Tahini Hemp Seed Bars
on Feb 24, 2020, Updated Jul 24, 2024
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These baked vegan tahini hemp seed bars are easy to make and have the most amazing chewy texture and sweet, nutty, sesame flavour. Perfect for a whole-food snack or dessert!
Recipe Features
- Dietary Needs: Vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, nut-free and oil-free.
- Quick and Easy: You’ll need just 6 ingredients and a few minutes of prep time
- Travel well: Perfect for a lunchbox, road trip, hiking or camping
- Crisp on the edges with a delicious soft and chewy on the inside.
Ingredient Notes
- Tahini. Good tahini will be wonderfully creamy with a nutty flavour that’s not overly bitter. Look for tahini with just one ingredient: sesame seeds.
- Hemp seeds. High in protein, iron, vitamin E and antioxidants, hemp seeds really pack the nutrition into these bars. Hemp seeds are sometimes called hemp hearts.
- Coconut. Use unsweetened fine or medium shredded coconut. It may be labeled as desiccated coconut.
- Maple syrup. The maple syrup acts as a binder and sweetens the recipe. You can substitute agave or brown rice syrup but I wouldn’t recommend switching to a granular sweetener.
- Dates. Soft, moist dates are best for this recipe. I recommend medjool or sayer dates. If your dates are very dry, soak them in hot water for 15 minutes then drain well before using, however, I recommend using dates that are nice and soft.
- Oats. Use quick, rolled or old fashioned oats. The oats will be processed into a grainy oat flour so any oat variety except steel cut oats works.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1. Blend the oats into a coarse, grainy flour in your food processor.
They don’t have to be as fine as oat flour but they should be mostly broken down. This should only take a few seconds.
Step 2. Add the rest of the ingredients and process into a thick dough.
You have a couple of ingredients for mixing the dough. If you have a large food processor you can toss everything in and pulse a few times to combine.
If not, add the dates to the oats and blend to combine, then transfer to a mixing bowl and mix with the rest of the ingredients.
Firmly press the dough into a baking pan, bake, cool for 15 minutes then slice and enjoy!
Notes
- Storage: Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze in a container or freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.
- Tahini: Can be substituted with peanut butter, almond butter or sunflower seed butter.
- I would recommend lining your baking dish with parchment paper for easy removal.
Related Recipes
- Salted Caramel Tahini Cups
- Tahini Date Cookies
- No-Bake Cashew Tahini Bars
- Chocolate Tahini Energy Bars
- No-Bake Superfood Energy Bars
- Easy Vegan Tahini Sesame Cookies
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to the comment section to leave a star rating and review.
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Tahini Hemp Seed Bars
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Place the oats in a food processor or high-speed blender and pulse a few times to create a grainy oat flour. I prefer to use a food processor here.
- You have a couple of options for mixing the rest of the ingredients. If you have a large food processor, add everything to the oats and blend until fully combined. If not, you can add the dates to the oats and blend to combine, then transfer to a bowl and mix in the rest of the ingredients by hand.
- Prepare a 7-8 inch square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or line with parchment paper so it sticks out over the edge. Parchment is best so you can easily lift the bars out of the pan once baked.
- Press the dough into the pan, taking a few minutes to press it into all corners and getting it as flat as you can.
- Bake for 30 minutes then let cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes. Slice into 16 squares and carefully lift out of the pan. If you used parchment paper, you can lift the whole thing out the pan and slice on a cutting board.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Update Note: Originally published August 15, 2016. Updated with new photos and text February 2020.
I come back to this recipe again and again. They are one of my favourite bars to make – so tasty, simple and healthy. I omit the coconut as I am not a huge fan, follow the rest of the recipe to a T, and they turn out great every time. 🙂
Thank you, Carly! I’m so happy you love them.
These were delicious and so easy to make! Definitely a repeat recipe for me.
So glad, Alison! Thanks for letting me know!
Soooo good. Taste like heaven! It will become my go to snacks for my outdoor activities
Made this slice and it does not need 30 minutes to cook only 15 to 20. The slice is dry and crumbly. I would not make this again.
Did you follow the recipe as written? I’ve made these many times and they always come out amazing!
Can I sub flax seed for hemp seeds in this recipe?
You could try it but I wouldn’t really recommend it in this recipe, they’ll be too dry and absorb all the moisture.
These turned out amazing. One of my first vegan recipes and even my 3 year old liked these bars. I used fresh/warm tahini and it softened the dates really well in the food processor.
Yum! So glad you enjoyed them. Thanks so much for the rating.
Do you really mean fresh dates? Perhaps you mean moist dried dates? Or freshly pitted dates? We do get fresh dates for their short season, but only at Middle Eastern grocery stores. Thanks.
Moist dried dates, not fresh exactly…just not old and dry, if that makes sense!
I’ve made these a few times and love that they are portable. , better than my homemade Lara bars, that really need to stay frozen. My question is whether I can substitute sesame seeds for the hemp hearts. They aren’t available where I live so when I get them they are like golf and used very sparingly.
I think that would probably work but I haven’t tried it so I can’t guarantee it! Let me know if you do. You could do half and half maybe to start?
One of my all time FAVOURITE slice/bar recipes!! Gluten-free and full of nourishing real food ingredients. So easy to make and a real crowd pleaser. I also love that they are nut-free and a perfect treat for my son’s school lunch box – he adores them.
Made these and they are awesome!! Thinking I might make more and not bake and just have them in fridge as quick energy balls. YUM!