Try these quick, easy, soft-baked banana oatmeal bars to enjoy a delicious snack, breakfast, or even a healthy treat!
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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 that you mix together, press 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 when I was nursing Luke and he had multiple protein intolerances and I had some spotty bananas I wanted to use. We loved them so much they were quickly elevated to regular recipe status. Being forced to take the wheat out of my diet at that time forced me to branch out in the kitchen and there were some delicious results!
Everyone in my family loves vegan banana bread, and I like to bake some whenever I have some overripe bananas. However, sometimes I want to make something with the natural sweetness of bananas and dates and no added sugar, the chewiness of oats, and the crunchiness of rice cereal. That’s when I go for these healthy banana oatmeal bars using all wholesome ingredients.
Whether you’re looking for quick breakfast granola bars, a post-workout snack, or a healthy snack with no added sugar, these banana oatmeal bars are a great option.
Recipe Ingredients for Banana Oatmeal Bars
This healthy breakfast bars recipe is a quick mix-and-bake recipe with all simple ingredients. Here’s a list of everything you need:
Dates
As we’re not adding sugar to this recipe, we will add 1 cup of finely chopped dates to give it natural sweetness. Although dates are a high-calorie ingredient, they offer ample nutrition. They are rich in fiber, magnesium, potassium, iron, and Vitamin B6.
The high fiber content in dates is beneficial for relieving constipation and keeping sugar levels from spiking. Dates also have antioxidants, like flavonoids, carotenoids, and phenolic acid, that reduce inflammation and prevent certain cancers and Alzheimer’s disease. These antioxidants are also excellent for heart and brain health and lower the risk of heart disease.
With so many benefits, this tiny little fruit has a lot to offer!
Bananas
To add a bit more sweetness to the banana oat bars, we will add 3 spotty bananas. I say spotty because we want them to be overripe so you can easily mash them and have maximum sweetness. And to get the perfect mashed bananas, use a potato masher to get them all creamy.
Bananas are rich in potassium and vitamin C, with dietary antioxidants that reduce the risk of heart disease and degenerative illnesses. The fiber in bananas is helpful for weight loss as it makes you feel fuller all day and fiber is important for controlling blood sugar.
Brown Crispy Rice Cereal
For a nice and chewy texture of the banana oatmeal snack bars, we will add 1½ cups of brown crispy rice cereal. It is a unsweetened gluten-free cereal that adds a unique crunch to the banana oatmeal bars.
Oats
We want these healthy bars to be soft and chewy; therefore, a cup of oats is a great way. I have used both old-fashioned oats and quick oats for these snack bars. Both work well so use whatever you have on hand.
Oat Flour
We will add ½ cup of oat flour to the mixture as a healthy alternative to all-purpose flour. Besides, oat flour is the best way to give banana oatmeal bars a chewy and not crumbly texture. If you don’t have oat flour on hand, simply add 1/2 cup rolled oats to your blender and blend until you have flour.
Avocado Oil
We also need 2 tablespoons of avocado oil. It contains healthy fats, high in oleic acid and vitamin E. You can also use melted coconut oil as an alternative. Adding fat to this recipe makes it more balanced.
Banana Oatmeal Bars Recipe Instructions
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2
Line an 8×8 square baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
Step 3
Start by mashing your banana in a large bowl. Then add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and mix well.
Step 4
Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and press the mixture down well with the back of a wooden spoon or a spatula.
Step 5
Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes or until the top gets golden brown.
Step 6
Allow cooling before slicing into 9 squares. These can also be cut into granola bar shapes if you prefer. Enjoy!
Tips and Tricks
Here are some tried and tested tips and tricks to make these banana oatmeal bars even more tasty and flavorful.
- Add some raisins, walnuts, or white, milk, and dark chocolate chips to the mixture and make these oatmeal bars a kids’ favorite.
- While the dates and bananas do an excellent job holding the oatmeal bars together, you can add some creamy peanut butter to make delicious peanut butter banana oatmeal bars. If you prefer to add more crunch, use crunchy peanut butter.
- If you’re not a fan of natural peanut butter, use almond butter or cashew butter instead.
- Store the baked oatmeal bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 – 4 days.
If you like this recipe, try my chocolate baked oats, high-protein overnight oats, and gluten-free peanut butter blossoms.
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Banana oat bars {vegan, gluten-free, nut-free}
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 9 bars 1x
- Diet: Vegan
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
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil, or baking oil of choice
- Optional add-ins*: raisins, chocolate chips, walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8×8 square baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
- 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.
- If you don’t have oat flour, just blend some oats in your blender until it is a fine flour.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 211
- Sugar: 16 grams
- Sodium: 1.3mg
- Fat: 3.9 grams
- Carbohydrates: 35 grams
- Fiber: 4 grams
- Protein: 3.3 grams
I made this a few weeks ago and it quickly became a hit with my family. Lovely as a breakfast slice with yoghurt! And it uses up my old bananas!!!!
Yay! So glad to hear it, Lyn. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe my 1 year old daughter loved it, i want to ask how many days i can store it in the refrigerator?
They will last about a week in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Great! Thanks
I saw the bananas as I was scrolling through the Internet and got idea! I went to the pantry and cleaned out all the leftovers from the holidays, I know it’s April, but I came up with a handful of three different nuts, a quarter bag of choc chips, some raisins, dates and dried cranberries sooooooo, I threw it all together with your recipe. I didn’t have the cereal, but it is delicious!!!!! This is now my base recipe for oatmeal bars 🙂 thank you!
What did you use in place of the cereal?
Fantastic recipe. It’s an addictive bar
If I can’t find dates, what would you use to sub it out? I usually use honey. Thoughts?
I would use chopped raisins in place of the dates if you can’t find dates.
MMMM….. Couldn’t wait for them to cool – so yummy warm! I didn’t have rice cereal so I just added more oats and it worked! I also put in 1/2 scoop of my chocolate brown rice protein powder. Added chocolate chips in half of the pan for my boys so they can take them to their wrestling meet tonight. Thanks for the great recipe!
You’re welcome!
Could you just add more oats if you don’t have the crisp rice cereal?
The texture won’t be quite the same, but yes, I think that would work.
is the brown crispy rice cereal like rice crispy cereal?
Yes, except it’s made from brown rice instead of refined white rice. You can find it in the natural cereals section of most grocery stores. 🙂
These were great! A lot of the satisfaction of eating a slice of banana bread but half the fuss (okay, maybe chopping those dates was a little fussy). I added a handful of walnuts and a good sprinkling of cinnamon to the batter, yum.
I love the additions you made! Glad you enjoyed these. 🙂
This recipe is not GF even if there is a certified GF mark on the oats. Fact is that oats are part of a group of grains that contain gluten. Saying it’s GF won’t help for it won’t work for a true coeliac. It will cause one to become severely ill and might end up in hospital.
In case of allergies you can’t be too cautious about it. For instance when i eat just a fraction of a hazelnut, a walnut or almond i end up with a blocked throat that causes me to be unable to breath and get rushed to the ER for admittance at an ICU unit for several days.
My best friend has coeliacs and just a crumb of gluten or eating from a plate that has been washed thoroughly still makes her so ill she ends up in hospital with severe pain and dehydrated for she’s just having diarhea and vomits constantly.
So what i’m trying to say is that oats are NEVER GF and you should be VERY VERY cautious about what you have in your recipes before posting it online saying it’s GF or otherwise free of allergens.
I don’t understand how something can be labeled certified GF and still have gluten. Don’t they test it for gluten in order for it to be certified gluten-free? I suppose if someone has celiac disease they know what they can and cannot eat and if they know that oats will make them sick, they won’t eat them even if a blogger has mistakenly labeled a recipe gluten-free. I certainly don’t want to be irresponsible in my labeling of recipes, yet I will need to find a more definite answer before I say a recipe like this isn’t gluten-free. Everything I have read says if the oats are certified gluten-free, they are just what they say they are. If you have a reputable source that says otherwise, I would love to read more about it. Thanks!
Oats *are* gluten-free naturally. They are typically grown near to and processed with gluten containing grains such as wheat or barley. As a result, they are hugely cross-contaminated.
GF oats, on the other hand, are grown away from gluten grains and processed in dedicated GF facilities.
Here is more info on this matter: http://www.cureceliacdisease.org/archives/faq/do-oats-contain-gluten
I am not only celiac, I also have a severe wheat allergy. I’m able to eat GF oats without issue. So rest assured – using GF oats is not only safe, it makes for some yummy food. Raisin oatmeal cookies anyone? 😉
Thank you, Cherie! This is how I understood it. Thanks for clarifying. 🙂
I agree with you, my wife is highly allergic to gluten, & I have been making food for her with certified GF oats for over a year now, NEVER has she had an issue!
Oh! That’s quite a difference; thanks so much for clarifying. 🙂 These are on my long “to-make” list today so I appreciate the quick response; I probably would’ve screwed them up just using a measly 1 cup. I’m psyched to try these out!
PS Just tripped over your blog, and I already love it. The posts that include parenting anectdotes are my favorite, esp. the ones that involve making treats for the little sweet tooth sweetie you have on your hands. 🙂
Maryea,
Do you have an approximation of the volume of bananas? I’m guesstimating 3 bananans would yield 1 cup; would you say that’s accurate?
It was actually a generous 1.5 cups.
These turned out super delicious. I just tried a bite after they cooled and im going to have to go back downstairs for another larger piece. I used coconut oil which added a nice hint of flavor. Looking forward to taking them to play group tomorrow.
They are definitely addicting! Thanks for coming back to let me know what you thought. 🙂
Wow, these look great for such a simple recipe. Awesome!
I have been following your blog since September 2010. I love your recipes. I am truly excited to make these bars. I have a two month old baby girl who is sensitive to proteins like dairy, gluten, nuts, and eggs. I have been having a hard time finding foods to make that don’t have those ingredients in them. Thanks for posting this recipe!
Thanks, Robyn! You’ll notice all of my recipes lately don’t have dairy, gluten, or nuts. My little guy (7 months) is also sensitive. We’ve been lucky that he can handle eggs.
I love the simplicity of this recipe! Vera’s third birthday is coming up soon and this will be a perfect treat for her to bring along to day-care.
Ooh–that’s a great idea. I may have to do the same thing for Meghan’s preschool for her birthday in September.
These would be such a good morning snack!
I love how having to take wheat out of your diet is forcing you to branch out in the kitchen too!
You read my mind, Yes I do have about ten brown bananas o my countertop! This looks perfect 😀
I tend to get a little lazy with my bananas and they sit around brown- Drives the husband crazy! …..Maybe I’ll appease him and use them up with this yummy recipe! Looks like a perfect snack for the busyness that is about to come into my life! 🙂