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    Home » In the kitchen » Homemade Muesli Bars

    Homemade Muesli Bars

    Published: Feb 6, 2020 · Modified: Apr 21, 2024 by Laura · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    This super easy recipe for 6 ingredient, one bowl no bake homemade muesli bars is going to be your kids new favourite snack! Perfect for lunchboxes, they only take 10 minutes to make!

    Homemade muesli bars on white background

    When it comes to muesli bars I feel like there are 2 distinct camps. The people who make really healthy bars that involve dates and a food processor and the people who decide that it's too hard to make your own muesli bars and just buy them.

    Well to start with, neither of these are bad options! There are some amazing recipes out there but I am just not a huge fan of dates in bars as I find they make them so much sweeter than sugar and Sadie doesn't particularly like them either. And if you do your research there are definitely some great options for buying bars too.

    But as you know, we are all about homemade over here and if I can make it easy to make something yourself, that's the goal!

    I like to call these homemade muesli bars the middle ground bar! They have a very simple list of ingredients - rolled oats, rice bubbles, coconut oil, honey, a small amount of brown sugar and salt.

    They are made in one bowl and are so simple to throw together. Just melt the honey, coconut oil and brown sugar together, stir through the oats and rice bubbles and press really firmly into a tin lined with baking paper. This helps the bars hold together better when they have set.

    Tray of homemade muesli bars

    Are they sugar free?

    No, these bars are not sugar free. They have honey for sweetness as well as a small amount of brown sugar which helps hold the bars together. I have tested them with and without the sugar and I found that the 1 tablespoon of brown sugar made them much easier to press into the tin and after sitting out of the fridge for a while, helped them hold together slightly better than without it. But try both ways and choose which you prefer!

    And although they do have sugar in them, they are almost certainly still better than the bars you buy from the supermarket, so I'm calling this a win!

    Homemade muesli bar on white background

    Can I add extras?

    Yes of course! You could add dessicated coconut, dried cranberries or chopped apricots or chocolate chips. I would only add about ⅓ cup of extras as otherwise they won't hold together quite so well.

    I also sometimes add 2 teaspoons of chia seeds for extra nutritional value and I find they also help hold the bars together a little better too.

    Homemade muesli bars on white background

    How do you store them?

    I store these bars in the fridge as it keeps the coconut oil solid and helps the bars hold together better and keep for longer. I have kept them in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

    Do they hold together as well as bought bars?

    No they don't. These bars are firm out of the fridge but after about 30 minutes (in summer) out of the fridge, they start to go quite soft. This isn't a problem, they still taste delicious! If you wanted them to hold together for longer, place the bars in the freezer and put a frozen bar in your kids lunchbox!

    Other lunchbox ideas:

    • Mini banana chocolate chip muffins
    • Ham & cheese pizza rolls
    • Easy slice & bake cookies (9 flavour ideas)
    • Healthy banana oatmeal muffins
    • No bake peanut butter chia bars
    • Easy cheese scones

    Your kids will love these bars - and you will feel good putting them in their lunchboxes!

    Homemade muesli bars on white background

    SHOP THE RECIPE

    Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which pay me a small commission for my referral at no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting The Kiwi Country Girl.

    Here are some items I used to make this recipe:

    Square slice tin| Measuring cups | Rubber spatula

    Homemade muesli bars on white background

    Homemade Muesli Bars

    This super easy recipe for 5 ingredient, one bowl no bake homemade muesli bars is going to be your kids new favourite snack! Perfect for lunchboxes, they only take 10 minutes to make!
    4.83 from 17 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
    Chilling time: 30 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 40 minutes minutes
    Servings: 12 bars
    Author: Laura

    Ingredients

    • ¼ cup coconut oil
    • ¼ cup honey
    • 1 Tablespoon brown sugar (optional, see recipe note 1)
    • ⅛ teaspoon salt
    • 1 cup rolled oats (see recipe note 2)
    • 1 cup rice bubbles (see recipe note 2)

    Instructions

    • Line a 20cm x 20cm (8" x 8") square baking tin with baking paper.
    • In a medium sized pot combine coconut oil, honey, brown sugar, vanilla and salt. Cook over a medium heat until the mixture is melted and starts to bubble, then allow to bubble for 1 or 2 minutes.
    • Take the pot off the heat and stir through the rolled oats and rice bubbles along with any mix ins you are using (except chocolate chips - if adding these, allow the mixture to cool for 15 minutes before stirring through) Make sure the mixture is well combined.
    • Tip into the prepared baking tin and using your hands or the back of a spoon press the mixture down very firmly - this will help the bars to stick together.
    • Refrigerate for 30 minutes before carefully removing from the tin and slicing into bars.
    • Store in the fridge for one week.

    Notes

    1. I have tested them with and without the sugar and I found that the 1 tablespoon of brown sugar made them much easier to press into the tin and after sitting out of the fridge for a while, helped them hold together slightly better than without it. But try both ways and choose which you prefer!
    2. I have tried these with a few different combinations of oats and rice bubbles - you can do all oats for extra chewy bars, 1 ½ cup oats and ½ cup rice bubbles for bars with a bit of crunch and 1 cup of each for a happy medium!
    Nutrition Facts
    Homemade Muesli Bars
    Amount per Serving
    Calories
    99
    % Daily Value*
    Fat
     
    5
    g
    8
    %
    Saturated Fat
     
    4
    g
    25
    %
    Sodium
     
    37
    mg
    2
    %
    Potassium
     
    28
    mg
    1
    %
    Carbohydrates
     
    13
    g
    4
    %
    Fiber
     
    1
    g
    4
    %
    Sugar
     
    7
    g
    8
    %
    Protein
     
    1
    g
    2
    %
    Vitamin A
     
    155
    IU
    3
    %
    Vitamin C
     
    1
    mg
    1
    %
    Calcium
     
    4
    mg
    0
    %
    Iron
     
    1
    mg
    6
    %
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
    Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Tag @thekiwicountrygirl or tag #thekiwicountrygirl!
    If you tried and loved this recipe, please leave a comment and a rating below!
    « Life with Macey - 5 months
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kati says

      December 14, 2024 at 9:50 am

      5 stars
      Great recipe, thank you! Super easy, I made with my 3yo. I added seeds and dessicated coconut for the extras, worked really well. Nice quick clean-up. Whole fam enjoyed!

      Reply
    2. Maureen says

      August 14, 2024 at 5:15 pm

      My toddler grandson keeps stealing his mother’s muesli bars, so she asked if I’d find an alternative, since I’m on holiday this week.

      I found this recipe, added some roughly chopped nuts and seeds and dropped some chocolate on top once coolish, he’s very happy. Next time I might try half honey & half maple syrup.
      Also, hello fellow NZer.

      Reply
    3. Chase Danvers says

      May 25, 2024 at 12:49 pm

      I tried the recipe but with all oats and no rice bubbles and when I cooked it, the stuff at the bottom burnt and I couldn't cook the oats all the way through. The mixture was super dry and I couldn't really see how it would become a bubbling mixture. Any tips on how to prevent that? Or should I be using the half and half split of rolled oats and rice bubbles? I'm not too good of a cook or a baker so I might be doing something wrong.

      Side note:
      I replaced the coconut oil with butter since I didn't have any and I also replaced around half the honey with peanut butter as I didn't want it to be too sweet.

      Reply
      • Laura says

        May 26, 2024 at 11:11 am

        Hi Chase. Definitely a few things that have gone wrong for you here and it is down to the combination of adjustments you have made to the recipe. Firstly, there is no need to cook the oats - you melt the liquid ingredients and then take it off the heat and stir through the oats. Also the honey is pretty imperative to creating that bubbling mixture that will hold the muesli bars together. Subbing out some of the honey for peanut butter (and I'm going to guess that you also left out the brown sugar?) isn't going to give you that lovely bubbling mixture that will bind the oats together. This will also be the reason it burnt.

        I understand that you would prefer it to be less sweet but my suggestion (particularly if you are a baker who is maybe not that confident) is always to make the recipe as directed first to see how it is supposed to turn out and then make adjustments to your taste from there!

        Reply
    4. Heidi says

      May 10, 2024 at 2:56 pm

      5 stars
      First muesli bar recipe I have made that actually worked out to be delicious for everyone in the family! Easy peasy to make and minimal clean up... exactly what this busy Mum was after! I also added desiccated coconut and chopped apricots. Looking forward to making them over and over with different flavours added! Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
      • Laura says

        May 17, 2024 at 7:37 pm

        I'm so glad you loved them! Thanks Heidi!

        Reply
    5. Danielle says

      August 28, 2023 at 7:30 pm

      Hi! How do I make them not so sweet? The kids found them quite sweet and a real honey taste how do I even it out abit 🙂

      Thanks!

      Reply
      • Laura says

        September 08, 2023 at 11:55 am

        Hi Danielle - there are a few options, it might just take some trial and error until you find what works for you! You could sub the honey for brown sugar, or sub some of the honey for peanut butter which would help them hold together but would then give a peanut butter taste to the bars, or you could use a tablespoon less honey and an extra tablespoon coconut oil. All worth a try!

        Reply
    6. Emily says

      November 15, 2022 at 11:35 am

      Love making these, they're a regular in the lunchbox now. I make a double batch and drizzle melted dark chocolate on top, so good 🤤

      Reply
    7. Anna says

      August 05, 2022 at 11:46 am

      5 stars
      Love making these so easy I add in some nuts and seeds hubby even likes them saves buying boxes of bars. Double the batch and freeze for convenience

      Reply
    8. Liz says

      January 09, 2022 at 5:39 pm

      Hi Laura, Could I use vegetable oil instead of coconut oil (I don't have coconut oil)? Thanks 🙂

      Reply
      • Laura says

        April 02, 2022 at 2:22 pm

        Hi Lizzie, vegetable oil won't work as the coconut oil hardens when cool which helps them hold together, but you could use butter instead!

        Reply
    9. Jess says

      September 17, 2021 at 4:17 pm

      Could these be made with brown rice syrup instead of honey?

      Reply
      • Laura says

        January 01, 2022 at 2:21 pm

        Hi Jess, I've never used brown rice syrup but it would be worth a try!

        Reply
    10. Kirsten says

      August 25, 2021 at 10:12 am

      Hi Laura,
      What sort of coconut oil do you recommend.
      Cold pressed - I think that’s the one that tastes like coconut or the one that’s unflavoured?

      Thanks 🙂

      Reply
      • Laura says

        January 05, 2022 at 7:55 am

        Hi Kirsten, I use Blue Coconut coconut oil, just the regular one from the supermarket, not the cold pressed one. I don't find this one has a flavour at all but any coconut oil you have will work fine!

        Reply
        • Katherine says

          September 06, 2022 at 9:02 pm

          3 stars
          These were really yum but unfortunately fell apart in the kids lunchboxes by morning tea time, even when they'd been in the freezer. Perfect for eating straight out of the fridge or freezer though.

    11. Dana Gillard says

      August 14, 2021 at 3:38 pm

      YUMMM!! Have made these a couple of times now and are a hit with the fam not to mention super easy to make and better than the bought stuff. So good! Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
    12. Vicky says

      June 23, 2021 at 12:30 pm

      If adding Chia Seeds, do you soak the chia seeds first? Or just add them dry?

      Reply
      • Laura says

        July 05, 2021 at 9:35 pm

        Hi Vicky, I just add them dry 🙂

        Reply
    13. rebecca webb says

      May 19, 2021 at 3:23 pm

      5 stars
      So easy and quick to make! Very tasty

      Reply
    14. Emily says

      April 18, 2021 at 1:23 pm

      5 stars
      I made these last week to take to work, I didn't have rice bubbles but used my light and tasty and they came out great! Definitely will be making these again! So quick and easy to wip up!

      Reply
    15. Maria Jacobs says

      February 09, 2021 at 11:12 am

      How much vanilla? 🙂

      Reply
      • Laura says

        March 08, 2021 at 3:11 pm

        Whoops, in the method but not the ingredients list! It's an optional ingredient but I'd add 1 teaspoon!

        Reply
    16. Maria Jacobs says

      February 09, 2021 at 11:06 am

      5 stars
      Huge hit in our house. My daughter asked me this morning. Where is my muesli bar? So making again now 🙂
      Hit; dont be impatient,follow directions let cool before adding choc chips

      Reply
    17. Trish says

      February 07, 2021 at 9:43 pm

      4 stars
      Made these tonight using maple syrup instead of honey. Quite sweet but yum! Will definitely make them for the grandchildren! 😆

      Reply
    18. Steph says

      November 26, 2020 at 8:17 pm

      Hi, will these freeze ok? Thanks

      Reply
      • Laura says

        November 29, 2020 at 4:37 pm

        Yes, absolutely!

        Reply
    19. Pia says

      May 28, 2020 at 7:53 am

      These were great for the kids and adults alike. We did one batch with 100’s and thousands and another topped with chocolate chips. They will be added to the rotation for sure!

      Reply
    4.83 from 17 votes (9 ratings without comment)

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