This super simple gluten free vegan fruit and nut bars with granola recipe is packed full of fruit, nuts and filled to the brim with vitamins and nutrients. Skip the store bought granola bars and make your own at home.
I’ve had granola and granola bars on the mind lately.
When we were in Croatia I became obsessed with granola. We bought a bag of fruit granola in the local grocery store and I simply couldn’t get enough of the crunchy texture and would find myself slowly gravitating towards the bag of granola all day long until it was simply gone.
I pretty much almost (key word, almost) cried when I found out that D has finished the rest of the granola without warning me and therefore I was not mentally prepared to dip my hand into an empty bag.
Heartbreak.
So when I got home and was catching up with one of my closest friends and she happened to mention that we should make granola bars I jumped at the chance.
Yes please. Got to love friend time, which happened to be combined with a bit of cooking and a whole lot of white wine sipping.
Oh the things I have missed while D and I have been traveling.
And so the two of us set out to make our very own set of home made gluten free vegan fruit and nut bars with granola. Though I’ve made gluten free and vegan raw larabars before this was indeed my first baked granola bar experience.
While the mix at first resembled bird food (thanks to the steel cut oats I figure) the finished product was just perfect. Crunchy, healthy, yet just with the slightest hint of sweetness.
Just what I was looking for, healthy gluten free vegan fruit and nut bars with granola.
With lots of nuts, dried fruit, chia seeds, and gluten free steel cut oats (which I hear are infinitely better than regular cut oats), these vegan fruit and nut bars are packed full of vitamins and nutrients.
Now that’s a winner if you ask me. A powerhouse of healthy ingredients is all you’re going to find in these vegan fruit and nut bars.
Seriously, skip the store bought bars which are loaded with sugar and all sorts of scary 26 letter ingredients, and make your own gluten-free vegan fruit and nut bars at home.
If you grab a friend and a bottle of wine, it’s sure to make for a great afternoon! Trust me on that!
Let me know what you think of these vegan fruit and nuts bars if you try them, in the comments below. These are great as a snack or for breakfast on the go.
These super simple vegan fruit and nut bars are packed full of fruit, nuts and full of vitamins and nutrients. Skip the store bought granola bars and make your own at home.
- 2 cups gluten-free steel cut oats
- 3/4 cup walnuts chopped
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup golden raisins
- 1 cup figs chopped
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- pinch nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/3 cup almond butter
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons agave
- 1/4 cup honey use agave for vegan version
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a deep baking pan with parchment paper (making sure it goes up the sides of the pan).
-
In the baking pan combine the oats, walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Mix until evenly combined and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
-
In a separate bowl combine almond butter, vanilla extract, agave, honey (if using) and coconut oil.
-
Pour the baked oats mix into a separate large bowl and add the cranberries, raisins, figs, nutmeg and cinnamon. Toss until evenly combined. Add the mixed up wet ingredients and stir to combine until smooth.
-
Pour the mixture back in the pan and bake for 30-40 minutes until they are brown around the edges.
-
Make sure to cool the mix completely before cutting them into bars. Use a serrated knife to cut them into bars or square. Store bars wrapped up in plastic wrap.
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Millie says
Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing at Simple Lives Thursday.
Vicky says
Thanks so much! So much better than the store bought ones!
Kara @ Home With Purpose says
These look delicious! Thanks for sharing at Simple Lives Thursday!
Stephanie says
Vicky, these bars look amazing and the fact that they are so healthy makes them sound even better! I can’t wait to try this recipe and quite a few others that I’ve came across here. Thanks for sharing, my taste buds are looking forward to trying these!
Vicky says
Thanks so much! I hope you like these : ))
Becky says
They’re in the oven now. First time ever. Left almond butter on the checkout at Sainsburys (oops), only had peanut butter in the cupboard. Fingers crossed 🙂
Vicky says
Yay! Hope you liked how they turned out! I am sure peanut butter works just fine!
Estee says
35 minutes at 350 degrees was way too long & burned everything! All those lovely ingredients… Im so sad! 🙁 They didn’t hold together AT ALL either. Totally crumbly.
Vicky says
Oh nooo I am so sorry to hear that! I will have to readjust the cooking time – perhaps I have a cooler oven or I may have cooked it on a higher shelf than you did. I will have to test the recipe again.
alex says
I just made this and it didn’t stick together at all : (
I only had about half the vanilla essence and I’m an extremely novice cook but I don’t think that would have been why? I used naked oats. Are they the same as steel cut oats? I’m living in Germany so it can be difficult getting what seem to be the correct ingredients. I also used “mandel creme’ which isn’t exactly pure almond butter but sits on the shelf next to peanut butter. I think because I used this perhaps it didn’t; stick together? I’ve used it with other muesli bars and it works a treat!
I would appreciate your input into why you think I may have went wrong.
Vicky says
Hi Alex. So sorry to hear these bars did not stick together at all! Naked oats are not the same as steel cut so that might have been the cause of the issue. I have never cooked with steel cut oats before so am not sure about them. I also have never used mandel creme before so am not sure if it is as sticky as almond butter. Did you add the honey/agave and coconut oil? Did you wait to cool the baked tray completely before cutting into bars? This is what allowed the bars to hold up well together when I made them — baking them and making sure to let them cool first. If your oven is a bit cooler they may have needed to be cooked longer?
Amy says
This looks delicious!
Shery says
I did not see a pan size, but they look the correct thickness to your picture. I added 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut to this batch. I ‘ll let you know when they cool how that affected the recipe.
Vicky says
Love the idea of adding unsweetened coconut too!