5-Ingredient Chewy Granola Bar Recipe

Changing up your meals to include new and healthier recipes can be really exciting. Finding nutritious alternatives to tried and tested favorite breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are pretty easy and can lead you to find some new awesome ingredients. However, snacks can pose more of a challenge. This chewy granola bar recipe developed by Miriam Hahn from You Care Self Care is super tasty, will satisfy the need for something sweet, and will take you no time at all to make.

Making your own snacks from scratch is a sure-fire way of knowing exactly what you're putting into your body. By making your own snacks, you'll be able to create combinations specifically tailored to your taste and keep an endless supply in the house. This chewy granola bar recipe has added crunch as it has the unexpected and delicious addition of pretzels.

While this recipe also includes chocolate chips, you can add pretty much anything to your taste. So long as you've nailed the base recipe of honey or syrup and oats then the snack bar world is your oyster.

This recipe is incredibly quick and includes ingredients you're likely already to have in your cupboards at home. It calls for rolled oats, honey or maple syrup, and peanut butter or almond butter to act as a tasty binding agent. This makes up the basis of the granola bar.

Crushed pretzels give the granola bar a mildly salty flavor and extra crunch. Chocolate chips then give an extra boost of sweetness. If you're vegan or dairy-free you can use alternative chocolates.

The granola bars are incredibly sweet with a salty edge, making them perfect as a dessert or paired with a coffee after your lunch to get you through to the end of the day.

Once you have all your ingredients out in front of you, you can start by crushing your pretzels. There are a few ways you can do this. If you have a blender then pour them in and blitz them. You don't want to crush them into a fine powder. Ensure they still have some of their crunch. Alternatively, you can pour the pretzels into a zip lock bag and smash them with a hammer, rolling pin, or meat mallet.

Once you've done this, pour the honey or golden syrup into a small saucepan with the peanut or almond butter and turn the heat up to medium. Continuously stir the mixture until it's fully incorporated and smooth.

Once the mixture is sticky and smooth you can pour in your oats and pretzels. If it's easier to combine the ingredients one at a time then do that. Stir gently so as not to lose any of the mixture over the side of the bowl.

Once the pretzels and oats are fully covered in the honey and nut butter mixture, you can add the chocolate chips. Stir well so you have an equal distribution of chocolate chips throughout your granola bar batch.

Take a baking dish that's approximately 9x9. Make sure to line it with parchment paper as this will make it much easier to get your granola bars out of the dish once they've chilled and set. Slowly pour in your mixture covering the entirety of the dish. Spread it out evenly so it sets at the same time and your bars will be generally a similar size.

You can pour the granola mixture into the center of the dish and then spread it out with a spatula or spoon, whichever you prefer.

Once you're happy that the granola is level in the dish, you need to put it in the refrigerator for at least two hours to set. You can put it in longer than this, but if you take them out any earlier they may not be totally hard yet and you may end up eating them when they're still gooey.

Once they're set, cut the slab into ten. You can eat these granola bars on their own as a snack. Alternatively, they pair really nicely with fruit as an easy breakfast on the go. They also work well in lunch boxes — though if it's for your kids, you may need to substitute nut butter for soy butter or another nut-free option as most schools have nut-free policies.