Paleo Granola Bars
on Mar 11, 2014, Updated Feb 21, 2025
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These no-bake hemp seed paleo granola bars are easy to make with just 4 ingredients and taste amazing!
About the Recipe
Enjoy these for an energy boost before a workout, as a mid-morning snack or for a sweet treat anytime of day. Here are a few reasons to love them:
- Just 4 simple ingredients needed.
- Include nutritious hemp seeds for a chewy texture, nutty flavour and source of nutrients.
- Naturally sweetened with maple syrup.
- No-baking required (aside from toasting the coconut, which is optional).
- Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, grain-free and suitable for a paleo diet.
- No blending needed.
- Great for hiking, camping and snacking on-the-go.
For a similar bar made with dates, try these 5-Ingredient No-Bake Paleo Energy Bars.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe and any possible substitutions. Please see the recipe card below for the complete ingredient list with measurements.
- Nut Butter: You can use cashew butter or almond butter or for nut-free bars, tahini or sunflower seed butter.
- Coconut: Use shredded unsweetened coconut. For extra flavour, try toasting it first!
- Maple Syrup: This can be swapped for soaked, pitted dates.
- Hemp Seeds: Hemp seeds are ideal for their fine consistency. If you want to substitute sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds or nuts, I’d recommend pulsing them in a food processor to break them down a bit before adding them to the bars.
Add-Ins
You can mix and match ingredients to customize this recipe. Here are some ideas:
- Add up to 1/2 cup raisins, unsweetened cranberries or cacao nibs for a treat.
- You can add chocolate chis but they’d no longer be paleo with the added sugar.
- For extra flavour, try a pinch of cinnamon, sea salt and/or vanilla.
How to Make Paleo Granola Bars
Step 1: Toast the coconut. This step is optional but adds a wonderful flavour to the bars. Preheat your oven to 325 F. Spread shredded coconut on a baking pan and bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes until nice and brown. Make sure you keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn.
Step 2: While the coconut is toasting, you can mix up the dough for the bars. You can mix everything up in a bowl or make easier work of it and toss everything in food processor and blend into a thick, sticky dough.
Step 3: After you’ve mixed up the dough, press it into a parchment paper-lined 7 or 8-inch square baking pan. Take a few minutes to really work the dough in and press it into all the corners.
Step 4: Place the bars in the freezer for 1 hour or refrigerate overnight. After they firm up, lift them out of the pan and cut into squares or bars.
I would recommend cutting these into 16 bars to keep the serving size on the smaller size, however you can also cut them into 8 larger bars.
FAQs
Paleo granola bars can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freezer for up to 3 months. Store in an airtight container.
You can use any other nut or seed. If you want to substitute sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds or nuts, I’d recommend pulsing them in a food processor to break them down a bit before adding them to the bars to more closely resemble the consistency of hemp seeds.
More Recipes to Try!
Energy Bars
No-Bake Chocolate Chia Energy Bars
Energy Bars
Chia Seed Granola Bars
Desserts
Tahini Hemp Seed Bars
No-Bake Paleo Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted (95 g)
- 1 cup cashew butter or almond butter, 240 g
- 1 cup hemp seeds, 160 g
- 1/3 cup maple syrup or raw honey, 75 g
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 325°F.
- Spread the coconut on a baking pan and bake for approximately 5-10 minutes or until thoroughly browned and toasted. Watch carefully after 5 minutes as it can burn quickly.1 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- While the coconut is toasting, mix the other ingredients together in a bowl or food processor until it forms a thick dough.1 cup cashew butter or almond butter, 1 cup hemp seeds, 1/3 cup maple syrup or raw honey, 1 tsp cinnamon
- Add the toasted coconut and mix well.1 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- Press the mixture into an 8 x 8 inch baking dish lined with parchment paper. Make sure you spend some time really pressing it down into the pan.
- Freeze the bars for 1 hour or refrigerate overnight. Lift the bars out of the pan using the parchment paper and slice into 16 squares or 8 large bars.
These are aaaaaaamazing-so easy -so tasty and healthy fats to boot!😋 I added 1/4 c craisins, sprinkle of sea salt and honey in place of maple syrup-& definitely toast the coconut 🙌🏼thank you !
Made these this afternoon! So super good! I wanted to eat the mixture all up before refrigerating!! What I like about this recipe already is how versatile it is. I’m allergic to coconut so I used part sunflower seeds, golden flax seeds and puffed rice cereal…puffed rice cereal! I also used sunflower butter, and I added some dried apple juice sweetened cranberries. I look forward to making this again with a different seed combination like pumpkin seeds. The best ingredient of this recipe is the hemp seeds. Thank you for posting this recipe, a motivating factor for my trying a protein-boosting bar with those little hemp seed wonders! 🙂
Sounds amazing, Sheryl! So glad you enjoyed them.
Can I use sunflower butter instead of nut butter?
Yes. Enjoy!