Baked chocolate chip granola bars with rice bubbles, brown sugar and rolled oats. A kid-friendly snack that’s perfect for lunch boxes.
Granola bars (also known as muesli bars) are always on high rotation in our house.
They’re quick, easy and great for school lunch boxes.
Plus lets not forget the endless varieties…. fruit and nut muesli bars, nut-free bars, almond cranberry & choc bars – and so many more!
What You Need
- coconut oil – this gives the granola bars a beautiful crunch when baked and cooked.
- brown sugar – love the chewy caramel of a muesli bar? That’s why we use brown sugar!
- honey – the sweet sticky honey is a great natural sweetener and also helps to hold the granola bars together.
- vanilla extract
- pinch of salt – this balances out the sweetness.
- oats – you can use either quick oats or rolled oats in this recipe. Quick oats bind together more firmly and make the granola bars easier to cut.
- rice bubbles – or any brand of puffed rice.
- chocolate chips – you can use white, milk or dark chocolate chips.
Egg-Free Granola Bars
This recipe is completely egg-free making it the perfect recipe for those with egg allergies.
Dairy-free option: you can also make these chocolate chip granola bars entirely dairy-free by using dairy-free chocolate chips or substituting with nuts, dried fruit or seeds.
How To Cut Granola Bars
There’s nothing worse than spending time making a batch of granola bars, only to have them crumble and break when you go to cut them.
While there’s no way to stop the crumbling entirely (that’s just the texture of muesli bars), there’s a few simple tricks to cutting them into nice neat slices.
- use quick oats – quick oats bind together easier than rolled oats which means they create a firmer, dense muesli bar
- make sure the mixture is well combined – the coconut oil and honey need to have coated all of the oat mixture before baking. If there’s any mixture that isn’t coated in the liquid, it will go dry and crumbly when baked.
- press the mixture firmly into the baking tin – really, really firmly! Use the back of a round spoon to flatten, press and smooth the mixture
- allow the bars to cool completely before cutting – if time allows, place the tray into the fridge overnight and then cut the following day.
- use a sharp knife – your knife needs to be super sharp to be able to cut through the slice. I like to use a small, sharp serrated knife for cutting granola bars.
Recipe Tips & FAQ
Where should I store these granola bars?
I recommend storing them in an airtight container in the fridge. This helps to keep the bars crunchy.
How long will these last?
You can store these chocolate chip granola bars in the fridge for up to 1 week.
My bars have just come out of the oven and they’re soft… not crunchy. Help!
The granola bars will stay soft while warm. Once they’ve completely cooled and been chilled in the fridge, they’ll go firm and crunchy.
Can the baked granola bars be frozen?
Absolutely! Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Note: they will soften as they defrost.
What are some yummy variations?
You can replace the chocolate chips with dried fruit such as sultanas, cranberries, apricot etc or add in some nuts or seeds.
More Lunch Box Recipes
There’s no doubting that granola bars are the ultimate lunch box snack… but if you’re after some more kid-friendly recipes, then browse my collection of lunch box recipes here.
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Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (50g) coconut oil
- 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (85g) honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- 2 cups (180g) quick oats or rolled oats – see notes
- 1 1/2 cups (35g) rice bubbles or any puffed rice cereal
- 1 cup (175g) chocolate chips
Instructions
Conventional Method
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees (fan-forced).
- Grease and line a 20X30cm rectangular slice tin and set aside.
- Place the coconut oil, brown sugar, honey, vanilla extract and salt into a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until melted and slightly thickened (alternatively, you can heat this mixture in the microwave).
- Add the quick oats and rice bubbles and stir through.
- Allow the mixture to cool then stir through 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips.
- Press the mixture firmly into the prepared tin.
- Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over the top and press down.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until lightly golden.
- Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely (the granola bars will go crunchy once cooled).
- Cut into slices and store in an airtight container in the fridge (see notes).
Thermomix Method
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees (fan-forced). Grease and line a 20X30cm rectangular slice tin and set aside.
- Place the coconut oil, brown sugar, honey, vanilla extract and salt into the TM bowl and mix on Speed 3, 90 degrees, 4 minutes.
- Add the quick oats and rice bubbles and mix on Reverse, Speed 2 (using the spatula to assist), until combined. Allow the mixture to cool then stir through 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips.
- Press the mixture firmly into the prepared tin. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over the top and press down.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until lightly golden.
- Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely (the granola bars will go crunchy once cooled).
- Cut into slices and store in an airtight container in the fridge (see notes).
Notes
- coconut oil – this gives the granola bars a beautiful crunch when baked and cooked.
- brown sugar – love the chewy caramel of a muesli bar? That’s why we use brown sugar!
- honey – the sweet sticky honey is a great natural sweetener and also helps to hold the granola bars together.
- pinch of salt – this balances out the sweetness.
- oats – you can use either quick oats or rolled oats in this recipe. Quick oats bind together more firmly and make the granola bars easier to cut.
- rice bubbles – or any brand of puffed rice.
- chocolate chips – you can use white, milk or dark chocolate chips.
Could you sub honey for golden syrup?
I’m not a huge honey fan and love the depth of golden syrup.. would you do a straight swap or reduce the amount of golden syrup?
Can’t wait to try!
Hmmmm I personally haven’t done this before in this recipe! I’d try slightly less and see what the mixture texture is like. It might end up being a straight swap!
Is this 327cal per slice or for the entire slice? Thank you
Hi Sue, it’s for one very large slice
Hi, just wondering do you have a No Bake recipe of this or something similar for fussy kids?
Hmmm no I don’t have a no-bake version sorry!!! xx
Could you sub brown sugar for coconut sugar ?
Hi Sonia, I’m yet to try this so wouldn’t be able to recommend it! But I’d love to hear how it goes if you do!
I did and they came out perfect there so yummy! I’m making another batch now
I also used Brown rice puffs instead of rice bubbles and sugar free choc chips.
Yippeeee!!!!
I made this today. The bottom stuck to the baking paper, so didn’t slice nicely. It seemed to be baked through. The bits I got off without breaking tasted amazing,
Hi Patria, sometimes the chocolate chips can be a little sticky! If you leave it for a few hours before removing the baking paper, that helps a lot!