Chocolate Coconut Chia Seed Bars
on May 08, 2019, Updated Mar 13, 2025
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These no-bake chocolate coconut chia seed bars can be mixed up in a bowl in minutes – no food processor or blender required!
Recipe Features
- quick and easy – you’ll need just 5 minutes of prep time, no blending or baking needed!
- vegan and gluten-free – works for those with dietary restrictions, they can also be made nut-free!
Ingredients
- oats – I use quick oats because they hold together better, you can use rolled oats if that’s all you have
- coconut – use unsweetened fine or medium shredded coconut, may be labeled desiccated coconut, you can use sweetened if you want just note it has added sugar
- cocoa powder – regular cocoa powder works great but for extra nutrition, you can use cacao powder
- chia seeds – use whole chia seeds
- peanut butter – use natural peanut butter (no added sugar or oil)
- coconut oil – this binds the recipe so can not be substituted
- maple syrup – sweetens the recipe, can be subbed with agave
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1. Mix the dry ingredients up in a bowl. This includes the coconut, oats, cocoa powder, chia seeds and optional sea salt.
Step 2. Melt the coconut oil then mix it together with the peanut butter and maple syrup until smooth and creamy.
Step 3. Add the peanut butter mixture to the bowl with the oats and stir well to combine into a uniform mixture.
Step 4. Firmly press the dough into a 7-8 inch square baking dish.
Place in the freezer for 30-minutes to firm, then lift out of the pan and slice into bars.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- These bars need to be kept in the freezer or fridge to hold together properly.
- The salt is optional but recommend. The sweetness from the maple syrup combined with the sea salt is delicious!
- Peanut butter can be substituted with almond butter or for nut-free bars, tahini or sunflower seed butter.
How to Store
- Freezer: Store in a sealed container or freezer safe bag for up to 3 months. Can be enjoyed directly from the freezer.
More Recipes Like This
- Chocolate Chip Chia Seed Granola Bars
- No-Bake Chocolate Chia Energy Bars
- No-Bake Apricot Granola Bars
- No-Bake Superfood Energy Bars
- Sunflower Sesame Homemade Energy Bars
Chocolate Coconut Chia Seed Bars
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups 165 g quick oats
- 1/4 cup 60 g unsweetened fine or medium shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup 25 g cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup 50 g chia seeds
- 1/4 tsp sea salt, optional for flavor
- 1/4 cup 75 g natural peanut butter
- 1/4 cup 50 g melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup 80 g pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Stir the peanut butter, coconut oil and maple syrup together in a separate small bowl until smooth, creamy and completely combined.
- Add the wet mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix to combine.
- Line a 7-8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper so the ends stick out over the edges of the pan.
- Add the mixture and firmly press it down into the pan. Take a few minutes to really press it in, this will help them stick together better.
- Place in the freezer for 30 minutes to set.
- Lift the bars out of the pan and cut into 10 bars. Store in the freezer in a sealed container or freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published May 16, 2015. It was updated July 8, 2020 with new photos and text.
Love that these bars are so easy to make and ingredients I always have on hand! Ive made so many types of “bars” and these are my favorite – brought a few into work and they loved them too 🙂 when making granola bars mine always seem to fall apart, have any good recipes for granola bars ? 🙂 thanks xx
Take a look through all my snack recipes, there are some good ones for sure! I like using a base of dates to help hold them together.
Just made them today!!! Such a winner recipe! My 1 and 3 year old loved it and so did my husband who usually hates coconut (didn’t tell him there was any..!) will be making more! Just wish they hold together better and didn’t need refrigeration.
You know I also thought of crumbling some over some yogourt.. yum!
Ooh, ya, these are great crumbled over coconut yogurt! Yes, these ones do need refrigeration to hold together but there are some goods ones on the blog that don’t if you want to browse around 🙂 glad you and your family enjoyed them.
I don’t have maple syrup on hand. Can I substitute honey instead?
Yep, that should work ok.
Cani i use esame seeds instead of peanut butter?
Like tahini you mean? Yes, you can use tahini! 🙂
chocolate and peanut butter how could this not be a win. this satisfied my chocolate craving was very fast to whip up and I had everything in the cubpoard. Thanks Deryn. I just wish they didn’t require refridgeration and were more portable
So delicious! I didn’t get all the “batter” in the pan because I was too busy eating it. I was a little worried the peanut butter flavor would be too heavy for my preferences, but it was perfect! I’ll be making theses regularly, no doubt. And they may be a new go-to for food gifts. Thanks for the tastiness!
hi there, what do you recommend using in place of almond butter for a nut-free option? (school lunch boxes….)
You could use sunflower seed butter or tahini.
Wow butter is what I used
Could you use rolled oats instead of quick oats?
Thanks,
Ashley
I found rolled oats to be too large and the bars didn’t hold together very well…but you could try pulsing them in the blender first so they’re finer and I think that should work ok.
Totally! They’re awesome post-workout. 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
This chocolate bars are nice & fav things to kids…. It would be delicious in my Gourmet Catering service in Mumbai… keep sharing more!!!