You only need healthy real food ingredients to make these 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Banana Bars!
They are gluten free, dairy free, no added sugars, and perfect for quick & easy breakfasts, school lunches, or a healthy snack.
This 3 ingredient peanut butter banana bars recipe is so quick and easy and they are a favorite with all 4 of my kids, even my daughter who claims to hate bananas.
One of my pet peeves is recipes that claim to be 2 or 3 ingredients, but include store bought mixes which mean they really include more like 20 ingredients. I’ve had so much fun experimenting with this recipe that literally includes 3 healthy ingredients – oats, bananas, and peanut butter. No added sugar, oil, or processed ingredients! And, they are gluten free (just make sure you use gluten free oats), sugar free, and dairy free. You can even leave out the peanut butter to make them nut free.
As simple as the ingredients are, making these bars is even simpler. Just mash ripe bananas (the riper they are, the sweeter your bars will be), add oats and natural peanut butter, and mix. You can even just throw it all in a mixer.
I love to double or triple the recipe and freeze the leftovers. Then I can pull them directly out of the freezer to put in school lunches. I can also let them thaw in the refrigerator overnight for breakfast or snacks the next day.
I’ve even used variations of this same recipe to make peanut butter banana cookies and Coconut Banana Breakfast Cookies. Don’t you just love a healthy and versatile kid-friendly recipe?!
I hope your super healthy kids love these as much as mine do!
– Tiffany is a wife, mom of 4, foodie, dark chocolate lover, creator and host of the Feel Great in 8 Challenge, and blogger at www.feelgreatin8.com. She loves experimenting in the kitchen and creating healthy real food recipes.
Can’t wait to try this! We don’t keep “junk food” in our house, but I have a hard time coming up with snacks for the kids besides plain fruit. I’m sure they will love these! Thanks for the recipe.
That’s awesome Nicole! Hope your kids love them!
Are these meant to crisp up a little? They’ve been baking for 30mins and still soft?
This looks delicious. I am always looking for healthy dessert recipes for my family. I am looking forward to trying this one. Thanks for sharing!
No problem at all Jenay! Hope you all love them!
Making this now :). I love your recipes and make them for my 2 1/2 yr old daughter & hubby & I frequently! Where is the nutritional info for each recipe? Thanks so much :).
These look so yummy! Thank you! Can you recommend a variation for one of my children who doesn’t care for bananas? I’d like to be able to include her too. I like these for everyone else though!
Hi Kari! I don’t know what you could replace the bananas with since they are the things that hold the bars together. I might have her try them anyway though. My daughter won’t touch a banana, but loves these. 🙂
Try dates
these look very delicious will be anxious to try them
@Jess- we only analyze the recipes for the ones we add to our meal plans. You can get details about that here: http://www.superhealthykids.com/meal-plan-memberships/
All the other recipes you can analyze at http://nutritiondata.self.com/
Thanks!
Could you use PB2 in place of the Peanut Butter?
Yes, PB2 would work great.
How long will these keep please?
They never last too long at my house, but they should keep for at least a week in the fridge. They also freeze great and would last there for months.
What type of oats? Will the quick cooking kind work?
I personally prefer rolled oats, but quick will work!
Hi! Can you substitute almond butter for PB?
Almond butter would definitely work!
Can you use sunflower seed butter?
Could I replace the oats with something else as my toddler is gluten free
Avril, not sure where you live, but in the US you can get oats that are gluten free. Can you not get those?
OK, did I miss the part about how to make the topping? I’m assuming melt the chips, add the walnuts, spread on top? Sorry, but I don’t bake but want to start doing so to make healthier sweets.
Hi Jacquline! How you ad the toppings is totally up to you. Melting and spreading on top would definitely work, or you can mix the chips and nuts right into the batter. Or, you can wait and add them after if you don’t want them to melt. 🙂
It’s not clear in the instructions about when to add the toppings. Before or after they bake? I can see adding the nuts before they bake, but it seems like the chocolate chips would melt.
Hi Cindy! You can do it either way. I’ve mixed nuts and chocolate chips in with the batter before, or added them before or after baking. If you top with chocolate chips before you bake, they will melt, so if you’d prefer they not, I’d just add them after the bars have cooled a bit.
It’s a bit unusual that you would say this is a gluten free recipe – Oats are definitely NOT gluten free! It could cause some serious illness if one were to make this recipe and offer it to another saying it is gluten free!
Actually Jenny, that is only true per the standards of Australia. In the US, oats ARE considered gluten free. People with celiac do make sure they are processed in a gluten free plant, but it is an option. Bob’s red Mill has one. http://www.bobsredmill.com/gluten-free-rolled-oats.html
I made them this morning and they are pretty bland. I’m going to try the chips next time. I do use Bob’s Redmill gluten free oats.
Definitely try it with some chocolate chips mixed in or on top! I prefer them with just nuts, but my kids like the chocolate chips ones, of course. 🙂
I have a sin who absolutely does not like peanut butter. What are some other things u could use as substitutes?
Hey Nicole! Any nut butter would work. I’ve done almond butter and it was delicious.
3/8 of a cup? Do I have brain fade or ? How much exactly is that? 2/8 is 1/4 cup, 4/8 is a 1/2 cup. Is it about 1/3 of a cup? Never seen anyone use 8th’s. I get it now, just do it three times.
I’m making these and love them. I’m adding organic cocoa powder + ground flax to my recipe (reducing oats). (I like to freeze them and eat them frozen.) My 7-year old son loves them too.
I have made these twice now, not measuring the ingredients either time, but going by consistency of the mix before baking- such a great recipe! First time I added shredded coconut and a bit of honey while skipping the nuts and chocolate chips. Second time added chocolate chips, skipped the nuts (no coconut or honey). Both times were great! My 2 1/2 year old and 12 year old both loved them! What a great, versatile recipe; I plan on making this many times, and adding whatever I have on hand (I’m thinking maybe raisins next time)! Thank you so much!!
With all these wonderful comments, I expected these to be really good. They were not. It may be a good base for a recipe, but you need more than 3 ingredients to make these things taste good.
These definitely need some sort of a topping. I made them without a topping and they just taste like a very bland banana bread type thing. I’m going to smear some Nutella on top so hopefully that helps! Other than that, it’s a pretty good base recipe. I’m sure coconut shreds or some other addition would kick this up a notch!
Can you use regular peanut butter versus natural?
I used about half and half because that is what i had in hand, and it worked great.
The dark chocolate chips I used did not melt during baking. Thus, they just fall off. Next time, I will either mix them in the batter or will press them into the batter before baking. Also, these bars are good, but very bland. I think some vanilla extract or cinnamon and/or a dash of salt might be good to add.
Great recipe my whole family loves! Next time I am going to bake with walnuts on top (they get nice and toasty), and drizzle with melted choc after to hold the crumbs together a bit. Will try the almond butter recipe as well – thanks for posting!
This recipe did not come out so good for me. The oats were hard to chew. I did not top with chocolate chips but still do not recommend.
Hi Tiffany I just made this bars and cooked them for 20 mins and it doesn’t appear to be done I didn’t have a glass dish so I used a loaf pan do I need to let them cook a bit longer and do they need to set before I cut them
Made this tonight and it worked and is delicious,
Yum
Excellent good recipe.Thank you
Hello!
Did you use a sugar-free peanut butter? If not, would you recommend mixing in honey?
Wow! So delicious and so easy! I mixed up some powdered peanut butter which made it even less calories and fat. I love this recipe. Also easy to split in half, simple measurements.
Do you think it would work if I put cream of wheat instead. Just curious?
I just made these and they were delicious! Thank you for the recipe! I had some ripe bananas and googled banana recipes. Mmmm.
That’s great! Thank you Maria.
I added dried cranberries, coconut and a 1/4 cup brown sugar…yummy!
I made these for my husband as a healthy snack and he has ask for more.
Ridiculous amount of pop ups. I refuse to use this site anymore because of it.
I just made your recipe. I did add pumpkin puree and about two heaping tablespoons of honey. They’re yummy thank you for the recipe
Stacie Ann
Thanks so much. This recipe was just what I needed to use the ingredients I had on hand.
I really wanted to love these. As I made them, the batter tasted bland, added some vanilla and a dash of salt. It tasted better. Cooked as directed and they crisped on top but were still gooey. Cooked longer, but they never got any less gooey or sticky. Tried them and they were GROSS. I threw the entire pan away. Waste of bananas and peanut butter. And oats.
Just tried these with walnuts and they’re yum straight out of the oven. Thank you!
Are they supposed to be like a rubber constituency?
I think I put too many oats it and now the mixture is very thick ! How can I fix this?!
Can I use steel cut oats or do they need to be rolled oats?
Thank you very much was delicious I love sweets and this was very yummy.
PERFECT! These 3 ingredients are staples in my workout routine. I was able to bring these on my travels to help me maintain my routine while away. They were fantastic! I bought nice brown bananas for a perfect sweetness.