Quinoa Coconut Granola Bar Recipe
QUINOA COCONUT GRANOLA BAR RECIPE!
We’ve been a big fan of granola bars as a snack for kids for a long time. Not only can they provide some concentrated energy, but they are portable, shelf stable, they don’t make a lot of mess, and you can eat them with your hands. We also love that you can pack homemade granola bars with nuts, seeds, and dried fruit that your kids already like. They can take on so many different textures and flavors. We are always sure to add nuts. They are less expensive to make at home if you compare them to a trail mix bar or other nutty bars from the store.
To create these granola bars, we started with our classic, goo-to favorite granola bar recipe, and updated it to add quinoa.
- We started by roasting our oats and quinoa in the oven. Just for about ten minutes to make it nice and toasty.
- Then we added nuts and coconut.
- A separate mixture of peanut butter and honey was warmed up to combine.
- We then mixed it altogether and baked it. It was super easy! (full Quinoa Coconut Granola Bar Recipe below)
*For a tastier treat, we melted some semi-sweet chocolate and dipped the bottom of the granola bars in it!
QUINOA GRANOLA BAR!
Quinoa! Have you tried it yet? Do your kids like it? Cooked Quinoa definitely has a distinct flavor, but have you ever added uncooked quinoa to things like your granola? It may look like bird seed (according to my husband), but it adds a yummy- nutty flavor to your granola or granola bars! And quinoa is one of our favorite SUPER FOODS!
Tons of people wonder why you should even care about Quinoa? This super food has loads of healthy benefits.
According to my favorite website (World’s Healthiest Foods):
This unique combo of anti-inflammatory compounds in quinoa may be the key to understand preliminary animal studies that show decreased risk of inflammation-related problems (including obesity) when fed to animals on a daily basis.
(also from WH Foods) In comparison to cereal grasses like wheat, quinoa is higher in fat content and can provide valuable amounts of heart-healthy fats like monounsaturated fat (in the form of oleic acid). Quinoa can also provide small amounts of the omega-3 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).
We have many more delicious granola bar recipes, including:
- Homemade granola bar bowls recipe
- Grab and Go Granola Bars
- Peanut butter chocolate no bake granola bar bites
- Granola Cookie recipe
- Quinoa breakfast bars
- Peanut butter chocolate trail mix granola bar
- Nut Free Granola bar
So, start adding more granola bars to your families snack station.
Quinoa Coconut Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup oats, dry
- 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- 1 cup cranberries, dried
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup peanut butter, all-natural
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a ceramic or glass 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Spread oats and quinoa onto a cookie sheet and toast in preheated oven for 8 minutes (watch to make sure they don’t overbrown). Place mixture in a large bowl and add coconut, nuts, and dried cranberries.
- In a medium saucepan, combine salt, peanut butter, honey, oil, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then immediately remove from heat and pour over the oat mixture. Stir together until dry ingredients are evenly coated.
- Pour into prepared baking dish, pressing the mixture down into the pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Cool for up to 2 hours, then cut and serve.
Nutrition
www.superhealthykids.com
For more ideas on getting fruits and vegetables in at every meal, check out our meal plan memberships!
Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
Learn More about Natalie
This looks amazing and I have everything on hand, I can’t wait to try it!
This chocolate delight looks so yummy and driving me crazy. I’m sure my kiddo will like it as well. I’m going to make it right now and let you know how good I prepared. Thanks for sharing such unique recipe of yours. Its quite easy and I guess I can make it easily.
Do you have to rinse the quinoa before roasting like you have to before stovetop cooking?
I didn’t Marissa! I don’t think you need to.
I made these and they were hard as a rock! Did you have that problem?
mine came out great! though due to comments about cooking required to get the nutritional benefits from quinoa, i cooked mine first. i used uncooked steel cut oats and mixed it into the quinoa before toasting. the toasting took a while because the quinoa had to dehydrate first. I baked it at 350 using convection and stirred it every 5mins or so. Once they were crunchy i kept following this recipe.
I also substituted 2tbsp of nutella for the brown sugar, and coconut oil in place if the canola oil. I then added 1/2 cup chopped pecans, 1/3 chip sunflower seeds (roasted, unsalted), and 1/3 chop chopped dried cherries.
After the pan cooled i drizzled 1/4 cup melted semi sweet chocolate chips over the bars before i took them out of the pan. I used about 1/2tsp coconut oil to smooth the chocolate.
Nutrition:
Made 16 bars
254 calories
11.2g fat
3.1g saturated fat
2.1g polyunsaturated fat
3.5g monounsaturated fat
0g trans fat
0mg cholesterol
77.8mg sodium
90.5mg potassium
35.9g carbs
3.5g dietary fiber
18.3g sugar
5.8g protein
My friend and my 5yr old daughter tried them and absolutely loved them! Enjoy
Your adaptation sounds like what I was thinking of doing! LOL…thanks for saving me the trouble! <3 <3
Yummy, I printed it and we’ll be making it tomorrow, can’t wait! I love quinoa and my little one will not know better in this combination :-).
Awesome! I cannot wait to make these! They look awesome! Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!
Looks like a mouth-watering treat for, even it can be used for a healthy breakfast. I guess it’s not rich in calories so it’s made for me, as I’m already overweight and can’t afford to have more calories in my body. But my little girls would love to eat such a yummy thing. I’m gonna make this right now.
Recipes is a bit different and quite unique, but I love to try it once and will definitely share my own experience here. Such recipes can also add a unique flavor to your dull and old fashioned breakfast and hi-tea. Again I must say, its one of the best recipes I ever found on the internet. I’m always crazy about baked stuff.
I just made these and they’re delicious! My only concern is the digestibility of uncooked Quinoa. Everything I’m reading now is saying that it will just pass through and may even cause digestive issues. What are your thoughts?
It definitely passed right through! I haven’t heard of any digestive issues it would cause though. Many seeds and nuts we eat do the same. I’ll do some research though and let you know what I find!
Thanks for your quick response and research. I’m a regular quinoa consumer…yum, I just don’t want individuals to be misinformed with this recipe as although cooked quinoa has many health benefits, the uncooked quinoa in this recipe is just a filler and contains no nutritional value unless cooked first or ground to break the outer shell. At this point though they’re flying off my counter faster than I can make them so all in all tasting much better than most of the granola bars I’ve made! Thanks!
I’m glad they like them.. if only our teeth were better at breaking them open 🙂
I am going to try this tomorrow but I will use coconut oil instead!
Let us know how they turn out!
I’ve heard about wheat before but not so familiar with quinoa. I am actually quite surprised after discovering that it has so many health benefits! Thanks for sharing what you know about it. Those granola bars look really tasty! It seems that the recipe is simple since you provided all the ingredients and steps on how to make those bars. I’ve learned that quinoa is better than wheat after reading your post. Because of this, I will buy quinoa and add it to my pastries more often.
Not only do we help you find the nearest doctor in your locality, we also provide you a lot more. Go through the following link to know more http://www.medzee.in/about/
Made these last week. They were a HIT with my kiddos. Thanks for the recipe. Another great one to add to our favorites. These come in handy before the boys baseball games or after the game snack 🙂
I am trying to incorporate more quinoa in my diet. This recipe looks great!! I’m going to give it a try. By the way, regarding health issues of undigested quinoa:
When undigested nuts or grain pass through the intestine it is possible to cause a diverticulitis if the fragments get caught in the ridges of the intestine. For most people this should not be a problem.
Thanks Chris!!
Yummy! We loved these. I used agave instead of honey and was able to reduce it to <1/2 cup and they were still super delish. Brady was licking the bowl, which doesn't happen often. Thanks!
Made these today – quite enjoyable. Used coconut oil and coconut sugar and reduced the honey a bit (although I never measure well anyways). I also spread the chocolate over the top rather than dipping to save time (but the bottoms dipped looks fun!). I’d be interested in checking into the nutritional status of non-rinsed, non-cooked quinoa…but they did provide fun crunch in the bar:)
That sounds yummy Kika!
Has anyone tried these with cooked quinoa?
I haven’t.. but If you do, I’d love to know how it goes!
I was just wondering if you have tried cooking the quinoa? I want to make these for a trip this next week.
.
Hi Brooke- I think part of the reason we like these so much is the crunchiness of the quinoa!! Cooked would seem to mushy to me.
Hey, did you use quick oats for these? I can’t tell from the picture. They look great, though.
So what happens if you cook the quinoa for just a little bit will it release the healthy part of it instead of just being ruffege. I found this recipe because I was looking for more ways to incorporate quinoa into my young daughters diet?
That’s actually a great idea Emily! I’ll try it!
Yes, mine are quick oats..but you can use rolled oats if you prefer.
So, have you tried it partially cooked yet?
Not yet Amanda! We have been out of Quinoa for two weeks. 🙁 I should just buy some..
This may be a silly question…but what if you were to put the quinoa in a food processor and ground them that way first? Will it do more for the nutritional value? Will the granola bars still hold together?
So because I have a habit of going to the grocery store without the recipe I intend to try…Then getting home and realizing my pantry is empty (as usual) I have made a few substitutions……
Also, as you can have likely already made the assumption, I am a bit lazy (thus not going back out to the grocery store), so here’s what I did;
I “boiled” some quinoa in the microwave to release some of the nutrition, well I think I cooked it, some were spirally and some were just soft, but I am new to the quinoa bandwagon…
I toasted the still wet stuff with my oats, and threw on some sesame seeds and and handful of crushed cashews (cause thats all that was left in the cupboard)
I microwaved some “wow butter” and a generous heaping tbsp of cinnamon honey I got at a farm.
I was going to add some carob nibs I bought (again trying to be less sugar/cals/more healthy) but thankfully I tried them first BLETCH they are bitter, yuck. I added carob imitation chippits instead…The concoction is in the oven as we speak, but if the cooked product tastes anything like the raw stuff I licked off the spoon YUMMY!!!
Thanks for sharing Rebecca!! How did it turn out?
They were Deelish! And a big hit at work…a bit crumbly, but very tasty! The quinoa still had a crunchy texture — my 3yr old complained about the “crunchy bits” but he was the only one.
I toasted and patially cooked 1 cup of mixed quinoa (white, red, and black) they were still crunchy. I also added 1/4 cup chia seeds, 1TBSP ground flax, 1/2 C maple syrup instead of honey, and coconut oil in place of canola. This is def a keeper recipe. The quinoa was still a little crunchy.
If you think you’re not skilled enough to crochet anything but a simple
pattern, the 6 close-up pictures and detailed instructions
will soon have you strutting around, proud as a peacock.
When dating using an internet dating site,
it is not unusual to start a lengthy email relationship with someone who lives or works a
fair distance away from you. Businesses generally use checks by way of Fed
– Ex, Epassporte, Normal mail or wire transfer as their payment
approaches. In the case of teenagers parents should supervise their computer activity.
I am in the process of making these. I decided to soak the quinoa nourishing traditions style and then dry it out a bit before making the bars. It takes a little more forethought and preparation but I am hoping it helps break down the quinoa a little.
any substitutions for the peanut butter? My 9 year old is allergic to nuts…and has tried wow butter but because it smells like the real thing she’s not fussy on it. (I’ve learned how to deal with not adding nuts in recipes but having a hard time with the binding aspect of PB
you could try sun butter instead of peanut butter. Closest thing I could find taste and consistency of PB
why canola oil? Can I use coconut oil?
I just like how versatile canola oil is for baking. You certainly can use any oil you’d like!
I like it for baking because it doesn’t brown as quickly as other oils, and the flavor is so mild.
That’s a tough one Nicole! Have you tried commercial option like this no nuts… http://www.peanutfreeplanet.com/NoNuts_Golden_Peabutter_p/nonutsgoldenpeabutterspread.htm
have you tried cashew butter or coconut manna – nikki’s coconut butters has some AWESOME flavors!
Alyssa- Those SOUND delicious!
My husband isn’t the biggest peanut butter fan, is there another ingredient that might work in this recipe? Thanks!
Amanda- is there any nut butters he likes? Seed butters? Cashew butter, almond butter, sunflower butter, are all great!
Oooh, I might try sunflower butter, great idea.
Thanks!
Can I use quick oats and coconut sugar?
Yes Crystal! let us know how it turns out!
Sunflower seed butter is a great replacement for nutbutters.
YES. Quinoa, contains bitter substance named saponins with a bitter soapy taste. You have to rinse it to get them off, in hot water, for several minutes. It’s a nasty, unhealthy, bitter stuff.
Did the author make this recipe — or just post it?
If you dry the quinoa after cooking, by putting the rinsed, fully cooked quinoa on a tray until it is crispy and brittle (at a lower temperature), then you would actually get access to the nutrition posted above. Otherwise, it could be as nutritious as shredded tree fiber, just scrubbing your colon on its way through.
Hi Kelli Sue- Yes, I’ve made it a bunch of times. I’ve never noticed a soapy taste before.
Good plan Kelli Sue- We’ll try that next time- although I do like a good colon scrub. lol
Anyone figure out approx how many calories are in these?
made them this am with coconut oil and a tiny bit less honey than called for. Love them!!! Both my little ladies love them too!! We’re going to try again with some of the suggestions in comment!!
Thank you 🙂
Anyone figure out approx how many calories are in these?
made them this am with coconut oil and a tiny bit less honey than called for. Love them!!! Both my little ladies love them too!! We’re going to try again with some of the suggestions in comment!!
Thank you 🙂
Someone on Facebook said if you get 12 they are 315 calories each! pretty high. But you can cut them smaller 🙂
KelliSue …. The quinoa I have says “rinsed and ready to use” right on the bag …..
But thanks for the heads up! Some people might not know to check for that.
Abbey’s ideas at the bottom are good as canola oil is GMO treated so I would never use it. Also I would leave out the sugar and replace with only 1/2 cp of honey or Agave syrup otherwise they would be too sweet for me.
Maybe you can use Nutella for both the nut and chocolate flavor instead of the melted chocolate chips.
making these right now with almond butter & coconut oil and no brown sugar so a little maple syrup & xylitol will have to do:)
I’m anxious to hear how they turn out Becca- The different sugars will probably affect how crunchy (or not crunchy) they are as all sugars have different temperatures where they get to that “hard crack stage”. So let us know!
Oh wow… I am SO excited about trying these out. We love quinoa, and love granola bars. And I’ve been wanting to make my own for a while as we go through the giant costco boxes of them embarrassingly quickly and I’m certainly not in love with the ingredients put into those store bought ones. I’ll make them and post pictures on my blog heartbeatsntreats.blogspot.ca
I think I’m also going to experiment with turning this mixture into a regular granola recipe to replace our store bought cereal intake. It’s one of my new year’s resolutions of 52 things in 52 weeks. (Also posted on my blog). When I post pics of these creations, I’ll try to remember to link them back here so you can see if you want.
Thanks so much for the inspiration! I’m off to check out the rest of your site. I have a feeling you’re going to have lots that I’m going to want to try.
Blessings. 🙂
These are awesome! I used agave nectar instead of honey and I only had 1/2c. quinoa, so I used 1 1/2c. oats. Still turned out great! Wish the nutrition information was available.
I would lie to know if you have a calorie and protein count for these
This were really easy to make and super good!! I didn’t use chocolate as they don’t need them, great as is. I put in cranberries and dried blueberries and pecans and walnuts. Great recipe!!
PS to my other post…I just noticed that the recipe says 9×13 pan but the photo shows a 9×9? I made using 9 x13, is that the wrong size? They were pretty thin…
Can these be frozen?
Yes, you can freeze them Deni.
Rose- You want them thin because the calories are high! We usually use a 9X13, I probably cut the recipe in half when I was taking photos. But if you get 12 bars, they are still 315 calories (according to a comment above), so getting only 9 bars would be even more. Dried cranberries would be great!
Paula- 315 calories if you make 12 bars. I haven’t calculated the protein, but you could do this on nutriondata.com
Can coconut oil be replaced for the canola oil?
I like to know about it healthy diet
We cannot send nut products to our child’s school, so I use tahini instead (sesame seed paste) It is super yummy and binds the bars beautifully!!!
Try Sunbutter! It’s made from sunflower seeds and its delicious!
http://patriciaandcarolyn.com/quinoa-faqs/
What kind of Oats can you use? Quick Oats? Or does it matter?
This was an amazing recipe. I ran out of honey so I added some maple syrup like someone else mentioned doing, and this worked just fine. It was very easy, very quick. I added sesame seeds, cranberries, and sliced almonds. Everything I used in the recipe I got from the bulk section at the grocery store. I drizzled some chocolate on them for a light sweetness! Will definitely make this many more times.
Sarah- I’ve used both, and they both turn out the same.
Rhonda- you can try coconut oil- Let us know how they turn out.
Alysha- sounds delicious!
Can you please post the nutritional info? For people who are diabetic or who have had weight loss surgery, we really have to watch for that stuff.. I want to try this recipie, looks delish! But sceptical to the unknown, thanks!
These came out great!! Curious how everyone stored them? If you freeze them, did you heat to thaw or just room temperature? Thanks for a great recipe!!
Do you have a nut free option – can’t make or take anything that isn’t nut free these days. We have one of three in our house with allergy to tree and peanuts.
If it were me, I’d replace the peanut butter with sunflower butter! We love it almost as much.
If I omitted the shredded coconut, and added dried cranberries, would they still hold together alright?
Quick, easy, tasty and they worked! Made them gluten, dairy and soy free…now to do a nut free option! Thanks for the great recipe!
I’ve never posted a comment before, so forgive me if I break any rules! LOL
These are awesome!!!
I followed the recipe on the first batch, then I read all the comments on here about the Quinoa not having a lot of nutritional value if they weren’t cooked first…..SO, I boiled the Quinoa as per directions, poured it onto a cookie sheet and spread it out. Then came the long, but oh so worth it, process to toast the Quinoa. I stirred it every 10 minutes until it turned a beautiful golden brown….almost the color of light brown sugar. I toasted the oats and mixed them together…..added pine nuts, sunflower seeds, unsweetened coconut, raisins and goji berries. Now, I had more dry ingredients than I thought the peanut butter/honey mixture would coat, so I increased peanut butter and the honey to one cup each and brought to a boil and poured it over the dry ingredients, popped it in the oven, baked for 20 minutes and sprinkled carob chips on top to melt as soon as removed from the oven……super delicious!!!
Thanks for the ‘base’ recipe! Oh, the fun I can have varying the ‘add-ins’……yummy!
PS….the boiled and then toasted Quinoa gives it a real ‘crackling’ kind of crunch!
Tried a reader’s version, and looking forward to making them incorporating our own options…however do you have any nutrition info on these? How many calories…grams of carbs? protein? That would be nice to know.
Tried a reader’s version, and looking forward to making them incorporating our own options…however do you have any nutrition info on these? How many calories…grams of carbs? protein? That would be nice to know.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/mynd/myrecipes/welcome?returnto=/mynd/myrecipes
Made these last night (added chia and LSA) with almonds and apricots. Have just read the comments and I’ll cook the quinoa first and toast it next time. These are delicious and tasty enough without the chocolate. My 2 year old kept asking for more! (I made a double batch, spread onto a large cookie sheet. The top of the edge made for a perfect thickness and I ended up getting 33 bars and a bit of extra on one edge which helped me get them out intact)
These are OUT OF THIS WORLD!! Thank you so much for the yummiest healthy recipe I have ever tried!
I think you could use organic ingredients in most cases and unsweetened coconut. Watch the label on the peanut butter to make sure your getting the real thing and sea salt is always a better choice. These things might have been mentioned, but I didn’t have time to read all the comments, though I could tell this items was going over BIG! Lastly, be sure you want to use Canola Oil, I have heard to many things about how it affects the nervous system. Let me know if you thing otherwise. See also Rape Seed Oil as that is the same.
I tried these this morning, I don’t have a glass pan so I used metal. I let them cook for 20 minutes at 350, but I think they were a bit overcooked. They were quite difficult to get out the pan but they do taste very good.
I think I’d like to try them again on a lower temperature.
So I added all of the ingredients to my recipe app and it added up to 282 per bar. I am about to make these and I am so excited. Here is what I got for the rest of the nutritional value:
Total Fat: 15.3g
Sat Fat:3.8g
Cholest: 0
Sodium: 86.2mg
Carb: 32.9
Fiber: 3.5g
Sugar: 17.2g
Protein: 6.2g
This is with the recipe exactly the way it is written above.
Thanks for doing the work to get this data.
Hi there, I do believe your blog could possibly be having browser compatibility issues.
When I take a look at your website in Safari, it looks fine
however, if opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping
issues. I simply wanted to provide you with a quick heads up!
Aside from that, fantastic website!
Hi! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the
same niche. Your blog provided us useful information to work on.
You have done a outstanding job!
How many bars did you make from a pan? You give the caloric count per bar, but I can’t find how many bars any where.
I am also curious about the size of the bars. Did you ever get a response?
I am also curious about how many bars are in your pan. Thx!
@lindsey & @Lynn, we usually get 12 bars out of them, we cut them all the way down the center, and then into strips on each side.
@fran above calculated the nutrition data- so if she pipes in, maybe she can tell us how many she used to get the nutrition data she posted?!!?
Hi. So excited to try these. We are currently avoiding sugar for health reasons. Originally I thought I could substitute the brown sugar, but then I see you’re boiling it, so is it necessary to bind all the dry ingredients together??
Any substitutes here for the brown sugar???
As for the saponins, in the quinoa….I also buy the TruRoots Quinoa from costco, and if is already ready to use. Other versions of quinoa that I’ve tried, have had the soapy taste. You can tell if the saponins have been rinsed off, by whether or not your quinoa foams when cooking.
Excited to try this recipe!
Also, have you tried to partially cook/fully cook and then toast the quinoa??
While I haven’t tried cooking and toasting the quinoa, other folks have and say it works fine.
The brown sugar: Are you avoiding honey too? That could work. If you are avoiding all sugars, I don’t know if any substitute would be good…
I’ll give honey a try! Thanks.
I used 12 bars for the recipe when I put it into the app.
The bars are great.. However I did everything the recipe said and mine are Almost burnt.. Suggestions??
I would try lowering the temperature by 25 degrees, and cooking the same amount of time. Sometimes our ovens aren’t calibrated the same.
I’m going to try making these with puffed quinoa and coconut sugar and agavae
We have a local natural bakery/store near us (Silver Hills). Not only do they have delicious breads, buns, bagels, etc, they have a nice organic GMO free grain section. They sell puffed quinoa. I’ve used this in other granola and protein bars and it is delicious! Makes your bars a bit thicker as well since it’s puffed. Want to try your recipe with this. Sounds yummy!
Love this recipe, but what can I substitute for the peanut butter? My girls are allergic.
Sunbutter would be great we use it all the time because of allergies to nuts in our family
Do you really use uncooked quinoa grain or do you use quinoa flakes?
Many thanks,
Hana
I made these today and they are delicious!
I used cooked quinoa and I soaked the rolled oats. I baked them for about 17 minutes instead of 8 minutes like the recipe says. I didn’t have enough peanut butter left so I added some almond butter. I used about 1.5 tablespoons of oil instead of 1 tablespoon (I used coconut oil) and used a little less than 3/4 cup of honey. I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. I used raw cashews and almonds for the nuts and ground them up a bit in my magic bullet. My 2 year old will eat these so I didn’t want her to have a hard time with chunks of nuts. I melted dark chocolate chips with coconut oil and spread it on top after it was done baking. They turned out so moist yet a little crunchy. So good!
I made these today and they are delicious!
I used cooked quinoa and I soaked the rolled oats. I baked them for about 17 minutes instead of 8 minutes like the recipe says. I didn’t have enough peanut butter left so I added some almond butter. I used about 1.5 tablespoons of oil instead of 1 tablespoon (I used coconut oil) and used a little less than 3/4 cup of honey. I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. I used raw cashews and almonds for the nuts and ground them up a bit in my magic bullet. My 2 year old will eat these so I didn’t want her to have a hard time with chunks of nuts. I melted dark chocolate chips with coconut oil and spread it on top after it was done baking. They turned out so moist yet a little crunchy. So good!
Chocolate chips have sugar and soy lecithin. I cant have them. What can be used instead of the chocolate chips? Thanks!
Myra – I know your comment was posted a long time ago, but for those who cannot have soy, see if you can find the Enjoy Life brand of chocolate chips. They are soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, etc. Here’s the ingredients: Evaporated Cane Juice, Natural Chocolate Liquor (Non-Alcoholic), Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter. I buy them at Whole Foods, but I’ve also seen them at Target stores.
Sorry a little unsure… could you please tell me if this would be ok to cook for those with celiac?
I use quinoa a lot in baking. I use less wheat flour that way. I cook mine on the stove to start the cooking proses and soften them a until it’s chewy. Then I bake with them. Add it to cookies ect…..
In the UK schools and pre schools are pretty much a nut free zone due to the seriousness of nit allergy reactions. Many US healthy recipes, like this one have peanut butter in. Can u recommend a nut free alternative to this? Also, does the US not have so many nut allergies or how do you manage to work around the risks considering it appears peanut butter and nuts are. so frequently used in baking?
@carol and @shannon- I’ll have to look for the puffed variety- I haven’t seen it, but I haven’t looked for it either. Thanks for the tip!
@hana- it’s the uncooked quinoa grain, not the flakes.
@Alicia- thanks for the suggestions! Sounds great, and I’m glad you liked them.
@myra, you can just leave the chocolate off of this.. it doesn’t need it!
@Patricia- I’m going to have to say it depends. In the US, you can purchase gluten free oats, and it would be a gluten free dish. However, I’ve learned in Australia, they consider all oats to be off limits for anyone with celiac. Apparently, our countries have a different opinion about it!
@Jackie- Can you use almonds? At our schools (I’m in Utah), they aren’t nut free. Many schools in the US are nut free, but because my kids aren’t, we still use Peanut butter.
I really love these – just made them last night and they are almost gone. However, they are waaay overcooked:( The time needs to be adjusted for my oven apparently as it burnt the oats/quinoa as I was toasting it and then browned the finished product. I haven’t ever had a problem with cooking times and temps before so need to make a note to reduce both for this recipe.
Thanks for a great alternative to muffins and cookies!
Looks amazing and healthy! I agree
I made these last night! Well with my own twist. And they were a huge hit! Whole batch is gone already!
My recipe —
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
3/4 cup oats
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup hemp hearts
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cups coconut
1 cup combination of nuts and dried fruit (3/4 cup dried cranberries and 1/4 cup chocolate chips)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup honey
1 TBL coconut oil
3 TBL Brown Sugar
I have used sesame tahini in recipes to replace the peanut butter at my house. We do not have an allergy to PB just a dislike. Good Luck and I hope that helps
These are tastey, but a bit too sweet for our liking. I think I would cut the honey in half and omit the brown sugar. Otherwise the flavor is great.
I made these with the puffed Quinoa and they were great! Thanks for the recipe
I have a good friend whose son is allergic to all nuts. She uses Sunbutter. It’s like peanut butter but made from sunflower seeds. It’s super yummy! She buys it online so I’m not sure if it’s available in stores or not. Here’s a link to the Sunbutter site http://www.sunbutter.com/
Made this last night for my gymnastics mad son. Needs a lot of protein to build muscle. He LOVED them! #foodforagymnast
They do get very crumbly if you reduce the honey. I eliminated the brown sugar and they were fine and less sweet.
I always have trouble with my granola falling a part. I put in a flat pan to cool for two hours and cut like the directions, but still had issues. Do you have any suggestions? They are very yummy!!
Angela- You can try adding a bit more honey, and boil for 1-3 minutes, rather than remove from heat right away. Boiling longer should make your bonds stronger, holding the granola bar together better.
I used !/2 quinoa and 1/2 quinoa flakes to try to get protein and not just roughage. Not sure if it worked but worked very well in the recipe. Thanks so much I don’t think I will ever buy granola bars again.
Thanks!!!
Thanks!!!
I have cooked them slightly before making the bars and they still turned out tasty.
Can these be frozen?
Agave has actually been proven to be unhealthy. The ratio of fructose to glucose is about 90% to 10%. Our bodies have a hard time digesting fructose without the glucose to offset it. Honey has a more even balance.
Wouldn’t any kind of nonsoluble fibre have the potential to cause issues? I’m not sure how eating quinoa like this is any different than eating sunflower or seasame seeds.
I froze half of them. When we were ready to eat the rest, I just thawed them on the counter for a few hours. they were great.
Do you use sweetened or unsweetened coconut in this recipe?
Do you use unsweetened or sweetened coconut for this recipe?
Is your daughter allergic to peanuts or tree nuts/nuts? Peanuts are not a nut but a bean.
Wow these look an amazing. Cant wait to try. The peanut butter balls were awesome so I Hope these are just as good!!!
These came out great! Used red quinoa and toasted the coconut and pecans before adding. Kids love them and even more importantly, so does hubby 🙂
any suggestions for replacing the oats? we have an oat allergy in our house.
@Autumn- I’ve used both. Just your preference.
@Lauren- & @Joannie- glad they liked it!
@Janet- Oh dear. That’s not a good allergy to have. I don’t know that I would replace that with anything. 🙁
I just made these and after a couple of hours they are still very pliable. Are they supposed to be like that or do they need more time to dry?
What would the baking directions be if we use the brownie pan that is in the link above? I have the pan and would love to use it for this!
Thanks!
I cut the recipe in half for the smaller pan, but it baked at the same temp and time @brenda!
Do you mean they are chewy Lauren? And you wanted them crunchy?
Thank you!!
So I tried what a commentor (abbey) did…
Abbey
09/06/2013 5:34pm
I toasted and patially cooked 1 cup of mixed quinoa (white, red, and black) they were still crunchy. I also added 1/4 cup chia seeds, 1TBSP ground flax, 1/2 C maple syrup instead of honey, and coconut oil in place of canola….I left to cool overnight and it just fell apart, what did I do wrong? It smells great and tastes great though
I made these and they left a bitter aftertaste. Even though I buy the organic no need to rinse quinoa. My kids didn’t like them either. Waste of expensive ingredients for my family! We will stick to regular gronola bars, or try one with cooked quinoa instead.
Unless the package says it is pre-order, you should always rinse quinoa…it has a natural, soapy, bitter pesticide on it that isn’t pleasant.
Pre-rinsed, not pre-ordered….silly spell check!
Made these today and we LOVE them! However, I couldn’t spread this amount into a 9×13. It was so thin, I scooted the mixture down to about half that size. Do you double it to fit the 9×13? Just curious. Thx!
@kristin- if you think they should be thicker, for sure make them in an 8X8.
For the photos above, I used 8X8 but I cut the ingredients in half. I’ll have to try it again by doubling the recipe and seeing if it’s enough for a 9X13!
Do you think this could be made with almond butter or cashew butter? We are dealing with a peanut allergy, among others.
Thank you.
You can try it Em, but I haven’t yet!
This looks yummy! I apologize if this has already been addressed, but my only concern with it being categorized in your Gluten Free section, although you don’t mention it in the body of the post, is that oats are not gluten free unless they are harvested from dedicated fields and processed in dedicated facilities. It’s an important note for those that are new to being gluten free and may not be aware of the difference.
Thanks so much for a great resource for kid-friendly, healthy recipes!
Thanks Jessica!
I was wondering if the TBL measurement should be TBS for tablespoon?
this may be a stupid question, but do you have any tricks on getting them out of the pan?
Hey Maureen, if that’s a problem for you, just line it with parchment paper!
Hi, Thank you for the recipe. These do look good, but they have more sugar than eating three Chips Ahoy cookies. I don’t consider that healthy. I look for 8g. of sugar or less in healthy snacks for my kids. This is a nice treat for dessert.
What can I use to substitute oat?
Sorry for a stupid question but the 1200 calories per serving is for the entire thing. Not just one bar right? New to this site and seeing high calories listed per serving over a number of healthy recipes which i assume is wrong but wanted to make sure.
Alan, Where does it say 1200 calories?
Can this be veganized? Could I use agave instead of honey?
Linda- I totally would!
So many people don’t like agave, but I still do!
These are absolutely delicious! I made them yesterday with some leftover ingredients I had in the house and they came out great! I used a combination of dried cranberries and sliced almonds and would definitely recommend it. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I just featured this recipe on my blog and would appreciate if you checked it out. Thank you! 🙂
http://bigcitydreamsbyabby.blogspot.com/2015/07/quinoa-granola-bars.html
Can almond butter be used instead of peanut butter?
Hi, school starts for us. I have made this recipe before, but now we are in a class with a student who has nut allergies. I can pack nut butters for lunch, but out of respect would love to try a different alternative… any suggestions
have you tried sunbutter? If you can’t find it in stores, we just blend roasted sunflower seeds until it becomes butter! so yummy.
Hi, I baked these today according to instructions, only I’ve used coconut oil instead of canola. For some reason after I took the baking tray out of the oven and let it cool for more than 2 hours, my granola bars just completely fell into pieces when I tried to cut them. Why did this happen and how can I get proper pieces/bars next time? Thank you
I made these a while back and it was awesome! All my family, friends, and coworkers love them. I preferred them with No chocolate. Will be making them again this weekend. Love it!
Sugar? Maybe chopped dates would be a healthier option
Hi Terri, you’re welcome to substitute dates if you like! We haven’t tried it ourselves, but please report back if it turns out well.
How many calories per bar?
Hi Gayle, thanks for reaching out. We don’t calculate nutrition data on our recipes on the SHK site, BUT all these recipes are also in the Prepear app, and they have nutrition facts there (plus other nifty features like ingredients you can check off while you’re cooking.) You can join Prepear for free here: https://app.prepear.com/
One thing we feel is very important in eating healthy, is to not have large amounts of sugar. Have you made this without the brown sugar and with half or less of the honey? Trying to figure out how to very significantly reduce the sugar in the recipe, but still get everything to stick together. Thanks!
Hi H, I hear you! We’re always trying to be mindful of added sweeteners, too. You can definitely experiment with this recipe, though in my experience it’s hard to reduce sugar in granola bars, because the sweetener acts as a glue to hold it all together. Perhaps you could try it, and if they don’t stick, you’ll still have great granola, just not in bar form. 😉 Good luck!
What would you recommend doing to this receipt to make it lighter on calories?
Hi Julie, you could try leaving out the cranberries and adding a bit less honey (Just keep in mind the honey helps it bind, so don’t reduce too much!)