The ultimate HEALTHY meets FUN snack full of oats, peanut butter (nut-free option!), chocolate chips, and chocolate candies. Gluten-free, high protein, and easy to prep in one bowl and 10 minutes!
Ohhhhhh do I ever have a snack recipe for you. I always need some sort of sweet little snacky treat in those post-lunch/pre-dinner hours, and if it’s healthy-ish but with little morsels of dessert energy too…WIN WIN. And if you have little ones and are in the thick of back to school season, they will be an easy colorful kid favorite too. Based on the classic monster oatmeal cookies (peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips, m&ms), but spun into a grab-and-go snack bar form. These Monster Cookie Granola Bars check all the boxes:
- Easy to make (10 minutes of work or less!)
- Chewy, sweet, oaty, chocolatey, and delicious
- High protein (10g!)
- With a nut-free option
- Candy-coated chocolate hunks = instantly happier
Making Monster Granola Bars
Easy One Bowl Prep
I know you are busy and I know you hate dishes, so I streamlined the prep process just as much as I possibly could. All you need is one bowl, one spatula, one pan, and 10 minutes. That’s about as simple as a homemade snack can get. We start by stirring up the dry ingredients (oats, chia seeds, protein powder, and salt). Then add the wet ingredients (sweetened condensed coconut milk, peanut butter, and vanilla). Then fold in the mix-ins (mini chocolate chips and chocolate candies). At this point you will have a sticky oat mixture to press into that lined baking pan and pop in the oven, plus 27ish minutes of free time to spend as you wish.
Swaps and Substitutions
This recipe is very versatile with lots of room to customize. Here are some ideas and suggestions:
- Swap up to one cup of the rolled oats for crispy rice cereal or nuts or coconut flakes to change up the texture
- Swap chia seeds for flax seeds
- Use your favorite protein powder (I used THIS one) or even chocolate protein powder
- If you’re not dairy-free, regular sweetened condensed milk will work in place of the sweetened condensed coconut milk
- Swap the peanut butter to sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) to make them NUT-FREE
- Use any mix-ins you love: white chocolate chips, other candies, marshmallows, dried fruit, nuts, etc.
Tips For The Best Granola Bars
- Press them into the pan REALLY. WELL. This will reduce crumbly-ness and help them hold together better. I like to use a sheet of wax paper on top of the bars and another baking dish to do this.
- Double the batch. If you know they’re going to be gone quick in your house, you can easily double this recipe and bake in a 9×13″ baking pan.
- Bake until golden brown. When in doubt, add a few more minutes to the bake time, you don’t want to underbake these.
- Cool completely (or better yet refrigerate!) before slicing into bars. After that you can store at room temperature and they will hold together just fine.
More Easy Snack Recipes You’ll Love
- Copycat Kudos Granola Bars
- Almond Pulp Cookie Dough Bites
- Easy No-Bake Muesli Bars
- No-Bake SunButter Energy Balls
- Funfetti Cake Batter Bites
Monster Cookie Granola Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 28 minutes
- Total Time: 38 minutes
- Yield: 10 bars 1x
- Category: snacks
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Description
The ultimate HEALTHY meets FUN snack full of oats, peanut butter (nut-free option!), chocolate chips, and chocolate candies. Gluten-free, high protein, and easy to prep in one bowl and 10 minutes!
Ingredients
- 3 cups (240g) rolled oats
- 1/3 cup (45g) protein powder (unflavored or vanilla)
- 2 tbsp (20g) chia seeds
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 14oz can sweetened condensed coconut milk
- 1/2 cup (125g) peanut butter or sunbutter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (80g) mini chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup (90g) candy coated chocolate candies
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line an 8×8” pan with parchment paper or grease.
- In a large bowl, stir together oats, protein powder, chia seeds, and salt.
- Add in peanut butter, sweetened condensed coconut milk, and vanilla.
- Mix until evenly combined and sticky.
- Fold in chocolate chips and candies.
- Press the mixture firmly into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 25-28 minutes. Cool completely before slicing (or even chill first to minimize crumbles).
Keywords: gluten free, kids, granola bar, snack, oatmeal, oat, healthy, chocolate chip, peanut butter, nut free
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Already obsessed just looking at these. Quick question- sweetened condensed coconut milk is so luxurious but has far too much sugar for my food allergies. Any possible low-sugar substitutions? Also, any subs for the M&M’s because none in my pantry at the moment and again, too much sugar:(
★★★★★
You can easily swap the candies for more chocolate chips or cacao nibs or just skip them. The sweetened condensed coconut milk is a little trickier as I haven’t tested with anything else. You will need some sort of sweetness for both flavors and binding, my best recommendation would be to swap it for a combination of liquid sweetener (maple syrup, honey, agave, etc) and more sunbutter
Can quick oats be used instead of rolled oats?
Can almond butter be used instead of peanut or sunbutter?
Thank you!
Yes and yes! Both those swaps will be fine😊
Hello Natalie!
I’ve kept these bookmarked for a while now and thought I could finally get around to baking them, however, I think I’ll be a good cup short on the oats.
I see coconut flakes, crispy rice cereal and nuts mentioned as substitute options, but how do you feel about using cornflakes? If it sounds okay, would you go about using them whole or crushed?
Thanks a lot, have an amazing week!
Nick
Hi Nick! I totally think cornflakes would work and add a delicious crunch, I’ve used them in oatmeal cookies before and they worked great. I would definitely crush them a bit, not to complete crumbs but to rolled oat-ish sized pieces. I hope they come out delicious!!
Hello again!
I followed your advice, and I also swapped the chocolate for cacao nibs. The bars were perfect—the peanut butter + condensed milk (mine was oat-based) combo is delightful.
Thank you.
Have a great week,
Nick
Your swaps sound SO DELICIOUS, I love the cacao nib idea! I am so happy you liked them, appreciate the feedback Nick😊