No-Bake Oatmeal Chip Breakfast Bars Recipe
You might think I wake up every morning and pull together a magazine-worthy breakfast spread for my family, but that would not be the case. Weekends I can make a little effort and I will gladly pull together a casserole or a frittata with a fruit salad. But on weekday mornings, we eat a lot of oatmeal, scrambled eggs and toast, yogurt and granola, smoothies, loaded toast, and pancakes (because I make the batter the night before.) But these no-bake breakfast bars have changed my life.
May I confess something? Thank you. I often eat breakfast in my car. I know. It’s awful! But I rationalize it this way — it is better to eat breakfast slowly and leisurely in my car than to swallow it without even tasting it while I am packing up my car to go teach and making Mr. Picky’s lunch and doing all the other stuff we do at 7:00 am. I usually toss oatmeal and toppings or a smoothie bowl and toppings in a glass jar with a spoon and take that to go, but these bars are much easier to eat with one hand while the other hand is on the steering wheel. 😉
My body needs protein, good fats and complex carbs to start my day. If I am missing one of these nutrients, I will be hungry soon after. These bars cover all the bases. And the best part is that they are super adaptable. I have used different grains, different dried fruit, different nuts and they always turn out delicious! I am considering making a few batches to keep in the freezer so that I always have them on the ready. I have also considered dipping these bars in dark chocolate which would then be appropriate for PMS breakfasts when only chocolate will do.
My girls really enjoy these bars and Mr. Picky does too, but only on the first day. On Day 2, he is already “over” them. And he has his name for a reason. Keep in mind, they last for a week in the fridge. Besides being great for breakfast, they make a great lunchbox treat or afternoon snack.
I know many of you pledged to eat better this year and some of you specified eating breakfast regularly as one of your resolutions. Go spend 8 minutes with your food processor and you will be all set with a nutritious meal to-go. Another confession. Why not? Sometimes I eat more than one. I’ll leave it at that.
No-Bake Oatmeal Chip Breakfast Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- Unrefined coconut oil for greasing the baking dish
- ¾ cup roasted salted peanuts or cashews (if lightly salted, add an extra pinch of salt to mixture)
- 2 Tablespoons flax seeds optional
- ½ cup pitted dates or dried figs
- 2 Tablespoons coconut butter or unrefined virgin coconut oil
- 1-2 Tablespoons unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice
- ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats look for certified gluten-free if necessary
- ½ cup cooked and cooled quinoa or brown rice
- 1 Tablespoon flour almond meal or other nut meal
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup diced dried unsulphured cherries preferably unsweetened, or raisins
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips preferably dark or semi-sweet, or sweet cacao nibs or raw cacao nibs (less sweet)
Instructions
- Grease an 8x8-inch baking dish and line it with unbleached parchment paper.
- Add the cashews, flax seeds and dates to a food processor and blend until a homogenous mixture forms, about 1-2 minutes. Add the coconut butter, almond milk, and vanilla and blend again until the mixture is smooth.
- Transfer date-nut mixture to a large mixing bowl and add in the oats, quinoa, almond meal, salt, dried cherries and chocolate chips. It will be super sticky! Use your hands to combine the mixture well.
- Press the mixture firmly into the baking dish. You can use a piece of plastic wrap to help even it out. Refrigerate, covered, for at least an hour or up to overnight. Speed up the firming process by placing pan in the freezer.
- Cut into bars and serve. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week or well-wrapped in the freezer for up to a month. These stay perfectly firm in a lunchbox for 5 hours.
Notes
23 Comments
Love these bars. If you omit the cherries, they look identical to the Trader Joes’ chocolate chip bars that we are hooked on and I’m excited to say good bye to the pre-packaged version for good!
We would like to try to make these for nut-free cooking class for kids… I’m going to try using a similar amount of raw sunflower seeds instead of the cashews. Have you tried a nut-free version? Sunbutter could also work I’m sure.
Thanks for sharing all of your amazing recipes and creating foods that are as good, or better than the SAD versions that we’ve all grown up on.
Awesome! I’ve never had the TJ’s bars, but I am all for making something better and cheaper than what you can buy in the store! I honestly can’t remember if I made these nut-free in a class, but I would have gone the sunflower butter + sunflower seed route. I am sure it will work. Please report back if you try that!
hi there- i do not like to use quick cooking oats as they are not as healthy ( processed) as regular one- can we use cooked oats? thank you
I understand. I prefer old-fashioned or steel-cut myself, but the regular rolled oats didn’t stick together as well. That’s not to say that you couldn’t make it work, but you’ll just have to give it some extra muscle to bind the mixture together.
Hi Pamela – I made this last night and this morning when I took them out of the fridge them seem a little wet and not firm as I was expecting. I am thinking it might have been that I used sprouted quinoa? Or that I made the quinoa and it was still hot when I mixed it in and when mixing seemed a little mushy? Regardless, love the taste and will give another shot. But curious if you have experienced? PS – I’m in NYC but will be in LA and hoping to take a March class. 🙂
These should definitely not be wet. I have made these many times using sprouted quinoa, so that’s not the issue. I will make a note in the recipe to specify cold or room temp quinoa, because that was definitely the issue. Also if your quinoa was wet, as opposed to dry and fluffy, that would have also contributed to too much moisture. Something I can suggest is coating the bars in finely shredded coconut or coconut flour to improve the texture. Sorry the recipe wasn’t more clear. They’ll still taste great!
Thanks so much. I think you are right! No worries, I’m a fan and they are already 1/3 gone. Hope to see you in March. 🙂
These are amazing! I think you need to add a warning – can be highly addictive.
Yeah, I probably should have put a warning on this recipe! 😉
These are delicious and perfect snack for any time of day! QQ – do you store in fridge? And how long will they last? If they don’t get eaten up!
I’ve kept them in the fridge for a week!
How many bars do you get from this recipe?
It depends on how you cut them. If you cut them into 4 x 2-inches, you’ll get 8 bars. If you cut them like I did in the images (squares), you’ll get 9.
I have a question about the quick cooking oats. Do you cook them first or put them in the recipe without cooking them?
Thanks!
You put them in the recipe dry/uncooked. 🙂
Do we have any idea on protein, fat content? Nutritional values? Looks yummy to me 🙂
Sorry, no. I don’t plug my recipes into calorie counters.
I think I would love these!! And…all made with pantry staples! I am on it!
I think you would, too!
Hi Pamela,
These look great. Do you think the recipe would work with rolled oats, if the oats were first pulsed in the food processor for a bit?
I think it would! I tried using regular rolled oats and the bars didn’t hold together quite as well. But I think you found a good solution. Let me know how they turn out!
Do you think these could work with walnuts instead of peanuts or cashews?
I don’t see why not!