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This Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bar Recipe is THE BEST and easiest way to make granola bars! Plus, they’re cheaper and healthier than the store-bought kind!
You guys, I have found THE BEST and easiest way to make granola bars on this sweet planet earth. I was looking for recipe ideas and came across a few Pinterest photos that had me swooning over chewy chocolate chip granola bars and it made me want to try my hand at them. After a few testers, I ended up with a super kid and school lunch-friendly, *slightly* healthier version that has gotten rave review after rave review.
Granola Bar Recipe
These are pretty darn simple granola bars AND amazingly delicious. I was seriously shocked at how well these turned out for 3 minutes of work. Literally 3 minutes. If you have kids make these! Heck, even if you don’t, make ’em anyways. They are great snacks or fast breakfasts. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Butter – this is part of the boiled sugar mixture. Some readers have found that peanut butter works great here.
- Honey – a natural sweetener.
- Brown Sugar – more sweetener, this also is part of the boiled sugar mixture along with the honey.
- Quick Cooking Oats – not rolled oats!
- Crispy Rice Cereal – some readers have replaced this with other cereals such as Cheerios or Chex.
- Vanilla – to help the flavor.
- Mini Chocolate Chips – optional but highly recommended.
How to make granola bars
- In a small saucepan, heat up some butter, honey and brown sugar over medium-high heat. Stir it together, reduce heat to medium low and let it simmer for up to 2 minutes or until the sugar dissolves.
- While that is heating up, measure out oats and Rice Krispies into a large bowl.
- Stir in vanilla extract into the hot syrup.
- Pour the hot syrup over the dry ingredients and stir well to coat.
- Press firmly into a greased jelly roll pan using either buttered fingers or a greased spatula.
- Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.
- Cool to room temperature for about 1 hour or until set.
- Cut into bars, wrap individually and use as desired.
Adapting your granola bar recipe
The beauty of this recipe is how adaptable it is. You can make lots of granola bar flavor combinations and create your very own recipe, based on what you and your family like. Feel free to add in raisins, nuts, maple syrup, flax seeds, cinnamon, butterscotch chips, coconut, agave, craisins, citrus zest, the list goes on!
Getting the boiled sugar mixture right
This recipe is very much dependent on the boiled sugar mixture. If your granola bars don’t seem to be staying together when you cut them, you may have not boiled the mixture long enough…you want it to make it just past the softball stage.
If you boil the mixture TOO MUCH, then once they set, they will be nearly too hard to eat. So, the best way to set yourself up for success is to bring the honey-butter mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes.
Storing
After your bars have set, cut into portions, wrap individually in parchment paper or plastic wrap and store the whole lot of them in a large airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 7 days. I don’t like refrigerating or freezing because then the bars get really hard and don’t keep their amazing chewy texture, even after defrosting.
Of course, you can store them however you like, but keep in mind they are enjoyed best at room temperature.
More Granola Bars to Try!
- No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
- Homemade Granola Recipe with Almonds
- No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars Recipe
- No-Bake Nut and Seed Bars
- Homemade Granola
Printable recipe card is below. Make sure to save this recipe because it’s a good one for any day of the week. Enjoy!
Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 cups quick-cooking oats not rolled oats
- 1 cup crispy rice cereal
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together. Set aside. In a small pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium-high heat until it comes to a bubble. Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. (should take 1-2 minutes) Pour in vanilla and stir. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients.
- Pour into lightly greased small jelly roll pan {about 12x8x1} and press out to be about 3/4 inch in thickness. {If your pan isn't small enough, pack the mixture into one side. You really want to press them down so they stick together.} Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press down lightly.
- Cool on a countertop to room temperature for two hours or until the chocolate chips are set before cutting into bars. Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.
I made a version of these tonight! Thanks for posting this recipe.
Helen
Blue Eyed Beauty Blog
[…] has been wanting to make granola bars for awhile now; so when I came across Lauren’s Latests No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars, I knew I had something I could do. As with all recipes I try, I always follow the directions […]
Really good! I didn’t have Rice Crispies, so substituted Special K. I also added a half a cup of peanut butter, and more dry ingredients, including coconut and raisens…mmm…couldn’t wait for it to cool!
These are so YUM! I made them today for my kiddos and they went crazy for them!! No need to ever buy store bought granola bars anymore!
Found you through Ann Voskamp’s link. I’m pretty sure I have all the ingredients to make this too. For those of us who have a cuisine deficiency, how much exactly is “some” vanilla? 🙂
[…] Kitchen Love for the Weekend : These no bake granola bars — ridiculously easy and perfect snack for summer (don’t have to turn on the stove!) […]
YUMMY and they sound so simple! After reading all of your helpful comments, I’m definitely going to give them a try, making sure to use quick oats and to pack the mixture firmly. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
I made these tonight and used nutella instead of butter or peanut butter, I can’t wait to taste them in the am!! If I wanted to make it with raisins, would you mix it in or just sprinkle on top like the chocolate chips?
[…] from Lauren’s Latest. Originally from Rachael Ray. AKPC_IDS += "18322,"; « (Sweet Cherries!) […]
[…] when you mix the hot liquid ingredients. This was originally inspired by and adapted from these No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars from Lauren’s […]
[…] 0Poking around Pinterest, I stumbled onto a recipe for no-bake chocolate chip granola bars at Lauren’s Latest and decided to give them a try on this dreary day. After taking the twins to gymnastics class we […]
i’ve made these several times since finding you on pinterest…great recipe, thanks so much! just made a double batch for the beach trip tomorrow.
I’ve made these quite a few times according to the recipe and they are delicious. I recently substituted the butter for coconut oil, used agave syrup instead of honey and used old fashioned oats that I pulsed a few times in my magic bullet and topped them with mini chocolate chips and coconut shavings. Very very good and a little bit healthier
I made these and they are delicious! Just curious if you have a guesstimate to the calories and fat content?
Found these on Pinterest and this is the second batch I’ve made in 3 days. They are awesome. I added some milled flax seeds, cinnamon and nutmeg to the recipe below. Already thinking about what other kinds of seeds, nuts, marshmallows, etc. I can add. Also next time, I think I’m going to melt the chocolate and either spread over the bars or drizzle.
[…] These granola bars. Yummy and easy. Win-win. Go ahead and double the recipe. Wink. […]
I made these again today but this time i added 150g of chopped cherries, 1/2tsp of almond essence and 20g of coconut, bakewell flapjack. Very nice 🙂
I don’t have rice crispy cereal what could I use? puffed wheat? or Oameal crisp? Speical K?
Special K might be the closest match to rice krispies! You could just add more oats as well!
I made these today and they are great! This is the best granola bar recipe I’ve made so far. I love that they are no bake and use simple ingredients I had on hand. I’m excited to keep making them and try new varieties by adding different dried fruit and nuts. Thanks!
I made these a few days ago. They were really easy and tasted awesome! They went quickly in our family of 7, but they’re so easy to make that it’s no big deal. I’m going to make them again with raisins instead of chocolate chips as soon as I get more honey. Can’t wait to try them again. 🙂
Well i’m onto batch two, they are lovely. We didn’t eat all of yesterdays just didn’t want to run out and as i had all the ingredients i thought why not. Look forward to playing around with the added extras next time but so lovely. Btw i did refridgerate mine just encase they got crumbly but they are so moist and well i could go on lol
These look great and I plan to make them for a quick-grab dessert for my kids. I’m not sure how you can call them “healthy” though since the only healthy ingredient is oats!
HI there, i have just made a batch of these having come across them on Pintrest. I make alot of flapjack and equally rice crispie bars but i like the fact that this combines the two and no oven usage. I am out of choc chips, much i’m sure to my sons dismay when he comes home so i used chopped dates, some coconut and chopped mixed nuts. We’ll see how the turn out later. Tfs 🙂
WOW – I am so glad I found this before my daughter starts First Grade. I am planning on packing her lunches myself and I was thinking healthier bars and muffins for her in lieu of sandwiches some days.
I can’t get them to stick together, is there a trick?
[…] laurenslatest.com via Jennifer on […]
I have made these three times…1st batch was awesome – chewy and moist throughout (kinda like a rice krispie treat…no dry spots). 2nd batch came out very dry in the middle – could hardly chew them. 3rd batch came out less dry but still still dry in the middle and definitely not as moist as the first batch. I put them in a ziplock baggie with a slice of bread which is helping. I put slightly less than 1 cup of the the dry ingredients as I thought maybe I had put too much of the dry ingredients in the 2nd batch causing them to be hard. This didnt seem to help much. Now I’m not sure why they are coming out different than the first batch??? Thoughts on this? Will adding more butter or honey help moisten them? Maybe using margarine instead of butter?…
[…] of sharing my attention with her new little sister. Today we made these granola bars and played the morning away filling and dumping buckets of water and putting our toes in the […]
Amazing! so yummy and delicious! I used a melted chocolate bar as I had no chocolate chips drizzled over top.
[…] I could find all asked for all everything but prepared granola. I finally found this recipe at Lauren’s Latest which is an adaptation of a recipe from Rachael Ray. The original recipe has raisins and thin […]
[…] Recipe Originally found at Lauren’s Latest […]
Made these last night added some raisens and put a thin coat of melted dark chocolate on top.
They turned out really tasty – excellant wont buy shop bough ones now.
[…] of sharing my attention with her new little sister. Today we made these granola bars and played the morning away filling and dumping buckets of water and putting our toes in the […]
I made them with a handful of cheerios and some unsalted peanuts instead of rice bubbles, added some dried apricots and drizzled white chocolate on top (because I didn’t have choc-chips.) Delicious! They didn’t last long. Thank you! I have been looking for a simple muesli bar recipe for a long time.
[…] No Bake Granola Bars […]
soooo goood
I used rolled oats and they still turned out awesome! We also used different types of chips…mint chocolate, mini reeses peices! Thanks for the recipe we tripled it, they are great!
[…] Lauren’s Latest […]
I’ve been trying to find the perfect granola bar recipe for the last three years and I’ve finally found it with this one! Yay! I make these once a week for a snack for my kids and they go bonkers for them. Thanks for sharing!
So glad you like them!
I wonder if you could tell me the shelf life of these. I’m really big into canning and freezing foods, but I’m kinda curious as to how I could make quite a few of these at a time and still have them be tasty and fresh. Any thoughts?
~Michele
I make a similar recipe, but mine has peanut butter instead of butter:: *2 cups rice cereal * 1 1/2 cups quick oats * 1/2 cup packed brown sugar * 1/2 cup honey * 1/2 cup peanut butter * 1 tsp vanilla * 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips. Follow the directions above, except let it cool a little and then stir in the chocolate chips prior to pressing well into a lightly buttered 7×11″ cake pan. You can add 1/2 cup raisins, but we don’t really like raisins in granola bars. There are never any leftovers.
Actually the directions are a little different. Bring the honey and brown sugar to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla and then pour over the cereal and stir well. After it cools a little add the mini chocolate chips and then press into a lightly buttered 7×11″ cake pan. Cut when cool (if you can wait that long! My kids are sitting on the counter and waiting for them to be cool enough to handle and don’t care if they fall apart while they are eating them!)
OK, just made these for the second time and this is how I changed them. My husband liked them better than the first time, mainly because I “frosted ” them with melted chocolate the first time and he thought they were too sweet. This is my revised recipe: 3 T. butter, 1 T peanut butter, 2 large marshmellows, 1/4 c. aguave necter, 1/3 c. packed brown sugar. This is the stuff you cook on the stove for 2 minutes. The marshmellows didn’t want to melt as fast as everything else, so I had to smash them a little. Then I added (and you do what you want, I don’t think it matters what the dry stuff is as long as it adds up to 3 cups): 1 c. quick oats, 1/2 c. grapenuts, 1/2 c. flax seeds. I didn’t put any vanilla in as I forgot, but my hubby likes it, so what the heck. Then I just pressed the choco chips onto the mixture after it was in the pan. They are holding up well and pressed well and don’t seem to be crumbly now. We’ll see tomorrow, maybe they will be too hard then.
[…] much effort on their part. When I came across this awesome recipe from a lovely little blog called Lauren’s Latest, I knew I had found “it”. Lauren’s recipe was adapted from Rachel Ray, and I […]
These are so quick to make and very tasty. My husband and I take turns and make these every week. A fun thing to do if you have little one who could help you make these too.
I have made these twice now and love the easy recipe but they are not staying together…. I have already droped down to 3 tablespoons of butter any other suggestions
[…] I will bring even more Screen-Free ideas! And feel free to share yours in the comments! {Thanks Laurens Latest for the […]
I made these today and they stuck together.. a little too much… it’s almost rock hard. I think I boiled the mixture too much. Also, the taste is o.k., not the best..
Laura – Thanks for the recipe! Any thoughts on how they would do in the freezer?
Look Great but we are trying to stay away from processed sugar. Any substitues for the BSugar? Thanks
You can buy organic cane sugar and brown sugar that are a little bit less processed but not by much….hmm. Not sure! Sorry!
[…] found this recipe for no-bake granola bars on Pinterest, and had to give them a […]