Looking for a healthy snack? These homemade granola bars are packed with nutritious ingredients and are delicious!

Granola bars can be a healthy snack during the day, especially when properly prepared. This recipe does take a little patience but these bars taste really good! You don’t even have to make them bars. You can choose to break the cooked mixture of goodness up and put over yogurt or eat it as cereal! What makes these granola bars healthier than the store-bought version?
What makes these granola bars healthier than the store-bought version?
Soaked Oats
Soaking grains will break down the anti-nutrients, allowing them to become more digestible. I think Sally Fallon explains it best, “All grains contain phytic acid (an organic acid in which phosphorus is bound) in the outer layer or bran. Untreated phytic acid can combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc in the intestinal tract and block their absorption.”
Macadamia nuts
Macadamia nuts are the lowest in PUFA’s and coincidentally are quite tasty in this granola.
Coconut Oil
A fabulous antiviral, antimicrobial, and a great source of saturated fat.
Coconut Sugar
Unlike processed sugar, coconut sugar actually has some nutrients we can benefit from like Vitamin B and Potassium.
Gelatin
Where shall I start? Gelatin is a wonderful anti-inflammatory, helps strengthen hair and nails, is good for joint health, and is a great source of collagen for loose skin. Read more about gelatin health benefits here.
So how do we make these yummy homemade granola bars? Let me tell ya!

Homemade Granola Bars Recipe
This recipe yields approximately 6 homemade granola bars.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup organic oats or sprouted oats
- 1 Cup of filtered water
- 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup finely chopped macadamia nuts
- ½ cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
- 1 ½ tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 2 tablespoons gelatin (Collagen Hydrolysate)
- ¾ cup of dried fruit or chocolate chips (try to use dried fruit that doesn’t have rancid oils added to them like sunflower/safflower oil.)
- Cookie sheet
- 8×8 baking dish
- Parchment paper
- Mixing bowl
Instructions:
- Place oats in a bowl and add the water and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (you can also use lemon juice, whey, buttermilk or yogurt in place of the apple cider vinegar) Stir well and leave on the counter for at least 7 hours and as long as 24 hours. Once the oats have been soaked, rinse and strain through a mesh strainer. You can gently press on the oats to help remove the water more quickly. ***If you have sprouted oats you can skip this process! Just use one cup of sprouted oats and move on to step #3.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and transfer the strained oats to a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Be sure to spread the oats out as much as possible. Cook oats until they are dry, about 45 minutes, stirring and breaking up about every 10 minutes. The more the oats are broken up the quicker they will dry.
- Toss the dried oats, macadamia nuts, and shredded coconut on the same cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 12 minutes, stirring halfway.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
- Transfer the oat, macadamia nut and coconut mixture to a mixing bowl.
- Line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place the coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar, salt and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for one minute and then turn off the heat. Continue to stir while slowly adding the flax meal and gelatin. Once everything is well dissolved, pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Stir in the ¾ cup of dried fruit. Pour the mixture into the prepared 8×8 baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Allow to cool for about 30 minutes and score the bars. Let the bars continue to cool and set for another 30-60 minutes before you completely cut and serve. As I said, these bars take a little patience but they are well worth the wait! My husband ate the whole pan in one day. If you don’t want bars to skip the scoring, and just break up into pieces once it’s cooled a bit. Enjoy!
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Homemade Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1 Cup organic oats or sprouted oats
- 1 Cup filtered water
- 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup finely chopped macadamia nuts
- ½ cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
- 1 ½ tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons flax meal
- 2 tablespoons gelatin (Collagen Hydrolysate)
- ¾ cup of dried fruit or chocolate chips (try to use dried fruit that doesn’t have rancid oils added to them like sunflower/safflower oil.)
- Cookie sheet
- 8x8 baking dish
- Parchment paper
- Mixing bowl
Instructions
- Place oats in a bowl and add the water and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (you can also use lemon juice, whey, buttermilk or yogurt in place of the apple cider vinegar) Stir well and leave on the counter for at least 7 hours and as long as 24 hours. Once the oats have been soaked, rinse and strain through a mesh strainer. You can gently press on the oats to help remove the water more quickly. ***If you have sprouted oats you can skip this process! Just use one cup of sprouted oats and move on to step #3.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and transfer the strained oats to a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Be sure to spread the oats out as much as possible. Cook oats until they are dry, about 45 minutes, stirring and breaking up about every 10 minutes. The more the oats are broken up the quicker they will dry.
- Toss the dried oats, macadamia nuts, and shredded coconut on the same cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 12 minutes, stirring half way.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
- Transfer the oat, macadamia nut and coconut mixture to a mixing bowl.
- Line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place the coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar, salt and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for one minute and then turn off the heat. Continue to stir while slowly adding the flax meal and gelatin. Once everything is well dissolved, pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Stir in the ¾ cup of dried fruit. Pour the mixture into the prepared 8×8 baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Allow to cool for about 30 minutes and score the bars. Let the bars continue to cool and set for another 30-60 minutes before you completely cut and serve. Like I said, these bars take a little patience but they are well worth the wait! My husband ate the whole pan in one day. If you don’t want bars skip the scoring, and just break up into pieces once it’s cooled a bit. Enjoy!
Baker’s notes: This recipe is very versatile! I’ve used honey in place of maple syrup and enjoy life chocolate chips in place of dried fruit. You could even use grass-fed butter in place of coconut oil. I will say that the maple syrup gives this a nice caramel taste that we love but play around with it and find your favorite version!
Do you have any questions about this homemade granola bars recipe? Feel free to contact me at any time!
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