These baked oatmeal bars are not your average breakfast squares. Inside you’ll find a moist, creamy interior, brimming with breakfast-friendly sweetness.
The Answer to a Grab-And-Go Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal Bars
These oven baked oatmeal bars, packed with banana and chocolate chips, will save you time in the morning, when you’re running late or just need to hand something off to the kids as they run out the door.
I am a big fan of oatmeal in the morning, but sometimes it’s just not possible to make that happen, especially when it comes to making steel cuts oats. I have also found, not everyone has always shared my enthusiasm for starting their day with a bowl of oats. But, I’ve never had anyone (yet) turn down one of these rustic, chewy bars.
If your kids are searching for a baking project, I highly recommend having them make these baked oatmeal bars for a guaranteed success. It’s pretty hard to mess them up.
Using Old-Fashioned Oats vs. Quick Cooking Oats for Oatmeal Bars
One of the best things about these oatmeal bars are their chewy, nutty texture, which comes from using thicker and heartier old-fashioned oats.
Instant or quick-cooking oats disintegrate quickly during the baking process and do not contribute to the kind of texture you’re expecting in an oatmeal based baked good.
In my own kitchen, I only keep old-fashioned rolled oats on hand. If for some reason I needed quick cooking oats, a few pulses in the food processor turns rolled oats into quick-cooking oats by making them smaller, that’s the only difference.
Recipe Notes
If you’re not a fan of chocolate chips (what?), you can easily replace them with something else, such as any type of dried fruit, nuts or other flavored chips such as cinnamon or white chocolate. It’s totally up to you.
The ripeness of your bananas is going to have an effect on how sweet your oatmeal bars turn out. It’s time to use up those brown bananas on the counter and make these bars!
Honey in this recipe can be substituted with 100 percent maple syrup (not pancake syrup). I love using local blackberry honey for this recipe when it’s available to me.
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Tools You’ll Need
- 8 x 8 baking pan
- parchment paper – this 10 x 10 size will give the right amount of pan overhang you’re looking for
- mixing bowls
- Danish whisk – not necessary, but I love mixing up any type of batter with this
If you happen to be enjoying one of these bars at home, a little maple syrup poured on top is not a bad thing.
More Grab and Go Breakfast Items
Make your mornings easier with having a few of these ready to go for those days when you need a helping hand.
- portion out baggies of this apple cinnamon granola to send with your favorite yogurt…don’t forget a spoon
- when summer hits and you’ve got a bumper crop of zucchini, make this zucchini honey loaf and wrap up individual slices to send in the car with coffee
- thirty minutes is all it takes to make these mason jars full of banana, almond and chocolate chip oats and presto, breakfast is served in the car or at the office
- grab-n-go bakery-style strawberry muffins are the best consolation to running late and having to eat on the run – they are crazy good with their crumbly tops
- don’t wait until fall to make pumpkin crumb coffee cake, it’s absolutely the best any day of the year
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Baked Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients
- 3 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 2 tsps ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 3 bananas, smashed
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease and line a baking pan (8 x 8) with parchment paper. (Make sure the parchment paper hangs over the side of the pan so can easily lift the bars out of the pan.)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, chocolate chips, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine smashed bananas (smash with a fork into a chunky puree), milk, eggs, honey and vanilla. Mix well. Add to the oats mixture and combine until well incorporated.
- Pour oat mixture into prepared baking dish and bake for 45 minutes or until edges are golden and the center is set.
- Cool completely before lifting out of the pan and slicing into nine squares.
Notes
Nutrition
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