Thick and Chewy Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

When it comes to easy breakfast ideas, it’s always a huge help to have a wholesome option ready to go for those super busy weekday mornings. These Thick and Chewy Oatmeal Breakfast Bars hit all the marks. They’re exactly like a chewy granola bar recipe with infinitely adaptable ingredients, delicious flavor, and that excellent texture we all love in a baked oatmeal bars.

Over the years, I’ve made probably 4 different granola bar recipes.

But I just haven’t been able to get behind any of them. You know, to love them enough to share them here on the site.

So today, my friends, I bring you a special treat: the one and only granola bar recipe you’ll ever need. Like, for the rest of your life. That is, if you’re “into” chewy granola bars.

And to be honest, the ingredient lists for this breakfast bar recipe and the previous crunchy breakfast bar recipes I’ve made aren’t so different. However, they are vastly different from any box of store-bought granola bars since they don’t contain preservatives.

Ingredients for Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

Here’s the basic grocery list for these baked oatmeal bars. Be sure to keep scrolling down to the recipe card for the full printable Ingredients list!

• Oats – Quick-cooking and old fashioned oats both work here.
• Granulated sugar – Optional! See the “FAQ” section below for more information
• Oat flour (or ⅓ cup oats, processed until finely ground in a food processor or blender)
• Ground flax seed (optional)
• Table salt
• Ground cinnamon
• Dried fruits, nuts, chocolate, coconut, seeds, etc. – See the “Add-ins” section below for more information!
• Peanut butter or another nut butter
• Pure vanilla extract
• Unsalted butter, melted
• Honey or maple syrup
• Corn syrup – Use light corn syrup or Lyle’s Golden Corn Syrup

Homemade Granola Breakfast Bar Add-ins

These breakfast bars have more wholesome ingredients than many of the store-bought granola bars you can buy.

Just like any homemade granola bar recipe, what you add in is completely up to you and the possibilities are endless!

We always have sweetened shredded coconut, some type of dried fruit – I usually use dates – and chocolate chips in one form or another in the pantry. So that’s what we tossed into our bars.

I also added some ground flax for a boost of omega fats and soluble fiber and some peanut butter for a bit of extra flavor.

Nut Free Breakfast Bars

For those with nut allergies, this bar recipe is such a great nut-free option! Depending on your needs for food allergies, you can make the recipe exactly as you need it to be. 

If you’re baking for someone with a tree nut allergy and/or a peanut allergy, simply skip the tree nuts and/or peanuts. 

Since you’re making these nut-free granola bars at home and not relying on an ingredient list on a package, you completely control the ingredients you add!

Added Sugar Free Breakfast Bars

I should also add here that while the recipe calls for up to ¾ cup of granulated sugar, I didn’t add any sugar at all.

Well, actually, I forgot to add the sugar. Oops!

But since my add-ins were sweet on their own, I felt the additional white sugar would have ruined these bars.

I’m keeping it in the recipe as it was written but please, read the note included and judge accordingly when you make them. 

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