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Banana Breakfast Bars are an easy breakfast or snack we’ve been making for years. They’re a copycat of those breakfast bars you buy, but homemade so they’re better for you and cheaper too! These are one of my favorite banana breakfast recipes!
Years ago there was a brand that made Banana Breakfast Bars, sold in packages next to the granola bars. I was obsessed with them as simple snacks because they were soft and tasted like a banana muffin met an oatmeal cookie and they were better for breakfast than either of those. But they were so expensive and at the rate I was eating them…I decided to make my own.
These easy breakfast bars are soft and chewy, like a banana oatmeal cookie but in bar form – without all the extra junk. I drizzle them with a little peanut butter, just like the originals, and I freeze squares in sandwich bags for easy grab and go snacking (or for lunch boxes).
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How to make Banana Breakfast Bars
These bars are a cross between a granola bar and a banana bread/blondie. I actually combined my mom’s banana bread with my base blondie recipe to create something a little bit on the lighter side of both.
Instead of butter, I used oil instead. You can also use vegetable or coconut oil. Combined with 2 overripe bananas and an egg, you get a good bar base. A little brown sugar goes in as sweetener, and the binding is done with whole wheat flour and old fashioned oats.
All you have to do is mix and press them into the bars and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Once cooled, you can mix some peanut butter with white chocolate chips for the drizzle (or just use peanut butter, but then it won’t harden).
Banana Breakfast Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 medium bananas, spotted ones that are a little past their prime
- ¼ cup vegetable or coconut oil
- ¼ cup (50g) packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup (62g) whole wheat flour
- 1 cup (80g) old fashioned oats
- ¼ cup (43g) white chocolate chips, optional
- 1 tablespoon (17g) peanut butter, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8×8” or 9×9” pan with nonstick cooking spray. (Line it with foil first for easy removal, if desired.)
- Place bananas in a large bowl. Mash them with a fork or potato masher until just small chunks remain. Stir in oil and brown sugar with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Add egg, vanilla, and salt, and stir until combined. Stir in baking soda. Add flour and oats and stir until mixed, some lumps will remain. Spread in prepared pan.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes until browned around the edges and not jiggly in the center. Cool completely. Slice into bars.
- Optional drizzle: melt white chocolate chips and peanut butter in a small microwave safe bowl (on 50% power in 30 second increments, stirring between each). Place melted chocolate in a small ziploc bag with the tip cut off and drizzle over bars.
- Enjoy within 2 days or freeze for up to one month. I like to freeze them and then reheat as needed, since they don’t last very long on the counter.
Notes
- By substituting butter for oil, I’ve made these a bit heart healthier. Vegetable oil is recognized as a healthier fat than butter by the American Heart Association.
- Using whole wheat flour makes these better than anything with white flour.
- The old fashioned oats give a nice texture.
- The bars you buy have a peanut butter drizzle, so I added that to these. You can skip, of course, or add some peanut butter chips or mini chocolate chips to the bars for extra flavor.
- They last about 2 days on the counter, or you can freeze them for a quick snack. That’s what I like to do, after my workout, with a cup of coffee and some apple slices. It gets me to lunch, where I’m not so hungry I eat the kitchen.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Loved it. It’s a pretty small recipe, though. Doubled the batch and got only one pan filled. There wasn’t any need for the sugar with our ripe bananas, so we left that out. Makes it healthier but still yummy. Kids have already chowed half of it; it’ll probably be gone by the end of the day.
How do you make the drizzle on the top?
Once you melt the chocolate with peanut butter, you can add it to a baggie and snip off one corner, then drizzle.
I’ve been looking for a new recipe to mix up the menu. Single biggest requirement, must be super easy to make. These definitely are going into rotation! Question though, I like to find a good base recipe and then switch up different fruits each time for variety. So, do you have to use the banana? Or can I just replace with say strawberries or cranberries? Or are the bananas not a dominant flavor so just add the other fruit? Glad you know how to look at a store bought package and come up with a recipe! I do NOT have that skill set. but, I can absolutely ride your coattails! I’ll rate the recipe once I make it. If it lets me update.
The bananas are important for moisture – they are a dominant flavor. You can swap applesauce for the banana, and you can add any add-ins you like (like berries) but you need to also add banana or applesauce.
Wow!!!! Your banana breakfast bars are sensational! I just made them for the first time, gave my husband a couple of squares and he said, “are these for dessert?”
They are so good they may not last until breakfast!
Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
These are delicious! I don’t add any extra sugar at all because usually my bananas are so ripe they’re sweet enough! Then, I add a generous serving of pumpkin pie spice (a mix of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg) to the batter and mix well before baking. My husband keeps asking for more! Thank you 🙂
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