Crispy Honey Nut Granola Bars
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Don’t let their wholesome look fool you—these granola bars are seriously good. Golden, nutty, and packed with oats and dried fruit, they come together quickly with just a handful of pantry staples.
I’ve tried more homemade granola bar recipes than I can count, but this crispy, crunchy version packed with oats, nuts, coconut, and dried fruit is the one I keep coming back to. It’s the kind of snack I love having on hand for busy mornings, road trips, or something to grab with coffee in the afternoon.
The secret ingredient? Rice Krispies. They give the bars a light, crisp texture that lands somewhere between a crunchy granola bar and a chewy Rice Krispie Treat. Feel free to mix and match ingredients based on what you have in the pantry—this recipe is super flexible and always turns out great.
“Exactly what I was searching for—crunchy and delicious, but not too sweet. The perfect healthy snack.”
What You’ll Need To Make Crispy Honey Nut Granola Bars
- Old-fashioned oats & crisp rice cereal: The crunchy, crispy base of the bars—oats add chew and heartiness, while the cereal lightens things up and brings a little crispiness.
- Walnuts, almonds, dried fruit & shredded coconut: This combo brings crunch, chew, sweetness, and a hint of tropical flavor. Use whatever mix you like—just aim for a balance of textures.
Pro Tip: If your dried fruit is very firm (especially dried apricots or cherries), soak it in warm water for 5 minutes, then drain and pat dry. It’ll keep the texture tender and pleasant. - Honey, brown sugar, butter & vanilla: These bind the bars and add flavor, making them sweet and buttery with just the right amount of richness.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Ingredients
Step 1: Toast the dry ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the oats, walnuts, and almonds on a foil-lined baking sheet and toast for 7 minutes. Add the shredded coconut, toss well, and return to the oven for another 4 to 5 minutes, keeping a close eye so the coconut turns golden but doesn’t burn.
Step 2: Make the honey mixture. While the oats and nuts are toasting, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk and bring to a rapid boil, then turn off the heat and set aside.
Pro Tip: Warm your honey jar in a bowl of hot water before measuring—it pours more easily and won’t cling to the measuring cup as much.
Step 3: Mix everything together. Once the oat mixture is out of the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 300°F. In a large bowl, combine the toasted oat mixture, honey mixture, rice cereal, and dried fruit. Stir until evenly coated.
Step 4: Press and bake. Transfer the mixture to a foil-lined baking dish, and use a rubber spatula to spread and press it into an even layer. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cool completely in the pan, 1 to 1½ hours.
Step 5: Slice. Use the foil overhang to lift the bars out, then slice into rectangles with a large, sharp knife. Keep the bars in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. For longer storage, freeze up to 3 months.
Make Them Your OWn
These granola bars are easy to customize—just keep the ratio of wet to dry ingredients the same, and you can mix and match to your heart’s content. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Nuts: Swap in pecans, cashews, peanuts, or pistachios
- Seeds: Use pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, or flax seeds in place of some of the nuts
- Dried fruit: Mix it up each time you make these—cranberries, chopped apricots, cherries, blueberries, currants, or raisins
- Add-ins for kids (or you): Sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top once the bars are pressed into the pan (mixing them in will melt them)
- Flavor twists: A pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, or orange zest will add a different layer of flavor to the mix
Homemade Granola Bars Video Tutorial
More Nutritious oat Recipes you May like
Crispy Honey Nut Granola Bars
These homemade granola bars are everything the store-bought kind wishes they were—perfect for busy mornings, afternoon pick-me-ups, or stashing in your bag for a snack on the go.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- ⅔ cup shredded unsweetened coconut (available at Whole Foods or natural food markets)
- ½ cup honey
- 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon plus ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup crisp rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies
- ¾ cup dried fruit, such as cranberries, diced apricots, blueberries, currants, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil.
- Spread the oats, walnuts and almonds onto the prepared baking sheet. Place in the oven and toast for 7 minutes. Add the coconut and toss well with a rubber spatula, then place back in the oven to cook for 4 to 5 minutes more. Keep an eye on it towards the end; you want the coconut to turn golden but not burn.
- In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract and salt in a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Whisk and bring to a rapid boil, then turn off the heat and set aside.
- Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300°F. Combine the oat mixture, honey mixture, rice cereal, and dried fruit in a large bowl and toss well. (Reserve the aluminum foil.)
- Use the reserved foil to line a 9x13-inch baking dish, then spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Turn the granola bar mixture out into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly, patting down with a spatula. Be sure the heat is reduced to 300°F, then bake until lightly golden, 20 to 23 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely, 1 to 1½ hours. Use the foil overhang to transfer the bars to a cutting board, then use a large, sharp knife to cut into rectangles. Store the bars in a single layer in an airtight container, or wrap the bars individually in aluminum foil, for up to a week at room temperature.
- Note: You can swap in your favorite nuts and seeds as long as you keep the proportions of dry to wet ingredients the same. On occasion, I’ll sprinkle some chocolate chips over top for the kids (you can't mix them in or they'll melt).
- Note: Be sure your oven is fully preheated before toasting nuts; the initial blast of heat to preheat the oven can burn them.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The granola bars can be frozen for up to 3 months. Let them cool completely and store in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove them from the container and let them come to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (16 servings)
- Serving size: 1 bar
- Calories: 140
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated fat: 3g
- Carbohydrates: 19g
- Sugar: 12g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 2g
- Sodium: 60mg
- Cholesterol: 4mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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These are the best! I’ve been looking for a granola bar that tastes similar to the Kashi granola bars I used to love – lots of the good stuff, not too sweet. These are exactly that! I can pack a few in the car while running errands and I’m good to go. I’ve shared the recipe with others who have asked for it after I shared some bars.
These bars are fabulous in all ways! I followed the recipe as written, only I put parchment paper over the aluminum foil and that worked perfectly. Thank you, this is a keeper!
This is a fantastic recipe! I think I may have cooked them too long because they are hard to cut. Also, I was wondering if you can add a nut butter to the melted ingredients to boost the protein? Also, if you add the nut butter, would you need to add an egg white after mixing the dry and wet ingredients to make sure the bars stay together? Thanks again for another winning recipe!
Hi Heidi, I have a wonderful peanut butter granola bar in my first cookbook. I’m happy to email it you if you’d like; just send a request to jennifer@onceuponachef.com.
Made these again using honey and they held together beautifully 😋 out of the three versions I’ve made from your recipes we can’t decide which we like best. Need to go through and make them again. Thanks Jenn. Btw we’re in Australia and all your recipes are new to us 😉
😊
Mine fell apart 😔 still delicious though. Will def be baking again, maybe maple syrup doesn’t hold as well as honey 🤷♀️
LOVE this recipe. Have been looking for a breakfast bar I can grab on the go and now I have a way to use up all the small dribs and drabs of nuts and seeds and dried fruit in the pantry. Thank you!
Great recipe. Turned out just the right texture. I’ve been searching for this recipe for years!
Best oat bars. It’s my first time making it and it came out well.
The granola bars turned out great and will be making them again and again. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
I’ve made a couple different granola bar recipes recently and mine seem to have difficulty binding when cooled. They’re crumbly. I used 1/2 cup honey and 1/3 cup peanut butter as the binder with 2 cups oats and 1 cup nuts. Not sure why they don’t bind. Any advice before I make your recipe? I need something that holds together well for my 5 yr old granddaughter to hold without it crumbling into pieces.
Hi Jody, Would you be open to trying a peanut butter granola bar? I have a wonderful recipe in my first cookbook (that’s not crumbly at all) that I’m happy to share with you. You might also try this recipe — they are a bit chewier than these and hold together really well.
To create the solid bar, BEFORE placing the mix back in the oven for the last round, using the bottom of a measuring cup (or anything like) give a quick swipe over butter so that no granola stick to the cup, press the granola flat. Once the whole tray has been done, continue with the rest of the instructions.
Excellent recipe!!! Used what I had on-hand which meant chocolate-sea salt oatmeal, coco puffed riced cereal, sweetened coconut, and chopped cashews in place of the slivered almonds. I cut the brown sugar to 1 TBSP to negate the sweetness from the coconut. These were so good, eaten by family and friends at once for dessert along with fresh fruit. I can imagine making a sweet/savory combo might be good as well with rosemary and raisins leaving out the sugar. Will try that next. Thanks Jen!!