Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

These oatmeal breakfast bars are ideal for anyone who doesn’t have time to sit down to breakfast. Oatmeal is the reigning champ of healthy breakfasts (we have lots of oatmeal recipes to choose from), and these bars are essentially oatmeal you can put in your pocket.

They’re more satisfying than a bowl of cereal, not as heavy as pancakes and bacon, and pack fewer calories than a big coffee-shop muffin. Most importantly, they’re ready to go as soon as you are.

Ingredients for Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

• Quick-cooking oats: The oats provide the bars with most of their bulk, and also lots of healthy fiber. A specific kind of fiber found in oats (beta glucans) helps keep you full longer, and has a number of health benefits.
• Brown sugar: The sugar here acts as a sweetener and flavoring, and it also helps bind the oats and other ingredients. Without it, the bars wouldn’t hold together after they’re baked.
• Salt: Aside from its role as an electrolyte, salt helps round out the flavors of the bar’s sweet ingredients.
• Walnuts: The walnuts in this recipe add fiber, protein and healthy fats to help keep you feeling full.
• Coconut: The coconut in this recipe complements the textures of the oats and nuts, contributing to the bars’ pleasant “chew” as well as their fiber content.
• Butter: Butter adds its rich and distinctive flavor to the bars, but it also partners with the sugar to bind the dry ingredients together.
• Marmalade: The orange marmalade contributes sweetness and flavor, and its sugar content contributes to their final texture.

Directions

Step 1: Combine the ingredients

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Heat your oven to 425°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar and salt. Stir in the remaining ingredients, and press the oat mixture into a greased 15×10-inch baking pan.

Step 2: Bake the oatmeal bars

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Bake the oat mixture for 15 to 17 minutes, or until it takes on a golden brown color. Cool the pan on a wire rack, and then cut into 30 oblong bars.

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Oatmeal Breakfast Bar Variations

• Change your flakes: Quick-cooking oats are an easy choice for recipes like this one, but any similarly rolled grain will work just as well. Bulk and health food stores sell a range of flaked grains, including wheat, rye, barley, buckwheat, quinoa and amaranth. Those last three aren’t technically grains, which means they contain different nutrients (and quinoa and amaranth contain complete proteins) as well as giving different flavors. If you find that the flakes are too large and chewy, pulse them a few times in a blender or food processor to make them more “bar-friendly.”
• Go fruity: The marmalade brings a pleasant hint of fruitiness to these breakfast bars, but doubling down makes them special. It’s simple: just add about a half-cup of your favorite dried or freeze-dried fruits or berries to the oat mixture before you press it into the pan. Raisins, dates, dried cranberries or blueberries, and dried apples or apricots are all good choices and easy to find. Larger fruit should be cut into small, raisin-sized pieces. Tip: use an oiled paring knife or scissors to keep the fruit from sticking.
• Treat yourself: Despite their high fiber, the butter and sugar mean that these bars are halfway between genuine health food and cookies. You can definitely up the “treat factor,” if that’s how you roll, with some add-ins. Good-quality chocolate chips or other baking chips, mini-marshmallows or any other small candy that might work in this format. Drizzle the bars with chocolate or caramel, or even dip them in chocolate (follow the instructions in our chocolate-dipped brownies recipe, if you’ve never done this before).

How to Store Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

Breakfast oatmeal bars should be stored in an airtight container with a tight-fitting lid. If you live in a humid climate, wrapping the bars individually in wax paper or parchment paper before packing them into a container can help keep them from sticking together.

How long will my oatmeal breakfast bars keep?

They’re good for about a week at room temperature in an airtight container. Heating them gently at low temperature in the toaster oven can help refresh them toward the end of their storage life. Watch them carefully to keep them from scorching because of their sugar content.

Can I freeze my breakfast bars?

Yes, you can. Freeze the bars on a sheet pan and then pack them into bags or freezer-safe containers for storage. Wrapping them individually is optional, but it can extend their storage life. Plan to use them up within 1 to 3 months, depending how well they’re packaged. They may attract condensation if thawed at room temperature, especially in humid climates. It’s best to thaw tomorrow’s breakfast bar overnight in the fridge.

Oatmeal Breakfast Bar Tips

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What other add-ins could I try with these bars?

Aside from the fruit and sweet add-ins that we’ve already discussed, there are plenty of other potential add-ins. You might swap the walnuts for pecans or slivered almonds, for example, or add your choice of pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Chia, flax seed or hemp hearts add fiber and heart-healthy fats. Check out our range of energy bar recipes for inspiration, or possibly a second favorite to alternate with these bars in the mornings.

Are these oatmeal breakfast bars gluten-free?

None of the ingredients naturally contain gluten, but oats are often processed in facilities that mill other grains and can become cross-contaminated. If you choose oats that are certified gluten-free, and check the labels of the other ingredients just to be on the safe side, you should be fine.

How can I make my breakfast bars healthier?

As a rule there are two ways to make recipes healthier: by adding ingredients, or taking them out. Nuts, seeds, other grains and protein upgrades (whether that be a higher-protein grain like quinoa, or a protein powder mixed into the dry ingredients) are all things you can add. Butter and sugar are the obvious candidates for removal. You can replace the melted butter with an equal quantity of a healthier oil, for instance. Sugar is trickier, because it helps give the bars texture. A commercial brown sugar/artificial sweetener blend is one option, or you could try a liquid sweetener like honey, maple syrup or rice syrup. Be prepared for a bit of experimentation until you get the texture right.