Out of all the recipes published on my website, I make these peanut butter banana chocolate chip oatmeal bars most often. A one-bowl recipe, these healthy snack bars are naturally gluten free, adaptable to many different ingredients, soft-baked, incredibly flavorful, and very easy to make. When packed with chocolate chips, you can count them among your favorite gluten-free dessert recipes, too!
Truly one of my favorite homemade snacks, these peanut butter banana oatmeal bars have made their rounds in my kitchen for nearly 10 years. Sometimes I change the recipe based on the ingredients I have and they still manage to turn out wonderfully! Satisfying your sweet tooth and unbelievably easy to make, these healthy oatmeal bars should definitely be on your to-bake list. I can’t get enough.
These Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Bars Are:
- super easy and quick
- mega flavorful and wholesome, just like peanut butter banana muffins
- gluten free
- vegan if using dairy-free chocolate
- filled with healthful ingredients*
- soft-baked and moist
- adaptable to what you have on hand
- freezer-friendly
*Ok ok I know chocolate chips aren’t necessarily healthy but they’re good for the soul! And, of course, they’re totally optional, so feel free to leave them out. Either way, these are a prime choice if you’re on the lookout for healthier dessert recipe ideas.
Ingredients in Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Bars
Over the years I’ve tested a lot of ingredient substitutions for these oatmeal bars. Read about the ingredients and any substitutions below:
- Bananas: You need about 3 medium or 2 large ripe bananas for 1 cup (230g) of mashed bananas. Want to turn these into pumpkin peanut butter bars? Swap canned pumpkin puree for the mashed banana. If you’re not a fan of banana, my recipe for peanut butter oatmeal bars is very similar but without banana in the ingredient list.
- Peanut Butter: I used to make these peanut butter oatmeal bars with 1/3 cup of peanut butter, but recently switched it to 1/2 cup for more flavor. You can use any nut butter you want, natural, homemade, or processed. Same options go for these flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies, too.
- Coconut Sugar or Brown Sugar: I love making these with unrefined coconut sugar. You can use brown sugar instead, but I don’t recommend liquid sweetener.
- Applesauce: I used to make these with an egg, but found that unsweetened applesauce works like a charm instead of the egg. You can, of course, use an egg or even a “flax egg” substitute. See my recipe notes below.
- Almond Milk or Regular Milk: I usually make these with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but any milk works.
- Vanilla Extract & Cinnamon: Both add flavor.
- Oats: Whole oats or quick oats work here. I recommend whole oats for a little more texture. Use certified gluten free oats if necessary.
- Baking Powder: Baking powder adds lift.
- Salt: Salt balances the other flavors.
- Chocolate Chips: If you want to make these bars vegan, you can skip the chocolate or use dairy-free chocolate chips instead. You can also skip the chocolate chips or replace with peanut butter chips, chopped nuts, or raisins.
Easy Way to Mash Bananas
This trick for mashing bananas is a total game changer whenever I make banana muffins, breakfast cookies, and banana bread. Just use your mixer! Peel and break your spotty bananas into chunks, place in your mixer, and beat until mashed. Beat the rest of the wet ingredients right into this bowl. So easy.
Mixing Bowl to Oven in 10 Minutes
After you mash the bananas, beat in the rest of the ingredients. This is a 1 bowl recipe! If you don’t have a mixer, you can mash the bananas with a fork, then just stir in the rest of the ingredients. Line a 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, then spread the batter into the lined pan. Give it a taste—the batter itself is SO DARN GOOD.
The bars take about 25–30 minutes to bake. Remove them from the oven, then let them cool completely. I usually cool them on the counter for 30 minutes, then place the whole pan in the refrigerator for 1–2 hours. Without refrigeration, the bars don’t cut as neatly.
What’s the Texture Like?
So what’s the texture of these peanut butter banana oatmeal bars like? Following the recipe, bake time, and cooling instructions below, the bars are somewhere between baked oatmeal and a soft granola bar. They’re very moist, but maintain their bar shape when you’re holding/biting into one. I recommend storing them in the refrigerator.
See more of my egg-free baking recipes and gluten-free recipes. If you sweet tooth is calling, here are 20+ healthy dessert recipes and 40+ gluten-free dessert recipes, too.
More Healthy Favorites
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Whole Wheat Banana Muffins
- Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- Greek Yogurt Zucchini Bread
- Vanilla Almond Granola
- No-Bake Chocolate Fudge Oat Bars
Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: 16 bars
- Category: Bars
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These quick and easy peanut butter banana oatmeal bars are adaptable in many different ways. See my blog post above and recipe notes below. They’re a more solid form of my delicious baked oatmeal.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (230g) mashed bananas (about 3 medium or 2 large ripe bananas)
- 1/2 cup (125g) creamy or crunchy peanut butter*
- 1/4 cup (50g) coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (45g) unsweetened applesauce*
- 1/2 cup (120ml) almond milk (or any nondairy milk)
- 2 and 1/2 cups (213g) old-fashioned whole oats or quick oats (not instant)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (180g) semi-sweet chocolate chips (use dairy free for vegan)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper with enough overhang on the sides to easily remove the bars from the pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, mash the bananas. On medium speed, beat or whisk in the remaining ingredients in the order listed. Batter will be a little thick, but still pourable.
- Pour/spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 25-28 minutes or until the center is set (it will still look relatively soft!).
- Remove from the oven and cool in the pan at room temperature for 30-60 minutes. After that, place the pan in the refrigerator for 1 hour until chilled. The bars are difficult to cut if they haven’t been chilled.
- Remove bars from the pan using the overhang on the sides then cut into bars. Sometimes I drizzle melted peanut butter over each, but that’s optional. (Note: the parchment paper is always a little moist from soaking up some moisture from the bars.)
- Cover leftover bars tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze squares in single layers between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowl | 9-inch Square Baking Pan
- Peanut Butter: You can use any nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew) you want—natural, homemade, or processed.
- Applesauce: I used to make these bars with 1 egg instead of the applesauce, but love their flavor with applesauce a bit better. You can, of course, use an egg instead or even use a flax egg substitute. Flax egg = mix 1 Tbsp ground flax with 3 Tbsp warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes while it “gels” up. Use the “flax gel” as a replacement for the applesauce/egg.
- Oats: Use certified gluten free oats to ensure the bars are gluten free.
- Chocolate Chips: You can skip the chocolate chips or replace with peanut butter chips, chopped nuts, or raisins. Or use a combination of any of those add-ins.
- Vegan: Use dairy-free chocolate chips and nondairy milk to ensure the bars are vegan.
- Gluten Free: Make sure your oats are certified gluten free to ensure these bars are gluten free.
How does this turn out if I use a runny natural peanut butter? Should I use less or just not use that type of PB?
Hi Jordan, natural peanut butter will work just fine in this recipe. Same amount. Enjoy!
To make this recipe, you don’t have to soak The oats in milk like your blueberry recipe
Hi MAD, soaking the oats is not necessary here. Simply mix in with the other ingredients in Step 2. Enjoy!
Hi, Sally. I love your recipes and make them often. I have made this one countless times successfully. Unfortunately this time, it is clear after the roll-and-fold step (3 times per the recipe), the butter pieces are still too large. I have essentially many, many chunks of butter that are the size of small marbles throughout the dough, and I suspect this will not bake up well. Do you have any suggestions for salvaging or should I just start over with all new ingredients and make sure to pulse quite a few more times this time?
Hi Andrea, are you referring to our Rough Puff Pastry recipe? Butter chunks are good and will lead to flaky pastry, but marble size may leave holes in your baked pastry. It’s worth a shot to bake, though! There’s no way to break it down any more now that the dough has been combined.
These are excellent and so easy to make. I made the recipe exactly as written. So good!! I love that they have healthier ingredients.
These are tasty! I was surprised by how much we liked them.
We are a sweets-loving family, looking for healthier options, and these were perfect.
Made these in hopes that my son will have a good breakfast to eat in the car when he doesn’t want to wake up on time, lol! Mine came out SUPER soft. I’m not sure if 27 was way too short of a cook or… what. I cooked at room temp for 60 minutes and fridge for about 4 hours. I did have to use dairy milk as I don’t keep non dairy milk on hand, not sure if that hurt the recipe. I plan to try again with an egg instead of applesauce and see if that helps. I have high hopes for this!
Hi Sally… I was intrigued to make these bars as a healthier snack for my son. Had 2 ready bananas and used all ingredients as recipe states. 27 min in oven. Smelled great. BUT texture is way too soft, even after time in refrig. Even though I was happy to save an egg, I think that the egg addition would have been a better binding agent. Too many soft ingredients makes for lack of structure….. And coming out of the refrigerator, they really have to be warmed in the microwave to be edible. Sorry, but this is a HARD pass!
……love your strawberry cream cheese frosting though!
Hi Jocelyn, I found that if you sub in the flax egg instead of applesauce, use sunflower seed or cashew butter instead of peanut butter and pulse / grind the oats a bit more, the texture gets more dense and stays together quite well. My teenagers love these wrapped individually and kept in the fridge for a satisfying grab and go breakfast on school days. Still soft and fresh baked but travel friendly.
Nice recipe. Filling as a breakfast and satisfies a sweet tooth. It’s dense and the chocolate adds a richness that makes it easy to have one and be done.
Want to make these! Totally my kind of ingredients. I have some leftover buttermilk, could I sub buttermilk for almond milk?
We don’t recommend buttermilk in these bars because the tangy flavor likely won’t combine well with the other flavors. Let us know if you give them a try!
Super easy, very forgiving recipe. Thank you so much for sharing it!!! I’ve now made this at least 10 times. I always make a double batch. I leave out the sugar entirely. I add half the amount of chocolate chips (1 cup for a double batch), and I still find it’s sweet enough to enjoy for breakfast (I use almond or coconut milk that is “unsweetened vanilla”, so that likely helps sweeten it). I will be trying out some of your other recipes soon!! Thanks!
I’m wondering about toasting the oats? I should have read the comments because I used frozen banana and they’re very wet. I plan to try these with almond butter and chopped, toasted almonds. This recipe is perfect to help me break my addiction to all your biscotti.
OMG Sally!!! YUMMY!!! Easy peasy recipe and so healthy with the applesauce, oats and almond milk. I did add chips, walnuts and raisins and I think this will be great for our after service Sunday get together. Thank you!
I did end up having enough milk to make these and they were delicious! I omitted the chocolate chips because I didn’t have them, but they still are amazing! I actually make a single serving of pb banana baked oatmeal for breakfast sometimes that’s just like this, so of course these are a hit! They’re my new after dinner snack if I’m hungry. Thanks Sally!
I don’t have enough milk to make this recipe. Could I just omit it?
Hi Kim, we don’t recommend it. It’s best to wait until you have enough milk on hand to make these bars.
Fantastic and a big hit! I’ve been asked to make more!!
My family doesn’t like Peanut Butter cooked in recipes what could you use in replace of it?
Hi Wanda, another nut butter would work great!
Hi! Could I use ground flaxseed in addition to the applesauce to make lactation friendly? If so, how much flaxseed should I use? Thanks!
Hi Taylor, we haven’t tested adding flax to these bars, but other readers have reported adding some without issue!
Hi, this was sooo good!! How many calories are in each bar ?
Thank you
Hi Nina, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I loved this recipe! Great way to use up some very ripe bananas. I added three medium bananas which was a bit more than a cup. My bars are delicious. They came out with the texture of banana bread. Is that the right consistency or did my extra change the texture? I also didn’t need to refrigerate before cutting. My bars were plenty firm, thank you!
Hi Jess, the additional banana may have made bars a bit more bread-like than normal — but not a problem if you enjoyed the end result!
I think I did something wrong. My bars came out very wet to the point where they have a soggy very moist/wet texture? Should I have cooked them longer? I cooked them the required time and they seemed done when I took them out. Otherwise flavor is very good just weird consistency. Thank you!!
Hi Nancy, they could just need a few more minutes in the oven. Did you happen to use frozen bananas? Those can be much more wet than fresh, brown bananas. Thawing and dabbing some of the moisture will help combat this issue.
Wonder if I can substitute thinned greek yogurt for the milk. A ‘yes’ will make the difference between making them NOW and waiting until I get to the store. But I’ll accept whatever you believe to be the right answer.
Hi Ilana! We haven’t tested it, but it could work just fine! For absolute best results we would wait until you have milk on hand.
Love this recipe, thank-you! Just to change it up today I added ground cloves (1 tsp). Loved the result.
These are fantastic! I have been trying out some new recipes in anticipation of back to school and these will be packed in my children’s lunches regularly. I substituted 2 tablespoons raw organic agave syrup for the sugar, used half rolled and half quick oats, reduced the chocolate chips to 1/2 cup, and added 1/2 cup raisins. They turned out perfectly and my raisin hating child didn’t even notice the raisins.
Love this recipe! Is there anyway I can add protein powder?
Hi Hayley, I haven’t tested it so I’m unsure. Let me know if you try anything!
Will these work as a muffin?
Can’t see why not. We’re unsure of the bake time, though.
Do you have nutritional information on these?
Hi Jessica, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
This recipe is a home run! First baking doesn’t get much easier than this. They aren’t overly sweet but they are sweet enough to pass the kid/husband test. I can feed them to my fam as breakfast, snack, or dessert and not feel guilty. Also, they were super easy to make with my four-year-old. I can’t wait to try the pumpkin ones next. I used one egg in lieu of apple sauce because I was out of apple sauce. They held together perfectly and it was a really satisfying use of my very last egg in the house. Thanks, Sally!
Turned out quite soft, but still real good
Excellent! I’ve only tasted this while still warm, but so far sooo good. Now, manage your expectations because these are not cookies or cookie bars. They simply can not taste like something made with butter and wheat. Sometimes you need a delicious treat that isn’t loaded with butter, oil, wheat, or tons of sugar. Or maybe your going vegan for heart health! Whatever the reason you need a treat that is not as decadent as cookies are, this is an excellent option to have in your recipe book! My dad will say it needs raisins – but he likes raisins AND chocolate chips in banana bread! I am going to try it with added walnuts next time!
Love them. This is my second time making these. I add flax and brewers yeast to make them more lactation friendly. Thank you for sharing your recipes. I also appreciate that you use coconut sugar in the recipe. I’m trying to learn how to use it more.
I’m planning to bake a few of your recipes for a mid-morning church function next week, and was thinking of making these bars with pumpkin. Should I use the pumpkin right out of the can or follow the paper towel blotting procedure recommended in another recipe on your site? Also, do you recommend adding any different spices? Thank you!
Hi Maria, we’d recommend following the recipe for these pumpkin oatmeal bars instead! Very similar to these, but pumpkin flavored.
What is the calorie content on each one and the sugar? i am diabetic. thank you
Hi Deondra, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076