Soft and Chewy Granola Bars

How to make homemade granola bars! These granola bars are simple, soft and chewy. They are delicious as-is or can be adapted based on your favorite dried fruits, nuts or chocolate.

Watch the Video

Granola Bars Recipe Video

This Granola Bars Recipe is Flexible

We have a history with granola bars. A while back, we shared a cooking failure. The subject was granola bars. They tasted great, but fell apart. So, we sort of gave up and moved on with the thought that one day, we would be ready to give them another shot. After two years, we’ve picked up where we left off and have now figured out how to make these simple, soft and chewy granola bars. We’re in love. They taste great, are incredibly easy to make and they absolutely do not fall apart (see our tips below).

Soft and chewy granola bars

We’ve made these many times now and every time, they’ve been just a little bit different.

Here, you see whole almonds, dried cranberries and mini chocolate chips. We’ve also used dried cherries, apricots and unsweetened coconut. We’re even thinking about adding pistachios next time.

The possibilities are endless — all you need to know is the base. Oats, butter, honey and brown sugar. After that, add what you like. If you love nut butter, give these Peanut Butter Granola Bars a try!

Cutting homemade granola bars.

More recipes with oats: Try our Everyday Oatmeal Recipe, Easy Energy Balls, our favorite Overnight Oats or this Strawberry Banana Baked Oatmeal.

Tips for making the bars

Take care to press the mixture into the pan. After a few tries, we’ve found that it’s really important to press the granola mixture into the pan. We’ve actually spent about a minute pressing before — the harder and longer you press, the less chance you’ll end up with granola instead of granola bars.

Honey and brown sugar help make a glue for the bars. The honey and brown sugar really helps with keeping the bars together. Chocolate chips added to the mixture help, too. We add some to the granola mixture while it is still warm. You might notice some of the chocolate melts — this is totally okay, it acts as extra glue, holding the bars together. After that, we add more chocolate chips to the top — these don’t melt.

Chill for two hours. Finally, we like to refrigerate the granola mixture for about 2 hours. This hardens everything and makes it easy to cut the granola mixture into bars. Right out of the refrigerator the bars will be hard since they are cold. Leave them out for an hour and they will warm to room temperature and become a little softer and chewy.

The bars keep at room temperature for about 1 week. Just make sure they are tightly covered or sealed in a container.

More easy snack recipes

  • Honey Almond Granola — How to make homemade granola with rolled oats, almonds, honey, and vanilla. Save a little money and make granola at home.
  • Easy Homemade Hummus — With a few simple tricks, you really can make creamy smooth homemade hummus and yes, we really do think it’s better than store-bought.
  • The Best Homemade Peanut Butter — See how to make both creamy and crunchy peanut butter as well as an almond and chocolate variation.
  • Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing — Use this simple homemade dressing as a dip for veggies or for tossing with your favorite salads.
  • Peanut Butter Granola Bars — With a little less sugar and healthy fats, these peanut butter granola bars are one of our favorites!

Recipe updated, originally posted March 2013. Since posting this in 2013, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick recipe video. – Adam and Joanne

Homemade Granola Bars

Soft and Chewy Granola Bars

  • PREP
  • COOK
  • TOTAL

These homemade granola bars are so much better than what you can buy at the store, especially since you can substitute for your favorite dried fruit or nuts. While these are very simple to make, there is a 2-hour wait for the bars to firm up enough to cut. Feel free to add your favorite dried fruit, nuts or chocolate to these – it’s completely up to you. Since we use a 1/3 cup of honey, we like to splurge on higher quality honey.

Makes 12 bars

Watch Us Make the Recipe

You Will Need

2 ½ cups (230 grams) old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup (80 grams) whole almonds, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup (113 grams) pure honey

1/4 cup (56 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/4 cup (50 grams) packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup (60 grams) dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (65 grams) mini chocolate chips

Directions

  • Toast Oats and Nuts
  • 1Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom and sides of a 8-inch or 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

    2Add the oats and chopped almonds to a small baking sheet, and then bake for 5 minutes, stir and then bake another 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly toasted. Transfer to a large bowl.

  • Make Bars
  • 1Combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla extract and the salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until butter melts, the mixture is bubbling and the sugar completely dissolves.

    2Pour the butter mixture into the bowl with toasted oats and almonds. Mix well. Let cool about 5 minutes, and then add the cranberries and a 1/4 cup of the mini chocolate chips. Stir to combine. Some of the chocolate chips will  melt a little. This is fine, they turn into glue and help to hold the bars together.

    3Transfer the oat mixture to the prepared pan, and then use a rubber spatula or damp finger tips to firmly press the mixture into the pan. Press hard here, this way the bars will stay together once cooled and cut — We press for about one minute to be extra safe.

    4Scatter the remaining 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips over the pressed granola mixture, and then use a rubber spatula to gently press them into the top. Cover then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or freeze for about 30 minutes. Remove the block of granola mixture from pan then peel away the foil or parchment. Cut into 12 bars.

  • Storing
  • 1Store granola bars in an airtight container for up to one week. For the softest bars, keep at room temperature. For slightly harder bars, store in the fridge. Bars will keep in the freezer for up to three months when wrapped well.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

  • Reducing the sugar: We have experienced the best results when making these bars with the sugar and honey amount listed in the recipe. You can try to reduce the sugar a little, but they might be a little more crumbly. It is the honey and sugar mixture that keeps these chewy.
  • Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

Nutrition Per Serving Calories 220 / Protein 3.8g / Carbohydrate 32.9g / Dietary Fiber 3.1g / Total Sugars 19.6g / Total Fat 8.2g / Saturated Fat 3.7g / Cholesterol 10.2mg
AUTHOR:  Adam and Joanne Gallagher
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773 comments… Leave a Review
  • Lauren March 17, 2024, 7:27 am

    These are excellent granola bars! The only edit from the original receipe was that I used lightly salted almonds since that was what I had on hand. I am storing them in the fridge and after a day the texture is still good.

    Reply
    • Adam March 18, 2024, 12:35 pm

      Salted almonds we would be delicious in these. So glad you enjoyed them 🙂

      Reply
  • jeannine h January 8, 2024, 10:23 am

    These were amazing. I made some slight adaptations using my preferred nuts and raisins instead of cranberries. Delicious!

    Reply
  • Pam December 8, 2023, 5:51 pm

    Made these and is so delicious they are going to be a regular to have on hand!

    Reply
  • Ava December 7, 2023, 1:06 pm

    This was very very delicious!! I did add some tweaks to it though… maybe if i tell u you could make it EVEN BETTER!! ok. so i added lemon zest, strawberries, banannas, and blueberries!! I basically made a sauce out of the banannas and strawberries by mashing them, and then I turned it into a standwich by cutting the bar in half and spreading the sauce on it to make the sandwitch. It was very very good! I did try yours first then I decided to make it even better. Well, I hope this review was helpful, and I hop you recreate it like I did! (I also stored the sandwitch in the fridge)

    Reply
  • Gianna November 3, 2023, 10:56 am

    These were delicious and certainly not falling apart! My problem is I either packed them too tightly, had them in fridge too long (overnight), or used the wrong oats (I only had quick oats). They were soooo chewy and dense that my jaw was getting sore. I made them for my kids but I don’t know if my 4 year can handle that amount of chewing lol

    Reply
  • Heather October 3, 2023, 5:07 pm

    Can I leave out the chocolate? I’m allergic. Or is that vital to this recipe?

    Reply
    • Joanne October 5, 2023, 11:38 am

      You can leave it out!

      Reply
  • Tiffany September 27, 2023, 11:20 am

    Made these as written except left out the nuts and cranberries. They were amazing! Will definitely be making these often.

    Reply
    • Adam September 27, 2023, 3:45 pm

      Hi Tiffany, we are thrilled that you loved them 🙂

      Reply
  • Courtney August 28, 2023, 5:30 pm

    Hi! Love the flavor of the recipe and followed it exactly. Am now trying to get the bars out of the pan and they are falling apart all over the place. Any tips on keeping them together a bit better. Right now, I’m trying to get all the bits I can from each rectangle and putting them in a single sheet of wax wrap and shaping it into a tight rectangle. Then, plan to put them in the fridge and see if the bar holds when we open them individually. Thanks for a great recipe and any advice!

    Reply
    • Joanne August 28, 2023, 5:51 pm

      Hi Courtney, Have the bars been in the fridge for a few hours? They hold together much better when they are cold.

      Reply
  • Caroline August 19, 2023, 8:40 am

    I make these bars for my 2yr old granddaughter. She’s still getting used to chewing so I blitz the dry mix so less lumps or chunks. To make it vegan, I substitute honey for syrup and use plant based margarine. Add dried fruit too. She loves them, as does her mum. And as picky eater, good to know she has some goodness and roughage in her diet.

    Reply

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