Are oat breakfast bars good for you?

Oat Breakfast Bars can be a healthy food choice when made with real-food ingredients, such as oats, fruit, and nuts.

Are breakfast bars enough for breakfast?

Breakfast bars, whether homemade or store-bought, tend to be on the lower side of calories for what is sufficient for a typical breakfast. We suggest serving these breakfast bars with nutritious toppings, such as yogurt, a drizzle of nut butter, and additional nuts or fruit. Or, you could enjoy one of these breakfast bars on the go along with 2 hard-boiled eggs or a carton of yogurt for a well-rounded healthy breakfast that contains many of the nutrients people need to start their day, including fiber, protein, potassium, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C.

What is the difference between a granola bar and a breakfast bar?

A breakfast bar is typically made with whole-grain ingredients and fruit, as is intended to be part of a healthy breakfast. Whereas a granola bar is typically a sweeter type of bar that is served as a snack.

How many calories are in an oatmeal breakfast bar?

This recipe for Oatmeal Breakfast Bars contains 200 calories per bar, and they’re made from all real-food ingredients. Prepackaged breakfast bars typically contain between 190 and 300 calories per bar.

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars with Wild Blueberries

Servings: 9 servings 1x

Ingredients

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup gluten-free flour blend*
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon fine salt
1 medium bananas (yellow or spotted brown), mashed (½ cup)**
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (may substitute melted coconut oil)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
⅔ cups chopped walnuts, divided
1 cup frozen wild blueberries, divided***

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9×9 baking dish with cooking spray or oil or line with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Give it a quick stir and set aside.
In another bowl, mix together the mashed banana, eggs, melted butter, maple syrup, and vanilla until well combined.
Add the banana mixture to the oat mixture along with ½ cup of walnuts, and stir until combined.
Gently fold in 3/4 cup of frozen blueberries (fold just a few times so as not to discolor the bars).
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared baking dish, then top with the remaining wild blueberries and walnuts, pressing the toppings gently into the batter.
Bake for 22-26 minutes or until the center is baked through and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes or overnight before cutting into 9 squares.
Bars can be eaten handheld or with a fork. If desired, top servings with a dollop of yogurt or nut butter and additional banana slices, blueberries, walnuts, and cinnamon.

Notes

These two tips will help ensure your breakfast bar batter doesn’t turn too dark from the wild blueberries:
1) When you add the wild blueberries to the batter, fold them in very gently so they don’t discolor the bars
2) Keep the wild blueberries in your freezer until just right before you add them to the batter, which also helps prevent the juice from the blueberries bleeding into the bars and making them appear too dark

*Our favorite gluten-free flour blends for baking are Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Flour and King Arthur Measure for Measure. Regular all-purpose flour may also be used if you don’t need breakfast bars that are gluten-free
**You may sub ½ cup applesauce of the mashed banana
***Find wild blueberries in the freezer case, and look for the word “wild” on the package

Nutrition Information

Serving Size: Per bar (1/9th of recipe)
Calories: 206
Fat: 9 g
(Sat Fat: 3 g)
Sodium: 210 mg
Carbohydrate: 26 g
(Fiber: 3 g
Sugar: 7 g)
Protein: 4 g
Cholesterol: 41 mg

Dietary

Gluten-free Vegetarian

Recipe By: Stacie Hassing