Nature Valley Granola Bar Recipe

Copycat Oats N’ Honey Nature Valley Granola Bar Recipe

I cannot tell you how long I’ve been wanting to make a copycat Nature Valley Oats N’ Honey Granola Bar recipe. Cue: CRUMBS. EVERYWHERE. I’ve seen these crunchy bars likened to sand, or the crumbly bits that everyone disintegrated into in Avengers: Infinity War. And honestly, I agree. But also … this bar is delicious – and if you’ve also dropped crumbs everywhere as soon as you pull down that green zigzag side wrapper, you know exactly what I’m talking about. No, it never was really filling as a snack. Nah, it wasn’t even super healthy. And no, it wasn’t even like the packing was eco-friendly. Or that the bar would even HOLD ITS OWN WEIGHT UP. NONE of that, yet I can still vouch for this being one of the best snacks ever. One of the tastiest granola bars I’ve had the good fortune to have growing up!

Imagine: The moment I opened the wrapper, the bar would crumble from the edges, leaving less than what I started with. Large flaky pieces of bar drop onto my lap, my textbook, the floor, and of course, my stomach, which is happily absorbing this sugary “healthy” food. Anyways, enough of me poking fun at this. Today, I’ve actually remade these. Well to be fair, I tweaked Betty Crocker’s recipe a bit, which I discuss below. A healthier version than the regular, which kind of also breaks apart at the same rate … but that’s the fun of it, right? I think the flavor also kind of closely resembled the actual bar, which is difficult to get point on when you have tastes such as “natural flavour” mixed in.

How Healthy Is It?

Has this snack reeled you in as well? With its green packaging and nature valley bar logo that lines the snack bar aisle in every grocery store, it is tempting to not pick up a box when this company is everywhere. But on closer inspection of the ingredients, when I wondered what’s this made of? here’s what I found. Whole Grain Oats, Sugar, Canola and/or Sunflower Oil, Rice Flour, Honey, Salt, Brown Sugar Syrup, Baking Soda, Soy Lecithin, Natural Flavor. Not super healthy, although the oats as the first ingredient may seem like it.

I’m not too keen on all the sugar added in though. Brown sugar syrup and sugar. As the second ingredient, no less! The way ingredient labels are made, the first ingredient is the one that is in the largest amount. Which means right after oats, there is more sugar than any of the ingredients after it. On top of that, add in the processed oils, which don’t give much benefit either. Canola and sunflower are two major oils to avoid (along with corn, cottonseed, soybean and safflower oils). Reasons for this are because they are manufactured using high heat and toxic solvents to extract the oil from the seeds, which in turn damages the oils and the way it is used in our body. This is a good thing for companies because it increases the shelf life, but pretty bad for our health.

Remove Added Oils

Once I learned this, I began cutting out foods with these extra oils. When I did need to use oil for something, I opted to use coconut oil or avocado oil. For baking, coconut oil has been my go-to if I do need to choose one, and for cooking it’s avocado oil. Even olive oil, freshly pressed, tastes way different than store-bought olive oil (and many other oils follow the same pattern). Due to the processing of oils I’ve been reading more about and I try to avoid most of them unless a recipe really wouldn’t taste the same without it.

So although these bars were already pre-made accidentally almost vegan (without the honey part), I shyed away from the added sugar and oil and decided to try making my own. If you’re a fan of the store-bought ones, all the power to you! I just opt to make homemade versions as a “copycat” recipe to store-bought favorites. Part of the fun for me is just recreating these childhood snacks (like Rice Krispies, Honey Buns, Little Debbie Brownies … too many)! So I used this recipe from Betty Crocker, which called for a quarter cup honey and coconut oil each.

I also felt a kind of buttery granola taste when I ate these bars. So I decided to mimic that using vegan butter. After making only these two replacements, the recipe came out really well. I find that when I use coconut oil in baked oats, they tend to come out more crumbly and crisped up more than with butter. I didn’t want the bars falling apart (they crumbled just the right amount) so I tried the butter instead. Although, as the original recipe proved, coconut oil can work too. Just make sure it’s the refined coconut oil, it shouldn’t smell like coconut!

Why You’ll Love This Nature Valley Granola Bar Recipe

Texture: My favourite thing about these store-bought granola bars was the texture. Anybody who’s opened a pack of these can tell that they aren’t as firm as other chewy granola bars are. The texture was such that parts of the bar began crumbling as soon as you opened the pack. Forget trying to even take it out of the wrapper! If your bar was still fully intact, good luck. Because as soon as you bit into it, it wouldn’t stay put together as well as other bars did. For example, KIND bars or Clif bars. If you bit into them, the chewiness of the bar held together the rest of it. This was definitely not the case with these ones, but that kind of made it the best part! This combined with the crunchy texture was just too good.

Quick Breakfast Grab-N-Go: If you’re one to be eating a granola bar while running out of the house (like in movies, where there’s orange juice and pancakes made for breakfast but the kids just run out of the door with a snack in their hands), this is an easy recipe with simple ingredients that you can make the week in advance to carry for as breakfast bites or healthy snacks to work, school, or wherever you’re going.

Road Trips: This recipe is great for packing along on road trips. Or on any long drives or flights! This, along with the various energy balls and bars I’ve listed under the “more recipes you’ll love” section, all make great snacks to pack along in lunch boxes!

Layer with Toppings!

Add Ins & Toppings: This base is a great recipe for the perfect snack. Like that feeling when you want to munch on something but nothing specific really comes to mind? This is where you will *insert* these homemade granola bars. But there’s so much more that could be experimented with here. For example, I like to make a chia seed pudding or a fruit parfait, and crumble the granola bars on top. Or just simply crumble the bars to make a homemade granola mixture!

Then top with semisweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate shavings, a white chocolate drizzle, unsweetened coconut (or sweetened if you prefer, I opt for the no-sugar-added coconut), almond butter, peanut butter, sunflower seed butter (or another healthy fat like cashew butter), date paste, dried fruit, sunflower seeds, slivered almonds and so much more. Or better yet, take the entire bar, top it with nut butter, sprinkle with chocolate, nuts, seeds and the likes, and eat it like a rice cake topped with a plethora of things. Thank me later.

Substitutions

Cane Sugar: Xylitol or brown sugar could be tried in place of the cane sugar. It would still hold the bars together, but they wouldn’t taste the same.

Agave or Maple Syrup: Brown rice syrup, coconut syrup, date syrup, or other liquid sweeteners could act as an alternative.

Vegan Butter: I like to use salted vegan butter sticks from the brand Melt. I do not recommend to use oil, margarine or another replacement. There are other companies, such as Earth Balance, that make vegan butter sticks too.

Nature Valley Granola Bar Recipe Notes

• Letting the bars cool on a cooling rack after removing them from the oven will give them a chance to harden up. This step is crucial (also mentioned in the recipe card below) because it causes that crumbly kind-of-barely-held-together-with-oats bar texture.
• Spice grinders work great for quickly making powder out of nuts or grains, such as old-fashioned oats. This is because the blade is sharp and spice grinders are smaller machines that can handle a little bit at a time. With larger blenders or food processors, there might be some chunks of oats left over unless the blender is high-powdered enough or the bowl is small enough to blend just a small amount. For example, my food processor uses a large bowl that wouldn’t blend a small amount of oats into oat flour completely.
• Use old-fashioned, rolled or quick oats in the oat mixture. Don’t use steel cut, as the texture is different.
• Line the 8-inch by 8-inch size pan with a piece of parchment paper or lightly grease the base with a non-stick spray to prevent the granola bars from sticking to the base once it cools.
• To make a homemade protein bar, you could try to replace some of the oat flour with protein powder instead! Make sure that the protein powder tastes good on its own, without mixing it into another drink. I always test out my protein powders by drinking them with plain water mixed in to see if they taste good or not.
• These bars are best stored at room temperature, but you can also store them in the fridge to harden them up even more. Honestly, I’ve even put granola bars in the freezer because I like that extra crunchy texture!

Quick Snack Recipes You’ll Love (All No Bake!)

Simple Vegan Cookie Recipe: If you have a big sweet tooth, these cookies are for you! No bake, chocolate and oat based cookies. Although they have a ton of cane sugar added in, these cookies will satisfy your chocolate craving for a rich, sugary snack! Plus, they’re easy to make, like all the recipes listed here.

Chocolate Pistachio Green Tea Energy Bars: I love experimenting with different flavours – matcha, chocolate and pistachio were no exception. The matcha adds a touch of underlying bitterness. On top of that is the richness of the chocolate and the nuttiness of pistachios. No wonder this combination makes for a uniquely flavoured energy bar!

Raw Carrot Cake Bites: Essentially, it’s a no bake carrot cake rolled into a ball, then rolled in shredded coconut!

Ginger Orange Bites: Powdered ginger and zested orange are another complementary pair of flavours that make a delicious energy ball!

Raw German Chocolate Bites: These energy balls are a raw vegan version of the decadent german chocolate cake. Pecans, chocolate and coconut all rolled into one!

Cinnamon Sugar Pasta Chips

Nutella Peanut Butter Oat Snack Cups

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

If you make this Nature Valley Granola Bar Recipe, leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!