Do you have some brown bananas on your counter top that you’re wondering what to do with? If you do, I have a great, easy recipe. If you don’t, you need to save a few and let them get spotty. Do it.
These banana oat bars taste just like banana bread in a bar form. And making them could not be easier. You have six simple ingredients. Mix them all together, press it into a baking dish and bake.
12 minutes later you have chewy, moist bars that are great for breakfast, snacking, or even dessert.
These bars are vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, and have no added sugar. You won’t believe that all the sweetness comes from the bananas and dates. They are perfectly sweet without any added sugar or sweeteners.
I made these on a whim because I had some spotty bananas I wanted to use, but we love them so much they’ve already been elevated to regular recipe status. I love how having to take wheat out of my diet is forcing me to branch out in the kitchen. There’s been some delicious results.
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Banana oat bars {vegan, gluten-free, nut-free}
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 9 bars 1x
Description
These bars are vegan, nut free and GF! Great for a healthy snack!
Ingredients
- 1 cup dates, finely chopped
- 3 (very ripe) bananas, mashed
- 1 1/2 cups brown crispy rice cereal
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (get certified GF to keep it GF)
- 1/2 cup oat flour (if you don’t have oat flour, just blend some oats in your blender until it is a fine flour)
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil, or baking oil of choice
- Optional add-ins*: raisins, chocolate chips, walnuts
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8×8 or 9×9 square baking dish with parchment paper. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Transfer the mixture into a baking dish and using the back of a wooden spoon or a spatula, press the mixture down well. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until the top is just starting to get golden brown. Allow to cool before slicing into 9 squares. These can also be cut into granola bar shapes if you prefer. I like these best stored in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Notes
*I didn’t try any of these add-ins, but I think they’d be delicious.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 183
- Sugar: 16.5g
- Sodium: 1.3mg
- Fat: 4.5g
- Carbohydrates: 35.6g
- Protein: 2.6g
Keywords: healthy snack
Looks super yum 🙂
Can we replace the crispy rice cereal? Any suggestions?
I know it’s 3 years later, but you could try the puffed rice ( murmura) or crushed pop corns.
I made this recipe with blueberries instead of dates, and it turned out great!
Thanks for this. Very nice to find a healthy bar recipe that doesn’t call for nuts.
These are so good that I’m going to try a savory version with veggies for a quick, light lunch.
Thanks again!
★★★★★
So happy to hear this! Love the idea of trying a savory variation. Please let me know how it turns out!
Hi what dates did u add¿¿ is it fresh dried or candied ¿¿ thanks…
I used dried, pitted dates.