One of the all-time most popular posts on this blog is the Homemade Granola Bar Recipe. But for over a year now, I’ve been avoiding grains in favor of more nutrient-dense foods. An oat-filled granola bar isn’t going to do me any favors now that I’m grain-free.
Enter: The grain-free granola bar. I took my original recipe and changed it up to reflect my current diet – less sugar, more nuts, no grains. Here you go! (And don’t worry – I’m putting the whole recipe at the bottom, in case you just want to print the recipe.)
Start with 2.5 cups of assorted nuts and seeds. I used what I had – pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), almonds, walnuts, and pecans.
Scoop out 1 cup of the nuts, and give them a rough chop.
Dump the other 1.5 cups of nuts into your food processor, and pulse until they’re chopped much, much smaller. Be careful not to pulse too much or you might end up with nut butter! We’re just aiming for a variety of sizes of nut pieces. The smaller bits help make the bars more dense and help them stick together better.
Stir to combine with the larger chunks of nuts and seeds.
Add 1 cup of dried fruit. Again, I’m just using what I had – only raisins. You can use dried cranberries, cherries, dates, pineapple, or any combination of your favorites.
Add 2 cups of shredded coconut. This is NOT the sticky sweet coconut you can buy in most grocery store baking aisles. This is only shredded and dried – pure coconut. I’ll be doing another post on this soon, so look out for that!
In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup honey, a splash of vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon. Then some more cinnamon. Cook, stirring, over medium-low heat until it starts to bubble like this. Then remove the pot from the burner.
Pour your honey mixture over your fruit and nuts, and stir to coat it all. At this stage it reminds me of wet playground sand.
Dump your fruit and nuts into a parchment-paper-lined baking dish (This one is 9×13”). Mine has curved edges, which I’ll talk about later… if you have one with straight edges, like a bar pan, that might be better. Next time I’ll be using my bar pan for sure.
I’ve also thought about using mini-muffin tins to make granola bar “bites” instead of bars.
With another sheet of parchment (just so you don’t get your hands sticky), press FIRMLY all over the granola. A lot. You really need to pack the ingredients tightly so that your bars will stick together. When you think you’ve pressed enough, keep pressing.
When you’re finally done squishing everything, it’ll look something like this. Now you have to wait. Wait at least 2-3 hours for it to cool at room temperature, or if you’re more impatient, you could put it in the fridge or freezer. (I froze mine while we ate dinner.)
When it’s cool, lift the whole shebang out of the pan and put it on a large cutting board. See what happened here because of the curved edges of my pan? My bar is thinner on the edges than in the middle… this makes the edges crumble when I cut them. Not a huge deal, but I’d prefer if that didn’t happen… so next time I’ll either try my bar pan or muffin tins.
Cut the whole thing lengthwise with a sharp knife. I find that pressing straight down with the knife works better than sawing or rocking with the knife. It gives less trauma to the granola, so the bars can stay intact!
After you cut it lengthwise, cut each rectangle horizontally into as many bars as you’d like.
And here they are! Packed full of coconut, nuts, and raisins. Nicely sweet (but not super-sweet like the other recipe), satisfying, chewy… so delicious!
Note: If you want your bars to be crunchier, cook your honey mixture a bit longer before mixing it into your fruit and nuts.
Grain-Free Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Granola Bar Recipe
You will need:
- 2.5 cups assorted nuts and seeds
- 1 cup dried fruit
- 2 cups shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- splash of vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- generous sprinkle of cinnamon
- some more cinnamon
Roughly chop 1 cup of the nuts and seeds. Place in a bowl.
Use your food processor to pulse the other 1.5 cups of nuts and seeds into a finer “chop.” Add to the bowl.
Add your fruit.
Stir in the dried coconut.
In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine oil, honey, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Cook until the mixture bubbles, then pour over the fruit/nut mixture.
Stir to combine completely.
Press your mixture into a parchment-lined pan of some sort. Press HARD.
Cool 2-3 hours, then remove from the pan and cut into bars.
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
These are so good and easy to make. My 16yr old said they are better than chocolate when she tried them. Now I know when they ask for chocolate your granola bars are what they want. Thankyou
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[...] Here are a few links to our favorites! Coconutty ones! http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/09/12/grain-free-granola-bars/ [...]
[...] Grain-free Granola Bars [...]
[...] cashew salad meatballs with crunchy sweet potato chips are some of the over 300 Paleo diet meals. People on the Paleo diet claim to have greater energy a stronger immune system clearer skin physically fit body Everyday [...]
I’m sure someone referenced this in the above message, but what are the nutrition facts. All I Need to is grams of fat, carbs, fiber and protien. Thanks!!
[...] easy-to-prepare snacks that you could include chia in are these grain free granola bars . (The recipe doesn’t call for it but I include it in the measurement of assorted nuts and [...]
Is there anything to substitute the coconut oil and shredded coconut?? I am very allergic!!
I loved these they are so delicious but like many of the others mine didn’t stick together very well… I want them to be like your bars so I can travel with them but mine are just mush… could I melt more coconut oil and add it? (I know it’s really healthy) Or should I bake them to make them a lil harder? Help Please! I didn’t see many answers to that question asked by a few people.
You probably didn’t cook your “glue” enough. They also hold together best when cold.
[...] 2. Grain-free Granola Bars (adapted from here) [...]
Made these last night because it’s about time for another semester to start, and I would like an egg-free breakfast option to change up my meals. Unfortunately in the Texas heat, these did not firm up overnight because of my coconut oil staying melted at room temp. So, I crumbled them with a fork and divided the mixture between two foil-lined baking trays and dried them in a low (250 F) oven for 50 minutes, tossing them every 10 min, turning the pans at 20 and 40 min, and halfway through, rotating the pans between the top and bottom rack to make sure they would toast evenly. I let them cool then crumbled them. Now I have a tasty grain-free cereal to mix with Greek yogurt or almond milk! Thanks!…I will try again when it’s cooler outside
[...] based my recipe off of this one, and know that you could switch out any nuts and seeds for others if you’d [...]
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Do you think sugar free pancake syrup would be ok instead of honey?
[...] of the snacks I make frequently is Gluten and Grain Free Granola Bars. I got this from the Joyful Abode. We sometimes break these up and put them in plain yogurt. Check out the video if you need a little [...]
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[...] Bars (modified from this recipe) 2.5 cups assorted nuts and seeds (I used almonds, pecans and walnuts) 1 cup dried fruit (I used [...]
I just made this, its actually cooling on the counter. However, as I was heating the honey, etc. I thought, “hmmm, how would the dry ingreedients taste just with some milk?” Well, I have to say ITS FANTASTIC!! Grain Free cereal option here!!
My batch is cooling on the counter and if they don’t stick, that is exactly what we are doing.
[...] Adapted from Joyful Abode [...]
OK So I LOVE the flavor, but mine never make BARS they fall apart even when refrigerated… Which is fine for eating at the house, but a pain for taking them to go… Any suggestions…
But they TASTE AMAZING… Like heaven… even my hubby who claims to hate all the nuts I put in there loves it!
I would like to make the bars without honey or coconut oil. What would I use to make them hold together. I’m looking for sugar-free and grain-free recipes. Thank you
Did you ever get them to stay together with out honey? I’d really like to know if you did and what you used instead.
Replace the honey with egg whites and then bake the bars instead. That’s what I would try anyways.
Thanks you so much! I’ll try that!
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Wow, I made these tonight, and they are DIVINE! I used cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, raisins and prunes (wanted to use dried cranberry but didn’t want the added sugar…). They are surprisingly sweet. I’m glad I added more cinnamon when I thought I had enough; it truly makes a difference. Thank you for this recipe
I just started the Paleo diet, and this will be great go-to snack when I’m craving something sweet. Thanks again!
Just a quick question. I really want to make these. However I cannot find the none sticky coconut. I live in Germany and the fact that I can even find some organic products at our grocery store on base is a miracle! Is there anything I can use instead of coconut? Or perhaps i dont need the coconut at all? Thanks!
We just left Germany. You should really try the German stores. They love all things organic natural and tropical.
If you have Wasgau where you are, they’re a little pricey, but carry the unsweetened coconut
These bars came out great. I upped this to 3/4 cup of coconut oil and the bars stick together perfectly!
I’ve been trying to eat grain free for the last couple of months, and I have to say that this is the first recipe I’ve tried that not only didn’t disappoint, but also far surpasses anything I could buy! I doubled it so I could put it in a jelly roll pan and I probably would have liked it just as well without doubling the honey all the way! Thank you!!
P.S. I used regular honey and they are kinda sticky … I think raw honey is the answer to that!
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Yum! Sweeter than I’d imagined they would be, but probably not surprising given the majority of my dried fruit was dates. I was hoping my 6yo would like them, but she doesn’t, so more for me! I’ve posted this recipe on FB, much to the delight of a friend of mine who’s family follows GAPS. I had no problem getting them to hold together, but I think I’ll keep them in the fridge because I like the chewier texture when they’re cold. Thanks for the recipe!
[...] I actually had two different recipes for energy bars pinned, the one from MDA and also this one from Joyful Abode. So I went back and forth between the two as I was making mine, played around a [...]
These are very delicious. Kudos to you. This was very helpful for me on my new diet. I found the last of the coconut oil on the shelf, and I decided to use peanut butter this time in its place as a lot of people did not seem to have it, and it turned out great. The coconut oil just gives it a buttery taste; I think someone mentioned using butter as well. Either way it is great. I am going to try baking it this time though, ad it is hard to mash down well.
[...] are based on the article here http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/09/12/grain-free-granola-bars/. I used only sunflower seeds, raisins, honey, coconut oil, salt, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. [...]
[...] Day 3 down of the clean eating challenge and a lot of people are asking what do you have for snacks. Try some of these grain-free granola bars. Click here [...]
[...] Grain-Free Granola Bars are a great snack to have on hand. I make these once/week and when I’m really feeling snacky, I’ll grab one and savor every bite. [...]
Is there an alternative to the coconut oil used in this recipe…I don’t have any and other than online not sure where’s I buy in the Highlands of Scotland!
Sonia,
I bet The Health Shop on Baron Taylor St in Inverness has it. You might ring them first and check (01463-233104). If not, you can always order through Amazon UK.
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[...] are based on the article here http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/09/12/grain-free-granola-bars/. I used only sunflower seeds, raisins, honey, coconut oil, salt, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. [...]
I love granola bars so much but whenever i try to make or follow a recipe, I can not get them stay and shape. I dont undersand why they dont shape. Any tips for me?
I have found that after pressing, if you score granola bars before drying/cooling, they are much easier to break apart into a nice Bar-Like shape rather than break into hunks. If that matters to you- I mean, either way they are delicious!
[...] were all slightly similar, also slightly different, and all quite good, but this one – mostly dried fruit, nuts, and seeds – was the best of the bunch. (not sure if the [...]
Hi! My kids loves these bars. but one thing is I could not get them to stay together. I ended up freezing them and they stay together until they thaw back out. any suggestions on what i should try to keep them more like a bar so my kiddos don’t have to tug a spoon along to school to eat these
thanks!
I dehydrated the bars and they became hard and crunchy. Now perfect for school snacks. I also used only seeds so they can go to school.
[...] Grain Free Granola Bars http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/09/12/grain-free-granola-bars/ [...]
Just made these granola bars and your cucumber tomato salad today! I am also a grain free (GAPS diet), baby wearing, ECing, bed-sharing, tandem nursing mama, so I definitely love your blog!
First off, congratulations on your #2!! Sending ((((sticky vibes)))) your way.
Thank you so much for the inspiring recipe!! We are just starting a primal lifestyle and our children have been a little resistant. These granola bars were incredibly well-received!! 
Four out of five people in our family also have a peanut/treenut allergy, which has proven to make altering of recipes quite challenging. This recipe was awesome and easily modified, though! I used 1c each of raw pepitas & raw sunflower seeds, plus 1/2c raw hulled sesame seeds. I do not have coconut oil in our pantry yet, so I used unsalted butter. I also cleared out all of our dried fruit, so I used a cup of 85% chopped dark chocolate…fantastic with the coconut & vanilla (and cinnamon)! I really wanted them to look cute and appealing since they weren’t colorful (other than chocolate brown), so I molded them into mini muffin tins. It was a little difficult to unmold 48 mini’s but it was sooo worth it to see 2 out of 3 kids hovering!! The leftovers are going into whole fat Greek yogurt for bfast. 
Thank you!!!!
Hi.
I really like this recipe.. Just a question. If I were to substitute sugar instead of honey, how much would I need for a not-so cloyingly sweet bar. And do I have to look for any syrup consistency before pouring the liquid on the dry nut mixture??Grateful if you could reply.
Okay I’ve been meaning to make these for a while and I finally did. They are awesome! I did do a little different in that I just melted the liquid ingredients together, mixed it all together, pressed into my pan and then I baked them at 350 for 15 minutes. They came out a little brown, though my oven does run hot. Very good!