These oat breakfast bars are vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, and easy to make. If you need a healthy inspiration for breakfast then check out this delicious recipe. These bars contain mainly oats, bananas, and dates.
Breakfast Oat Chocolate Bars
Do you sometimes think: “What could I have for breakfast today… how nice would it be to grab some healthy breakfast bars which are ready in the fridge and waiting for me to be eaten?!” Well, look no further, because these easy to make oat chocolate bars are great for breakfast. They can be stored in the fridge for about 5-7 days, so make them on a Sunday, and enjoy them during the next week.
We all want a fast but healthy breakfast and it can be boring to eat oatmeal every morning. That’s why I came up with the idea to create these healthy oat breakfast bars. They contain mainly oats and bananas but I couldn’t resist adding a delicious chocolate layer. But wait, the chocolate layer also contains only wholesome ingredients, including bananas and dates!
And I added some crumble on top because who doesn’t love crumble?! Well, I do, and I always eat the crumble first, because it’s the best, right. These oat breakfast bars are vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and easy to make.
Wholesome Ingredients
As mentioned before, the main ingredients are oats and bananas. You can use regular rolled oats or instant oats (both work well), and if you have celiac disease then definitely use gluten-free oats. If you don’t like bananas then this recipe probably isn’t for you because it contains 4 bananas.
I also added almond flour, however, if you can’t eat almonds, then you could use and ground nuts of choice. Some examples would be, ground hazelnuts, ground walnuts, etc. You can also use ground dried, shredded coconut for a nut-free version.
For the liquid sweetener, you can choose between maple syrup and rice syrup or any other liquid sweetener of choice.
The chocolate layer contains bananas, dates, peanut butter, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and that’s basically it. Pretty easy right?! If you are allergic to peanuts then you could use any other nut butter (such as coconut butter, almond butter, sunflower seed butter, cashew butter, etc.).
These Oat Breakfast Bars Are:
- Vegan (egg-free, dairy-free)
- Gluten-free
- Chocolatey
- Rich
- Soft
- Refined sugar-free
- Plant-based
- Yummy
- Easy to make
Great For Work/Uni/School
These healthy breakfast bars are perfect to take with you to work, uni or school. They are a great snack on the go or can be enjoyed as a dessert. If you are looking for another “snack on the go” recipe idea, then also check out my healthy granola bars.
Please leave a comment below if you make these chocolate breakfast bars. You can also make a photo of them and post it on Instagram (or send me a DM). Don’t forget to tag me in the caption + photo with @elavegan and use the hashtag #elavegan.
Also, check out the following vegan breakfast recipes:
- Sweet Potato Muffins
- Apple Crumble Muffins
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
- Breakfast Granola Cups
- Oven Baked Blueberry Sheet Pan Pancakes
- Gluten-Free Waffles
- Banana Oat Pancakes
How To Make Oat Breakfast Bars?
The recipe is super easy and requires only a few steps.
- First, process all ingredients for the dough in a food processor and press 3/4 of the dough into a pan.
- Next, blend the ingredients for the chocolate layer in your food processor and pour it on top of the dough.
- Finally, crumble the remaining dough on top and put the pan in the oven.
Check the recipe below for the detailed instructions.
Oat Breakfast Bars
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 cups oat flour gluten-free if needed (180 g)
- 1 cup oats (gluten-free if needed) (100 g)
- 2/3 cup almond flour (80 g) (*see notes)
- 2 medium bananas (200 g peeled)
- 3 tbsp maple syrup or any other liquid sweetener (60 g)
Chocolate layer:
- 2 medium bananas (200 g peeled)
- 200 g dates (soft)
- 1/4 cup peanut butter or any other nut/seed butter of choice (60 g)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder (45 g)
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C (355 degrees F) and line a 7x7x inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- Process all the ingredients for the dough in a food processor.
- Press 3/4 of the dough into the pan. You can use a bigger pan, however, the bars will be less thick.
- To make the chocolate layer simply process all ingredients in your food processor until the mixture is creamy.
- Pour the chocolate layer onto the dough.
- Crumble the remaining 1/4 dough on top of the chocolate layer.
- Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes and let cool completely. Then cut into bars.
- Drizzle some icing, chocolate cream or peanut butter on top (optional) and enjoy your oat breakfast bars! Store leftovers in the fridge.
Notes
- You can use any other ground nuts or seeds instead of almond flour. For a nut-free version use 1 cup (about 75 g) of ground shredded unsweetened coconut.
- Nutrition facts are for 100 g.
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Hi Ela,
I really like this recipe and would like to make it.
I have steel cuts oats at home and I am wondering if I blend them to make flour if it can substitute oat flour?
T
Hi Zdenka, I always grind old-fashioned oats in an electric coffee grinder to make oat flour. I think steel-cut oats should work too. 🙂
Thank you Ela very much!
Hi Ella,
Can I cut down the amount of dates in this recipe? Will it effect the consistency and fall apart?
Thank you.
Sueling
Hi Sueling, I think it would definitely affect the consistency of the bars. You can replace some dates with raisins (same amount in grams). 🙂
Thank you Ela
I have a new silicon bar pan that makes individual bars? Any suggestion on how to adjust baking time?
Hi Patti, it will probably cook faster, so I would reduce the baking time by 5 minutes or so. 🙂
This looks amazing! I was going to make these for a friend, but he’s allergic to bananas as well. Any ideas for substituting those?
Hi! That’s difficult to answer because I never tried a different version. Applesauce might work though! 🙂
Hi!
This looks amazing, I would like to know if the dates can be replaced?
You can use any dried fruit like figs or raisins instead. Make sure to soak in water to make them soft.
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
Yes, you can store them in the fridge for some days or freeze them! 🙂
This recipe look amazing ? I was wondering if I could us normal flour instead of almonds flour?
Hi! No, I wouldn’t recommend regular flour as it doesn’t contain fat and will make the bars tasteless and dry. If you can’t eat almonds, then you could use any ground nuts of choice. Some examples would be, ground hazelnuts, ground walnuts, etc. You can also use ground dried, shredded coconut for a nut-free version.
These look so good! What a perfect healthy breakfast meal prep!
Thank you Suzanne! 🙂
Amazing and easy recipe! Great for breakfast and snacks!
Thanks, Carol! I am glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
Can you use thawed, frozen bananas or do they need to be fresh?
I never used thawed, frozen bananas in this recipe, however, I believe the bars would end up too sticky, so I would recommend using fresh bananas.
Do these have to be kept in the freezer? I’m assuming because you used so much banana that they fall apart rather easily at room temperature. Another concern is that because the ingredient list is so clean, that they taste “healthy”. Do you know what I mean? Like “I get what this is trying to be: decadent, reminiscent of the Starbucks oat fudge bar/strudel, but it tastes TOO healthy to really hit any of those marks”.
No, they do not need to be kept in the freezer. And they do not fall apart at all. Regarding the taste, you never know how they taste until you give them a try. 😉 To me and many others they taste amazing. But if you want them to taste like Starbucks oat fudge bar… you will probably need to add lots of refined sugar and butter. 😉
Touché.
Thank you!
Hi! How long can you keep it in the fridge? Can you freeze it?
They can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 or 6 days. And yes, you can freeze them. 🙂
Do you think these could be made with sweet potatoe?
Not sure as I never tried it out.
These are surprisingly good! I drizzled melted dark chocolate over them and they look amazing too! They are a really filling breakfast or snack. Thank you for this great recipe!
Thank you, Katerina! I am so glad you loved my recipe. 🙂
Willndef give them a try! How long they last i the fridge? Thank you.
A couple of days. You can also store them for weeks in the freezer.
Tastes so good when it’s cold. And the chocolate layer is perfection!
I topped it with raw honey because I can’t find Erythritol where I live. I think it will be even better with a hard shell chocolate sauce on top. Thanks for the recipe.
I am glad you liked this recipe, George! Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Hi, Ela, Please let us know What kind of ingredients did you use on the top? Looks like some kind of nuts + icing and??? Thanks for your answers
That is the crumble and icing sugar (Erythritol) as mentioned in the recipe instructions. 🙂
Your recipe seems very interesting and healthy as well. One thing I would like to know that why is the oat mentioned twice in the list of ingredients ?
Hi Anita, one ingredient is oats (you can also use rolled oats or instant oats). The other is oat flour. The difference is that oat flour will make the dough denser. If you use only oat flour the bars might end up too dry. Hope this helps. 🙂
would it be ok to freeze them? How long would they last in the fridge?
Hi Elena, yes that should be no problem. I guess that if you put them into Ziploc bags they will last for at least a couple of weeks.
Thank you Ela for sharing such a great recipe with super healthy ingredients. Will defiantly make this bars for tomorrow’s breakfast.
Sure! I hope you will like them! 🙂
I’m making these right now and can’t wait to try! My daughter just licked the spoon from
The chocolate layer and asked when they will be ready!
Great! I hope you will like my recipe 🙂
Can I use coconut flour instead of the oat flour?
I never used coconut flour instead of oat flour. I think it could work, however, you will probably need less, since coconut flour is very absorbent.
Can I use a blender since I don’t have a food processor ?
Yes, that should work as well 🙂
I’m very excited to try these. For someone who isn’t too familiar with how much 200 g of dates is, about how many cups or individual dates is that? Thanks!
Hey, Lacey! 1 cup pitted, roughly-chopped dates is approximately 175 grams, so I would suggest you use a little bit more than 1 cup. 🙂
These bars look INSANE! As always, made with healthy ingredients but looks so decadent! The only thing stopping me from making them is that I don’t have a 7×7 inch pan hehe.
Thank you, Nisha. I am glad you like the look of my vegan breakfast bars. You can use a bigger pan and double the recipe 😀
They look so delicious Ela 😀 They would definitely motivate me to get me out of the bed in the morning 🙂
Thank you very much, Nadia. Enjoy your weekend 🙂
If oatmeal and a chocolate bar and a streusel muffin had a baby…these would still be BETTER! Ela this ingredient list is just perfect–all my favorite things. And that thick layer of chocolate is mega get-out-of-bed motivation, but also means they could double as dessert which I always love. So much YES????????
Aww, thank you, Natalie! I am glad you love the ingredient list as much as I do. That chocolate layer is mandatory 😀
Any other option instead of the banana? For us who don’t like banana 🙂 anything else I can use to substitute?
Hi Neta, I didn’t try out a banana free version yet, but I think applesauce should work just fine. Let me know if you try it out 🙂
These bars look so delicious!
This is such a great snack to take away ????
Love the ingredients ❤️
Thank you, Bianca! I hope you will give them a go soon 🙂
Ela!! I love the ingredients in the chocolate layer! And the oats in the base really do make it wonderfully nutritious and filling!! I am kind of tired now of eating pink quinoa donuts for breakfast ????, haha, so thank you for this exciting new option!! Lots of love ❤️ Dee xx
Thank you very much, Dee! Yes, you are right, oats contain so many amazing nutrients. I really love using oats in my recipes. 🙂 PS: I would love to try your pink donuts, haha ????