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My oatmeal chocolate chip bars are Soft, chewy, and LOADED with chocolate chips- They are a five-ingredient dessert that bakes in just 15 minutes.
Love quick and easy oat-based bars? Try my raspberry bars, banana bars, oatmeal raisin bars, and strawberry oatmeal bars next.
My family LOVES a good chocolate chip cookie or blondie, but to make things a little bit wholesome and healthier, I like to make these healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars.
I swap out the butter and refined sugar for more wholesome alternatives but without sacrificing taste. If you ask certain family members, they reckon these taste incredibly indulgent!
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- 5 ingredients. Simple pantry staple ingredients mean no eggs, butter, or milk! Instead, I use mashed banana to add moisture and also extra sweetness.
- Healthier. These are packed with whole grains, healthy fats, and naturally sweetened; these make a fabulous guilt-free dessert.
- Easy to customize. This is the kind of baked good you can easily adapt to use up any mix-ins you have on hand. I love to use up leftover nuts and seeds or even candy bites.
- Perfect texture and flavor. These cookie bars are soft, slightly chewy, and have an almost buttery texture without any actual butter in them. It has notes of chocolate with every bite.
Ingredients needed
- Rolled Oats (Old Fashioned Oats). They provide a chewy texture and a fabulous substitution for flour. They are also a much healthier alternative to it, providing fiber and protein, too! Use gluten-free oats if needed.
- Almond Butter. Gives these cookie bars that buttery texture and flavor we love without any butter!
- Maple Syrup. Provides sweetness and also masks any banana flavor. Do not omit, as it will change the texture of the cookie bars.
- Bananas. Overripe, mashed bananas! The riper they are, the sweeter they will be! Bananas replace any need for butter or eggs while also providing sweetness and a softer texture.
- Chocolate Chips. What is a good cookie without chocolate chips? I like using semi-sweet chocolate chips, but milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips work, as do chocolate chunks.
- Baking soda. Optional, but helps with the leavening of the bars.
How to make oatmeal chocolate chip bars
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Make the batter. Stir together all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Fold them through, then transfer to a baking dish.
Step 2- Bake the oatmeal cookie bars for 15-17 minutes or until golden on top. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Don’t overmix the batter. When making the batter, mix everything until just combined. You don’t want these to turn out rubbery!
- Avoid over-baking. These bars will continue to cook as they are cooling down. I like to remove them from the oven once the edges are golden brown.
- Add mix-ins. Enhance the bars by adding mix-ins like pecans, walnuts, butterscotch chips, or vanilla extract. As I said above, candy bits are also fabulous.
- Press the batter firmly. Press it firmly into the baking pan when transferring the batter into the pan. This will cook them more evenly.
- Cool completely before cutting. This is important to ensure the bars are fully set.
Variations
- Gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip bars. Swap out the oats for gluten-free rolled oats or buckwheat flakes.
- Banana alternative. You can substitute the banana for unsweetened applesauce or pumpkin puree. Neither are as sweet as bananas, but they will still yield a similar texture. You may need to add extra maple syrup to make up for the lack of sweetness from the banana.
- Use other nut butter. Swap out the almond butter for either peanut butter or cashew butter or keep them nut-free by using tahini or sunflower seed butter.
- Lower the sugar. Instead of maple syrup, you can use a sugar-free or reduced-sugar version.
- Use regular sugar. If you don’t want to use syrup, brown sugar or coconut sugar work.
Storage instructions
To store: Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container. They will keep fresh for up to 5 days.
To freeze: Wrap individual bars in parchment paper and place them in ziplock bags or a freezer-safe container. They will freeze well for up to 6 months.
Reheating: These bars become firm once refrigerated, but to have a gooey cookie bar, microwave it for 20-30 seconds.
Frequently asked questions
There is no need to add eggs to this recipe, but if you’d like to increase the protein, adding 1-2 eggs will not affect the texture.
More oat-based desserts to try
- Healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
- Oatmeal brownies
- Oatmeal cookie dough
- Healthy oatmeal raisin cookies
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
Video
Ingredients
- 4 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup almond butter can substitute for any nut or seed butter of choice
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cups bananas measured once mashed
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line an 8 x 8-inch square pan with parchment paper, reserving 1-2 inches of parchment paper over the sides, for easily removal.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all your ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold through the chocolate chips, reserving a few to top the cookie bars with.
- Transfer the batter to the lined pan, adding extra chocolate chips on top. Bake for 15 minutes or until just beginning to go golden around the pan.
- Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally updated July 2023, updated and republished November 2024
They are delicious!! My whole family loves them.
Sounds and looks so good.
But you have given 3 cooking times.
You said 12 minutes. Then 14 to 15 minutes. Then 17 minutes. So im confused.
I have not made yet, want to for a bake sale soon. Curious why they have to be refrigerated as they won’t be to sell at bake sale. Will they go bad that fast, is it for a certain texture, or ???
Also, I froze some ripe bananas (whole, but no peel) will these work as well, or should they be fresh?
Thank you!!
They spoil quicker if stored at room temperature. Yes. frozen banana works just thaw it first.
Just curious because I don’t love the way nuts/chocolate taste together, are you able to taste the almond butter?
Not really- it’s peanut butter you need to be wary of 🙂
Absolutely beautiful. This a great alternative to any sugary cookies or cakes. I only used 1/2 cup of peanut butter and only a squirt of honey. Turned out lovely! I would recommend this!
FANTASTIC
Love it because it’s simple and all good ingredients
Made these tonight and they did not disappoint! Sooooo delicious! I added Heath crumbles and pecans! (And of course extra chocolate chips!) will be a new family staple!
hi! I made this with old fashion oats so this might be the reason for what I’m about to say, but your picture looks much more like a cookie / smooth bar while my oats were definitely more defined looking. Did you blend your oats first? Is is it because you used rolled oats that it looks different? Still great flavor regardless!
Taste great. How many should this make? What is the serving size?
I now see that it does call for gluten-free oats in the actual recipe. I had first looked at the ingredient list. My apologies.
Sounds good. I just want to note that for this recipe to be gluten-free one would have to use gluten-free oats. Not all Oats are gluten-free. I’m thinking of making this for my gluten-free neighbor. Thanks for the recipe.
The banana flavor is obvious but not strong, the consistency is like a real cookie, and the taste is amazing!
My family and I love these bars! I’ve made it multiple times because the recipe is so easy to remember (and I always seem to have spotty bananas kicking around in the summer). I added a few more ingredients to enhance the flavours – vanilla extract, cinnamon, (unsweetened) shredded coconut and dried cranberries. My family prefers the bars to be flatter, so I used a 9 x 13 baking dish.
I made these with peanut butter and it was delicious!
These are so delicious! I freeze a batch and heat them in the microwave for about 30 seconds. They are my go-to “breakfast bar” for busy mornings. Thanks for sharing!