Granola Bar Recipe: Your Delicious Snack for Anytime

Homemade granola bars are the perfect choice for anyone who values a conscious diet and enjoys a nutritious snack – whether at work, after a workout, or while traveling. They are not only delicious and nutrient-rich, but we get to decide what goes into them. This way, hidden sweeteners or artificial flavors and preservatives are guaranteed to stay out.

In this post, you'll learn how to easily make granola bars at home, which basic ingredients are essential, how to introduce fruity flavors and the right crunch effect, and why we prefer preparing them with a food dehydrator for the perfect granola bar texture. And of course, we'll share our current favorite granola bar recipe with you.

Granola Bar Recipe: Overview of Topics

• The Right Ingredients and Preparation Tips
• Practical Equipment: Granola Bar Molds and Blender
• Preparation with the Food Dehydrator vs. in the Oven
• Recipe: Chocolate-Banana Granola Bar with Candied Oranges and a Hint of Star Anise

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Granola Bar Recipe: The Right Ingredients and Preparation Tips

Cereal Flakes:

Oats, spelt flakes, rice flakes – cereal flakes are the base of our granola bars. You can either choose just one type or create your favorite mix.
Benefit: They provide fiber and important nutrients.

Nuts & Seeds:

Almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds – these add more bite and a lovely nutty flavor, especially when toasted in the pan before dehydrating.
Benefit: Rich in healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals.

Grains & Seeds:

Hemp seeds, flaxseeds, chia seeds – these are sources of omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients and add variety to the granola bar dough.
Benefit: Hemp seeds, for example, excel with their high protein and essential fatty acid content.

Binding Ingredients:

Nut butter and coconut oil – both ingredients help bind our granola bars. Simply choose your favorite nut butter, such as peanut butter or almond butter, and opt for high-quality cold-pressed coconut oil.
Ripe bananas or fruit puree – these not only give the granola bars a fruity flavor but can also be added as a binding ingredient. Ripe bananas are perfect for this, as they provide banana flavor and act as a natural sweetener.

Fruity Components:

Dates, figs, raisins, or cranberries – dried fruits not only add more essential nutrients to granola bars but also sweetness or a pleasantly sweet-sour note, as in the case of cranberries.
Candied oranges – a small amount can create a culinary wow-effect when combined with chocolate in granola bars. But be careful: sometimes less is more!

Natural Sweetness:

Honey, agave syrup, or maple syrup – you should also use these sparingly, especially if you already use bananas and/or dried fruits as ingredients. You definitely don’t need industrial sugar!

Aromatic Spices:

Vanilla, cinnamon, tonka bean, cardamom, star anise – spices add a special touch to your bars and appeal to your adventurous spirit.
Salt – of course, a good pinch of high-quality rock salt is essential. The counterpart to sweetness makes it perfect.

Optional: Chocolate Drops & Chocolate Coating:

Chocolate – definitely not a must, as granola bars can also turn out wonderfully without this sweet temptation. HOWEVER: Chocolate drops and/or a chocolate coating will certainly add a special culinary effect, especially in combination with bananas and candied fruits, as with our granola bar recipe.

Making Granola Bars: Practical Equipment

In addition to a bowl for finally mixing the granola bar mixture, we use a blender earlier to puree the binding ingredients – nut butter, coconut oil, banana, or fruit puree. We used the Vitamix E310 because it has a narrow-tapering container that is capable of processing smaller quantities of mushy consistencies - starting from about 350 ml. Alternatively, you could just as well use the Wartmann Blender, which is also equipped with a narrow-tapering container.

Wartmann Blender

"All-round blender"

Regular Price: €279.95

Special Price €235.51

More info

Vitamix E310

"Handy all-round mixer"

Regular Price: €549.00

Special Price €456.78

More info

We then place the finished granola bar mixture into a granola bar mold. This is not necessary, but the mold ensures evenly shaped bars.

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Muesli bar mould made from food-grade silicone

€16.90

Granola Bar Recipe: Preparation with the Food Dehydrator vs. in the Oven

You can either bake granola bars in an oven or dry them with a food dehydrator. We briefly present the differences as well as the pros and cons of both methods:

Conclusion: We favor the preparation of granola bars with a dehydrator. Because, in addition to the taste, what matters most to us is the perfect granola bar consistency. The granola bar should be evenly dried and not burnt at any spot. We have successfully made perfect granola bars in the Wartmann Food Dehydrator WM-2206 DH.

Wartmann Food Dehydrator WM-2206 DH

Regular Price: €269.00

Special Price €199.00

More info

The oven is primarily an alternative for those who have little time and prefer a quick preparation of their granola bars.

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Granola Bar Recipe: Chocolate-Banana Granola Bars – with Candied Oranges and a Hint of Star Anise

Whether with the food dehydrator or in the oven – making granola bars is a breeze. And once you’ve discovered how versatile granola bars can be, you’ll enjoy coming up with new combinations! This is how our current favorite granola bar was born: a chocolate-banana granola bar with candied orange pieces and a hint of star anise. We hope you have fun and enjoy trying out our granola bar recipe!

Chocolate Banana Granola Bar

With candied oranges and a hint of star anise

Prep Time 15 Min

Perform Time 14:00 Hours

Total Time 14:15 Hours

Amount 15 bars

Calories 1729 kcal

Cuisine granola bar

Author Carla from GrueneSmoothies.eu

5 / 5 out of 1 Reviews

 

Ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas peeled
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• 100 g rolled oats
• 70 g chopped nuts of your choice e.g. almonds and hazelnuts
• 20 g hemp seeds
• 20 g amaranth pops
• 20 g ground flaxseeds
• 50 g chocolate drops
• 1 tbsp candied oranges or to taste
• 1 g fresh ginger peeled
• 1/2 vanilla pod
• 1 pinch sea salt or to taste
• 1 pinch Ceylon cinnamon or to taste
• 2 pinches ground star anise or to taste
• 50 g dark chocolate for decoration

 

Instruction

1. Put bananas, peanut butter, coconut oil, honey, ginger, vanilla bean pulp, and Ceylon cinnamon into the blender and puree on the highest setting until smooth - use the tamper to push the mixture down towards the blades if needed.
2. Lightly toast the flaxseeds in a mortar and briefly roast the chopped nuts in a pan without oil.
3. Finely chop the candied oranges with a knife.
4. Now combine oats, hemp seeds, amaranth pops, flaxseeds, nuts, and chocolate drops in a bowl and mix. Add salt and blend it with the mixture. Finally, fold in the candied oranges.
5. It's best to fill the granola bar mixture into a granola bar mold. Alternatively, you can spread the mixture in a rectangle on a dehydrator sheet and then place it on a dehydrator rack.
6. Now dry the granola bars at about 70 degrees Celsius for 7 hours. If drying in a granola bar mold, take the bars out, turn them upside down, and place them on a dehydrator rack with a dehydrator sheet for another 7 hours at 70 degrees. If you dried the granola bar mixture without a mold, cut it into bars and continue drying upside down as needed until completely dry.
7. Once the granola bars are entirely dry, remove them from the food dehydrator and let them cool.
8. To decorate the granola bars, melt the dark chocolate in a water bath and mix the melted chocolate with the star anise. Now you can top the granola bars with chocolate to your liking. Place them in the fridge to cool. The granola bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for at least 1 week.
9. Enjoy from the heart!

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