Gluten-free breakfast bars, sweetened with honey and thickened with peanutbutter are a favorite in our house! They are made often as part of Sunday afternoon meal prep, but also are fast enough to be made Monday morning before school. The honey in these bars is cooked, so when they cool they hold together really well; well enough to go on hikes, in lunch boxes, and to survive road trips.
Ingredients in Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Breakfast Bars:
The ingredients I use are found all at Costco. You may want to substitute sprouted oats for the rolled oats, to reduce the phytic acid content. But to be honest, I usually just use regular rolled oats.
To make this GAPS-friendly, No Bake Grain-Free Breakfast Cookies are the GAPS variety of this recipe.
We use natural peanut butter that is made from just peanuts and sea salt. If you have peanut butter allergies, you can use any kind of nut or seed butter in these bars with delicious results.
Honey both sweetens and holds the bars together, and optional vanilla adds a rich flavor and aroma as the bars are made. Yes, honey is safe to cook with, read more about that here.
In place of the vanilla, you can also use ceylon cinnamon for a different flavor.
Last, to make these into a dessert (which the already pretty much are!) you can stir in a half-cup of chocolate chips after stirring in the oats. So good!
Yummy Gluten-Free Peanutbutter Breakfast Bars
Without the stand-by of cold breakfast cereal, sometimes we just need something quick and easy to hand the kids on the way out the door on an especially rushed morning. These gluten-free bars are made with just oats, honey, peanut butter, and vanilla! They also pack really well into backpacks for hiking and lunchboxes, and are sweet enough to be served as a dessert as well.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1-1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla optional
- 1-1/2 cups Rolled oats Sprouted oats can be used to reduce phytic acid. Quick oats work in this recipe, but I usually use regular rolled oats.
Instructions
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Over medium heat, heat the honey to boil in a medium saucepan, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally over medium heat, for about 3 minutes. Honey will be bubbling and starting to darken, but not be completely dark brown at this point. This is the firm ball stage.
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Turn off burner and add the peanut butter and vanilla. Allow pan to sit still on the burner for 3 minutes, or until the peanut butter becomes more melty and stirs easily into the honey.
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Add in oats and vanilla while stirring with a serving spoon, wooden spoon, or silicone spoon. Stir until all oats are mixed into the peanut butter mixture, this takes about 2-3 minutes of dedicated stirring.
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Dump the warm mixture onto parchment paper and allow to cool a few minutes until cool enough to touch. Use wet hands to press into a square or rectangle. Cut into 16 even squares. Breakfast bars will firm up as they cool.
Allow bars to cool to room temperature, and then store in an air-tight container for up to 5 days, freeze for up to 6 months.
Recipe Notes
This is a great recipe to do in the Instant Pot using the Saute function (not pressure). Follow all directions as written, but use the Instant pot rather than a saucepan on the stovetop.
Grain-free, paleo, GAPS, or SCD? See a similar recipe here for grain-free Breakfast Cookies!
Is it safe to heat honey? Yes it is!
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thank you for sharing this recipe. I will be making this for my college students. :)