Homemade granola bars are a staple at our house and these No Bake Granola Bars have been a favorite for years.
Skip the store bought granola bars and make them at home!
Homemade Granola Bars
Due to my daughter’s nut allergy, and several of us eating gluten free, homemade granola bars are a must make at our house.
Very few store bought granola bars are nut free. The ones that are nut free are often expensive for what you get.
When it comes to gluten free, there are some great gluten free granola bars available, but they are often expensive as well.
The reality is though, that I was making them long before we had food allergies.
Homemade granola bars are so easy to make and unless you can find them on sale for a great good price, they are less expensive to make at home.
And even without food allergies, it is nice to be able to control the ingredients. When you make them at home you know what goes into them.
Homemade Granola Bar Recipes
Because we make granola bars often at our house I have come up quite a few granola bar recipes over the years.
My Chex Granola Bars have been a reader favorite for years. The Peanut Butter version of Chex Granola bars are just as popular and work great with Sunbutter or Wowbutter.
If you love white chocolate my White Chocolate Berry Granola Bars are a must make!
Way back in 2013 I shared a simple gluten free nut free granola bar recipe that only uses a few ingredients. The pictures are in need of updating, but I still make them the same way.
The no bake granola bar recipe that I am sharing today is one of my favorites. It is a true granola bar recipe because it actually uses granola in the recipe.
A Granola Bar made with Granola
When I was looking to change up with our granola bars, I was also looking for something that was different than my other recipes.
When I saw a recipe for no bake chewy granola bars that used granola as part of the base, I knew they might work. It did! Using granola for part of the base gave them a great texture.
The granola in them is also a great way to use up that last little bit of either store bought or homemade granola that crumbles at the bottom of the container.
What I Changed
As usual, I did adapt them quite a bit from the original recipe.
The original recipe had pretzels in it. I don’t know about you, but pretzels in granola bars is a bit odd and I thought my family would agree with me on that one.
The other main change I made was to decrease the sugar. The original version was way too sweet. I cut the sugar almost in half and they were still plenty sweet.
Soft and Chewy
The main thing we love about these is the texture. They are a perfect chewy granola bar.
These would work great individually wrapped and then served in lunch boxes and as snacks.
Gluten Free Granola Bars
These granola bars are gluten free as long as you use gluten free granola or be sure your homemade granola is made with gluten free oats.
Need a homemade gluten free granola recipe? I have quite a few. Just be sure to use gluten free oats in all of these homemade granola recipes.
No Bake Granola Bars
Homemade granola bars made easy with these no bake granola bars.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons honey
- 3 cups granola, use gluten free granola or homemade gluten free granola for gf version
- 1 ½ cups rice crispy cereal, use gluten free brown rice ceral for gluten free version
- raisins, crasins, and/or chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- In a pan heat the butter, brown sugar, and honey. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.
- Remove from heat and stir in granola and cereal until well combined.
- Stir in raisins, crasins, or chocolate chips if adding. We also like these on their own with no additions. By changing around what I add in, I can vary these a little and make everyone in my family happy.
- Press mixture in to a 9x13 pan. Let mixture set for several hours or overnight before serving.
- Cut into bars and serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
15Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 303Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 61mgCarbohydrates: 42gFiber: 4gSugar: 19gProtein: 6g
Nutritional values are approximate and aren't always accurate.
Adapted from Rachael Ray. Originally posted September 2010. Updated February 2022.
That looks good. I’ll have to try it soon!
Great twist on your original granola bars. I personally like them chewy, so I can’t wait to try this.
These sound wonderful! But, um, can I admit that I’m intrigued at the idea of adding some salty pretzel-y goodness in there? 😉
@JessieLeigh, I know I am not a fan of the sweet/salty combo. I don’t like choc covered pretzels either. 🙂 But they would be easy to add in.
these look really good! i always am buying granola bars because when i’ve made them before they haven’t turned out. but these look like they would! i, too, think pretzels could be good in here… maybe i’ll try that out 🙂
I’ve had granola bars on my list of to dos, but it hasn’t happened because of the baking aspect – so I will definitely be making this recipe ASAP!!! Thanks!
Yum, these sound really good. I haven’t made homemade granola bars, but would like to try it.
Have you made this with the crispy granola recipe that you have that already has the rice Krispies in it?
I have not tried it but it would probably work.