These grain-free Almond Flour Breakfast Bars are packed full of healthy ingredients, like fresh fruit, nuts, and seeds. The perfect way to start the day, this healthy breakfast bar recipe is low in sugar and a great source of healthy fats.
If you’re like me and you love a mindful treat no matter the time of day, these grain-free almond flour breakfast bars are for you!
Packed with nourishing ingredients like ripe bananas, blueberries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds and coconut, they include a variety of micronutrients and some healthy fats.
For me, these easy breakfast bars are the perfect level of sweetness and they don’t give you that post treat energy slump the way many sugary treats do.
They have a soft and chewy texture, a lovely nuttiness and light banana flavor. You could look at them like soft granola bars.
I’ll be the first to say, my breakfasts are far larger than a single breakfast bar, but I enjoy incorporating recipes like this into my meals because they feel like a treat in spite of being healthful.
In this sense, a typical breakfast for me would consist of some form of animal protein, cooked veggies, and one of these little grain-free bars to round it all out.
If you enjoy the concept of snack bars, also try my Sweet Potato Breakfast Bake!
Let’s discuss the wholesome ingredients for these blueberry banana breakfast bars! They can be found at any grocery store.
Ingredients for Almond Flour Breakfast Bars:
Ripe Banana: Bringing natural sweetness to the bars, we need a couple large ripe bananas. Be sure to choose bananas that have plenty of brown spots for the best results.
This ensures they are nice and sweet and add a decent amount of moisture.
Egg: One large chicken egg helps bind the ingredients together. For a vegan option, swap the egg for one flax egg. Just know that the bars won’t hold together as well.
Pure Maple Syrup: Although the bananas add some sweetness to the bars, I like adding some additional sweetener like pure maple syrup.
Pure Vanilla Extract: A splash of vanilla brings warm flavor to the breakfast bars for some added nuance. Skip it if you don’t have it on hand.
Finely Ground Almond Flour: The base of these delicious gluten-free breakfast bars, we use almond flour as opposed to all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour.
I use Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour, which I always find generates the best texture in almond flour recipes. I recommend a fine grind over almond meal or a coarser blanched almond flour.
Unsweetened Shredded Coconut: While the shredded coconut is optional, I find it adds a lovely creamy tropical flavor, which boosts the flavor profile.
Blueberries: Fresh blueberries add pops of micronutrients and antioxidants, giving these breakfast bars a superfood punch.
Nuts or Seeds (or both): Mix in any kind of nut or seed you like! My favorites are sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, but walnuts, almonds, pecans, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and flax seed work great too.
If you’re using hemp seeds or flax seeds, only add 1 tablespoon. For women who use seed cycling as part of their health protocol, these bars are an excellent place to put your seeds!
Sea Salt and Cinnamon: Cinnamon brings warm flavor to the breakfast bars, which is so inviting! Salt enhances all of the flavors so that the bars are more flavorful. Be sure to use both!
Looking for ways you can change up the ingredients? Here are some options.
Recipe Customizations:
- Replace the shredded coconut with ½ cup of quick oats, rolled oats if you aren’t grain-free, or omit it altogether. Just be sure to use gluten-free oats if you need the recipe to be gluten-free for someone with celiac disease.
- For sweeter bars, add 1 additional tablespoon of pure maple syrup or 1 to 4 tablespoons of a granulated sweetener, like sugar-free sweetener, cane sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, or maple sugar.
- Replace the blueberries with fresh chopped strawberries or raspberries.
- If you enjoy almond extract in baked goods, add ¼ to ½ teaspoon.
- Add a little bit of coconut oil to the dough for richer flavor (I would add 1 to 2 tablespoons).
- I haven’t tested the recipe using any other kind of flour, so I recommend sticking with almond flour unless you’re willing to experiment. Oat flour, buckwheat flour, or cassava flour might work as a 1:1 replacement, but coconut flour will not.
- Mix in 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of dark chocolate chips, sugar-free chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate chips if you’re a chocolate lover and you don’t mind adding some extra sugar.
Now that we’ve covered the simple ingredients, let’s bake some delicious healthy breakfast bars.
How to Make Almond Flour Breakfast Bars:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8” x 8” square baking pan with parchment paper.
Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Add in the pure maple syrup, egg, and vanilla extract and mix well until combined.
Note: You can also prepare the dough in a food processor to save time by adding all of the ingredients except for the blueberries to a food processor and blending.
Add the almond flour, shredded coconut, baking powder, ground cinnamon and sea salt (the dry ingredients) to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix until a thick dough forms.
Fold in the fresh blueberries and chopped nuts (or seeds) until well-distributed throughout the dough.
Transfer the breakfast bar mixture to the prepared pan and use a rubber spatula or spoon to spread it into an even layer.
If you’d like, press extra blueberries, shredded coconut, and/or nuts and seeds into the top of the dough. I like doing this because it’s pretty!
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Baked goods are fully cooked once they reach an internal temperature of 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
Insert a digital thermometer into the center of the bars to check for doneness. As long as the bars are 190 or higher, they are fully cooked.
Allow the bars to cool completely before slicing them and serving. The slices will come out cleaner if the bars are at room temperature (or cooler) upon slicing.
Warm bars have a tendency to crumble a bit.
Serve with a smear of almond butter, sunflower seed butter, creamy peanut butter, or regular butter on top!
How to Store Breakfast Bars:
You have several storage options. Wrap the pan in plastic wrap and keep the bars on the counter for up to 2 days. You can also transfer the bars to an airtight container and refrigerator for up to 5 days.
For longer term storage, slice the remaining bars into individual slices and transfer them to a zip lock bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
The next time you’re craving a breakfast treat, try out this great recipe! Remember you can always customize the almond flour bars using what you already have on hand in your pantry.
This delicious anytime snack bar shouldn’t spike your blood sugar given the lower sugar content and nutritious ingredients.
If you love gluten-free breakfast recipes like this one, also try out these reader favorites.
More Gluten-Free Breakfast Treats:
- Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins
- Grain-Free Morning Glory Muffins
- Almond Flour Strawberry Scones
- Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Applesauce Bars
- Protein Banana Bread
- Blueberry Protein Muffins
Normalize breakfast dessert 😉
Almond Flour Breakfast Bars
Equipment
- Parchment Paper or cooking spray
Ingredients
- 2 large ripe bananas mashed
- 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups finely ground almond flour
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon optional
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- ½ cup chopped pecans sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8” x 8” square baking pan with parchment paper.
- Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Add in the pure maple syrup, egg, and vanilla extract and mix well until combined. Note: You can also prepare the dough in a food processor to save time by adding all of the ingredients except for the blueberries to a food processor and blending.
- Add the almond flour, shredded coconut, baking powder, ground cinnamon and sea salt (the dry ingredients) to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix until a thick dough forms.
- Fold in the fresh blueberries and chopped nuts (or seeds) until well-distributed throughout the dough.
- Transfer the breakfast bar mixture to the prepared pan and use a rubber spatula or spoon to spread it into an even layer. If you’d like, press extra blueberries, shredded coconut, and/or nuts and seeds into the top of the dough. I like doing this because it’s pretty!
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Baked goods are fully cooked once they reach an internal temperature of 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Insert a digital thermometer into the center of the bars to check for doneness. As long as the bars are 190 or higher, they are fully cooked.
- Allow the bars to cool completely before slicing them and serving. The slices will come out cleaner if the bars are at room temperature (or cooler) upon slicing. Warm bars have a tendency to crumble a bit. Serve with a smear of almond butter, sunflower seed butter, creamy peanut butter, or regular butter on top!
Nutrition
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These have become a staple for me! Easy to make, healthy and delicious 🩵. Thank you!
I’m happy to hear it, Melissa! Thanks so much for sharing! xo
what can I use instead of bananas I can not have them.
Hi Juanita! You can use 1 cup of applesauce and add a few tablespoons of sugar to make up for the loss of sweetness. Hope you enjoy!
I’m new to the keto diet. Can your recipes be converted to the keto diet?
Hi Caro! It depends on the recipe 🙂 This recipe would be a challenge to make keto because it uses bananas and a liquid sweetener. So you’d need to replace both the volume, moisture and sweetness from the bananas which can be difficult to do without another carb source (sweet potatoes or applesauce would be my recommended replacements). The liquid sweetener is less difficult to replace because you can always add some form of milk or oil to make up for the loss of liquid. So the nuanced answer is, it depends 🙂 Let me know if you find other recipes that don’t include bananas that you would like to make low-carb.
You don’t say how much flour or coconut?
Hi Trisha! The recipe is at the bottom of the post, which shows the measurements and instructions 🙂 If you click the Jump to Recipe button at the top of the page, you’ll be taken directly to the recipe. Or click here: https://www.theroastedroot.net/almond-flour-breakfast-bars/#wprm-recipe-container-78323
Recipe for breakfast bars look good. But I abhor bananas in any form. Do you have a breakfast bar without banana in it?
Hi Crystal! My recipes for breakfast bars all include banana to add sweetness without adding refined sugar 🙂 You could substitute the mashed banana for mashed sweet potato and add more sweetener to compensate for the loss if you’d like. You can also try using applesauce although you may need to add more almond flour if the batter looks too runny. Happy baking!
Fast, easy & good.
Thanks, Jim!
Looks delicious. Could I add protein powder to the recipe or chia seeds to add more protein? Thank you!
Hi Linda!
I haven’t tested it with protein powder yet, but I think you could definitely add up to 3 tablespoons without needing to make any changes. If you’d like to add more, I would offset the addition with a little liquid such as almond milk, regular milk, etc. Let me know how it turns out!