Granola Bars with Dates

Sliced oat granola bars in a square metal pan on a tile table.

A simple no-bake granola bar held together with a date paste made in the food processor. Perfect chewy and healthy lunch box bars!

Prep Time15

Cook Time0

Fridge Time30

Total Time45

Servings: granola bars

Author: Danika Vanderpyl

Equipment

1 8x8 pan
1 food processor

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup almonds or other nuts, or pumpkin seeds
¼ cup hemp hearts
1 tablespoon chia seeds
½ teaspoon sea salt

Wet Ingredients

1 ½ cup pitted dates, loosely packed
3 tablespoons coconut oil or soft butter
1 tablespoons vanilla

Instructions

Place the pitted dates in a glass measuring cup and pour hot water over them so they become soft. Let them sit for 5-10 minutes.
In a food processor pulse the rolled oats, almonds, hemp hearts, chia seeds, and sea salt. After about 20-30 seconds or so it will look like coarse sand, with some chunks. Place this in a mixing bowl.
Drain the water from the soaking dates. Place the dates, coconut oil or butter, and vanilla in the food processor and blend until you get a paste, about 40 seconds to 1 minute. Use a spatula to scrap all the date mixture out of the food processor and into the bowl of oats and almonds. Mix well, even kneading with your hands, until a dough forms with no dry spots.
Place the dough into an 8x8 pan and press into the corners of the pan. Place the pan into the fridge for 30 minutes and then cut into bars (I cut them 3 by 6 for 18 bars).

Notes

For step-by-step photos scroll up into the blog post.

If you get crumbly granola bar dough: After using your hands to knead the dough and it feels crumbly, you can add more soaked dates or one teaspoon of water at a time until the dough comes together. This can happen as dates can be hard to get an accurate measurement of.

Nut-free: To make these into nut-free granola bars use more oats or pumpkin seeds (pepitas) instead of almonds. Or make these pumpkin seed granola bars.

Gluten-free: Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats to confirm these date granola bars are gluten-free.

Storage: Keep the date granola bars in a sealed container in the fridge and enjoy within 2 weeks.

Nutrition