Sweet jammy blueberries plus cinnamon oatmeal streusel combine in the yummiest Blueberry Crumble Bars. Vegan, gluten-free, date-sweetened!

Healthy Blueberry Crumble Bars (vegan + gluten-free)

The Best Vegan Berry Crumble Bars

This recipe is vegan, gluten-free, and simple to prepare in 3 steps!

Step 1: Making The Medjool Date Paste

Making the Medjool Date paste. Blend once, sweeten twice. We are using one creamy blender full of caramel-y date goodness to sweeten both the crumble and the filling. But we are making a couple of upgrades to the typical date paste recipe:

swapping water for canned coconut milk
using only the very best Medjool Dates from Natural Delights

Natural Delights Pitted Medjool Dates are sweet and moist and always easy to blend, plus the already pitted pack saves so much time so we can get to the berry crumble bar devouring faster. Coconut milk instead of water makes for the CREAMIEST dreamy date paste you have ever seen in your life (don’t worry, I worked a little extra into the recipe so you can steal a spoonful or two!)

Step 2: Making the Oatmeal Crust and Crumble

This salty-sweet, subtly-spiced, sticky streusel step is my favorite part. Instead of preparing a crust and a crumble, we are using the same mixture for both – one pressed on the bottom, one crumbled on top. We are using a combination of almond and cassava flours, so these bars are gluten-free and will bake to a perfect golden color. Rolled oats for texture, cinnamon and ginger for a little spice, baking powder for a little puff. And then coconut oil for moisture and date paste for moisture and sweetness. Mixing with a fork or your hands works best for getting that sticky crumble consistency.

Step 3: Making the Blueberry Filling

The sweetest part! Since we are sweetening this layer with our Medjool Date paste too, you won’t have as much liquid as if we were using sugar or a liquid sweetener. You can just aggressively mash the berries in the saucepan while they cook. Or (what I recommend!) gently pulse the blueberries in a blender so you get a little juicy-ness but still have plenty of whole berries too. I like to heat them up with the rest of the filling ingredients, pulse, then transfer back to the saucepan and cook until thickened. And yes, other kinds of berries would be delicious here too!

I almost ALMOST topped these berry bars with the classic summer garnish: a scoop of vanilla ice cream. But after a bite or two I decided they didn’t even need it. Too good without. So that pint will just remain tucked in the freezer for another occasion, and these berry bars will continue to shine all on their own.

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