A Nature Valley copycat recipe: soft-baked Oatmeal Bars! These peanut butter flavored bars are thick, chewy, and dotted with peanut butter baking chips. These naturally gluten-free bars are made with better-for-you ingredients.
Try our other gluten-free treats: Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake, Healthy Chocolate Cookies, or Blueberry Oatmeal Bars.
The Best Oatmeal Bars
On a recent road trip, we tried Nature Valley’s® Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares. The kids and I loved how soft they were, but I didn’t love the ingredients used. So, when we got home, I decided to make my own version of oatmeal bars.
These homemade oatmeal bars are soft and chewy. They taste a lot like peanut butter cookies mixed with oatmeal. I use natural sweetener like honey, plus good ingredients like peanut butter, oats, and oat flour. The peanut butter chips have some sugar, but you can switch them with dark chocolate to make the bars more nutritious.
Oatmeal Bars Ingredients
- Peanut Butter: This provides the main flavor, structure, and is filling due to its protein content.
- Honey: Naturally sweetens the bars and is rich in antioxidants.
- Light Brown Sugar: Adds a bit more sweetness, used minimally (only 1/4 cup).
- Egg: Stabilizes the batter, adds flavor and protein.
- Vanilla Extract: Gives a subtle flavor enhancement.
- Baking Soda: Prevents the bars from being too dense.
- Oats and Oat Flour: These form the base of your oatmeal bars, providing structure and chewiness. You can make oat flour from these same oats.
- Peanut Butter Chips: They add a fun element, but you can replace them with nuts or dark chocolate chips for a healthier option.
Quick Tip
Line the pan with parchment paper and leave an overhang for easy removal. These oatmeal bars stick to the pan and be nearly impossible to pull out without the parchment paper.
How To Make Oatmeal Bars
- Prep: Preheat your oven and line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- Mix: In a large bowl, combine peanut butter, honey, brown sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, baking soda, salt, old-fashioned oats, and oat flour. Beat until smooth. Then, fold in the peanut butter chips.
- Bake: Pour the batter into the pan and smooth it out. Bake.
- Cut and Serve: Let the oatmeal bars cool in the pan, then cut them into squares.
More Easy Snack Recipes
Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup oat flour (See Note 2)
- 1 cup peanut butter chips
- Optional: 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- PREP: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8x8-inch pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang for easy removal, and set aside.
- BARS: Combine all the ingredients except the peanut butter chips in a large bowl. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth. Add in the peanut butter chips and fold with a spatula to combine.
- BAKE: Transfer batter to the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. They may look a bit underdone or gooey in the center, but as long as they don't jiggle at all, they are done. These bars continue to set up and firm as they cool.
- CUT AND SERVE: Remove bars from the oven and let cool completely in the pan. Use the parchment paper overhang to pull out the bars and cut into 12 squares with a sharp knife.
- OPTIONAL: (This is for the peanut butter fanatics!) Once bars are cut into squares, place 1/4 cup of peanut butter in a small resealable bag. Cut off a tiny corner tip of the bag and pipe the peanut butter on the top of the bars.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Oh these look scrumptious!!! Just stopping by from Two Cup Tuesday. Blessings, Catherine
This looks ..perfect! The texture looks amazing and so good!
These look fabulous. I love that they aren’t full of preservatives. Thanks for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday.
These look amazing. I don’t have the peanut butter chips in them. I wonder if I should make them with chocolate chips or without any chips to at least try the recipe tonight 🙂 They look so tasty!!!
I bet chocolate chips would be awesome with these!
Just stumbled across this recipe a few days ago. The recipe floated around my kitchen counter for awhile but I just made them for the first time today.
…wow…
Really good.
P.S. Substitute with the chocolate chips, honey, you won’t be sorry. Life’s problems just disappeared! Amazing stuff, that chocolate.
Oh I’m so thrilled you loved these Amy! Thank you! And you are right, life’s problems do seem so much better with chocolate 🙂
These look wonderful! So glad you kept at it so you could share this one with us!
Healthy and easy to prepare!Great snack!Coming from Weekend re-Treat Link Party ! Come-by and visit my blog!
Holy cow, Chelsea. I’m drooling. These look absolutely amazing. Need. One. Now. 🙂 Pinned! Hope you’re having a great weekend! <3
Thanks for the pin Erin! I hope you are having a great weekend 🙂
I’m a gigantic pb fan too! I can never get enough! Plus, I love those nature valley peanut butter and oats bars! These look great.
Isn’t PB the best?! Thank you Lynna!
These look 122000 times better than any nature valley bar! And I love that they’re soft and packed with penut butter flavor – I’ll take a dozen, please!
I hope you enjoy your weekend!
xxx
Thanks Consuelo! 🙂 You enjoy it as well 🙂
great ingredients. they sound delish!
Thanks Dina!