Chocolate and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Breakfast just got a makeover with these decadent yet healthy chocolate and peanut butter oatmeal bars! Only wholesome ingredients like oats, seeds, bananas and creamy peanut butter. Warning: these bars might become a favorite!

Do you love easy grab-and-go foods? Whether it’s breakfast, snack or dessert, these chocolate and peanut butter oatmeal bars might become a new favorite.

From a nutrition standpoint, oats are incredibly healthy containing protein, fiber, key vitamins and minerals. They’re also attributed to lowering cholesterol and can be preventative against chronic disease. In an ideal world, I’d love to craft a cozy and warm oatmeal bowl each morning. However, as the days get busier, it seems like I have less time to make breakfast for myself! Enter these bars.

Ingredients

These oatmeal bars are made with wholesome, clean ingredients and are packed with superfoods. Do you incorporate seeds into your daily nutrition? I use these super seeds in so many of my recipes here on The Whole Scoop because of their nutritional power.

These bars leverage the power of flax, hemp and chia seeds which contain healthy omega fats, protein and fiber. Paired with the antioxidants of pure cocoa powder and cacao nibs, we’re looking at bars that are healthy and delicious.

Peanut butter is a main ingredient in these bars. However, if you have a nut allergy, you can substitute with sunflower seed butter or tahini. I tend to shy away from using refined sugars as much as possible so in this recipe, we’re working with maple syrup. It has a more luscious taste even though some might say, “sugar is sugar”. Paired with overripe bananas, we’ve got the perfect blend of flavor that isn’t too sweet or overpowering.

The oatmeal batter is mixed with pure cocoa powder to give it a fun twist. Lastly, we’re topping off the oatmeal bars with cacao nibs to give it a bit of a crunchy texture. Pure cacao nibs contain fiber and flavanoids. Did you know that pure cacao has been attributed to lower inflammation, improved digestion, and reduced risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke? Of course, this is part of a healthy balanced diet! Cacao nibs alone are not a silver bullet or else we’d be eating a solely chocolate diet ha!

We love the Navitas Brand of cacao nibs but feel free to use any brand that suits you.

Let’s get baking!

If chocolate and peanut butter isn’t your thing, check out my Healthy Berry Baked Oatmeal bars.

Otherwise, let’s grab some overripe bananas, your favorite peanut butter, some old fashioned rolled oats and let’s get baking!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Breakfast just got a makeover with these decadent yet healthy chocolate banana and peanut butter oatmeal bars! Only wholesome ingredients like oats, seeds, bananas and creamy peanut butter. Warning: these bars might become a favorite!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Servings 12 bars

Equipment

• 9×9 baking pan

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 2 tbsp hemp seeds
• 1.5 cups plant milk
• 2 overripe bananas
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp cacao nibs for topping

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350. Line the 9×9 pan with parchment paper or very lightly grease.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated (except for the cacao nibs).
• In a smaller mixing bowl, mash the banana. Then add the rest of the wet ingredients.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix.
• Add to the pan. Top with cacao nibs. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

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