the raisins as they were going into the bowl 🙂