10 No Bake Granola Bars

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These 10 no-bake granola bars are an easy snack idea that you can make at home using inexpensive ingredients from the grocery store.

A simple base recipe is made using rolled oats, Rice Krispies, nut butter (or nut-free Subutter), honey, butter, brown sugar and vanilla extract. Easy flavor additions are added to the base recipe so you can truly make your own favorites! Similar to our overnight oat recipes, these are high in fiber and will give you a boost of energy when you’re feeling that afternoon crash!

Why We Love These No-Bake Granola Bars

• These granola bars are cheap easy and fast. Just a few simple ingredients make a recipe full of flavor.
• These are very family-friendly. So many different flavors can be created to suit a variety of tastes.
• Homemade granola bars use better quality ingredients. They’re more affordable too! You’ll be eating healthier and saving money.
• No baking is required! Just melt the ingredients on the stove, mix them with the oats, and press it into a dish to set.
• I created these easy flavors using a simple granola bar base recipe. Different flavors can be added to small batches to create various ideas.
• We love using rolled oats! They’re inexpensive and whole grain, making them healthier than using refined flour. Try our 6 easy overnight oat flavors, 6 no-bake energy ball recipes, and our baked oatmeal breakfast cups for more oat recipes.

Recipe Ingredients

The base recipe is simple and easy. Just mix the ingredients together then add in any flavors you’d like. Here’s a quick overview of ingredients with substitutions.

• ROLLED OATS: Old-fashioned rolled oats work best for this recipe.  But if you don’t have them, plain instant oats might also work. I haven’t tried it personally so I can’t recommend them.
• RICE KRISPIES: These add a nice crunch to the recipe. I used Brown Rice Krispies. If you don’t want to use them, you can replace with chopped nuts, chopped seeds, or more rolled oats.
• HONEY: Honey is sweet an sticky. It acts like glue to help hold the granola bars together. Maple syrup should also work.
• NUT BUTTER: You can use peanut butter, almond butter or a nut-free butter like Sunbutter. This ingredient is optional but really helps the granola bars to stick together.
• BUTTER: You’ll need unsalted butter for this recipe. Don’t want to use butter? Try coconut oil, avocado oil or vegetable oil.
• SUGAR: The recipe uses brown sugar. This can be replaced with coconut sugar which has a lovely caramel flavor. Or you can also use white granulated sugar.
• VANILLA EXTRACT: 1 tsp of vanilla extract adds a hint of vanilla flavor.
• SWAPS: Swap Rice Krispies with chopped nuts or seeds. Swap honey with pure maple syrup. Swap butter with coconut oil or other cooking oil. Swap brown sugar with coconut sugar or cane sugar.
• FLAVOR: Add dried fruit, chopped nuts, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, candies, sprinkles and more to the base recipe for easy flavor variations.

How To Make No-Bake Granola Bars

Ingredients are melted in the oven or on the stove and then mixed with oats and Rice Krispies. Here’s a quick overview of how to make it with full instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

1. Melt the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and nut butter in a pot on the stove or in the microwave.
2. Mix rolled oats and Rice Krispies in a bowl. Pour the melted ingredients in and mix them together. Stir in the flavor additions.
3. Pour into a pan lined with parchment paper. Press it in tightly so the granola bars will be firm. Let it chill for 2-3 hours in the refrigerator, then slice it into bars.

No-bake granola bars can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

These granola bars freeze beautifully! I like to add them to a freezer bag, remove as much air as possible and freeze them for up to 6 months. Grab a granola bar and let it thaw before eating.

I like to add small granola squares to my daughter’s school lunches. I just pop a frozen one in her lunch box in the morning and it’s thawed by the time she eats it.

11 Granola Bar Flavors To Try

1. TROPICAL MANGO: Base recipe plus ½ cup chopped dried mango, and ½ cup shredded coconut.
2. PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE: Base recipe, ½ cup M&Ms, ¼ cup mini chocolate chips. Use peanut butter for the base recipe nut butter.
3. S’MORES: Base recipe, ¼ cup chocolate chips, ¼ cup crushed graham crackers, and ¼ cup small marshmallows.
4. CINNAMON RAISIN: Base recipe plus ¼ cup raisins, 1 tsp cinnamon, and ½ cup shredded coconut.
5. DOUBLE CHOCOLATE: Base recipe plus ¼ cup white chocolate chips, ¼ cup dark chocolate chips, and 2 Tbsp cocoa powder.
6. BLUEBERRY COCONUT: Base recipe plus ½ cup dried blueberries, ½ cup shredded coconut.
7. PRETZELS AND CHOCOLATE: Base recipe plus ¼ cup crushed pretzels, ¼ cup mini chocolate chips.
8. CEREAL MIX: Base recipe plus ¼ cup crumbled Shreddies, ¼ cup crumbled Bran Flakes, ¼ cup Cheerios. Or use any other kind of cereal you’d like! For another fun idea, try our healthy cereal bars recipe made with Cheerios.
9. BIRTHDAY CAKE: Base recipe plus ½ rainbow funfetti sprinkles.
10. TRIPLE SEED: Base recipe plus ¼ cup sunflower seeds, ¼ cup pumpkin seeds, and 1-2 Tbsp chia seeds.

GRANOLA BAR BASE RECIPE: The base recipe is used for all the flavors. It includes 2 ½ cups of rolled oats, ½ cup Rice Krispies (or chopped nuts or seeds), ½ cup nut butter or seed butter, ¼ cup honey, ¼ cup melted butter, ¼ cup brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, ¼ tsp salt.

More 6 Flavor Recipes

• 6 No-Bake Energy Balls are an easy healthy snack idea, with six flavor options!
• 6 Healthy Overnight Oats Recipes are the perfect healthy grab-and-go breakfast.
• 6 Chia Pudding Flavors are inexpensive, healthy and high in fiber.
• 6 Baked Oatmeal Breakfast Cups Flavors are another popular recipe over here!

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