These gluten-free granola bars, aka Seed Bars, are easy and delicious! They are nut-free, oil- free and grain-free made with seeds and coconut- super crunchy, energizing, and satisfying.
These gluten-free granola bars require only 5-10 minutes of hands-on time before baking in the oven. High in protein and fiber, these nutritious bars make for a simple breakfast on the go or an energy-boosting midday snack!
Because they are full of little scrubbing seeds they do a great job of keeping your digestive system healthy!
What I personally love about them is how convenient they are as a “grab and go” snack- keeping me feeling energized and fueled whether I’m running errands, hiking or cross-country skiing. Easily transportable, I keep a little zip-lock bag tucked away in the glove compartment of my car for hunger emergencies. Pretty handy.
Gluten-Free Granola Bars Video
Why You’ll Love This!
- Diet-friendly. Nut-free, oil-free, paleo, dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan adaptable!
- Super energizing. Perfect for on-the-go when you need a boost!
- Quick and easy. Only 5 minutes of hands-on time.
- So nutritious. Full of so many healthy ingredients that support a strong digestive system.
- High in protein. Perfect for a mid-day crash or post-workout.
Gluten-Free Granola Bar Ingredients
- Super seeds: raw pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds (or hemp seeds)
- Large flaked coconut: unsweetened
- Salt
- Vanilla extract
- Honey: Or brown rice syrup or maple syrup. If you can have honey, it is ideal for flavor and binding!
How to Make Grain-Free Granola Bars
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- Mix the seeds, coconut flakes, and salt together in a medium or large bowl. Stir in vanilla and warm honey.
- Place a piece of parchment in an 8 x 8 baking dish. Spray lightly with oil.
- Pour seed mix into a lightly greased, parchment-lined pan, and using a wet metal spatula, spread it out, into corners and edges and press down firmly until you have a compacted, smooth surface.
- Place on the middle rack in the oven, check at 25 mins, rotate if need be, and continue baking. For a chewy consistency, take them out at 40-45 minutes, for a crispy crunchy consistency, let it cook the full 50 -55 minutes. Remember, all ovens are different! Start watching at 35 min and remove when golden.
- Remove from oven, and cool completely. You could place it in the fridge to cool faster. When it’s completely cooled, take the parchment out of the pan, turn it over, and remove the parchment. Flip back over and cut into desired shapes or bars. Store at room temp.
FAQs
Wrap lightly in parchment and leave on the counter. Wrapping too tightly or placing in the fridge can cause them to soften.
Made with superfood seeds, these bars are high in protein and fiber and packed with health-boosting nutrients, vitamins and minerals! Many of the seeds are a great source of healthy fats too.
Use brown rice syrup or maple syrup with a tablespoon of ground flax. They may turn out slightly more crumbly. But still delicious!
Place the jar of honey in a bowl or small saucepan of hot water.
These bars are made up entirely of nutritious seeds (and coconut flakes), whereas granola bars are usually made with oats (and nuts or chocolate chips).
STORAGE
Leave your Seed Bars out on the counter wrapped in parchment, and they should stay crisp. The energy bars keep for up to 10 days!
We are on our third batch this month. I just make the Seed Bars and leave them out on the counter in the kitchen for easy snacking. They magically disappear!
Also, leaving them out, uncovered also keeps them nice and crisp.
Tell me what you think … I hope you love these Seed Bars as much as we do.
xoxo
More recipes you may like!
Gluten Free Granola Bars (Seed Bars)
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 55
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: snack, breakfast
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These gluten-free granola bars, aka Seed Bars, are easy and delicious! They are nut-free, oil-free, and grain-free, made with seeds and coconut. They are super crunchy, energizing, and satisfying.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds ( raw)
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds ( raw)
- 1 heaping cup large flaked coconut (unsweetened)
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup chia seeds
- 1/4 cup flax seeds ( or sub hemp seeds )
- generous pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup honey ( warmed for easier mixing- heat jar in a hot water bath) or brown rice syrup or maple syrup– see notes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300F
- Mix the seeds, coconut flakes, and salt together in a medium bowl. Stir in vanilla and warm honey, until uniformly combined.
- Place a piece of parchment in an 8 x 8 baking pan ( all the way up the sides too). Spray lightly with oil.
- Pour seed mix into a lightly greased, parchment-lined pan, and using a wet metal spatula, spread it out, into corners and edges and press down firmly until you have a compacted, smooth surface at a uniform depth.
- Place on the middle rack in the oven, check at 25 mins, rotate if need be, and continue baking. For a chewy consistency, take them out at 40-45 minutes, for a crispy crunchy consistency, let it cook the full 50 -55 minutes. Keep in mind, all ovens are different, so heat may vary. The key is….You want to take them out when they are perfectly golden, before they get too dark. So watch them like a hawk after 35-40 minutes. If you take them out too early (before they are golden) they can too sticky. Pay attention to the color. For example, I’ve cooked these in two different ovens. In the gas oven, 50-55 minutes delivered perfectly golden bars. In the electric oven, 40 minutes were enough for perfectly golden. 55 minutes would have totally burnt them.
- Remove from oven, and cool completely. You could place it in the fridge to cool faster. When it’s completely cooled, take the parchment out of the pan, turn it over, and remove the parchment. Flip back over and cut into desired shapes or bars. Store at room temp.
Notes
To keep them crisp, wrap very lightly in parchment. Sealing them too tightly may cause them to get soft. I usually just leave them on a plate uncovered on the counter. Keeps up to 10 days.
You can easily make this vegan by substituting brown rice syrup, or maple syrup and 1 tablespoon ground flax. They may be slightly more crumbly, but not too bad!
Do NOT use sugar-free syrup- it will NOT work here. Honey or, brown rice syrup or real maple syrup!
If you don’t have an 8×8 pan, you could make a “crackle” on a sheet pan. Basically place the mixture on a parchment-lined sheet pan, pressing down hard with a spatula, into an 8-10-inch round. It will spread out and become thin in the oven. Check at 35-40 minutes and pull it out when it is deeply golden. Let it cool completely. Break apart into sections.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/10th of the recipe
- Calories: 222
- Sugar: 14.5 g
- Sodium: 34.4 mg
- Fat: 14.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.8 g
- Fiber: 4.5 g
- Protein: 5.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Made these for my kiddo but he wasn’t interested, which was fine by me! These were a great snack! Shared with coworkers who asked for the recipe. I made with maple syrup, there reminded me of a peanut brittle but healthy. Speaking of peanuts, anyone try nuts in these?
I bet they would be great with nuts!
I used /2 honey and 1/2 maple syrup, about 1/4 c rice flour and a handful of almonds (protein). Yum. Also it turned out better if I didn’t oil parchment. Just made it so I could pull it out of pan and cut on the parchment
Good to know Susan. So glad these worked for you!
Did you remove something to add the rice flour or was this in addition to other ingredients? Did you get a bar closer to a granola bar?
Would adding a couple tablespoons Teff make them better, or not? I am trying to use Teff in more recipes because it is so good for us to eat. What do you think?
Hi Eileen- Teff seeds? Or Teff flour? What if you try adding just a little to a small portion, as a tester?
For some reason, the last two times I made this, the parchment paper sticking to seeds. We love these, but why is this happening. I am spraying with Pam first
Hi Carol, that is so strange. It might be your type of parchment? ( Double-check it is not wax paper). I use “If You Care” brand parchment with good results. 😉
First timer
There in the oven
Can’t WAIT!!!!!’
Let us know how they turn out Bruce!
These are delicious. Is it possible to freeze them?
Hi Jane! I think they should freeze ok? I havent tried. Will you let me know? 😉
Wow….so good! I used maple syrup to keep it vegan. These are beyond delicious. Thank you!
Thanks Diane- glad you liked them!
Hi Sylvia!
I’m checking back in to let you know substituting brown rice syrup for the honey (or maple syrup) worked GREAT!
Thank you for your reply. I appreciate the fabulous recipes!
REALLY? That is awesome Cara! Can you share what temp you heated it to, any other details… and did they stay together?
Hi Sylvia!
I was actually able to just follow the recipe as it is written just subbing the brown rice syrup for honey or maple syrup. The bars stayed together great!
: )
WOW. good to know- thanks Cara this is so helpful! I will add to the recipe notes. 😉
Loooove this! Adjusted it a little to add a 1/4 cup poppy seeds, 1 cup rolled oats and substituted the flax seeds for hemp, but used the flax in the form of a flax egg. It baked in 30minutes flat and is absolutely delicious.
Perfect Irmi!
Great recipe! Crispy, crunchy, crumbly! I’ve made it four times so far. I prefer the maple syrup to honey and reduced the vanilla to half a teaspoon and add a couple good pinches of sea salt. After baking for 55 minutes or so, I turn off the oven and let it dry out for another 10 minutes. After cooling, bars stay crunchy enough to withstand storage in a sealed container on the counter. I eat low carb to manage my blood sugar and these are something I can enjoy and still feel well.
Awesome and glad you like this!
This is a wonderful snack and energy bar. I’ve made it a few times now. My question is: can you use blackstrap molasses as a binder, instead of honey?
I haven’t tried! But let me know if you try it- curious!
Is the nutritional info provided per bar or per 12 bars?
Per bar!
thanks for the recipe!
can i substitute coconut with oats or something else here?
I haven’t tried replacing the coconut… but I don’t see why not? If you try it, let me know- curious!
We love this but are disappointed with the sugars & fat being we have a TYpe 2 diabetic in the family.
Can these bars be frozen??
yes, just wrap tightly.
These are great! I made them as per the recipe, apart from the following:
I baked them until just golden on top (around 30 minutes) then I removed from the oven, let them cool, and cut into small rectangles. Then I separated the slices and baked them at the same temp for a further 15 minutes. Sprinkled with freshly ground cardamom while still hot out of the oven.
I made your bar’s, they’re lovely.
How do I make them from crumbling? What am I doing wrong? They don’t stay firm.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks
Hi Penny! Are you using maple or honey? Are they brittle and crumbly? Or kind of soft, bendy and crumbly?
Super easy I like mine a bit chewy came out perfect after 40 mins in electic oven I also added dried cranberries and all the seeds I had in my cupboard yummo 5/5
Substituted oats for the coconut and threw in some coco nibs. Works great. Kiddo loves it
Awesome Jeff, will have to try that!
Yes, sugar-free syrup will NOT work here. Sorry about that.
Hi Sylvia! 🙂
Thanks so much for this recipe. I understand sugar-free syrups won’t work. (I appreciate the note on the recipe.) Do you think brown rice syrup would? (Going for lower glycemic index!)
I hope my question is not redundant as I’m unable to efficiently search the comments!
Thanks so much!
You know Cara that is a great question. I don’t know how it would hold up- like if it would be crumbly? I do like the idea of it- just not sure how high to heat it and if it would hold them together. Could be a fun experiment?
So good!
My fav snack recipe!! I constantly change up the recipe by adding chocolate chips or nuts and I love each time I make them. I also will mix 1/2 honey and 1/2 maple syrup. I have made them w black strap molasses as well. I also add 1 teaspoon of almond extract and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. l love them and so does my family. They are delicious!!
Very good recipe, but I found that I started to get a little tired of the huge honey flavour within the bars. Do you think it that the bars would still hold together if I it were half honey, half peanut butter instead of only honey?
I’m not sure, but if you try that let me know!
Came out exactly as we’d hoped! Easy to make, great great. Only down side was they’re so delish, hard to save for later. Thanks!
This came out excellent but when left our, the house way melted and bars turned to one big clump. Any ideas? I omitted the coconut flakes and replaced with more nuts.
Is it very warm there?
Yes, tropical country! Any suggestions other than keep refrigerated? Would like my kids to have them as snacks for school but not have them all melted in their snack box
Im so sorry Rosh, I just don’t think leaving it out of the fridge in your climate will have the results you want here.
Aww…got it. Thank you so much for a delicious recipe though