My Fussy Eater | Easy Family Recipes

A family food blog full of healthy and easy recipes for fussy eaters

  • About
    • About Me
    • Contact
    • Work With Me
    • Privacy Policy
    • Website Terms & Conditions
    • Cookie Policy
  • All Recipes
  • By Category
    • 15 Minute Meals
    • 30 Minute Meals
    • One Pot Recipes
    • Hidden Veg Recipes for Fussy Eaters
    • Slow Cooker Recipes
    • Pasta Recipes
    • Airfryer Recipes
  • By Diet
    • Gluten Free
    • Dairy Free Recipes
    • Egg Free
    • Nut Free Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Healthy Made Easy
  • Tips
  • Products
    • Cookbooks
    • APP
    • Pick Plates
Home » Recipes » Nut Free Granola Bars

Nut Free Granola Bars

September 17, 2019 by Ciara Attwell, Updated January 4, 2023

Jump To Recipe Print Recipe

Delicious chewy granola bars made with oats, rice krispies and seeds. Completely nut free and perfect to add to lunch boxes or as an afternoon snack

Nut free granola bars on a wire rack

This year I am working as an ambassador for FareShare, a UK charity fighting hunger and food waste by redistributing surplus food from the food industry to local charities and communities projects.

FareShare supports over 10,000 frontline charities and community groups including homeless shelters, children’s breakfast clubs, lunch clubs for older people and domestic violence refuges.

At this time of year they also support holiday hunger clubs through their #ActivateAte campaign, supplying food to over 400 holiday projects, providing nutritious meals and snacks to 50,000 children.

They really are a fantastic charity that are doing all they can to relieve food poverty and reduce food waste in the United Kingdom, something that is especially prevalent as we enter these times of financial uncertainty.

As part of my work with FareShare I’ve been creating using some of their most commonly redistributed food items.

Today’s recipe is perfect for back-to-school; it’s a delicious and filling granola bar made from oats, rice krispies, dried fruit and seeds.

But it’s completely nut free so great for lunch boxes as well as an after school snack.

A lot of schools and pre-schools these days have a “No Nut Policy” in place in order to protect children with a peanut allergy.

So I’m always looking to come up with safe snacks to send to school!And these chewy bars are perfect.

As well as being nut free, they are packed full of wholesome ingredients and much cheaper than store-bought granola bars too!

What Ingredients Will I Need For The Nut-Free Granola Bars?

  • honey or other liquid sweetener – you could use maple syrup or even brown rice syrup
  • butter – you could use coconut oil as it is safe for those with tree nut allergies as long as they are not allergic to coconut itself.
  • brown sugar
  • oats – you could use whole grain oats
  • Rice Krispies
  • wholemeal flour
  • dried fruit
  • mixed seeds (such as sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and chia seeds)
  • desiccated coconut
  • chocolate chips

The chocolate chips, dried fruit and the mixed seeds in this ingredient list are optional so feel free to leave those out if you like.

ingredients for the nut free granola bars measured out into various coloured bowls

How To Make These Homemade Granola Bars

STEP 1

Add the butter and honey to a microwave bowl and heat gently in the microwave until the ingredients have melted together. You can also do this in a saucepan on the hob.

STEP 2

Add the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl, pour in the wet ingredients of melted butter and honey and mix well.

dry ingredients in a glass mixing bowl

STEP 3

Add the chocolate chips, mix again and then add the mixture to a large square baking dish that is lined with parchment paper. You will need to press down very firmly on the mixture to make it as compact as possible.

The mixture is then baked in the oven for 20 minutes.

granola bar mixture in a square oven proof dish that is lined with parchment paper

STEP 4

The next step is super important. Leave the cooked mixture to cool in the dish and then transfer to the fridge (or freezer) to cool completely. We need the mixture to be cold before cutting into bars to stop it from falling apart.

the cooked bars cooling on a wire rack

Storage Instructions

Once cut, the bars will keep in an airtight container the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for 1 month.

Serve them as delicious and filling snack after school or pop them into lunch boxes too.

You could even serve them as breakfast bars on mornings that you are running short on time or you just want to give the kids something jam packed with natural ingredients!!

Nut Free Granola Bar in a lunch box with fruit and vegetables

If you’d like to learn more about FareShare, their work tackling hunger and food waste and also details on how you can get involved with fundraising and volunteering, head on over to their website now.

And if you do try my nut-free granola bar recipe, please do leave me a comment and a star rating below. You can also share your pictures with me on Instagram.  I always love to see your creations!

Or come and follow us on Facebook where I also share all my latest recipe ideas as well as tips and tricks to get your kids eating better.

Why not join our closed Facebook Group where you can come to ask for help and advice or just share your experiences with other parents.

Print

Nut Free Granola Bars


★★★★★ 5 from 7 reviews
  • Author: Ciara Attwell
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 15 1x
  • Category: Snacks
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: Nut Free
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Description

Delicious chewy granola bars made with oats, rice krispies and seeds. Completely nut free and perfect to add to lunch boxes or as an afternoon snack


Ingredients

  • 100g honey (or other liquid sweetener)
  • 100g butter
  • 25g brown sugar
  • 50ml water
  • 150g porridge oats
  • 30g Rice Krispies
  • 30g wholemeal flour
  • 25g dried fruit (optional)
  • 25g mixed seeds (optional)
  • 10g desiccated coconut (optional)
  • 75g chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c and line a dish with parchment paper. I used an 8×8 inch dish.
  2. Add the honey and butter to a jug and microwave gently until the ingredients have melted. You can also do this in a pan on the hob. Add the sugar and water and mix until all dissolved.
  3. Add the oats, rice krispies, flour, dried fruit, seeds and coconut to a large bowl and mix. Pour in the the melted butter mixture and mix. Finally stir in the chocolate chips.
  4. Transfer this mixture into the prepared dish. Take another piece of parchment paper and use that to push down firmly on the mixture. You need to make it as compact as possible in the dish.
  5. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, leave to cool and then put it in the fridge or freezer for 1 hour. These steps are essential to stop the bars from falling apart.
  6. Remove from the fridge and lift the parchment paper out of the dish and cut into small bars.
  7. Keep in the fridge or freezer.

Notes

  1. It is essential to follow the steps as to cooling and refrigerating the bars to stop them from crumbling and falling apart.
  2. The bars can be stored in the fridge in a container for up to 5 days. They can also be frozen for up to 1 month.
1 Serving20911.8 g23.5 mg7.7 g5 g29.9 g2.7 g3.6 g

If you liked this recipe you may also enjoy:

Nut Free Packed Lunch Fillers for Kids

Or if you are looking for more healthy snacks then head on over to our Snacks For Kids Section. Here you will find heaps of snack recipes that the kids are sure to love.

You can even filter our recipes by other common allergens and not just nut-free options!

All our recipes are family friendly. And use easy to find ingredients that you’ll be able to source from your local grocery store.

Our recipes are easy to follow and don’t require you to be a whizz in the kitchen! So even if you have very little cooking experience, you are sure to find easy to follow recipes. And ones that are sure to become firm family favourites.

Nut Free Granola Bar Recipe

You Might Also Like These Recipes:

  • A super tasty and healthy Chocolate Granola Bar packed with oats, puffed quinoa, nuts and seeds. Great for snacks or for lunch boxes too!
    Chocolate Quinoa Granola Bars

    These super tasty and healthy Chocolate Quinoa Granola Bars are…

  • A quick and easy granola recipe - made in the microwave in just 5 minutes!
    Easy Microwave Granola

    A quick and easy granola recipe - made in the…

  • Delicious energy bars made with homemade sunflower butter, oats, flaxseed and coconut. They are the perfect nut-free snack for kids that can be popped into lunch bags or enjoyed as an after school snack!
    Sunflower Butter Energy Bars

    Delicious energy bars made with homemade sunflower butter, oats, flaxseed…

  • A delicious soft oat bars packed full with sweet strawberries. A tasty and healthy snack for toddlers and older kids!
    Strawberry Oat Bars

    A delicious soft oat bar recipe packed full with sweet…

Filed Under: Egg Free, Nut Free Recipes, Recipes, Snacks For Kids Tagged With: granola bar, nut free, snacks

Comments

  1. Angi says

    September 15, 2022 at 7:28 pm

    Hi, I’ve made these multiple times and they are gorgeous! Can you advise however if these can be made vegan – have you ever tried them (or a similar recipe) with coconut oil? If so, would it be a direct substitute (100g). Looking to make them on Monday

    Reply
    • Vicky says

      September 16, 2022 at 9:53 am

      Hi Angi, we would recommend using Maple syrup as a substitute, please let us know how they turn out. happy cooking.

      Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    August 7, 2022 at 12:10 pm

    Love these!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Vicky says

      August 8, 2022 at 8:15 am

      So pleased you love them and thank you for coming back to leave a review, we look forward to hearing from you again soon. x

      Reply
  3. Victoria says

    November 25, 2021 at 3:32 pm

    Delicious! Made them with dried mango and goji berries.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  4. Emma says

    October 19, 2021 at 3:43 pm

    I absolutely love these – I usually omit the coconut and chocolate and add extra fruit (I usually use raisins, cranberries and apricots) when I do add chocolate my daughter thinks it’s a real treat. She is nearly 3 and this is a great easy recipe to make with her. The hardest part is waiting for it to cool down to eat

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    March 23, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    very good

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  6. Grace says

    April 6, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    SO much yum, these went down a storm with my boys who loved making them!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  7. Janis says

    October 7, 2019 at 10:59 am

    Brilliant nut free snack to put in my sons lunchbox for school. Will be making a batch of these every few weeks now!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  8. Alison says

    September 29, 2019 at 2:33 pm

    These were a big hit! Made a big batch today and now have snacks for school.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  9. Nehal Preet says

    September 23, 2019 at 9:01 am

    Hey, these Nut-free Granola bars are pretty amazing really. I will definitely try this recipe at home for sure. Thanks and Regards.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  10. Amie says

    September 20, 2019 at 1:15 am

    Thank you for this! My son is allergic to nuts, would definitely love to try this. One question, the porridge oats, is it same like rolled oats?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Hi, I'm Ciara! I'm a food writer and cookbook author and I'm always looking for new ways to make food fun and interesting for kids! I specialise in fussy eating and share tips and tricks to get your kids eating better along with lots of family friendly recipes. Read More…

sidebar1

Copyright © 2019 CIARA ATTWELL // MY FUSSY EATER