6-Ingredient Apple Oatmeal Bars are infused with the sweet taste of fall and have the best chewy texture! Egg-free, vegan, dairy-free and refined sugar-free, these healthy apple bars are perfect for breakfast, snack, or dessert!
If you were waiting for the perfect fall dessert recipe to waltz into your life, these simple yet wildly delicious 6-Ingredient Apple Oatmeal Bars are everything you could possibly desire in a warmly-spiced adventure.
Made with six basic ingredients (most of which you probably already have on hand), this healthy dessert recipe is just full to the brim with apple flavor.
So whether you went apple picking and need apple recipes to use up your bounty or you just love a great apple treat year round, these yummy oatmeal breakfast bars are here for you!
Plus, they are modeled after my 4-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Bars and my 5-Ingredient Flourless Pumpkin Oatmeal Bars so you know they’ve got to be a hit!
Recipe Highlights:
These simple yet flavor-packed healthy oatmeal bars are gluten-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, vegan, and so incredibly easy to prepare!
All you need is six basic wholesome ingredients, a mixing bowl, and an 8-inch cake pan or baking dish.
What Do They Taste Like?:
It’s as though all the beautiful fall colors converged and made a magical dessert baby.
These chewy bars are a cookie meets cake meets healthy baked oatmeal, meets granola bar type of situation. They’re dense, moist, and are just jam packed with apple cinnamon flavor to really tickle your taste buds.
The perfect healthy treat for kids, this simple six ingredient recipe is a lovely baking project for littles (and humans of all ages).
Let’s discuss the six simple ingredients in this easy recipe.
Ingredients for Apple Oatmeal Bars:
Applesauce: Bringing part of the apple flavor as well as some volume, moisture, and sweetness, unsweetened applesauce is an all star ingredient that takes the place of eggs for a vegan dessert recipe.
You can swap it out for ⅔ cup of pureed pumpkin, sweet potato, or mashed ripe banana.
Pure Maple Syrup: Keeping these healthy apple bars refined sugar-free, pure maple syrup is used as the sweetener. The maple flavor also adds to that rich fall vibe we have going on here!
Swap the pure maple syrup for brown sugar and add 3 tablespoons of coconut oil, or melted butter.
Almond Butter: Unsweetened almond butter is the glue that holds it all together! When combined with the applesauce and maple syrup, we achieve a sticky mixture that ensures the squares hold together.
Because these bars are very apple cinnamon forward, you don’t detect much of the flavor of the almond butter.
The almond butter can be replaced with any nut or seed butter (such as cashew butter, peanut butter, or sunflower seed butter), but just note that you may be able to taste whatever you use as a replacement.
Rolled Oats: Old fashioned rolled oats make up the solids in these easy oatmeal bars so that we are getting a nice infusion of whole grains. Oats take the place of all purpose flour for a healthier treat and also provide that rustic texture.
I use gluten-free sprouted oats that are glyphosate-free in all of my oatmeal recipes, but you can pick your favorite brand.
For the best result, stick with rolled oats instead of quick oats or instant oats for the best texture. For a chewy blondie texture, swap the oats for 1 2/3 cups of oat flour.
Ground Cinnamon: No apple treat would be complete without cinnamon! It brings lovely warmth to this healthy snack recipe.
Fresh Apples: You need just one large apple for these apple bars, and you can pick your favorite. I went with a Granny Smith apple because I wanted to be sure plenty of tart apple flavor was present. Gala apples, Fuji, honeycrisp, granny smith apples, pink lady, any kind of apples work.
Sea Salt: A sprinkle of sea salt helps bring out the richness of the bars and makes them taste sweeter.
Optional Additions:
- If you love nutty dessert bars, add ½ to ⅔ cup chopped walnuts or pecans to these dreamy bars.
- Make chocolate chip apple oat bars by adding up to 1 cup of chocolate chips.
- For oatmeal cookie vibes, add ½ to ⅔ cup raisins if you enjoy them!
- If you have vanilla extract on hand, add 1 1/2 teaspoons for warm flavor.
- Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of chia seeds or hemp seeds for an infusion of omega 3 fatty acids.
Now that we’ve covered the healthy ingredients list for these healthy apple cinnamon oatmeal bars, let’s bake these amazing apple cinnamon oatmeal bars!
How to Make Apple Oatmeal Bars:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment paper, you can lightly spray the baking dish with cooking oil.
Add the almond butter, pure maple syrup, and applesauce to a mixing bowl (the wet ingredients) and mix well until a thick, sticky, creamy substance forms.
If your almond butter is chilled rather than room temperature, microwave these wet ingredients for 20 seconds, or until they stir together easily.
Stir in the oats, cinnamon and sea salt (dry ingredients) until well-combined.
Add the chopped apple to the large bowl and mix until the apple chunks are well-distributed throughout the oatmeal bar dough.
Transfer the apple oat mixture to the prepared pan and spread it into an even layer.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes (I do 35 minutes), or until the edges are golden-brown.
Remove the oatmeal apple bars from the oven and allow them to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing (note: if you slice the bars when they are still very warm, the bars will not hold together as nicely).
For an even more decadent dessert, whip up a cream cheese frosting, drizzle the bars with caramel sauce, or serve with a scoop of ice cream.
How to Store Apple Bars:
Store bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. These bars freeze very well! Simply slice them and place them in a large freezer bag or one-gallon zip lock and freeze for up to 3 months.
These tasty apple bars taste even better the longer they sit! They have amazing crispy texture around the edges when they first come out of the oven, but the flavor is deeper the next day.
If you’re able to make them one day ahead of time, the richness of this apple cinnamon recipe will be even more accentuated! Perfect for easy breakfasts or a lovely healthy dessert for apple season.
And that’s it!
Everything you need for a healthy breakfast, snack, or dessert bar that will surely delight all who try it!
If you’re looking for more delicious apple desserts, check these out!
More Healthy Apple Dessert Recipes:
- Paleo Apple Pie Bars
- Healthy Apple Muffins
- Paleo Apple Crisp
- Vegan Apple Scones
- Healthy Paleo Apple Cake
- Gluten-Free Apple Cobbler
- Paleo Apple Coffee Cake
Chewy, dense, cozy healthy apple oatmeal bars for your next snack sensation!
Healthy Apple Oatmeal Bars
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup applesauce*
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 3/4 cup unsweetened almond butter
- 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 large granny smith apple peeled, cored and chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper. If you don't have parchment paper, you can lightly spray the baking dish with cooking oil.
- Add the almond butter, pure maple syrup, and applesauce to a mixing bowl (the wet ingredients) and mix well until a thick, sticky, creamy substance forms. If your almond butter is chilled rather than room temperature, you can microwave these wet ingredients for 20 seconds, or until they stir together easily.
- Stir in the oats, cinnamon and sea salt (dry ingredients) until well-combined.
- Add the chopped apple to the large bowl and mix until the apple chunks are well-distributed throughout the oatmeal bar dough.
- Transfer the apple oat mixture to the prepared pan and spread it into an even layer.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes (I do 35 minutes), or until the edges are golden-brown.
- Remove the oatmeal apple bars from the oven and allow them to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing (note: if you slice the bars when they are still very warm, the bars will not hold together as nicely).
Notes
Nutrition
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Can date paste be used in place in place of maple syrup?
Hi LouAnn! I’ve never baked with date paste, so I can’t be sure. I imagine if you’ve used it to replace pure maple syrup in the past with success, it will work just great!
Not a big fan of pb, can I use greek yogurt instead of pb for extra protein?
Hi Morgan! How do you feel about almond butter? I’d recommend sticking with a nut or seed butter, as it provides the needed stickiness and fat for the bars to taste good and hold together 🙂
I’m going to try making these for a tiny morning breakfast on the go 🙂 I can’t find any vegan recipes that don’t use a syrup (maple, brown rice). Will they turn out fine if I just use brown sugar?
HI Alex! You can definitely use brown sugar 🙂 Since you’re losing some liquid without the pure maple syrup, I would add about 1/4 cup of some form of liquid such as applesauce, oat milk, regular milk, etc. Happy baking!
These are very good. A little too much peanut butter for me though. If I lowered the pb to 1/2 cup, what could I replace it with?
Hi Carol! I would replace it with more applesauce 🙂 Hope you enjoy the next batch even more! If you enjoy almond butter, I suggest trying the recipe with almond butter because it has more subtle flavor than peanut butter so the apple flavor shines through more. Enjoy! xo
Made these tonight, they are delicious!
I’m so happy you enjoy them, Patty! I just love how well the apple pairs with the oats! They’re so yummy! xo
Gluten and lactose recipes are difficult to find that have any flavor to them. Thank y. You.
My pleasure! I love how rich and flavorful these bars are 🙂 Positively addicting!
This would be a great weekend snack! I’ll definitely add lion’s mane mushroom powder from https://naturesrise.com for the healthy boost but this is already nutrient-packed otherwise
I never thought to add Lion’s Mane to dessert bars – this is brilliant! I’ll have to try it myself sometime 🙂 Hope you love them! xo