No-Bake Granola Bars (Vegan Recipe) - Elavegan (2024)

FAQs

Why do my no bake granola bars fall apart? ›

Homemade granola bars are best when stored in the fridge or cooler areas of your kitchen (like a dark pantry). I keep mine in the fridge. Remember that the sticky glue holding these together is made with butter, which has a low melting point. So once these bars warm up, they fall apart more easily.

Honey or maple syrup

These natural sweeteners also help bind the bars together, and make these bars deliciously sweet (though not too sweet). Or, make date paste from fresh Medjool dates.

Egg-free and vegan — Substitute 2 “flax eggs.” To make enough flax egg mixture for this recipe, mix 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (or flaxseed meal) with 5 tablespoons water. Let set for 5-10 minutes before adding to the recipe. (Bonus: Using flaxseed will help your bars stick together even more tightly.)

While there are several different sticky ingredients that you can use, we've found that the binding agent that works the best is honey! When added to your homemade granola bars, honey acts as glue that sticks all the pieces together.

Honey: Since it's a granola bar, refined sugar is not used in the recipe as it's meant to be healthy. So to provide appropriate sweetness, honey is used. Also, honey acts as the primary binding agent.

Clumpy Granola Method: Add Whole Wheat and Almond Flour

First, it adds a combo of whole wheat flour and almond flour (or almond meal), which act as a binder to hold the oat mixture together. Second is the bakeware. This recipe opts for a 9×13-inch baking pan instead of the standard rimmed sheet pan.

They save well (wrap and freeze them for up to two months), are more affordable than store-bought bars, and don't contain the long list of unpronounceable ingredients. Plus, your kitchen will smell like a bakery while these granola bars bake. Ahhhh.

Glycerin, a common ingredient in all high-protein bars, helps to reduce water activity, keeps the dough pliable and less sticky and helps to maintain bar softness during shelf life.

Make sure that whichever granola recipe you use, it calls for some liquid, typically oil of some kind (I recommend olive oil for a subtle earthy, floral flavor, or melted unrefined coconut oil for subtly coconutty flavor). The liquid will help the chia seeds to gel, ensuring the granola sticks together.

Pumpkin seeds (also called pepitas) are boiled and then blended with seasoning into a batter. Then just pour it into a hot pan and cook it up! This makes a vegan scramble that is fluffy, creamy, and super delicious. It's also low in calories and high in protein.

Can I use Greek yogurt instead of eggs? ›

Yogurt. For this egg substitute, use 1/4 cup per egg. If you need to avoid dairy, you can use thick Greek-style plant-based yogurts. Most other non-dairy yogurts might be too thin to substitute for eggs in baking, so keep this in mind.

Binders are any ingredient that can help a mixture hold its shape or remain bound together. Traditional binding agents include flour and eggs. The most commonly used food binder is flour. Flour is created by grinding raw grains or roots into a powder and then served in diverse cuisines.

Just like chia seeds, flaxseeds can form a gel and act as a binder. 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal mixed with 3 tablespoons of water or the wet ingredients replaces 1 egg. As flaxseed meal is the powdered form, you can also just add the flaxseed meal to the dry ingredients.

If your granola bars are falling apart or seem too crumbly, here are a few tips. Make sure you use honey or another sticky sweetener such as maple syrup in the liquid part of the recipe; this recipe calls for honey. This will help bind together the ingredients and keep that signature bar shape.

If you've glanced at other no-bake cookie recipes then you'll see how important it is to boil the sugar mixture long enough which will help the cookies to set. Boiling too long will cause the cookies to be dry and crumbly. However, if you don't boil long enough the cookies will not set and will be runny.

You need to stir the granola as it bakes to encourage even toasting. But, about halfway through the total bake time, just let it be. As the sugars caramelize, they cause the ingredients to stick together and eventually form those oh-so-desirable clusters.