Homemade almond cherry pepita granola bars are our new go-to breakfast nut bar recipe. Crunchy nuts and seeds combined with sticky honey makes the perfect easy chewy fruit-and-nut snack.
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These homemade almond cherry pepita bars are filled with a blend of crunchy almonds, pepitas, and the sweet, chewy goodness of tart dried cherries. They're quick, easy and a wholesome way to kickstart your day or snack time.
The perfect snack for busy mornings, an afternoon slump and grab-and-go road trips.
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Why You'll Love These Cherry Almond Granola Bars
- Satisfying snack: these homemade granola bars are crunchy, chewy, nutty, sweet, gluten free, and chocolatey. They're a naturally sweetened snacks that also double as a breakfast bar.
- Wholesome ingredients: made with almonds, pepitas, coconut and cacao, these breakfast bars and energy bites are an energizing way to start your day!
- Quick and easy: a great recipe and only 10 minutes to make these no bake bars before popping in the fridge to firm up. They'll be too soft to slice at room temperature. And no need for a food processor.
For more gluten free granola bars, try my other granola bar recipes, and healthy bars and snacks like energy snack seed bars, black bean chocolate fudge brownies, avocado brownies, chewy chocolate chip granola bars, or carrot cake oatmeal nut breakfast bars.
Recipe Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need to make these chocolate chewy almond snack bars:
Ingredient Notes:
- Almonds: add crunch and other health benefits like magnesium, vitamin E and protein. Use chopped or sliced almonds. A little bit of almond extract works well too.
- Pepitas: also adds crunch.
- Crispy rice cereal: or puffed rice gives a little lightness to the snack bars.
- Dried cherries: gives the squares some chewy sweetness. I like to use unsweetened bing cherries, or dried tart cherries.
- Unsweetened shredded coconut: adds texture and a slight coconut flavor without the use of coconut oil.
- Raw cacao powder: is loaded with chocolatey goodness.
- Coconut nectar: works really well to bind the ingredients. No need for ground flax seeds to make flax eggs for binding.
- Honey: adds sweetness and acts as a sticky binder.
See recipe card below for all ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Substitute with other nuts like walnuts or pecan. I don't recommend swapping the almonds with almond flour.
- Swap in other seeds like pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, golden flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds or sesame seeds to change up the flavor. Make sure to keep your ratios the same as the recipe when swapping ingredients.
- Feel free to swap puffed rice with puffed quinoa or puffed amaranth in this recipe.
- Coconut nectar and honey can be swapped with nut butter like creamy almond butter or peanut butter. There is no need for coconut sugar or brown sugar to sweeten.
- Use other dried fruits like golden raisins, chopped medjool dates, dried blueberries or dried cranberries to make a cranberry almond bar. Dark chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips will also work.
- Other flavor variations are coconut flakes, toasted coconut, gluten free old-fashioned oats or quick oats to make up the granola mixture.
How to Make Almond Pepita Breakfast Bars
- Prepare pan: Prepare an 8-inch square baking pan with two criss-cross pieces of parchment paper, covering the bottom and sides of the prepared pan with each sheet of parchment paper.
- Dry ingredients: in a large bowl, combine almonds, pepitas, crispy rice, dried cherries, coconut, cacao and sea salt. Set aside.
- Wet ingredients: in a small pot on medium heat, add coconut nectar and honey. Heat until well combined and small bubbles begin to hit the surface, stirring often. Remove from heat just before boiling. Add vanilla.
- Combine: Pour the coconut and honey mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a sturdy wooden spoon or spatula until well combined.
Set: Press mixture into prepared baking pan, pressing down firmly to compact all ingredients in an even layer. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to 1 hour until firm. Slice into squares or bars.
Expert Tips
- Cut into bars or squares and wrap individually or stack in an airtight container separated by parchment or wax paper.
- Use a thick natural sweetener like coconut syrup, brown rice syrup or honey to hold the bars together. A thin sweetener like pure maple syrup may not keep the bars from falling apart.
- Make sure to keep the ratios the same as the recipe when swapping ingredients.
- For best results, press some extra dried cherries on top of bars before refrigerating for extra sweetness. Or, add some protein powder to the mixture for an extra protein boost.
Common Questions
Snack bars are convenient, healthy snacks. Homemade granola bars should be high in protein, fiber, healthy fats and antioxidants, and made with natural sweeteners. A healthy granola bar recipe should be easy to make, convenient to grab-and-go, and can be substituted as a breakfast bar when you're short on time and need some energy to start your day.
Maple syrup can be substituted for honey in granola bars but the bars may fall apart. A thick natural sweetener like coconut nectar, honey or brown rice syrup works better to bind the ingredients together for a firm and tasty hand-held snack.
Granola bars can fall apart when ingredients are not measured properly. Too many dry ingredients or too little natural sweetener or nut butter can make the difference when mixing ingredients for firm healthy granola bars. Chopping nuts rather than leaving them whole will bind better together, as will a thicker natural sweetener like coconut nectar, honey or brown rice syrup.
Storage Tips
- These healthy homemade almond cherry pepita granola bars can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 7-10 days. Wrap individually for a satisfying on-the-go snack, or stack, separated by parchment or wax paper.
- Freeze these healthy snacks individually wrapped or stacked in an airtight container, for up to 2 months.
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Recipe
Almond Cherry Pepita Bars Recipe
Equipment
- 1 large mixing bowl or medium bowl with wooden spoon
- 1 8-inch pan or baking dish square
- 1 small pot
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 cup (160 grams) whole almonds, roughly chopped, or sliced almonds
- 1 cup (146 grams) pepitas
- ⅔ cup (28 grams) crispy rice cereal (gluten free), or puffed rice
- ⅓ cup (60 grams) dried cherries, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup (22 grams) unsweetened shredded coconut
- ¼ cup (25 grams) raw cacao powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Wet ingredients:
- ⅓ cup (110 grams) coconut nectar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or almond extract
Instructions
- Prepare pan: Prepare an 8-inch square baking pan with two criss-cross pieces of parchment paper, covering the bottom and sides of the pan.
- Dry ingredients: in a large bowl, combine almonds, pepitas, crispy rice, dried cherries, coconut, cacao and sea salt. Set aside.
- Wet ingredients: in a small pot on medium heat, add coconut nectar and honey. Heat until well combined and small bubbles begin to hit the surface, stirring often. Remove from heat just before boiling. Add vanilla.
- Combine: Pour the coconut and honey mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a sturdy spoon until well combined.
- Set: Press into prepared baking pan, pressing down firmly to compact all ingredients. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to 1 hour until firm.
- Slice: Taking the overhanging edges of the parchment paper, remove the firm granola bar mixture from the pan. With a sharp knife, cut into squares or bars.
Notes
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 7-10 days. Wrap individually for a satisfying on-the-go snack or stack separated by parchment or wax paper.
- Freeze individually wrapped or stacked in an airtight container, for up to 2 months.
Diana C
These bars are a winner! So easy to make and the perfect afternoon snack.