Chocolate Covered Oatmeal Bars! Chewy salty-sweet oat bars topped with a fudgy layer of fruity chocolate. A favorite easy healthy snack recipe!
You know those moments when you want a snack that screams SNACK? Something wholesome and a little sweet that isn’t fancy and only requires hands to eat. Something on the decadent side of breakfast and the healthy side of dessert. Just perfectly situation in that middle snack zone where we all find ourselves around 3pm.
These are all of that. These are Chocolate Covered Oatmeal Bars. These are what you’re going to be needing to whip up this weekend.
I know I’ve been a little NOT all out on the oat recipes lately, but this one is making up for the past few months in big and delicious ways. We’ve got oats and oat flour and chewy oat texture and an almost-like-baked-oatmeal vibe. Which is why they can pass for breakfast.
But we’ve also got a swirly chocolate coating on top and a superfluous sprinkling of chocolate chips. Which is why they can pass for dessert.
I’m almost certain this chocolate coating is not made how you think. It’s not made of melted chocolate or chocolate hazelnut spread. It is low fat and made of fruit and naturally sweet. It is bananas blended with cacao powder – that’s it. Crazy right?
It bakes and sets into this fudgy amazing layer that compliments the oat-y underneath part perfectly. And if you happen to interpret the nut or seed butter part as USE PEANUT BUTTER, you are in for the delicious trifecta of flavors that is peanut butter + banana + chocolate.
Since I jumped straight to the chocolate on top, let’s back up and talk about the oat base. It’s made of:
- rolled oats
- oat flour
- applesauce
- almond butter (or whatever nut/seed butter you want!)
- flax eggs
- coconut sugar
- vanilla, baking soda, and salt
This is just a super straightforward throw-everything-in-a-bowl-and-mix situation. Not fancy, remember.
Once the oat base is made, dollop the chocolate on top.
And swirl. And chip-sprinkle.
And bake.
Hello beautiful bars (that we should let cool before slicing…but we might not).
So. Damn. Snack-able.
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Chocolate Covered Oatmeal Bars! Chewy salty-sweet oat bars topped with a fudgy layer of fruity chocolate. A favorite easy healthy snack recipe!
Ingredients
- 2 cup (200g) rolled oats
- 1 cup (120g) oat flour
- 3/4 cup (110g) coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 tbsp ground flax + 6 tbsp water
- 1 cup (240g) nut or seed butter (I used almond butter)
- 1 cup (240g) unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Topping
- 2 ripe bananas (or frozen and defrosted)
- 1/4 cup (20g) cacao powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Stir together the flax and water to make the flax egg. Set aside to gel.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oats, oat flour, coconut sugar, salt, and baking soda.
- Add the applesauce, almond butter, flax eggs, and vanilla.
- Mix to combine.
- Spread into an 8×8″ square baking pan that has bee sprayed with nonstick spray or coconut oil.
- Blend the banana and cocoa powder.
- Spoon on top of the oatmeal bars and spread/swirl to cover. Sprinkle with chocolate chips if desired.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350F.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely before slicing (or they will be too crumbly).
- Enjoy! Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 226
- Sugar: 13g
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated Fat: 1g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 6g
Keywords: vegan, gluten-free, oatmeal, breakfast, snack, chocolate, easy
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Could I swap out/omit nut/seed butter? I’m sticking to a low fat diet
You could try more applesauce or mashed banana, but the texture likely be more mushy. A little bit of plant fat makes such a yummy difference so I don’t recommend it, but you can experiment 🙂
Can I use regular white sugar instead of coconut sugar?
Also, for the chocolate topping is regular cocoa powder alright?
Yep, cocoa powder is fine for the topping. And you can use white sugar although the flavor will be less rich and they may be a little bit drier. But will still work!
Can I use a regular egg instead of flax? Your recipes are fabulous, and thanks for being so helpful & responsive.
I haven’t tried it, but should be fine. I’d recommend 2 regular eggs in place of the 3 flax eggs 🙂
Girllll, sorry I’m a few days behind on your post but dang these look amazing! I’m seriously drooling. I love, love oatmeal bars and well, anything with oats, lol, and these look SO GOOD. I’m amazed at that banana fudgy topping on top, never ever would guess that is bananas. Totally thought it was melted chocolate chips, haha! I literally just ate my last cinnamon roll granola bar 5 minutes before I sat down at the computer, no lie, and I think it’s time to make some more bars with oats, these have my mouth watering. I, of course, have every ingredient and they look like the perfect chewy texture too. CHocolate chips are of course never optional for me, bahahaha. Great recipe Natalie!
Noooooo worries, I am so behind on well…everything right now😆 But thanks for taking the time❤️ The banana topping was inspired by the magic bars I’ve done with bananas instead of the condensed milk, they bake/set surprisingly well. But yeah, you’d hate it lol🍌🍌 Omg can we do a granola bar swap though? Because I would LOVE one of those cinnamon-y ones right about now😋
Made these the other day and just hade a piece, they are so good!! Love the flavor and the cocoa with banana spread on top is really delicious also!!
★★★★★
I am so so happy you liked them Theresa! Thanks for the feedback 🙂
Hi Natalie! Long shot but do you think itd work swapping the apple sauce and sugar for date paste?? Cheers 😀
You probably could, yes actually! The texture may be a little different without the sugar, but should bake up fine😊
I left out the water and sugar and added 3/4 cup of ground up raisins. It was delicious!! I love your recipes. Thank you for sharing this one. I used raw almond butter for the nut butter and they had the most delicious buttery taste. My eight year old daughter and I loved them!
★★★★★
That’s such a good idea!! I’m really glad they worked, thanks for sharing no I want to try it with raisins🤗 Hope you and your daughter enjoy the rest, Rachel!
I made these today. Used 2 regular eggs as advised instead of flax, and used peanut butter because I had that in my pantry. I also melted bittersweet chocolate & poured that over the top of the cooled pan, and added some flaky sea salt. They are in the fridge for the chocolate to harden, but I tasted a corner piece & I’m in love! Not too sweet, crumbly, and delicious! Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful recipes!
★★★★★
Ohmygoodness yours sounds SO yummy!! Especially that sea salt addition, that’s always so good with chocolate. And peanut butter😋😋 Mmm I wish I could steal a slice, but enjoy them and thanks for the feedback, Paula!
Absolutely delicious! The banana chocolate topping was such a clever addition. Thanks!
★★★★★
I am so happy you liked them Bex! I love that banana trick too, bakes up to almost a ganache like texture😋 Thanks for the feedback and enjoy the rest!
Made this the other day…it is BEYOND GOOD! Substituted a mashed banana for the applesauce and used a frozen banana for the chocolate frosting. This is an amazing recipe! Thank you 🙂
★★★★★
I am so so happy you liked them! Good to know the mashed banana worked in the bars too, I bet they tasted extra delish with double the banana🍌🍌 Thanks for the feedback, Vie!
Do you have a recommendation for a banana substitute to mix with the cacao powder for the topping? Unfortunately, I can’t have bananas. (I love bananas!)
Hmm I haven’t tested anything else, but maybe try sweet potato, that would be my best recommendation. Good luck!
Hi, i cooked them and after 24 hs they had mold, they turned green slowly each part of the bar so I had to throw it away, do you know why? All Ingredientes were fresh. Thank you
WHAT?! That is so weird and crazy, I have no idea😳 How did you store them?
In the refrigerator, I know it was very weird, they were very good though, but we started to see those greens patches and at first thought it was part of something i used but once they grew we noticed it was mold
I have no idea, I’m so sorry though Claire!! These will easily last a week for me in the fridge usually🤷🏻♀️
If you used sunbutter that could be the cause of the green. There is a chemical reaction between a compound in the sunflower seeds and the baking soda. It isn’t harmful but it is a bit alarming.
Yep absolutely, ah the scientific magic of sunbutter haha!
Holy DELISH, Batman! These chocolate oatmeal bars are so delightful and tasty and moist. Thank you for the recipe, Natalie!
★★★★★
YAY!! So so happy you loved them Leah, your comment made me smile 🙂