Easy 4 Ingredient Baked Banana Oat Snack Bars
When you need a quick, healthy snack for the week ahead make these 4 ingredient banana oat bars!
With 4 simple ingredients, you can prep and cook these in just 30 minutes.
If you love my peanut butter banana baked oatmeal cups, you will love the flavor of these bars!
4 ingredient banana oat bars
Made from wholesome ingredients, the chocolate chips add a touch of sweetness and make these the perfect snack. All you need is 4 main ingredients, a loaf pan, parchment paper and cooking spray to make this recipe. These banana oat bars are a delicious way to use up those bananas that have been staring at you all week on the counter
Why you’ll love these 4 ingredient oat bars
- Quick: You can prep these bars in just 5 minutes and they bake in under 25.
- Simple: All you need are 4 ingredients including simple pantry staples like oats and chocolate chips.
- Healthy: These 4 ingredient oat bars are a wonderful healthy snack or dessert; the little bursts of chocolate are the perfect touch.
Ingredients needed
Ripe bananas: You’ll need two extra-ripe bananas for this oat bar recipe; the more overripe bananas, the more natural sweetness you will get.
Peanut butter: Peanut butter and banana are a match made in snack heaven! Using peanut butter (or substituting with almond butter) allows these bars to be egg free.
Rolled oats: Rolled oats (or old-fashioned oats) give these bars a nice chewy texture. Use gluten-free oats to make these a great gluten-free snack!
Chocolate chips: I love to use dark chocolate chips in these bars but semi-sweet chocolate chips work well too.
Variations and optional flavor add-ins for these banana oatmeal bars
Use this 4 ingredient banana oat bars as a basic recipe to start with and then add in a few additions to elevate them further:
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla extract offers a lovely extra flavor to any baked good.
- Sea salt: A pinch of sea salt enhances the flavors in these oat bars.
- Ground cinnamon: Cinnamon goes so well with banana, so I highly recommend using 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon in these bars.
- Chopped walnuts or pecans: For extra crunch (or instead of chocolate chips) try adding chopped walnuts or pecans.
- Seeds: A nice crunchy addition would be mixing in 3 tablespoons of sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds. Alternatively, you can add these seeds as a topping before baking this quick snack.
Tips to make these banana oat bars the best snack
- Ripeness of the bananas: Any banana that is ripe to extra-ripe will work; we just want to make sure it mashes really well as it is the base of this recipe.
- Nut butter: While I’ve only tested these bars with peanut and almond butter, another good substitution would be cashew butter.
- Chocolate: These bars are a great opportunity to use what you have on hand! If I don’t have chocolate chips, a chopped up chocolate bar is a great substitution.
- Oats: Rolled oats or old-fashioned oats work the best in this recipe since they provide a new chewy texture to these 4 ingredient bars. I do not recommend using steel-cut oats.
- Gluten-free: These bars can be easily made gluten-free by using certified gluten-free oats, chocolate chips and peanut butter.
How to store
- Room temperature: You can store these bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. After 2 days, move to the fridge.
- Fridge: Store these bars in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
FAQs
I have not tested these without nut butter, however, you could try using a sunflower seed butter (like SunButter) or tahini.
You can use quick oats but rolled oats or old fashioned oats do give these bars a better chewy texture.
More quick snacks to love from the blog
- Easy No Bake Gluten Free Citrus Coconut Protein Bars
- Zucchini Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
- Cinnamon Spiced Granola Bars
Easy 4 Ingredient Baked Banana Oat Snack Bars
Equipment
- loaf pan
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup mashed extra-ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Optional additions
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- pinch of sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup 100g chopped walnuts or pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray to prevent the sides from sticking.
- In a medium bowl, mash the bananas well, until it's mostly creamy and there are not many banana chunks left. Then add the peanut butter and mix well so the mashed banana and peanut butter are well combined.
- Then, add the oats and chocolate chips and stir well to combine.
- Add the mixture to the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top.
- Bake on the centre rack of the oven for 22-26 minutes, until the edges of the bars are starting to turn golden-brown and the bars appear set. Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan before slicing and serving.
