Easy & Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Easy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars are a delicious recipe your whole family will love! Perfect for the peanut butter lover!

A healthy grab-and-go breakfast idea or after-school snack. 10-minutes of prep and one bowl and one pan are all you need for these chewy bars.

What can we say?

We're a family who loves oatmeal bars! These Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars are no exception! Not too sweet, chewy bars that are totally satisfying! They make a nutritious, easy breakfast, afternoon snack, or post-workout pick-me-up any day!

Almost as good as oatmeal cookies!

It's hard to find healthy food recipes the kid loves, especially healthy treats that don't come in a package or wrapper and contain icky processed ingredients.

We're big fans of Easy Oatmeal Bar Recipes!

Are Oat Bars Healthy?

One of our go-to healthy snack ingredients is oatmeal. Oatmeal contains calcium, potassium, and soluble fiber, so it's good for your heart and health!

Plus, it's so satisfying.

Oatmeal bars contain whole-grain ingredients and have the added benefit of a little protein when you add creamy peanut butter. This keeps the kiddos satisfied at snack time. (Natural peanut butter, of course 🙂 )

If you like bananas, you have to try these Banana Oatmeal Bars!! Addictive! If you want fruit in your bars, try our Raspberry Oatmeal Bars.

The more we read, the more we find it important to bake our own snacks and treats for our family.

Artificial ingredients and preservatives are everywhere, so balancing that out with some wholesome ingredients is essential.

Ingredients

These simple ingredients make one great recipe! Grab your 8x8 baking dish, and let's get started.

• Creamy Peanut Butter - we like to use all-natural peanut butter, but whatever brand you use will be fine. 
• Eggs - two large eggs. 
• Honey or Brown Sugar - either works well. 
• Vanilla - we like real vanilla extract.
• Baking Soda.
• Old Fashioned Oats - not quick oats. 
• Whole Wheat Flour - or all-purpose white flour.
• Dark or semi-sweet chocolate Chips(optional) - to drizzle over the top of the bars.

Step-by-step instructions

Making these tasty baked peanut butter bars is pretty darn easy.

You likely have all the ingredients on hand in your pantry and can whip them up before the kids are home from school. Perfect!

One large bowl. One pan. One delicious snack!

Step 1 - Line Pan & Combine Wet Ingredients

First, line your baking pan with parchment paper. (This will keep your bars from sticking and make them easy to take out.)

Now, combine all your wet ingredients - peanut butter, eggs, vanilla, and honey in a large mixing bowl. Stir well. 

Step 2 - Add Dry Ingredients & Place in Pan

Then add your dry ingredients (oats, baking soda, flour). Mix thoroughly and then press into a baking pan. 

Step 3 - Bake

Place the pan in your preheated oven and bake your peanut butter oat bars for 15-17 minutes until golden brown.

Then, let them cool and top them with a drizzle of chocolate if you like! It's the best way 🙂

Step 4 - Top with Chocolate (optional)

Just melt your chocolate morsels for 30-second intervals in the microwave until soft and drizzle over the bars. 

Substitutions

• Coconut sugar for the brown sugar (or honey).
• Agave nectar or pure maple syrup for the brown sugar.
• Regular white flour for whole wheat flour.
• Crunchy peanut butter for the creamy peanut butter if that's all you have on hand. 
• Dark chocolate for the semi-sweet chocolate morsels. 
• Almond butter for the peanut butter.

Additions

• You can add 2 tablespoons ground flax seed for additional nutritional value.
• You can add ½ cup of flaked coconut.
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon is a nice addition for a little spice.

Tips & tricks

• These Peanut Butter Bars with Oatmeal aren't overly sweet. If you want a more sweet bar, you can add a bit more sugar. We find adding a little drizzle of chocolate (dark or semi-sweet) gives them precisely what they need to please everyone!
• This recipe is best with old-fashioned rolled oats, not instant oats.
• If your family prefers regular flour, sub out the whole wheat. You can also use a combo of both. 

PRO TIP: One of our readers suggests doubling the batch. They're that good!

Erin

How to store

Refrigerator: To store your oatmeal bars made with peanut butter, layer your bars between waxed paper in an airtight container. Keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Bring back to room temperature before serving. 

Freezer: You can also flash-freeze them and then freeze them in an airtight container for up to three months. Following our tips to prevent freezer burn, you'll be all set!

Gluten-Free peanut butter oat bars

You can make this recipe gluten-free by omitting the whole wheat flour and upping the oats to 2 cups. Just make sure they are certified gluten-free oats.

Supplies used

8×8 Baking Pan
Parchment Paper
Mixing spoon
Mixing bowl
Toothpick

Try These Peanut Butter Recipes

If you're a fan of Peanut Butter, definitely try these:

GF Peanut Butter Cookies
Crockpot Peanut Butter Oatmeal
Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut Butter Saltine Toffee

We love to hear from YOU!

If you try these Peanut Butter Oat Squares or any other recipe on Suburban Simplicity, don't forget to rate it and let us know how it went in the comments below. We love hearing from you!

Better yet, use the hashtag #suburbansimplicity if you make the recipe.

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This post was updated with enhanced instructions on March 23, 2020. 

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