For a healthy pre- or post- workout snack, try these homemade energy bars with peanut butter, banana, and oats! Similar to granola bars, they’re easy to make with only 5 ingredients, and they’re high in protein, fiber, and healthy carbs to give you that boost of energy you need.
The other day, I had a cooking catastrophe in an attempt to make healthy “cookies.”
Well, catastrophe may be kind of a strong word. Because out of it was born these super tasty, super healthy peanut butter and banana energy bars with only 5 ingredients! Here’s the story.
I got it in my head that I wanted to be “healthy” even though I was craving a cookie something fierce.
So, I tried making those two-ingredient “cookies” you always see on Pinterest… you know, the ones made only from mashed bananas and oats?
I am telling you right now: bananas and oats do not a cookie make.
If you want a cookie, do NOT attempt this, whatever you do. To future Elizabeth: when you want cookies, just make them! With BUTTER. And FLOUR.
Like these spicy ginger date cookies. Or these orange chai spice cookies.
But, like I said before, I did learn something from the experience! While my two-ingredient experiment did not taste anything like the cookies I was craving, they didn’t taste bad.
They actually had a fluffy, banana bread-ish texture even though it had no flour (since bananas firm up when they bake and act as a binding agent). They were moist, just like banana bread, and somewhat sweet, from the natural sugars in the banana.
And then my food blogger brain got to thinking: this would make a great energy bar!
With some modifications, of course. This is Bowl of DELICIOUS, after all, not Bowl of “Eh, not bad.” And these bars are definitely delicious.
But I DID whip up these delicious and healthy breakfast cookies as well, packed with dried fruit and oats. Yum.
What makes these peanut butter and banana oat bars healthy?
These granola bars have only 5 healthy, natural ingredients: bananas, peanut butter, oats, nuts/seeds, and honey.
Throw a little cinnamon/vanilla/other spices in there too, if you’re feeling crazy.
Maybe even some chocolate chips! YUM.
They are packed full of carbs, healthy fats, and protein, with nothing acidic or too flavorful to cause indigestion while working out, and they will keep you full and satisfied for a long time.
They are the PERFECT pre-hike/pre-run/pre-workout snack. WAY better than a Power Bar, for sure!
How to make peanut butter, oat, and banana energy bars
They are so easy to make. Just mix some the ingredients with a mixer (I use my KitchenAid mixer), spread in a baking dish, and bake.
- First, mix mashed banana, oats, peanut butter, sliced almonds, and some honey (and vanilla extract and cinnamon for extra credit) with a standing or hand mixer. The dough will be quite thick.
- Line a baking dish with parchment paper and spread the dough in as evenly as possible
- Bake and slice!
One important note: make sure you allow to cool completely before you cut into it, otherwise it may fall apart.
Tips and Tricks
- For ripe bananas whenever you want them, store very ripe extras in your freezer. When you want to use them, just microwave for one minute, peel, and you have perfectly soft, ripe bananas for baking.
- For a peanut butter substitute– you can substitute almond butter or another nut butter. I sometimes make my own peanut butter– it’s SO EASY.
- Instead of sliced almonds– you can use any combination of nuts and/or seeds you want. Pecans, peanuts, or other nuts, in addition to seeds such as sunflower, flax, or pumpkin seeds can be used as well.
- For a nut-free version, you can easily substitute the peanut butter with sunflower seed butter, and the sliced almonds with sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
Use whatever you have in your pantry to make it easy!
What do these energy bars taste like?
These energy bars are kind of like granola bars, but have a bread-ier, fluffier texture to them. They aren’t as crunchy as your traditional granola bars.
In fact, they taste very much like a dense banana bread.
They are moist, they bind together well, and they are sweet and salty from the peanut butter and honey. They stay good at room temperature for a week, they are inexpensive to make, and are freezable.
And best of all, they give you a huge boost of energy from all-natural, real ingredients. They are perfect not only for before working out, but for a snack at work, for a breakfast on the go, or for road trips with hungry kids.
Or road trips with hungry adults.
Speaking of road trips, here is the real reason why I made these! Zach and I are driving to Maine tomorrow and are planning on bringing these energy bars for snacking on for the four hour drive.
We’re also going snowshoeing! These energy bars will be great to bring with us on our trek in the wilderness.
If we get stranded, at least we will have snacks.
Other recipes with bananas and oats
- DIY no bake chewy granola bars
- How to make your own instant oatmeal packets
- Cardamom coconut granola
- Healthy Banana Bread made with olive oil
- Blueberry, banana, and oat muffins
Check out all my appetizer and snack recipes here.
Did you make this peanut butter and banana energy bars recipe? Please click the stars below to comment and Rate this Recipe
5 Ingredient Peanut Butter and Banana Energy Bars
Equipment
- Hand mixer
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe bananas
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup, for a vegan version
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup sliced almonds or other nut/seed combination
Instructions
- Add oats (2 cups) and almonds (1 cup) and mix until combined.
- Turn out onto a parchment covered baking dish (about 9x9 inches). Press and flatten with a spatula until evenly distributed.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until golden brown on edges.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting bars.
- Store at room temperature for a week or freeze for up to 6 months in an airtight container or wrapped individually in plastic wrap.
Notes
- Variations: Add chocolate chips, other spices like nutmeg, or other extracts like almond.
- For a nut-free version, use sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter and use sunflower seeds and/or pumpkin seeds instead of almonds.
- If you're gluten-sensitive, make sure to buy gluten-free oats.
- If your peanut butter is salt-free, I recommend adding 1/4 teaspoon or so of kosher salt to the mix.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Sien Fen
Hello! Any ways to substitute the bananas or can i simply omit them? Thank you :)
Elizabeth
Unfortunately, the bananas are the thing that binds these bars together, so I’m afraid that they won’t stay together if you omit them! I wonder if canned pumpkin would work? Or even throwing an egg in there? Sorry I can’t be more help!
Mindy
These bars are very good, easy to make, and quite healthy too. I was looking for a way to use up some very ripe bananas. I like that these bars are not overly sweet. I added sunflower seeds and granola instead of nuts (one of my sons doesn’t care for nuts). Will definitely make again.
Elizabeth
I’m so happy you liked them! Thanks for the comment :-)
E. Perry
Very moist. Not too sweet. I did add cinnamon and topped with slivered almonds. Great breakfast bar or evening snack. Something I can share with my dog, minus the almonds.
Elizabeth
So glad you liked it, and hoping your dog liked it too! ;-)
Raymond A. Weeden
I used Honey roasted peanut butter and skipped adding any additional sweetener, used raw chopped pecans and some Cocoa powder. Yum!
Elizabeth
Glad you liked it!!
Ebony
Hello Elizabeth, thank you so much for sharing this recepi. Very simple to make and delicious flavour Yummy!!! (I add some hazelnut :)) I can eat it everyday and my nephew as well. I like your honesty and humour in your blog, enjoying every recepi.
Kind regards
Ebony UK.
Elizabeth
Aw, thanks so much Ebony! What a nice comment, and I’m so happy you liked the recipe. Love the idea of adding hazelnuts!
Amy
This recipe is so simple and easy to make! This tasted delicious, like a healthy banana bread. I used maple syrup instead of honey and added pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, chocolate chip and protein as well. Thanks for sharing!
Elizabeth
So happy you liked it! Love your suggestions, thanks for sharing them :-)
Aicee
Made this and it was awesome! Replaced nuts with blueberries as I ran out of nuts in the kitchen. Love this recipe, thank you for sharing this!
Elizabeth
Oh I LOVE the idea of adding blueberries! Thanks so much for the suggestion, and glad you liked them :-)
Katie Benjamin
Do you have the nutritional information for this? I loved this recipe!
Elizabeth
So happy you liked the recipe! I’m in the process of updating all my recipes to have nutritional information- I went ahead and added it to this one (see the recipe card at the bottom). Hope that helps, and thanks!
Molly
I’m such a spontaniouse baker and I had the main ingredients in my cupboard and it’s sooooo easy to make, I love it
Elizabeth
So happy you liked it!
Ashley Lakey
Added pumpkin seeds came out really good. Didn’t have vanilla will have to get some for next time did half honey half maple syrup to get a maple taste. Was really good.
Elizabeth
So glad you liked it! Love the idea of adding pumpkin seeds and maple syrup. Actually, I bet this would be good with pumpkin puree added to it…!
Jane
I made this recipe and it so good! I realized when I was baking it already that I forgot the nuts. Oh well, for next time, will add it in. This is so simple and really good!!
Elizabeth
So glad you liked it! The nuts add a nice crunch, but aren’t totally necessary for the bars, I’m sure they were still delicious :-)
Patticake Bake
Elizabeth, these are delicious! We made these in an 8 in.² as per the recipe. We couldn’t help but notice that in the photos you used a 13 x 9 x 2. Did you double the recipe or is that how you make yours? Our finish product looked a lot thicker than your finished product.
Elizabeth
So happy you liked them! So actually, the photos are a bit deceiving- I used a 11 cup pyrex glass dish to cook these- the dimensions are about 10″ x 8″. So I should probably change the recipe instructions to be a 9×9 pan instead of 8×8! I was looking for a standard size since not everyone has one of the pyrex dishes. Luckily, this recipe is good whether it’s thick or thin- it cooks pretty much the same no matter what pan I put it in. Thanks for the heads up- I’m going to change the recipe instructions right now!
Lou C
Hello from England!
I have just made a batch of these flapjacks. It was pretty hard to wait until they had cooled before eating them, the smell while cooking was mouthwatering!
I added chopped cashew nuts and I’m very pleased to say they taste as good as they smell ????
Thanks for posting this recipe, I will definitely be baking these again!
Elizabeth
So happy you liked them! :-)
Lewis J Grzesiak
I am in the process of baking these now they seemed very good without all the sugar i tried some of the mixture before i baked it, yeah it was awsome, I added a mixture of nuts and flax seed.
Elizabeth
So glad you liked them!
Silvia
Love them! My new favorite mid-morning snack. Thank you! ★★★★★
Elizabeth
I’m so happy you like them!! I have a batch in my fridge right now- I make these constantly.
Mary
These were very easy and delicious.
Elizabeth
So glad you liked them!
Geraldine
Thanks for coming up with this recipe! I was looking for something else to do with ripe bananas that isn’t banana bread. Even though I’m not a fan of most store-bought energy bars because of their texture, I was willing to give these a try since the ingredients were similar to a no-bake granola bar recipe that I like quite a lot. A few things I thought I’d share with others are to definitely use parchment paper & to leave the mix to cool in the pan/dish – once it’s cooled down it’s easier to lift out. Also, they taste better after being refrigerated. I ate the crumbs after cutting it up & found it a bit bland but they just need time for the flavours & texture to come together – it made me wonder if those who didn’t like the bar ate them too soon? I really love the salty-sweet combo & will try adding 1/4 tsp of salt next time. Also intrigued by another suggestion to add dried mint so will give that a try too (but not with the extra salt) & maybe some chocolate chips. Looking forward to experimenting with the next batch!
Elizabeth
I’m so happy you liked them! Thanks for the comment :-)
Emily
These are amazing! I used square silicon bakers to make them even easier to manage serving sizes! Thank you Elizabeth!
Elizabeth
Thanks Emily! LOVE that idea!
Maureen E McNamara
Thank you! I finally have an oatmeal bar recipe!
Elizabeth
You’re welcome! Hope you like them :-)
Merridith
Have just made this for a friend! Might have to make for me too! I used walnuts, sunflower seeds and chia seeds for extra goodness!
Elizabeth
Awesome! I just made a batch the other day and have them in my fridge right now- they are SO great to have on hand :-) Love that you added some seeds to it- I’ll try that next time!