How was your Thanksgiving? I’m so happy I was able to take the weekend off and enjoy some time with my Grandma; we had a wonderful time eating, shopping and laughing.
Unfortunately her wallet was stolen while we were out shopping. Tis the season for thieving? Ugh! Even worse, she had some pretty important documents in there. But the good news is that we got her back on the plane safe and sound (without an ID)! I guess the TSA knows more about you than you think.
Now I’m ready to get back on track regarding eating, working out and work. I haven’t worked out in a week because I’ve been fighting a serious chest infection (or so I think). I can’t really sleep at night because my cough keeps me up. No matter how much ZzzQuil I chug, it’s still there. I think I might have a NyQuil hangover; is that possible?
Speaking of working out and eating right, how have you been holding up on sticking to your goals? I never understand on waiting until January to make a resolution or to get on track. Why not start RIGHT NOW? Yes, I realize there are holiday cookies EVERYWHERE which can be awfully tempting. Instead of indulging in one from those pushy coworkers, how about we replace some of the cookie indulgences with a healthy granola bar instead? Yes, yes, yes.
These granola bars were created in partnership with my friends at Ancient Harvest. My pantry is stocked with Ancient Harvest quinoa because I use it at least three times a week. This time, I wanted to do something a little different and unique: quinoa IN granola bars. And yes, it’s uncooked — or rather, toasted in the oven with the oats. Therefore you get crunchiness and chewiness, something that most granola bars out there lack.
The base of the granola bars are made up of quinoa, oats, peanut butter, honey, chia, vanilla and a touch of coconut oil. That’s it! I love that they are wholesome, simple and modifiable. What’s great about these bars is that they offer over 3g of fiber and nearly 7g of natural protein. Of course, if you’re like me, you probably will enjoy tossing in a few chocolate chips or dried cranberries.
Oh and no big deal, but I made my first YouTube video for these bad boys so you know exactly how to make them:
Since these bars are essentially no bake, they’ll stay chewy and fresh for long after you make them. You can store them wrapped tightly in the freezer for months and take them out whenever you’re in need of one. Enjoy! xo.
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Incredible Peanut Butter Quinoa Granola Bars
These delicious peanut butter quinoa granola bars are both crunchy and chewy. Made with a few simple, wholesome ingredients, they’re high in fiber and protein. Gluten free and freezer friendly too!
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten free rolled oats
- 1/2 cup uncooked Ancient Harvest quinoa
- 1/2 cup creamy all natural peanut butter (or your favorite natural nut butter)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- Optional: 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Add oats and quinoa to a large baking sheet and spread around evenly. Once oven is preheated, toast the oats and quinoa for 10 minutes. Once done toasting, pour oats and quinoa into a medium bowl and stir in chia seeds.
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While quinoa and oats are toasting, make the peanut butter mixture by adding peanut butter, sea salt, honey, vanilla and coconut oil in medium saucepan over low heat. Stir every so often until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
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Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes, then add to the bowl with the oats, quinoa and chia. Stir well to incorporate. If adding chocolate chips, wait a few minutes before stirring in, otherwise they will melt. Another option is to melt the chocolate chips and drizzle them over the top of bars.
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Line an 8x4 or 9x5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper; pour mixture in and spread out evenly, then press mixture down in the pan. Place in freezer for 10-20 minutes or until mixture has hardened. Remove bars from pan and cut into 8 bars. Store bars in the freezer or fridge. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Bars are naturally gluten free if you use gluten free oats.
To make bars vegan: use maple syrup or brown rice syrup instead of honey.
Nutrition information does not include chocolate chips.
Nutrition
This post is sponsored by Ancient Harvest. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting Ambitious Kitchen and the brands that help make this site possible!
69 comments
These look delicious! I hate hockey-puck granola bars, especially if they’re loaded with extra sugar and weird stuff. These would be perfect snacks for all my traveling this holiday season! Thanks, Monique!
So glad you got some good time in with your grandma, how nice! These bars look like just the thing to satisfy my sweet tooth without throwing me on track!
These bars would definitely satisfy my afternoon sugar cravings! I love the addition of quinoa!
i recently tried quina in granola and i was surprsied at how good it was! i love the pop that it adds, and i’m excited to try more recipes with it.
So, you can eat raw quinoa? Can this be made in a 8×8 pan?
Hey Lindsay! You actually ‘toast’ the quinoa in the oven with the oats. It is delicious!
This recipe looks delicious, Monique! I love your homemade granola bars – so healthy without all the processed junk from the supermarket. Gonna try this for my kids’ lunchboxes!
Are the chia seeds necessary in the recipe or can I leave those out?
I LOVELOVELOVE adding quinoa into my granola bars! The texture it adds is SO GOOD! And obviously I love anything with peanut butter. These are the perfect snack! pinned!
OH man I want these granola bars! I love that you used quinoa in them. Can you send me a box? Also sorry about your grandmas wallet. people suck.
Who steals Grandma’s wallet?! So sad! These bars look amazing, though. I love that there’s quinoa in there!
I’m so sorry to hear about your Grandma’s wallet! How ridiculous. These bars are great to reach for whenever I just want to eat cookies over the next few weeks!
I made these the day you posted them, they are great!! I’m approaching my 3rd trimester of pregnancy so feeling hungry every few hours but I still want to be health conscious, these are great for all my snacking:) Thank you! Hope you can feel better soon, and that is awful about your Grandma 🙁
ZzzQuil is my kryptonite! I’m such a light sleeper and it takes me forever to fall asleep, so I take it every night… I hope you’re feeling better by now! 🙂 And quinoa in granola bars?? That’s brilliant! I never would’ve tried that on my own, but it looks incredible. And anything with PB is a-okay with me!
I love the sound of these granola bars! I just love the quinoa in them, gives it a little more heft and to help you going too!
These are so good! They taste incredible, are healthy, and super easy to make! I love the idea of adding toasted quinoa to the bars. It adds a wonderful nutty flavour and a fantastic crunch. At first I was scared that the quinoa would be too crunchy and hurt my teeth because I’ve never had not-cooked quinoa. BUT I am a changed woman and absolutely LOVE it in these bars. Fantastic job! I will definitely be making these again!
Thanks Nichole! So happy you liked these granola bars. 🙂
These are delicious!!! Mine fell apart afterwards though, maybe they needed more nut butter?
These are fabulous. Made them today, and they live up to their title. Had no chia on hand, but still turned out great. Thanks!
These are fantastic! I added chopped almonds and pumpkin seeds. My two year old loves them and any crumbled left overs I ate with milk in a bowl like granola ? They stayed together Better after being in the freezer for over an hour. Thanks Monique!
I made these last night to have for snacks the next week. I also added dried cranberries and chopped almonds, and of course chocolate chips – super yummy! I love that I know exactly what went into them too.
I’m a skeptic when it comes to tasty and healthy foods, (poor experiences previously) but I couldn’t help sampling the sauce mixture for these when it was melting. Peanut butter can’t go wrong! I teach in Egypt and I often find recipes that I cannot make because I’m missing one ingredient. Thank goodness I’d packed some of these ingredients into my suitcase during my last sumer stateside. I was so happy I could try this one! Great job! I can’t wait for them to finish freezing!
Alas I cannot even eat gf oats and I love oats. What could I possibly use instead
Can I make these with old fashioned oats? Thanks!
These look Devine! So my daughter and I made some. Adding a few more ingredients we had hanging around. Standing by fridge waiting. Thank you for sharing
I love these granola bars! I have tried cooked quinoa in granola bars before but I have found that the granola bar is very moist even after baking. Toasting the quinoa seems like a great alternative!
Do you have any suggestions for replacing the peanut butter? Just wondering how I can make them school friendly as we are not allowed nuts of any kind at school.
Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
p.s. I have a easy granola bar recipe that I use often for school snacks – the kids love them (http://doubletherecipe.com/2016/02/15/granola-bars/)
Sunflower seed butter would be lovely!
Should the quinoa be rinsed before or does toasting get rid of the saponins? Thanks in advance. I love your recipes!
These are amazing! I made these for the first time and I am sure to make more! I added in the chocolate chips a bit too early and they melted, but no biggie. I also added organic dried cranberries, and they turned out great and are perfect for quick morning snacks. Thanks Monique!
I love to make that
Tried making these on the weekend and have to say the recipe is not great. I added a few chopped cashews, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries. Mixed in the sauce mix and had to add more to it afterwards to get the mixture gooey enough to bind everything together. Once I got them out of the freezer I was barely able to cut them without them falling apart. It’s Monday now and trying to eat these things without making a mess…taste OK but won’t make again.
mine is entirely crumbly! nothing is sticking together but followed recipe exactly!! What can i do? Add more PB?
What kind of peanut butter did you use? I just made these last night and had no issue! Make sure your peanut butter is just peanuts + salt!
Made these tonight to prepare for Summer Sweat Series, came out perfectly (and yummy, had to have a taste!)!
I am so excited to try these!! Have you ever tried using peanut butter powder, like pb2 instead of the peanut butter? Curious if they would still hold together or not!
Do you wash the quinoa before roasting it in oven
I just made these and they look so good! I did exactly as the recipe asked and when I went to cut them they just crumbled 🙁 Was there not enough honey? How can I save them?
Usually it’s because you either left them in the freezer too long, or it’s because you didn’t use a natural enough peanut butter. I always use smuckers or trader joes pb for these.
Happened to me too, not sure what “natural enough peanut butter” means. I bought organic, natural PB.
I just made these and they are awesome! Thank you for this recipe.
Do you wash the quinoa before you toast it?
These were great! Sharing with folks at work. Mine came out fine. I used almond butter with cocoa instead of the PB, added a few shopped walnuts, pecans, and cashews I had left over. Will make again, maybe more this weekend. Thanks.
These sound brilliant. definitely gonna be giving these a go. Thanks simon
Just made these – delicious! I cut down the honey to about half since I don’t like them too sweet…and because I added lots o chocolate. Noms.
These look like the perfect back-to-school snacks! I love the idea of adding some quinoa in them. YUMMY!
SO great for those afternoon munchies!
Wow, these ARE incredible! They remind me of a healthier version of a Butterfinger bar!
I’m so glad you enjoyed! And YES that peanut butter flavor is the best 🙂
These are soooo good! I am making all of your protein bars one at a time for my boyfriend who is training for the LA marathon. He loved your peanut butter cup bars and I know he’ll love these! I just put them in the freezer to harden but you can bet your ass I licked the bowl and spoon clean! I love the quinoa crunch. I didn’t have coconut oil so I used butter 🙂
Perfect!! So glad you’re both loving them (and licking the bowl for these might just be the best part…)
I don’t see the nutrition information on these. Where could I find it?
Hi Alli! The nutrition info should be above 🙂
These look awesome but I don’t see the nutrition information on these. Where could I find it?
Delicious! Used crunchy PB. Doubled and made in an 8 x 8 pan. They’re a hit with my girls, too!
Love it! So happy you all did, too 🙂
These bars are legit! I added unsweetened coconut and cinnamon and they were a win with my kids—all 8 of them! 🤔
Amazing!! So happy to hear that 🙂
These are so phenomenal!!! My kids and husband love them!! They came out perfect with no issues! Make sure you’re buying the drippy peanut butter for this recipe for the ingredients to adhere. Will be making these all the time!!
Amazing! I’m so glad!
Well there is nothing incredible about these bars, they are Uneatable, What a waste of good ingredients. Oh and it’s a “bummer” you have deleted my other comment, I wish people could share their honest opinions about recipes, so they do not waste perfectly good food for something that turns it into bland and uneatable. I am assuming you will filter this one too and it will not get posted.
Hi Iris! So sorry to hear that you did not like this recipe. I’m not sure what could’ve happened to your other comment, but I always appreciate honest feedback. If you could provide some further insight into how you made them I might be able to troubleshoot!
So good! I’ve been making a double batch and freeze half all summer and into the fall. So easy to grab when hungry and want something a little sweet.
Love that idea! Perfect snack or treat 🙂
These bars look awesome. If I want to add in protein powder, how should I adjust the recipe? Thanks!
These bars are fabulous! Made them today and they are already almost gone. Super easy and six year old approved!
So happy to hear that!
I’ve made these bars many times and devour them each time! They are so easy and delicious. Highly recommend giving them a try.
So glad you love them! Perfect snack 🙂
These came out great! I love making granola bars and these are now my new favorite. The texture is soft but crunchy. I left mine in for about 12 minutes, maybe a bit too long, but I got the texture I wanted. I usually make granola bars with dates, which creates a more soft chewy texture so a change up was perfect! Followed pretty much exactly but had no extract so I subbed maple syrup. Next time I may play with the recipe a bit and add flax or hemp seeds too.