Trail Mix Granola Bars
276 Comments
Updated Aug 07, 2022
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These healthy homemade trail mix granola bars will beat store-bought versions any day. They’re chewy, sweet, nutty, and are filled with clean ingredients. Plus, they’re versatile (just switch up your nuts and seeds) and so easy to whip up!
Is Trail Mix Healthy?
Generally, trail mix is viewed as a nutritious and healthy snack. It’s got a hefty dose of nuts and seeds, providing plenty of healthy fats and carbs. And a little sweetness from dried fruits such as cranberries, raisins, or blueberries, which are a great source of vitamins and antioxidants.
But when you start adding yogurt pretzels, chocolate chips or marshmallows into the mix, it changes things a bit. These types of ingredients offer minimal nutritional benefits and quickly bring the sugar levels up. So it’s best to stick with a simple nut, seed and fruit base.
Homemade Granola Bar Ingredients
While these granola bars have your trail mix essentials, there’s a few simple superfoods I’ve snuck in here. From pepitas to chia seeds, these feel-good ingredients will give you a quick and easy nutrient boost – all in one snack. Here’s what’s in them:
- Assorted Nuts – Almonds and cashews are my go-to, but you can use pecans or walnuts as well.
- Dried Coconut Flakes – Adds a hint of coconut flavor and crisp texture.
- Dried Cranberries – They’re an amazing superfood (get unsweetened), along with other berries.
- Pepitas – Pumpkin seeds have great antioxidants and minerals.
- Chia Seeds – Small but mighty chia seeds boasts tons of health benefits.
- Sea Salt – If you’re using raw nuts, don’t forget to add a little sea salt.
- Maple Syrup – Helps bind everything together and adds just the right amount of sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract – A splash of vanilla adds a sweet depth of flavor.
For a more basic granola bar recipe (that’s on the chewier side), give my chocolate chip granola bars a try!
Make Your Own Healthy Granola Bars
Making these bars couldn’t be any easier. So grab your baking pan and let’s get cooking.
- Prep. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Then line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- Mix. Toss and mix all the nuts, dried fruit, seeds, and salt in a bowl.
- Combine. Stir together the vanilla extract and maple syrup in a separate small bowl. Then pour the liquid over the nuts and give it all a stir, until it’s well coated.
- Flatten. Pour the mixture into a baking pan and flatten into an even layer using a large spoon.
- Bake & Cool. Let it bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes. Once done, let it cool in the pan for one hour (this is important).
- Slice & Serve. Once the mixture is cooled, slice them into 12 even bars.
A Few Tips To Make The Perfect Bars
- If your bars are too soft. You need to bake them long enough for the maple syrup to caramelize and harden when it cools. If your bars are still really soft and sticky when cool, bake them a few minutes longer next time. Every oven is different.
- If your bars crumble and fall apart. While you can leave your nuts whole (as shown), smaller chopped pieces will bind together more easily. You can also do a mix of some whole nuts and some chopped.
- Use a sharp knife to slice. And don’t use a sawing motion to cut, just slice straight down on the nuts.
- Don’t skip the cooling time. I know it’ll be tempting to cut a piece right out of the oven. But if you want to slice them perfectly, you need to let them chill. You can do this by letting them sit at room temperature for an hour. Or in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.
How To Properly Store These
Once you slice the bars, transfer them to airtight containers to be stored in the fridge or freezer. I highly recommend placing a sheet of parchment paper in between layers to prevent them from sticking together.
These will keep for up to a week in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer. If you decide to freeze, let them thaw at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes before eating.
Granola Bar Recipe Video
Want to see how I make this recipe? It’s easy! Just watch the quick video below.
More Healthy Snack Ideas For The Week
A healthy snack doesn’t have to resort to trail mix. Add in some savory proteins, creamy smoothies, and even healthy sweet treats.
- Banana Bread Energy Balls
- Mango Date Energy Balls
- Chia Seed Pudding
- Best Green Smoothie
- Tuna Meatballs
- Microwave Popcorn
Trail Mix Granola Bars
Description
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, etc)
- 1/2 cup dried coconut
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup pepitas
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit and line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- Add all of the nuts, seeds, dried fruit and salt to a mixing bowl and give it a stir.
- In a separate small bowl, stir together the vanilla extract and maple syrup. Pour this on top of the nuts and stir everything together, until it's well coated.
- Pour the mixture into the baking pan and use the back of a large spoon or spatula to flatten it into one layer.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, then cool for one hour in the pan.
- Once the granola bars are fully cooled, slice them into bars. I slice then entire portion in half, then divide each half into six bars, for 12 total granola bars.
Lisa’s Tips
- If your bars break apart and you loose some nuts when slicing, you can always roughly chop the nuts first. Some smaller pieces of nuts will fill in the gaps and hold the bars together better.
- If your bars are still sticky an hour after cooling, you may need to bake them a few minutes longer next time to better caramelize the maple syrup.
Nutrition
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To cut down on sugar can I use egg whites instead of maple syrup? Will it work?
I haven’t tried this with egg whites, but if you do let us know how it turns out!
Hands down the BEST granola bar recipe I have ever tried.
Thank you so much 🙏🏻
Glad you’re loving this granola bar recipe Aya!
These are my favorite bars!
Yay, I’m happy to hear that!
Absolutely fabulous! This recipe has been passed around so much and everyone loves it when they make it. So healthy and unbelievably delicious!! Thank you for sharing this one with us!!
Happy to hear this granola bar recipe has become a staple!
These are the best! I added a little honey to mine and they are just divine! Thanks Lisa!!
I meant to type honey! Not home 😂
Glad you’re loving these granola bars Mari!
These look amazing! I am about to be on a very restrictive diet and am not able to use honey or maple syrup. Are there any recommendations for alternative options?
You can use other sweeteners, as long as it has the same consistency.
These were really easy to make, but need a little more sweetness to them. They are crumbly so they do need something else to make them stick together better. Recipe needs to be altered. Probably wont make these again tho.
I suggest using honey if you give it a try next time to help it stick together! Also, make sure to pat them in nice and good before baking.
I add a bit of freshly ground pepper to the mixture which give is a little spicy twist.
I just made these exactly per the instructions. They taste FABULOUS! However, I couldn’t get the parchment paper off the back. It was so bad I almost threw them away. But, a 20 second zap in the microwave allowed me to peel off the parchment paper. I don’t have bars now, but I do have wonderful granola chunks. Should I have sprayed the parchment paper?
Interesting, they shouldn’t stick that bad. But you can definitely spray the parchment paper next time!
They are just addictive! My teen literally ate half a batch right now. The house smells amazing now too. Endless possibilities with all the nuts you can combine and such an easy recipe!
Thank you Lisa!
Hi Lisa
Thank you for your recipes, I enjoy all of them and have tried quiet a few.
Please can you advice which is the best maple syrup brand to use? We are in UAE and would prefer to use an appropriate nutritional value ingredient.
Thank you
These are ridiculously delicious.
I bought a silicone granola bar mold; if I used this next time I make them would you recommend changing the bake time?
I haven’t tried making these with a silicone mold, but I think the same time could work. Let us know if you try!
This looks amazing. I’ll have to make these for our next adventure.
This combo of flavors is so delicious and satisfying, no one minded that my first attempt could barely be called bars. It turned out more like clumped trail mix, but the sweet/salty combo is perfect! The high protein ingredients make this an excellent snack while hiking. On my second attempt I did grind some nuts and chop others very small. My result more closely resembled bars, but they were quite fragile. No worries; the same terrific flavor was still there.
Thanks for this recipe. I’m struggling with getting the bars to stick together. I chopped the nuts but the bars turned out too dry and so fell apart after baking and cooling.
It seems that the amount of maple syrup (1/4 cup) isn’t enough? Is there a way to get them to stick without increasing the maple syrup’s amount?
I would maybe try using honey instead of maple syrup, and make sure to pack everything in super tight!
These bars are amazing
Looking forward to making these, but wanted to ask what brand of dried coconut flakes do you use? I’m having a hard time finding them!
Thanks!
Amazing!!!!! My husband and I gobbled down the whole batch an hour after we took them out of the oven!!💕💕
Yay, happy you and your husband loved them Sheila!
Can you use honey instead of maple syrup?
Yes, that should be fine!
how do you recommend storing them, and how long are they good for?
These will keep for up to a week in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer. If you decide to freeze, let them thaw at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes before eating.
Thank you!! So excited to try this one for meal prep this week <3333
Do you measure the nuts before or after chopping ?
Before chopping!
I made these yesterday and had my first one this morning.
These are amazing. Healthy, great flavour and crunchy. They turned out perfectly and I will definitely be making these again.
Thank you so much for this recipe.
These look awesome!
Please add the advice about chopping the nuts first to the top of the recipe. Other than completely apart, very tasty.
Hi there. I’m new to making granola bars and these look healthy and delicious so I wanted to give them a try. If I wanted to add some oatmeal to the mix, what amount would you recommend?
I’d start with maybe 1/4 cup and see how that works with the current ratios. If you add more, you may need to increase the liquid measurements.
This is my go to granola bar. I have now given up looking fir a healthy bar in the stores. I make thus for me and my husband atleast 2x a week. Absolutely delicious. 😋
Homemade bars are the way to go! :)
Hi, could I add some peanut butter to this recipe? If so how would go about going that? Thanks!
Instead of coconut, can you use old fashioned oats? My husband hates coconut and I made them without it and they were too gooey and fell apart, even after cooking them for 40 minutes?
I haven’t tried, but could work!
Hello,
Is this coconut chunks or flakes? I tried flakes but they are much smaller than what I see in the picture? Thanks.
These are coconut flakes! Just make sure you don’t have shredded coconut.
sooooo delicious!!! Thank u Lisa!!
Lisa!! Are you kidding me with these? These are absolutely phenomenal. Thank you so much! am making these WEEKLY for the rest of my life. My husband’s going to flip when he tries these, lol.
Yay! So glad you’re loving these granola bars Nikki.
Oh. My. Gosh.
These are SO tasty! My list of allergies is long, but fortunately nuts are safe for me (whew!). I followed the ingredient list and proportions exactly. I did chop my nuts a bit and used about ½ cup of lightly salted cocktail peanuts and 2.5 cups of roasted salted almonds. I baked in a silicone granola bar pan (granolabarpan.com) and packed them in nice and tight into the mould. I baked for 30 minutes and they were a bit sticky, so I added an additional 5. Next time I will pull them at 30.
While the style of this bar is very similar to a Kind Bar, I love the taste of these so much more. The mildly sweet/salty mix is yum!
We will see if they last a week in my fridge. I may have to pop some in the freezer just to keep from eating them all! Thank you!!!
These are so quick and easy to make and are super delicious!
Yay – glad you’re loving these granola bars Cindy! Stay tuned as I’ve got another granola bar recipe coming soon 😉
Hi,
I wonder if adding half brown rice syrup and half maple syrup would harden up the bars a little more. I used to make a similar bar with all brown rice syrup and they got very hard and didn’t crumble at all.
I haven’t tried, but I’m thinking it could work. Let us know how it turns out Bethany!
Been making these while on vacation in Mexico. All bars in stores are loaded with refined sugar and peanuts (which I don’t eat). So easy and fast. Been sharing with friends. I’ve been using agave syrup and works well. Found that I needed to leave in oven 2 minutes more. Thanks!
This granola bar is better than store-bought. I was so impressed about the texture…it is as crunchy as the “kind” bars, but with clean ingredients. Thank you so much, Lisa! you’re awesome!
Love the recipe but want to try it with some peanut butter as well. Have you done this?
I have not, but if you try it, let me know how it turns out!
These are so good! I do a mix of chopped nuts and puffed rice, and make them fructose friendly by leaving out the cranberries and substituting glucose syrup for the maple syrup.
Glad you enjoyed these granola bars Adele!
Hey 😊 !
The recipe was amazing except one thing. They crumble a lot ! Could not get bars except on the two corners. I follow the recipe but the only thing i change I used a Pyrex instead of the pan.
How do I correct that ? If I will cook them longer in the Pyrex, will it work to make bars and not crumble ? Or use more maple syrup ?
Even like that, I will definitely make this recipe again !
Thank you for the recipe ❤️
Hi Anabelle – there’s a couple of tips in the recipe notes! :)
This recipe is amazing! I highly recommend! Shared them with my teacher friends and they all wanted the recipe. Make sure you have “real” vanilla and pure syrup!
Glad everyone enjoyed these granola bars Robin!
Would subbing honey in place of the maple syrup still work?
Yes, you can use honey instead of maple syrup.
Question – We have a coconut allergy in my house, what is good substitute for the shredded coconut?
Thanks!
You can use more nuts or dried fruit. :)
These are so delicious! The only tiny change I made was using coarse grain sea salt. I have been searching for a solid recipe for granola or nut bars to take on my hikes, and now my search is over!
Happy to hear you’ve found a winning granola bar recipe for your hikes Becky!
Does this recipe mean 2 cups of each type of nut or 2 cups total? Being ALL types of nuts combined to add up to 2 cups?
Thanks
2 cups total.
Hello Lisa,
I made your granola bars and took them to share at a brunch with some other women. They were a huge hit. Everyone loved them and wanted the recipe. I shared your website and recipe!
Thanks for all the work you do in creating fun, easy, and delicious recipes for all the rest of us! :)
God bless you,
Candace
I over did the maple syrup thinking more maple syrup more sticking of the ingredients. I think I also over did the depth of my bars which were about 1 inch thick. I did allow 45 minutes for the cook time and plenty of time for cooling, including refridgeration / freezing before cutting.
Next time, way less maple syrup, thinner bars, and more cooking time to caramilize the maple syrup.
Other than that, they are delicious.
Hopefully the next batch turns out better! But, glad you still enjoyed the recipe :)
I made these today and it is so good. I have seen other recipes for trail mix but too complicated, this is so easy and tasty!! I only had shredded coconut so I added 1/4 cup rolled oats, also a dash of cinnamon. I was able to cut them nicely into bars, with just some crumbling, I ate them as cereal with unsweetened almond milk and it was sooo goood, just the right amount of sweetness. I have been making few of your recipes and not dissatisfied. Thanks for all you do😄
Hi,
Perfect timing as I wanted to bake some granola bars without using rolled oats. I have 2 questions though. I’m used to using metric measurements..Are the metrics measurement indicated here accurate and can I substitute maple syrup with raw honey and if I can, what is the right amount of honey in metrics to use? Thanks!
Yes, the metric measurements should be accurate. As for using honey, you would use the same amount, so 80g for honey.
Hi,
what are pepitas for you? As it translates only very general as seeds. But i assume you meant something special, do you?
Thanks in advance
Pepitas are pumpkin seeds :)
Easy to make! I control the ingredients. They are delicious and healthy.
Question, which kind on nuts are best, raw, roasted or roasted with salt.
All nuts can be consumed either way really, it’s just personal preference :)
Hi Lisa! After reading most the comments, I’m going to assume the bars fell apart because I didn’t chop them. I also didn’t use an 8×8 pan so they were probably too thin. My question is: I use sugar free syrup, does that affect the bind at all?
Hi Alexandra – yes, a sugar-free syrup likely affected the bind as well.
I made this today. I am guessing I didn’t mash it down hard enough, as I was able to lift out the top of the bars, but left some behind in the pan. It tastes delicious, so I’ll eat it out of a bowl or crumbled onto some yogurt.