Almond Flour Blueberry Crumb Bars made grain-free, refined sugar-free and dairy-free using almond flour, fresh blueberries, coconut oil and pure maple syrup. Made with just 5 simple ingredients, these healthy blueberry bars are a lovely healthy dessert recipe for berry season.
Tangy, perfectly sweet, grain-free, and absolutely delicious, you’d never know these blueberry crumb bars are actually healthy enough to eat for breakfast.
They are lower in sugar than your standard treat and are made with all star clean ingredients.
Plus, the recipe is easy to prepare and requires no baking experience! Ideal for novice bakers or seasoned bakers alike.
Made with five simple ingredients, this all star dessert recipe is one for the history books. Almond flour, blueberries, pure maple syrup, coconut oil (or butter), and tapioca flour are the only ingredients we need!
For a sugar free version, make my Low Carb Blueberry Crumble Bars.
Let’s chat about the nutritious ingredients for almond flour blueberry crumb bars! Thankfully, you can find the full list of ingredients at any grocery store.
Ingredients for Almond Flour Blueberry Crumb Bars:
Almond Flour: Taking the place of all-purpose flour, almond flour creates a dreamy crust and crumble topping to serve as the caravan for the blueberry filling.
For the best results, use fine almond flour such as Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour as opposed to almond meal.
Fresh Blueberries: Fresh berries are largely the reason we’re here! These delicious gluten free blueberry crumb bars have a fresh flavor on account of fresh blueberries.
While frozen blueberries work, I find fresh berries result in better texture.
Coconut Oil (or Butter): Adding richness to the crust, melted coconut oil brings a boost of flavor and also helps the dry ingredients hold together.
Pure Maple Syrup: Used to sweeten both the blueberry crisp filling and the crust mixture, we need some pure maple syrup. I love that these healthier blueberry bars are only lightly sweetened, but you can add more sweetener like coconut sugar or brown sugar if you’d like.
Tapioca Flour: Used to thicken the blueberry mixture to a jammy texture, we need a little tapioca flour. Arrowroot starch (or arrowroot flour) and gluten-free all-purpose flour work as replacements as well here.
Sea Salt: Salt is a big flavor enhancer and makes baked goods taste sweeter without the need for excess sugar. Don’t skip it!
Looking for ways you can customize these blueberry pie bars? Here are some great options.
Recipe Customizations:
- If you prefer baking with gluten-free all-purpose flour, make my Gluten-Free Blueberry Oatmeal Crumb Bars.
- Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon zest and 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to the blueberry mixture for a lemon blueberry dessert.
- I don’t recommend replacing the almond flour with any other kind of flour, especially coconut flour. This recipe is designed to work with almond flour specifically and hasn’t been tested with anything else.
- If you have pure vanilla extract on hand, feel free to add 1 teaspoon to the crust and crumble topping mixture.
- For sweeter blueberry bars, add 1 to 3 tablespoons of brown sugar to the blueberry filling.
- Swap the coconut oil out for melted butter or vegan butter. If you go this route, I suggest using an additional tablespoon, as butter is less greasy than coconut oil.
- Try it with different fruit! Raspberries, blackberries, cherries and strawberries all work great.
Now that we’ve covered the simple ingredients, how about we bake a batch??
How to Make Blueberry Crumb Bars:
Begin by making the crust and topping. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 8” x 8” cake pan with parchment paper.
Stir together crumble ingredients in a mixing bowl. Keep stirring until a thick, moist, crumbly dough forms.
Measure out 3/4 cup of the crust mixture and place it in a bowl to use as the topping. Add ⅓ cup of chopped walnuts (or pecans) to the bowl (if desired).
Press the rest of the crust mixture into the prepared pan until you have an even layer of crust. Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and appears as though it has set up.
Remove from the oven and allow crust to cool.
While the almond flour crust is baking and cooling, prepare the blueberry filling. Add all ingredients for the filling to a medium saucepan, cover, and heat over medium.
Bring mixture to a full boil. Stir, mash the blueberries, and cook until mixture is thick and gooey, about 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.
Once the crust has cooled, spread the blueberry mixture over the crust, followed by the topping. Note: I like to use my hands to squeeze the topping mixture together into larger clumps, but you can also just sprinkle it right on.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until paleo blueberry crumb bars are golden-brown and bubbly. Remove from the oven and allow crumb bars to cool at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
For a decadent desert, serve blueberry bars with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Storage Options:
- Room Temperature: Cover the baking pan with plastic wrap and store on the counter for up to 3 days.
- Refrigerator: Store bars in an airtight container or a zip lock bag for up to 7 days in the refrigerator.
- Freezer: Transfer any remaining bars to a large zip lock bag and freeze for up to 3 months for longer storage.
The next time you’re craving a sweet treat, enjoy one of these healthier bars that tastes like a slice of blueberry pie!
If you love making grain-free dessert recipes, also try these gems.
More Almond Flour Dessert Recipes:
- Almond Flour Carrot Cake Coffee Cake
- No-Bake Paleo Lemon Bars
- Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Vegan Strawberry Crumb Bars
- Almond Flour Lemon Cookies
Enjoy these beautiful bars!
Almond Flour Blueberry Crumb Bars
Equipment
Ingredients
Blueberry Filling:
- 3 cups blueberries fresh or frozen
- 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp tapioca flour
- 1 pinch sea salt
Crust & Topping:
- 2.5 cups superfine almond flour
- 4 Tbsp coconut oil melted*
- 3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 8” x 8” cake pan with parchment paper.
- Stir together all of the ingredients for the crust and topping in a mixing bowl. Keep stirring until a thick, moist, crumbly dough forms. If the mixture seems overly dry, add another tablespoon of melted coconut oil (or butter). The mixture should appear crumbly but press together easily between your fingers.
- Measure out 3/4 cup of the crust mixture and place it in a bowl. Set aside to use as the topping later. Add ⅓ cup of chopped walnuts (or pecans) to the bowl of reserved topping (if desired).
- Press the rest of the crust mixture into the parchment-lined cake pan until you have an even layer of crust. Prick dough several times with a fork. Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and appears as though it has set up. Remove from the oven and allow crust to cool.
- While the crust is baking and cooling, prepare the blueberry filling. Add all ingredients for the filling to a small saucepan, cover, and heat over medium. Bring mixture to a full boil. Stir, mash the blueberries, and cook until mixture is thick and gooey, about 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.
- Once the crust has cooled, spread the blueberry mixture over the crust, followed by the topping. Note: I like to use my hands to squeeze the topping mixture together into larger clumps, but you can also just sprinkle it right on.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until crumb bars are golden-brown and bubbly. Remove from the oven and allow crumb bars to cool at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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This looks so good! I’ve got to make it today!
Has anyone used avocado oil or evoo instead of coconut oil? I can’t use coconut oil…
Hi Maggie! Can you do butter or ghee? If so, either would be the best replacement for coconut oil. If you go this route, use 4 to 5 tablespoons of butter instead of 3 (butter is less greasy than coconut oil). I haven’t tested the recipe with avocado oil or olive oil so I can’t speak to how the bars would turn out.
I plan to make these tomorrow w/cherries. Seems to me that it might not be as easy to smash the cherries as the blueberries. Would you recommend cutting them in half before placing them in the saucepan? Or should I just go it & see what happens???
Wow. Yummy! I did not expect good results on my first try, because I reduced sugar in both components. Both crust and filling took longer to cook, but the bars were super. I used 2.5 cups blueberries with no maple syrup. For the crust I used 2 T maple syrup and 3.5 T melted butter, and added the optional walnuts. Kirkland brand almond flour. These are surprisingly light and buttery. I could almost eat the whole pan. Eeek. Thank you for the great recipe and for helping me out when I bought too many blueberries.
I appreciate you so much! Free recipes on the Web keeps me going through some tough times and creates a lot of fun, like today, when I dropped some of my chores to bake instead.
I love hearing all of this, Elaine! Thanks so much for sharing your changes – this is super helpful to others who want to try the same thing! I love that these bars don’t need a lot of sugar to taste so nice and inviting. Happy baking! xo
Love these. Tried with blueberries and raspberries and also substituted part of almond flour with hazelnut flour. Everyone liked them
Yaay! I’m happy to hear that! Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Lucie! xo
Thank you so much for this recipe it is just the right amount of sweetness and delicious! Because we have a lot of blueberries, I doubled the filling and added a teaspoon of real vanilla extract, I also used cornstarch to thicken as we didn’t have tapioca and they turned out amazing!
Ooh, that sounds amazing! I love the idea of using more blueberries! xo
These came out delicious. I substituted the blueberries with blackberries!
Sounds amazing, Shana! Thanks for sharing!
I made this and it was still really crumbly after! Like the almond flour was basically coming apart when I cut into it. Do I need to add some more syrup or oil to help the crust and crumble to stick together? Thanks!
Hi Jen! Oh no…I’m sorry to hear that! What brand of almond flour did you use? I’ve found some brands require more liquid than others. I think adding more oil would be the trick in the case of crumble.
I can’t have almond flour. Can I substitute it with tigernut, cassava or coconut flour? Thank you!
Hi Tara,
You should be able to substitute either tigernut or cassava using a 1:1 ratio. If the mixture seems overly dry, you can add more oil but either of those flours should work. Coconut flour would require many changes, so I’d start with either tigernut or cassava 😀 Let me know how they turn out! xoxox
Ohhhh my goodness I love these!! I made them with minor changes using the ingredients I had at home!! This was vegan friendly so thank you! I used chia seeds instead of tapioca because I didn’t have that and used some oats and almonds in the crumble! Thank you again!
That sounds amazing!! Thanks for letting me know, Sarah! xoxo
These squares are absolutely delicious and just sweet enough. ❤️ I was wondering what the calorie content was.
I’m so happy you like them, Valerie! I added the nutrition facts to the recipe card (based on 12 bars) 😀 Let me know if you have any other questions!
These are so good! I love that they are very low sugar to, thanks!
Hi have you tried substituting the maple syrup in the blueberry bars with anything else for keto diet
I haven’t tested the recipe with a sugar-free sweetener yet, but I would recommend sticking with a liquid sweetener. Pyure makes a great faux pure maple syrup which is sugar-free 😀 Hope you enjoy!