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No bake granola bars with peanut butter and honey. Customize these homemade granola bars with gluten free, refined sugar free, and dairy free options!

no bake granola bars in 2 rows on white background
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Making homemade no bake granola bars is so easy. If you’ve never done it before, I kind of equate the process to making rice krispie treats – mix, dump, and press into a pan!

When I like something a lot, I usually get on a kick. Sometime’s it’s a homemade granola kick, quinoa bars or these granola bars.

I have been known to make a single recipe so many times over the course of the month, that when I finally feel like I’ve had my fill I typically won’t make that snack recipe again for months.

That’s how I operate. I’ll eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast for 6 months and then suddenly it doesn’t sound good anymore and I’ll be on a different kick for the next 6 months.

Are you that way with a certain food?

no bake oatmeal granola bars on white background

So what kick am I on now? Yep, you guessed it – these peanut butter chex pretzel granola bars.

I’m not even sure what a good name for them is.

No bake oatmeal peanut butter chex pretzel granola bars.

That’s a mouthful!

Oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cereal granola bars.

It’s hard condensing a recipe into a single title when all of the ingredients in the recipe are important!

ingredients to make no bake granola bars

How to make no bake granola bars with peanut butter and honey

Granola bars are all about 3 things – a “sticky” mixture, the “base” mixture, and add ins!

These no bake cereal granola bars use peanut butter, honey and a little bit of coconut oil as the sticky mixture. This is the glue that will hold your granola bars together.

For the base of these granola bars we used quick oats, chex cereal (you could also rice krispies), and chopped pretzels.

Lastly, mini chocolate chips are the add-in!

no bake oatmeal granola bars in 9x13 inch pan

Customize granola bars

There are so many options when it comes to customizing granola bars.

Below are some suggestions for how to customize no bake granola bars.

In place of honey you can use coconut nectar, maple syrup, or raw honey instead of processed honey.

In place of peanut butter you can use almond butter or another seed butter.

In place of the “base” mixture (oats, chex and pretzels) you can use a combination of unsweetened puffed rice cereal or pretty much any cereal you like (cheerios, wheaties, etc), unsweetened coconut flakes, puffed quinoa, slivered almonds or another chopped nut.

Whatever bases you choose, keep the total around 7 cups.

no bake oatmeal granola bars in 9x13 inch glass pan

Granola bar add ins

Additional ideas for add-ins include dried fruits (cherries, cranberries, blueberries, bananas, apple), unsweetened coconut flakes, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, pistachios, cacao nibs.

And add-ins that are more of a treat include m&ms, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, mint chips, gummy bears.

JK. I had to see if you were paying attention.

Whatever add-ins you choose, keep the total under 3/4 cup.

How to make gluten free no bake granola bars

These no bake peanut butter granola bars are easy to make gluten free. Use certified gluten free quick oats (so thankful Quaker makes a cylinder container of quick oats), use gluten free pretzels, and gluten free chex cereal.

More No Bake Recipes

4.84 from 6 ratings

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No Bake Granola Bars with Peanut Butter and Honey

By: Beth
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 16 -24 bars
No bake granola bars with peanut butter and honey. Customize these homemade granola bars with gluten free, refined sugar free, and dairy free options!

Ingredients 

  • 4 cups quick oats, gluten free if needed
  • 1 ½ cups chex rice cereal
  • 1 ½ cups pretzels, chopped (gluten free if needed)
  • ½ cup mini chocolate chips
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 cup honey

Instructions 

  • Lightly spray a 9×13 inch pan with cooking spray.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, chex cereal, chopped pretzels, and chocolate chips. Set aside.
  • In a saucepan over low heat, melt the peanut butter, coconut oil and honey, stirring frequently until the mixture is liquidy.
  • Pour this mixture over the dry mixture in the mixing bowl. Mix well with a spatula. 
  • Press the granola mixture into the pan, using your hands or the back of a spatula.
  • Place in the fridge for 30-60 minutes to set before cutting.
  • Store granola bars in air tight container on the counter or fridge. 
  • **See notes section for customizable ingredients**

Video

Notes

In place of honey you can use coconut nectar, maple syrup, or raw honey instead of processed honey.
In place of peanut butter you can use almond butter or another seed butter.
In place of the “base” mixture (oats, chex and pretzels) you can use a combination of unsweetened puffed rice cereal or pretty much any cereal you like (cheerios, wheaties, etc), unsweetened coconut flakes, puffed quinoa, slivered almonds or another chopped nut. Whatever bases you choose, keep the total around 7 cups.
Additional ideas for add-ins include dried fruits (cherries, cranberries, blueberries, bananas, apple), unsweetened coconut flakes, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, pistachios, cacao nibs. And add-ins that are more of a treat include m&ms, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, mint chips. Keep the total of add-ins under 3/4 cup.

Nutrition

Calories: 307kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 197mg | Potassium: 202mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 59IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 3mg
Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!

About Beth

I believe that everyone should have a go-to dessert to bring to parties! With hundreds of recipes, I'll help you find yours!

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8 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    These are great! I love that I can control the ingredients. I’ll be making tge next batch for my grandchildren.

  2. 5 stars
    Absolutely fantastic! You can roll up the mixture into 1 or 2″ balls, put them on wax paper, and then put in the fridge. They are a smorgasbord of almost anything you could want in a snack/dessert!

  3. 4 stars
    Granola is almost a staple food in my household. These are a good example of making a dessert using whatever one has available. They came out a bit too sweet for me so I would cut down on the honey by 1/4 cup and/or less peanut butter. This will also make it drier and you can make it into cereal. God bless tremendously, Beth!