The Only Granola Bar Recipe You'll Ever Need (2024)

FAQs

What is the best binder for granola bars? ›

While there are several different sticky ingredients that you can use, we've found that the binding agent that works the best is honey! When added to your homemade granola bars, honey acts as glue that sticks all the pieces together.

Homemade granola bars are a great alternative to store-bought ones. Because they typically use minimally processed ingredients and very little added sugar or salt, they're often more nutritious than packaged versions.

Add an egg white.

The whites act as a kind of glue that binds the ingredients together. To ensure that the egg whites coat all the ingredients, I beat them with a whisk until foamy and increased in volume, which makes it much easier to fold into the granola.

Higher temperatures can cause ingredients like nuts, seeds, and coconut to burn before the batch has a chance to properly dry out and crisp up, Perry says. Stick with a low temperature, keep an eye on your mixture, and stir it from time to time to help it brown evenly.

While the oats and nuts bake, you can make the sticky glue that holds our bars together. You'll melt butter, honey, and brown sugar in a saucepan and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Mix this sticky mixture with the toasted oats and nuts. Allow everything to cool, and then toss in dried fruit and chocolate chips.

If your granola bars are falling apart or seem too crumbly, here are a few tips. Make sure you use honey or another sticky sweetener such as maple syrup in the liquid part of the recipe; this recipe calls for honey. This will help bind together the ingredients and keep that signature bar shape.

They save well (wrap and freeze them for up to two months), are more affordable than store-bought bars, and don't contain the long list of unpronounceable ingredients. Plus, your kitchen will smell like a bakery while these granola bars bake. Ahhhh.

Because granola contains carbohydrates, it can spike blood sugar levels in some people with diabetes. However, whether or not granola spikes your blood sugar levels, and how quickly it may cause a blood sugar spike, will vary depending on what type of granola you eat and what you pair it with.

Store them in the fridge or freezer.

I recommend storing them with a sheet of parchment paper between layers so that the bars don't stick together. They'll keep for up to a week in the fridge, but you can also freeze them for up to 2 months.

GRANOLA (WHOLE GRAIN OATS, BROWN SUGAR, BROWN RICE CRISP [WHOLE GRAIN BROWN RICE FLOUR, SUGAR, SALT], WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, SOYBEAN OIL, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, BAKING SODA, SOY LECITHIN, NONFAT DRY MILK), CORN SYRUP, BROWN RICE CRISP (WHOLE GRAIN BROWN RICE FLOUR, SUGAR, SALT), SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS (SUGAR, CHOCOLATE ...

What is granola with a hint of cinnamon? ›

Kellogg's® Granola Crunchy. Indulge with the delicious Kellogg's® Granola Crunchy. It is the perfect combination of rolled oat clusters with shredded coconut and a hint of cinnamon.

Check the ingredient list, avoiding products that list sugar or sweeteners —including natural sweeteners like honey — within the first few ingredients. Instead, the first few ingredients should be whole foods, such as oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. You may also want to look for varieties high in protein and fiber.

Once you try homemade granola, you won't go back to store-bought granola. It's so much better! This granola recipe is also a far more healthy granola option, since it's made with whole grains, unrefined oil and naturally sweetened.

On the downside, granola can be high in added sugars, hidden calories, and saturated fat, making some options less healthy.

You can use some sticky substances such as honey, maple syrup, mashed dates, or brown rice syrup that serve as a natural sticky binder. Fruit purees like mashed bananas, applesauce, or pureed fruits like figs or prunes contain natural sugars and pectin, aiding in binding.

The three most common binders are xanthan gum, guar gum and psyllium husk powder. Each one works in a slightly different way to help create the structure we need to hold baked goods together.

But really, add a beaten egg white -- make sure it's foamy and frothy -- to your granola after you've mixed it all together. The protein in the egg will help bind the oats together, creating addictive morsels. (Shhh: it's the secret to Deb Perelman's Big Cluster Maple Granola.)