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
Is there a way to make this without the sugar? I love the protein bar idea, but can’t have the sugar spike!
Hi Caitlin- no, not that I know of. The honey keeps the bar together here.
What is the serving weight?
How many servings?
Hi Kathy, this makes 10 bars. I did not weigh them, so the nutrition info is for 1/10th of the recipe.
What do you suggest if my family doesn’t like coconut?
I think some folks have made it without the coconut. Just increase the seeds.
Amazing! I used brown syrup. Worked well. I am allergic to coconut, so I added a few more seeds and 1/2 c. dried wild blueberries, the only non-seed! Worked well. Will definitely make again.
Great to hear Sheryl!
Hullo from Australia. I made these today and they are just delicious. I didn’t have chia seeds so just used black sesame seeds along with the white ones. Will definitely make them again. Thank you. 🙂
Awesome Jaya! Glad you enjoyed this!
What can I say? Absolutely delicious!
Thanks so much June! Gald they worked for you!
I am keen to make, will use dates instead of honey
Im thinking making almosta date syrup and putting a little coconut flour.
thank you for the recipe =)
Let us know how it goes!
I added cranberries, peanuts, and almonds used a 1/4 of honey and 1/4 of peanut butter, some chopped dates, and rolled oats.
I just made these yesterday they were so delicious! I followed the recipe almost exactly as written except I used closer to 3/8 cups of honey instead of 1/2 (I’m not a big fan of honey and was afraid I would be able to taste it in the final product) . I also added about 1/8 cups of chocolate chips like another commenter suggested. In my gas oven these took 50 minutes to get perfectly golden. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Perfcet Dave!
Great recipe! I followed it exactly and it was delicious!! I did cover lightly with foil after the first 20 minutes. Came out perfectly golden! Thank You!
Perfect Linda- thanks so much!
I made these today…so easy and very tasty. Adding to my favourite list x
Great to hear Annie!
Thanks a lot for the bogus temperature. Trusted you and when I checked after 20 minutes all of it was burnt. Very pissed!
Oh shoot, I’m sorry about that. All ovens are different- and I tried to clearly state this in the recipe card. The middle rack is imperative here.
These were good but mine came out super sticky on the bottom. They were also really sweet, it’s truly 1/2 cup honey? I cooked for about 45 minutes (reducing the heat to 300 at 25 as they were getting golden). Anything I can do to crisp them more? The top layer ended up burnt 🙁
Shoot Jen, sorry about that. It sounds like they could have baked a little longer to crisp up.
I love these bars but have the same issue. The honey sinks towards the bottom, so they are always done on top but sticky underneath. Last time I tried cooking for longer (lovely and golden on top) but same result. Any suggestions please? I can’t see a way to flip them half way through baking so am a bit stuck…
Is your honey very thick?
Mine were the same, so I just turned them upside down & cooked the other side
Hi! If substituting honey with maple syrup, you are saying we need to add ground seed to the maple syrup? Is this to make it thicker…more like honey?
Hi Jennifer, add ground flax it to the seed mixture. It will help bind them.
Unfortunately when i took mine out of the tin the bases were burnt although the top was a light golden colour.
Oh shoot. Did you place in the middle of the oven by chance?
I can’t wait to make these! Can you double the recipe? If so would the baking time be the same?
Hi Clair- I haven’t tried doubling this. I think the challenge is getting the thickness the same (as one batch) otherwise, baking time will change a bit. You might have to wing it a bit?
These look amazing! Would it work without the coconut? Could I increase the other ingredients or decrease the honey?
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Alex-Feel free to leave the coconut out and replace it with more seeds. 😉
I’ve made these several times and I love them! My kids love them too which means they disappear quickly after I make them. In my most recent batch I added 1/4 cup of mini dark chocolate chips and they were even better (but not as healthy obviously)!
Well, I like to believe chocolate is healthy- full of polyphenols! Sounds delicious!
I am obsessed with these bars…they are amazing!
Can they be frozen?
Thanks Julie! I think they should freeze fine!
Since finding/making this recipe maybe a month ago, I’ve made it 6 or 7 times already.
I’m annoying everyone with this recipe. Seed bars are now a staple in my house.
I mistakenly cooked them @ 325 for 40 min & they were perfect in my oven.
Wondering if I could add some cocoa &/or cinnamon? Thoughts?
Glad you are enjoying them! Yes, feel free to embelloush!
Delicious and nutritious. Love them! Has anyone tried freezing them?
Glad you enjoyed this!
I’m writing as I’m eating. So delicious, I can’t stop. I went ahead and cut them up into bite sized pieces. I keep these tasty snacks in my glass container on the counter, I haven’t had the problem with them becoming sticky, but they also don’t last that long 😆…Thank You!
Awesome Tina! Great to hear!
Is there a way to make these sugar free?
Not that I can figure out. Sorry Linda!
These healthcare are for my grandson at boarding school.
He really needs the extra energy! Will see how he enjoyed them. Thanks for an awesome recipe. Theresa
Thanks Teresa, hope he enjoys them too!
These are so good! I followed the recipe, using honey and baked for 55min. Myself, my husband, and both of my kids (even my hard to please teenager) loved them. Thank you for the recipe. I will definitely me making these bars again and again.
Great to hear Corrie!