I have to admit something and writing it here makes it official: I really haven’t been eating healthy lately. The whole month of travel really caught me off guard. Usually I’m pretty cautious and fairly diligent about making healthy food choices but I’ve had my fair share of sweetness this month.
As someone who has had food struggles, it’s important for me to stay on track with the way I eat because if altered, I can easily develop an unhealthy relationship.
Exercise wise, things are great. I make sure to run or do at home workouts while traveling and when home I walk nearly 4-5 miles/day plus do a yoga class. Still, I feel less like myself. Really I don’t think the scale had moved up more than 2 pounds but you can easily tell when your jeans are snug or if your body isn’t looking the same in the mirror.
Most of the time, it’s the small choices that add up; too many times I’ve said yes to fries instead of a salad or indulged in a treat even when I wasn’t hungry after a meal but simply because I could. I hate when I convince myself the opposite of my true intention. It’s all about the commitment to living a healthy, balanced life and I need to remind myself of this throughout my day and especially when it comes to how I nourish my body.
While I still consider myself a healthy person, I love opening up and sharing these things with you because it makes me feel more accountable towards my health goals. What are those specific goals you ask? To eat more vegetables and less refined sugars, to build more muscle and to indulge every once in a while. Overall, my food choices just need a bit of an adjustment and I’ll be using the rest of April to make sure I’m doing just that.
As a result, I made these granola bars for an afternoon snack. They are above all my favorite granola bar yet because of all the fun ingredients like oats, quinoa, fruit, nuts, chia and hint of banana flavor. Plus they don’t break the bank. Honestly they’re incredibly filling, similar to how you feel after you eat one of those giant Clif bars yet they won’t weigh you down.
In the meantime, I’d like to invite you to follow me on Instagram where I’ll be sharing my healthy meals and snacks as a part of my health goals for April. I’ll hashtag everything #AKhealth too so you can see in detail the meals in consuming, workouts I’m doing and read along as I document my progress. xoxo!
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More healthy snack recipes you’ll love:
Toasted Quinoa, Dried Fig & Dark Chocolate Nut Free Granola Bars
Sea Salt Cashew Butter Chocolate Protein Bars
5-Ingredient Chia & Peanut Butter Granola + Raspberry Banana Greek Yogurt Parfaits
Coconut & Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars
No Bake Superfood Brownie Energy Bars + video
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Chia, Quinoa & Banana Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten free rolled oats
- 1/2 cup uncooked pre-rinsed quinoa
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed (about 3/4 cup)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped almonds
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup dried fruit (raisins or cranberries work well)
- 1/4 cup natural creamy almond butter
- 2 tablespoons honey or pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper to prevent bars from sticking.
- In a large bowl, combine oats, uncooked quinoa, chia seeds, salt and cinnamon. Stir in mashed banana and vanilla. Fold in almonds, pecans (or walnuts) and dried fruit.
- Place a small saucepan over low heat; add in almond butter and honey (or maple syrup) and stir until warm and almond butter is melted. Fold into granola bar mixture until well combined.
- Pour into prepared pan and press down firmly with hands or with a measuring cup to help bars stay intact. Bake for 25 minutes or until edges turn golden brown.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting into 10 bars. I cut mine into 8 originally and they were much too filling for a snack, so I reduced the serving size to 10.
These look so great! I’ve been looking for a good granola bar recipe. I’ll try making these this weekend.
Amazing treats!
I mean, this is just me, but I think you look fantastic. So fit, muscular and toned and slim in all the right places. But I completely understand that more internal feeling of “oof, so much eats.” These granono bars are a great way to get back on track.
But seriously. Girl look at that body.
I can relate to this post 100%. I also feel like I need a slight adjustment in my eating…over the past week or so, I feel like I’ve indulged a bit more than I’m comfortable with. These bars look like the perfect way to get back on track!
These sound wonderful!! I can’t wait to make them as I haven’t been into buying store bought ones lately. Thanks for your honest post. xo
Man I’m doing the exact same thing as you right now! Thanks for sharing you’ve motivated me to get back on track too 🙂
Homemade granola bars are SO much better than store bought 🙂
Jes,It’s true. 😉
After a couple of trips – and too much ice cream – I just told myself the same thing this morning! Time to get back on track.
I feel you on the whole not eating too well lately. I love how open you are about it because it’s a reminder to me that I just need to acknowledge my weaknesses and DO SOMETHING about it. These granola bars look amazing. Need to try these soon!
Wow, these look super tasty! Seems like all of the nuts and grains would provide some nice crunch.
Brandon – thanks so much! I just stopped by your blog and could not stop staring at your lovely recipes. 🙂
Guess what’s in the oven right this very second? THESE granola bars!! Your post moved me so much, that I wanted to do even the smallest thing to get back on track for healthy eating and snacking stat! It’s hard enough for me as it is to try and stay healthy, and then traveling on top of that? Girl that is just so tough!! Thanks for another amazing recipe and for inspiring me to up my healthy game!
You are the sweetest. I hope you enjoy them! 🙂
I did enjoy them! I made them with dried cherries, and the tartness was a great compliment to the natural sweetness of the other ingredients! I also wanted to let you know that these freeze really well. After making them I let them cool completely, then I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap and put them in a freezer ziplock bag. Then in the mornings when I want a granola bar I just take one out and let it come to room temp on the counter, so delish!!
Made these last night and they are SO SO yummy! Thank you for such a delicious and healthy snack bar recipe. Most I’ve found are filled with sugar and not so healthy ingredients, but these are perfect and absolutely delicious!
My 13 year old has made these twice and I took them into the gym and was promptly asked for the recipe. Really good; I like these better than the peanut butter date ball recipe floating around on web as these are not as sweet!
Just made a batch of these this morning. I didn’t have any nuts dried fruit or almond butter on hand…so we used peanut butter. So tasty and just a tiny bit sweet. Just the way we like it. My 3 year old is currently devouring his! 🙂 thank you
These were great – but is the texture meant to be crunchy or chewy? Not sure how long to leave it in the oven for – I got a chewy texture but hope that was the desired effect at the end! 🙂
Do you think if I used blueberries instead of bananas it would work as well?
Would it still hold up without any nut butter or nuts? My son is allergic to nuts and trying to figure out granola bars he can eat.
Although I haven’t tried it, you could possibly use sesame butter in place of almond butter. As for the nuts, maybe things like coconut flakes and more dried fruit would work.
Chia seed meal is excellent for keeping things together when mixed with water or even applesauce. It’s also an excellent source of protein.
Sunbutter works great and peanut butter isn’t a nut it’s a legume so maybe Pb would work? Unless your son is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. I’m allergic to tree nuts It’s so hard. Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds could replace the nuts in this recipe and I’ve used buckwheat grouts I’m other granola bar to replace the almonds and it’s worked nicely
These were seriously so delicious! I tried them this week because I was looking for an easy portable breakfast! I love them! Thanks for the recipe!! 🙂
Is it possible to sub the banana for grated apple or pear?
These are tasty but I’m wondering about the pre-rinsed quinoa? Was I supposed to soak them for a while rather than just rinsing them under the tap? I ask because they seem too crunchy and it’s my first time baking with quinoa.
I have the exact same issue! Have decided to omit the quinoa and just substitute more oats, seems to work ok…
My same question! Is the quinoa really uncooked or most it be soaked? I want to make these today but wondering….
Can someone tell how much each bar weighs in grams?
Love these for a healthy snack! Sort of tastes like banana bread! I used walnuts instead of pecans, and sliced almonds instead of chopped almonds. Also, I used Trader Joe’s dried, unsweetened cherries. I also only used about 1.5 bananas instead of 2 because that 1.5 filled 3/4 cup mashed. I could see toasting the quinoa and oats like in the Peanut Butter Quinoa Granola bars also on Ambitious Kitchen for a crunchier texture.
I love these…I used millet in place of the quinoa
They are in the.oven rt now, can’t wait to taste them. I made a double batch so I can freeze some. I made them w red quinoa, the mix looked real pretty. Thanks for the recipe.
hi! could I replace the almond butter for regular butter? here in my country I can’t find that ingredient…
THANK YOU!
Hi, thank you for your delicious and healthy recipe! We tried these, froze some, and have been enjoying for the past couple of weeks. I partly made them for my toddler who loved them! But after seeing whole seeds of quinoa in his diaper (sorry to talk potty on a delicious food post!), I went online to see if raw quinoa can be digested. I discovered that the seed (not a grain?! Wow!) has a very hard outer shell and when eaten unsprouted/uncooked, it cannot be digested. Based on my toddler’s diaper, it seems that baked quinoa cannot be digested. Can you shed any light on what you might know with your recipe that I don’t? Thanks!!
Hmm these look delicious, thanks for posting up this recipe, looks quite simple to make.
Simon
I think I would prefer dates to bananas. How much should I use?
I made these yesterday, using cut up dried apricots (that’s what I had in the pantry) and they are amazing. Thanks for the great recipe.
I needed a school snack that was braces friendly. These work. I changed peanut butter to sunbutter since my son has a peanut allergy and omitted the nuts for the same reason. Added coconut and ricechex for a little crunch. these were very easy to make and less expensive than store bought. Thank you!
Glad to hear you mad these work for you! 🙂
Glad to hear you made these work for you! 🙂
Hi! I have tried the recipe and it is the best one I’ve made 🙂
Thanks for sharing
Just would like to know for how long it lasts on the freezer?
I’ve just made it for second time 4x recipe to freeze.
Juliana
The only nuts I can eat are peanuts & cashews. Can I sub peanut or cashew butter for the almond? And regarding the Quinoa, I’ve never noticed it saying “pre-rinsed” especially since I usually buy it in bulk at Wegman’s. I presume we are not to rinse it, or am I wrong?By the way, should you need ANY tools, I’m a Pampered Chef Consultant & I’d love to help you: http://www.pamperedchef.biz/joyallison
Yum! Thank you for this recipe. It was easy to make the the littles and we all enjoyed it. Used cranberries and subbed pumpkin seeds for the pecans.
Hi! Just seeing these now on Pinterest and they look lovely. I would need to use something other than oats. Any thoughts? Thanks so much for all that you do!
I’m in love! Always looking for better on-the-go treats for the work week and never thought about making my own! I’ll be trying these soon and crediting all insta posts back here! Thanks for the amazing and nutritious recipe. 🙂
I hope you love them!
Would this work with cooked quinoa? Uncooked quinoa can’t be digested.
Would this work well with cooked quinoa? It’s a seed that cannot be digested without being cooked. I wondered if I should cook the 1/2 c quinoa first and use the whole cooked amount, or should I use only 1/2 c cooked?
Hi Kathy! I wouldn’t recommend using cooked quinoa, as it would be too moist for this recipe. You could try adding oats in, or try out these bars instead!
I just found your great site and I love it.
Hi! Love the recipe. Can I use fresh fruit instead? (Berries)
Hi Elle! So glad you love this one. The dried fruit (rather than fresh) helps the bars stay together and crunchy, so I’d stick with that! Fresh fruit just adds a bit too much liquid.
These are amazing! They were very fast and easy to put together and the results are delicious. I love the crunchiness and, like another reviewer mentioned, using cherries added a nice tartness. I am finding it quite difficult to not eat the whole pan.
Thank you for sharing the recipe!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Yes – the cherries are one of my favorite parts 🙂
These looked too good not to try! I had to make some substitutions to use things I had and they still came out perfect! I ended up replacing the nuts with cashews, pumpkin and sunflower kernels. Then instead of regular nut butter i used some PBFIT peanut butter powder i picked up the other day. Delish!
Oh and used dried figs to use them up. Also broke mine to 16 bars because it was easy to cut evenly and kept them to 107 calories. I often need low calorie ways to increase my protein because I often don’t get enough in a day.
Glad you enjoyed these, Aimee, and that you found some subs that worked for you!
OMG, these are my new favorite granola bars! I’ve been eating them every day and already planning to make more! Preschooler approved too! Love that this is another way to use up bananas. I used figs and cranberries for my fruit. Thinking next time I might try subbing home made apple sauce for the bananas, and walnuts for the nuts:-)
So glad you enjoyed (and that they’re preschooler approved!) These are awesome for adding in your favorite nuts, dried fruits, etc. 🙂
These are so good (and smelled incredible while making them)! I’m used to commercially produced, much more sugary granola bars, so the first few bites of these were a bit of a surprise to me, being less sweet and a different texture (not that they’re not sweet! It’s just more subtle) – but I’ve already been back for seconds and look forward to bringing these to work for my mid-morning snack this week!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these! They’re definitely going to taste less sweet compared to traditional store-bought bars that have tons of added sugar, but they’re such a great go-to snack that will leave you feeling amazing, too! Enjoy 🙂
hi, just tried making this, added some of my own thing to it almond hazelnut butter, rum extract, crushed
cashews, looks great, taste azmazing…
Wow that sounds great! Glad you enjoyed!
Can I use regular butter instead of almond butter?
I wouldn’t recommend it – the almond butter helps to bind these bars together.
It’s healthy, but the bar itself tastes pretty dry. I’m going to try to find another recipe.
I would be sure your almond butter is the nice and “drippy” kind! 🙂
Made these today. Very good!! Now to stop myself from not eat them all today!
Perfect weekday snack! 🙂
Googled healthy recipes using bananas and came across this recipe. Made it and these bars are delicious! Thanks for an easy tasty recipe. 😋😋😋
Amazing! Happy to hear that, Giulia 🙂
Do you think millet would be ok to use in lieu of quinoa?
Yes I think so!
Hello, 200 kcal it is per 1 or per 10 bars? 🙂
Per 1 bar 🙂
best ever granola bars!!
Decided to make these because I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, and loved them!! Taste great and were super easy to make!
So happy to hear that!
Wasted bunch of good ingredients and the end result is beyond disappointing. While looks good, this is uneatable.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t like these!
One day, I found myself unsure what to do with some quinoa and I found this recipe. Pretty sure I used the wrong kind of oats and made some other substitutions, but they somehow turned out amazing and were super convenient to take on my way to class. Months later, I was thinking about how easy these granola bars were and after much searching finally remembered where I found the recipe so yay! I love these because they are really hard to screw up haha and they’re a perfect on-the-go healthy snack
Amazing! I’m glad they still worked out 🙂 such a great snack!
Great recupe! Will make again, and again and again. Breakfast all week! I didn’t have any honey/sweeteners in the house so I swapped it for an equal amount of mini chocolate chips that I melted with the peanut butter instead.
So happy to hear that! Sounds delicious 🙂
I followed the recipe but my granola bars did not form. I split the contents in half to make two varieties of bars and baked them both. The first batch started to burn on the top so I took it out after 10 min then put the other pan in and turned the oven down a bit. The second batch was highly burned after 20 min (I checked it at 10). The problem I had with the recipe is that neither batch held together. Essentially I seemed to have made granola that isn’t super awesome. If anyone had this experience and tweaked the recipe to get it to work please let me know!
These are really good!
I only made half a batch because I only had one banana, haha
I decided to add walnuts, and dried cranberries, and I added chocolate chips instead of pecans(didn’t have any, plus who doesn’t want chocolate?), and a tablespoon of flax instead of chia(I was running low), and they were super delish!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
These were easy to make and so much better than anything you can buy at the store. I like these for an afternoon snack. Clean and healthy ingredients. I found dried unsweetened cherries at Trade Joes to use.
I made these. They look exactly like the picture (I did cut in 10 pieces as suggested) very tasty. They were kind of wet…a little like a brownie…is that how they were supposed to be? Just curious. Wondering if after I rinsed my quinoa if I should had let it dry overnight or something.
Hi, Kim! It’s possible that the moisture from rinsing the quinoa made them a little soggy. I usually buy quinoa that’s already been pre-washed so that I don’t have to do it myself/let it dry 🙂
Terrific! I’ve made it several times. I double the recipe and snack on it for a few days in a row.
Nice!! I’m so happy you love them!
Making these for the second time. I can’t keep them in the house. Everyone eats them before I can even have a second one. I cut them in to 12 and they are still very filling. I keep them in the refrigerator and I use MaraNatha almond butter. This time I didn’t heat the almond butter and maple syrup, I just mixed it right in. This almond butter is very drippy even if refrigerated. Turned out perfectly. I love that you indicate number of bananas as well as meaasured amount. Banana sizes can vary greatly.
These are so delicious. I only used 2 T of maple syrup and they were plenty sweet. The warming of the almond butter made it so much easier to mix in the batter. The quinoa provides a little crunch. I will definitely make these again.
They turned out so good! I used to buy granola bars all the time and now I don’t have too. I love being in control of how sweet my healthy snacks are as the store bought ones seem often too sweet. Great snacks for my picky kids too!
They turned out so good! I used to buy granola bars all the time and now I don’t have to. I love being in control of how sweet my healthy snacks are as the store bought ones seem often too sweet. Great snacks for my picky kids too!
This makes me so happy!! Glad to hear you’re all loving these 🙂
Instead of pre-rinsed quinoa can I use quinoa flakes?
These bars are Yummy. —- I put 2 very ripe bananas in a mixing bowl and I used an immersion blender to puree them. I added all the ingredients to the bowl, except the almond butter, and mixed up the contents. I did not add any honey, maple syrup, or extra sweetener. My batter was moist enough without the 2 T of honey or maple syrup. I did add 1 T of hemp seeds. I used chopped almonds, walnuts, and dried cranberries. (I rinsed the cranberries in hot water which plumped them up a bit.). I heated the almond butter in the microwave for 20 seconds and mixed it into the bowl. The batter was easy to spread. —- I cut the batch into 16 squares. I will eat one or two in the morning with my coffee before I workout. Thank you!! Thank you!!
SO GOOOD! Glad to hear you gave this recipe a try and it turned out great for you 🙂