Home › Recipe Index › Snacks

Vegan Banana Oatmeal Bars

By Deryn Macey

5 from 5 votes

on Apr 12, 2020, Updated Sep 11, 2024

These baked vegan banana oatmeal bars are made with wholesome ingredients and are easy to whip up in about 30 minutes.

About the Recipe

If you’re looking for a simple baked oat bar that works for breakfast, snack time or dessert, these oat bars are perfect! They have the yummiest texture and flavour and are super easy to make with basic ingredients.

Skip the chocolate if you’d prefer to keep them on the healthier side, or add it for a nice little treat and to make them more dessert-like.

• Quick and Easy! All you need is a few minutes of prep and 30 minutes of baking time.
• Allergy-friendly. These bars are gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free.
• Low-calorie. Including the chocolate topping, each bar is just 120 calories.

These Vegan Banana Baked Oatmeal is more like traditional baked oats and or if you want something with protein, you can try Baked Berry Protein Oatmeal or Chocolate Baked Protein Oatmeal Bars.

Ingredients

• Oats. Use rolled oats, quick oats or large flake oats.
• Ground flaxseed. The flax helps hold everything together and acts somewhat like an egg, it also adds a little boost of nutrition.
• Coconut. Use fine or medium unsweetened shredded coconut, it may be labeled desiccated coconut (you can use sweetened but keep in mind it has added sugar). The coconut can be omitted or substituted with hemp seeds.
• Plant-based milk. any kind of plant-based milk such as almond, oat or cashew works, just make sure you enjoy the flavor of it before using in the recipe
• Banana. Use ripe or slightly overripe, spotty bananas.
• Dates. The chopped dates are optional but add delicious sweet bites of caramel throughout the bars or try other add-ins like chocolate chunks, walnuts, or raisins.

This list is not complete. Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1. Mix the dry ingredients. Mix up the oats, flax, coconut, salt and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Step 2. Add the wet ingredients. Before adding the banana, mash it in a bowl with a fork or immersion blender until it forms a chunky paste. Add the vanilla, almond milk, mashed banana, and chopped dates to the oat mixture.

Step 3. Bake the bars. Press the batter into a lined baking pan and pop them in the oven for 30 minutes.

Step 3. Add chocolate. This step is optional but if you really want to take this up a notch, melt dairy-free chocolate chips or dark chocolate then spread it over the baked bars.

FAQs

More Baked Oatmeal

• Apple Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal
• Vegan Baked Oatmeal Cups
• Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal
• Baked Blueberry Oatmeal Cups

Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to comment section below to leave your star rating and review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

5 from 5 votes

Vegan Banana Oatmeal Bars

By: Deryn Macey

These soft and delicious, nut-free banana oatmeal bars are a great breakfast option for busy mornings. Easy to make, nut-free and topped with chocolate for a treat!

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 30 minutes mins

Total: 35 minutes mins

Servings: 16

Save RecipeSaved Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe Print Recipe

Save Recipe

Enter your email & get the recipe!

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Email *

Save Recipe

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2.5 cups rolled oats, 275 g
• ▢ 2 tbsp ground flax, 14 g
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt
• ▢ 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, 30 g
• ▢ 1 tsp cinnamon
• ▢ 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed, 220 g
• ▢ 1 cup almond milk or other plant-based milk of choice, 240 mL
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla
• ▢ 5 medjool dates, finely chopped, 68 g without pits, optional, see notes
• ▢ 1-2 tbsp maple syrup, optional, see notes
• ▢ 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips for topping, optional

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions 

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line an approximately 7 or 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or give it a light spritz of non-stick cooking spray.
• Add the oats, flax, salt, coconut and cinnamon to a large mixing bowl and mix well.
• Add the mashed banana, milk, vanilla and chopped dates and mix into a thick batter. Add everything but the optional maple syrup and chocolate and mix into a thick batter. Taste the batter and if you feel like you want it a little sweeter, add 1-2 tbsp maple syrup to sweeten.
• Add the mixture to the pan and flatten out until even. Bake for 30 minutes.
• If adding the chocolate topping, melt the chocolate chips stovetop in a double boiler or in the microwave in 15-seconds increments, stirring often. Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the bars using a spatula or the back of a spoon.
• Let cool before slicing into 16 squares or 8 large bars.

Notes

It’s not necessary to use additional sweetener, especially if you plan on topping these with chocolate. If you’re not using a chocolate topping, taste the batter add your choice of sweetener to taste, if you’d like to sweeten it up a bit. The bars aren’t super sweet on their own but dates and banana do add sweetness throughout.

The medjool dates are optional but add a really nice, caramel flavor to the bars. They can be replaced with raisins or another add-in of choice, such as chocolate chips, nuts or seeds. The coconut can be omitted or replaced with hemp seeds.

You can cut the bars into 8 large bars or 16 squares depending on how large you want each serving to be. If you make 16 servings, they’ll be 129 calories each including the chocolate…double that for larger bars.

Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 1-week or freezer for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bar, Calories: 139kcal, Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 3g, Sodium: 84mg, Potassium: 159mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 13g, Vitamin A: 8IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 44mg

Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!

Originally published on March 8, 2017.