If you are looking for a nut-free granola bar recipe, this one is chewy with a little crunch and super easy to make!
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I’m extremely grateful that my children don’t have tree nut or peanut allergies. I can only imagine the stress a mother must feel on a daily basis knowing that accidental exposure to other children’s food could cause her child harm. My son Luke goes to a nut-free school, and even though nuts are normally a big part of his diet, I’m happy to find nut-free options for his lunch and school snacks. 
I created this nut-free granola bar recipe so I’d have another option to send with Luke’s lunch. I know a lot of you need more nut-free snack and lunch box options, too, based on your feed back from my 2 Weeks of Healthy School Lunches post. 
This recipe could not be easier. It has just five simple ingredients go into the base, plus the chocolate chips for the top. Because chocolate makes everything better. 🙂 It’s a nut-free granola bar recipe based on my ever-popular 4-ingredient Peanut Butter Granola Bars. Whenever I make those the kids ask when I’m going to make more “candy bars” so I knew it was a good starting point.
Old-fashioned oats + honey + sunflower seed butter + vanilla extract + sunflower seeds
Mix!
Press into the pan and bake.
The best part…drizzle with chocolate!
Allow to set in the refrigerator and slice into bars.
Get excited!
You can spread or drizzle the melted chocolate, or if you prefer, just add the chocolate chips into the base mix. I do that when I’m short on time.
These were given thumbs up by both kids. Luke likes sunflower seed butter, but Meghan generally does not. I was happy that she loved these anyway!
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Nut-free Granola Bar Recipe
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 10 1x
Description
These nut-free granola bars are chewy with a slight crunch from the sunflower seeds. They are easy to make with just six total ingredients.
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Put the oats, sunflower seed butter, honey, sunflower seeds, and vanilla into a large bowl and mix well.
- Line an 8X8 inch baking dish with parchment paper. Transfer the mixture to the dish and use your hands to spread it out to the edges. Take another sheet of parchment paper and lay it on top of the mixture. Press it firmly down. Use something heavy to do this. I use a large can of tomatoes. Don’t skip this part! When making homemade granola bars, I’ve found this step to be crucial for them to hold together well and have the best texture.
- Pull the parchment paper off of the top and bake the in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Don’t throw the parchment paper away-you will need it again!
- When the bars are finished baking, pull them out of the oven and put the parchment paper back on top of them. Once again, press them down firmly into the dish. I use the big ol’ can of tomatoes again to do this.
- Allow them to cool for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt your chocolate chips.
- Spread or drizzle the chocolate over the bars evenly using a rubber spatula. (You may just add the chocolate chips to the mixture before baking if you prefer.)
- Put them in the fridge to cool completely, at least 30 minutes.
- Pull the mixture out of the pan with the parchment paper and use a sharp knife to cut them into 10 bars.
- *Note: The cooking time stated at the beginning of this recipes includes the chilling time.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Category: snack
Nutrition
- Calories: 338
- Sugar: 22.3g
- Sodium: 50mg
- Fat: 18g
- Carbohydrates: 38.4g
- Protein: 8.6g
can I use steel cut oats
Hi, I am thinking of using this recipe for a school project. I need to know the nutritional facts per serving, so how many grams is one serving?
Is the Calorie count per serving?
Yes, it is. 🙂
Is there a way that I can leave out the honey? Ty!
If you don’t use the honey, you’ll need another sticky sweetener. You can try maple syrup or brown rice syrup.
Do you store these in the fridge or left out on the counter?
Either way works!
Can I use regular butter instead of sunflower butter?
I don’t think regular butter would be that great here, but I’d try peanut butter or almond butter if nuts work for you.
Could I leave out the sunflower seeds ?
I wouldn’t leave them out completely or the texture won’t be the same. You can sub for another seed or even a nut if you aren’t allergic. If you don’t want any nuts or seeds in there, try to add more oats in place of the sunflower seeds in the recipe.