Homemade Chewy Vegan Granola Bars

Homemade soft and chewy vegan granola bars you’ll want to make on repeat! They’re easy to prepare and completely customizable since you choose the add-ins. They come together quickly and are perfect for any time of day, lunchboxes, or after-school snacks.

They’re kid-friendly, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free (unless you want to add nuts!), and once you try them, you’ll forget all about store-bought versions.

You know those store-bought things we often turn to for convenience because we think they're too hard to make ourselves or will take a lot of time? Granola bars were one of those things for me (are they for you?).

But I'm telling you today that you don't have to buy them at the store anymore. Just gather a few ingredients, add whatever mix-ins you love, and you'll be on your way to the most delicious homemade vegan granola bars that make the perfect vegan snacks.

They're soft, chewy, and what you’ll love is that they can be different every time you make them. Same base, different add-ins.

You'll also love how simple they are to make, and as I mentioned, once you make them, store-bought granola bars will be a thing of the past!

This Is What You'll Need

Helpful Ingredient Tips and Swaps

(NOTE: Only ingredients with special notes are listed below. The full ingredient list can be found in the recipe card.)

Rolled Oats - Only use old-fashioned rolled oats. Steel-cut oats and quick-cooking / instant oats / quick oats cannot be used because they will prevent these vegan snack bars from having the right texture.

Oat Flour - Either store-bought oat flour or homemade oat flour can be used. If you're grinding oats to make the oat flour yourself, make sure to sift it to remove any hard bits. Skipping this step will cause the bars not to hold together well. After sifting, then weigh/measure it.

Brown Rice Syrup - This is a very important ingredient in this vegan granola bar recipe. It helps to hold the bars together, keep them soft and chewy, and it also helps to sweeten them a little (the maple syrup does the heavy lifting when it comes to sweetening, though!).

It cannot be replaced with more maple syrup. Look for it online, in natural food stores, or in the organic or natural food section of your grocery store. Find a link to the brand I use in the recipe card.

Spices - You'll need a little cinnamon and nutmeg. Nutmeg can be left out if you don't like it or have it.

Melted Coconut Oil - Use either refined or unrefined coconut oil. If you use unrefined, your bars will have a slight coconut flavour, so use refined if you want to avoid this. This ingredient also helps to keep the bars soft and chewy.

Add-Ins - Use a total of 1 cup of add-ins and choose whatever you like! For the bars in the pictures here, I used ¼ cup each of unsweetened shredded coconut, dark chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and sunflower seeds.

You don't have to use four as I did, you can use just 1, 2 or 3, if you'd like, it's up to you! See below for more ideas.

Let's Go Through the Steps

(Note: I’ve outlined the step-by-step here, but find the full recipe, ingredients, and directions in the recipe card at the end of this post.)

After the bars have sat for a while, using the parchment overhang, remove from the baking pan and slice into 12 pieces. You can slice into squares or rectangles as I've done.

Don't wait too long to slice them, they should still be warm.

A Few More Tips...

• Measure and have all your ingredients ready to go before starting. This will make the process run smoothly, quickly, and easily.
• Measure your ingredients correctly. Please read my article about how to measure flour correctly. I highly recommend using a scale and my weight measurements to make this recipe. (See the "Suggested Equipment" section in the recipe card for the scale I use and recommend.)
• Use room temperature ingredients. Since you’re using melted coconut oil, make sure your brown rice syrup and maple syrup are at room temperature before starting to prevent the oil from solidifying when they come into contact.
• Read this post from top to bottom before you start. I’ve shared all my testing tips to help you get the best results. Be sure to also read the full recipe and notes before you start.
• Follow the recipe exactly as it’s written for the very best results.

After You Make Them...

Please come back and tell me everything! How did they turn out? How do you like them? What add-ins did you use? Leave a comment and rating below, and/or post a photo of your plant-based granola bars on Instagram and tag me so I can see them. (I'm @delightfuladventures on Instagram).