Enjoy these easy carrot cake oat bars as an easy on-the-go breakfast, snack, or healthier dessert. They're naturally sweetened with dates, packed with shredded carrots and oats, and of course, gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free. Think cozy carrot-cake flavor in a portable square (kid-approved, lunchbox-friendly).
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You are going to love these cozy and delicious carrot cake bars! They've been my go-to whenever I crave the flavors of my carrot cake made with tahini in a simple and satisfying treat.
As a holistic nutritionist, I wanted a granola bar that actually tastes like carrot cake, is easy to make, easy to slice, and not overly sweet. I tested different carrot-nut-oat ratios (more carrot for moisture, just enough nut and oats for structure) until the bars baked up soft-set and cake-like without crumbling. Now they're my 'bake once, snack all week' staple. Perfect for Easter brunch trays or a quick bite between errands any time of year.
If you love warm spiced flavors, don't miss my easy carrot mug cake recipe, it's like having carrot cake for breakfast, ready in just 5 minutes!
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Why You'll Love This Healthy Breakfast Bars Recipe
- Cake-like: These bars have a cake-like texture and classic carrot cake flavor in a perfect bite size snack. Thick, chewy and almost fudgy delicious treat.
- Diet friendly: Gluten-free, dairy-free, oil-free, vegan, sugar-free oatmeal breakfast bars. A quick breakfast made from wholesome ingredients.
- Quick to make: Super easy to make all in the large bowl of your food processor! An on-the-go breakfast or perfect snack made with only a handful of ingredients, just like this sweet potato bars recipe.
- No added sugar: These carrot oatmeal bars are naturally sweetened with dates.
Carrot Cake Bars Recipe Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need to make carrot cake oatmeal breakfast bars:
- Cashews and pecans: Adds texture and crunch to these carrot oatmeal breakfast bars. Swap or interchange the nuts with walnuts, chopped almonds, pistachios or pumpkin seeds.
- Quick cooking rolled oats (gluten free): These whole grains will give the bars a smoother texture. Swapping for old fashioned rolled oats will add more texture like in a batch of chewy granola bars. Steel cut oats will add more chew.
- Ripe bananas: Add sweetness and creaminess to these easy oatmeal bars.
- Fresh carrot: Full of fresh flavor in a perfect breakfast. Fresh carrots can be substituted with grated parsnips in this easy recipe.
- Dates: Add natural sweetness. I like to use Medjool dates to bind the bars as they have a sweet, caramel flavor without the need for any added sugars like coconut sugar or brown sugar. Also, no need for room temperature eggs or flax egg for binding.
- Dash of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger: These warm spices add just the right amount of warming spices and carrot cake flavors.
See recipe card below for all ingredients and quantities.
Top Tip
Feel free to add in some fun mix-ins such as raisins, dried cranberries, or any other type of nuts that you prefer.
How to Make Carrot Cake Oatmeal Bars
- Step 1: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch baking pan with two sheets of parchment paper in a criss-cross pattern to cover bottom and sides of pan.
- Step 2: Add cashews, pecans, oats, mashed bananas, grated carrots, dates, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and sea salt to food processor.
- Step 3: Mix until combined and mixture sticks together easily. No need for a perfectly smooth batter when mixing - you want the bars to have some texture.
- Step 4: Pour mixture into prepared pan and press into an even layer. Bake for 14-16 minutes, until firm.
- Step 5: Cool completely in pan and cut into bars or squares.
Tips For Making Carrot Oat Bars
- Add-ins: Raisins or dried cranberries would make a great addition. Use other nuts like almonds, walnuts or pistachios. You can also swap in chia seeds or hemp seeds.
- More texture: Mix all ingredients except carrots in the food processor, then pulse in the carrots at the end to have larger layers of carrots throughout the carrot cake bars.
- More sweetness: add a drizzle of pure maple syrup to the top of the baked bars. Or add a layer of vegan cream cheese like in my delicious carrot cake recipe.
- Make these bars nut-free: You can make these breakfast bars nut free by swapping the chopped nuts with pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, or a mixture of both.
Serving Carrot Oat Bars
These bars go from breakfast to snack time without breaking a sweat. Here are easy, reader-favorite ways to serve them:
- Warm & melty: Reheat a bar in the toaster or microwave, then add a swipe of almond butter or peanut butter.
- Yogurt bowl: Crumble over coconut or cashew yogurt, add a sliced banana or berries, and a sprinkle of hemp hearts.
- Date-caramel drizzle: Go cozy with a ribbon of creamy date caramel (https://eatfreshglow.com/date-caramel/ ).
- Grab-and-go-snack: Wrap individually and keep in the fridge. They're perfect for lunchboxes, study snacks, or post-workout bites.
- Freezer friendly: Freeze bars in a single layer, then bag or place in an airtight container. Thaw for a quick snack, or pop straight into the toaster for a fast, toasty snack.
How to Store Carrot Cake Oat Bars
- Refrigerator: The carrot cake breakfast bars can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for a week. If stacking the bars, make sure to separate each layer with a sheet of parchment paper.
- Freezer: For longer storage, the bars can be frozen for up to 3 months. I recommend wrapping each bar or square individually with parchment paper, wax paper or plastic wrap for a quick grab-and-go snack.
More Gluten-Free Granola Bars
📖 Recipe
Carrot Oat Bars
Enjoy these easy carrot cake oatmeal nut bars as a quick on-the-go breakfast, snack or healthy dessert made with zero refined sugar. Made with a blend of shredded carrots, oats and sweetened naturally with dates, these easy healthy carrot cake oatmeal bars capture the essence of carrot cake in portable and convenient gluten-free carrot cake snack bars.
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Servings: 25 squares
Equipment
- 1 8-inch square baking dish lined with parchment paper
- 1 small food processor
- 1 box grater to grate carrots
Jacqui's Prep TipWeigh ingredients with a food scale for best results!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (194 grams) raw cashews
- 1 cup (129 grams) pecans halves
- 1¼ cup (101 grams) quick cooking rolled oats
- 2 large bananas, mashed about 1 cup / 275 grams mashed
- 1 (170 grams) large carrot, peeled and grated
- 4 dates, pitted and chopped
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch baking pan with two sheets of parchment paper in a criss-cross pattern to cover bottom and sides of pan.
- Add cashews, pecans, oats, mashed bananas, grated carrots, dates, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and sea salt to food processor.1 ½ cups raw cashews, 1 cup pecans halves, 1¼ cup quick cooking rolled oats, 2 large bananas, mashed, 1 large carrot, peeled and grated, 4 dates, pitted and chopped, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Mix until combined and mixture sticks together easily. No need for a perfectly smooth batter when mixing - you want the bars to have some texture.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan and press evenly.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes until firm and toothpick comes out mostly clean.
- Cool completely in pan and cut into bars or squares.
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Notes
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a week. If stacking the bars, separate each layer with a sheet of parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months. Wrap each bar or square individually for a quick grab-and-go snack.
- No need for a perfectly smooth batter when mixing. You want the bars to have some texture.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below & tag @eatfreshglow on social!
Paula says
Hello,
This recipe sounds great and I would like to try it. My inly concern is that I really don't like bananas.
I am wondering if you can just leave out the bananas or substitute with something else?
Jacqui Wilson says
Hi Paula, I haven't tried substituting the bananas, and since there are two bananas in this recipe I don't think you can just leave them out as they help with binding. You can try pumpkin purée, it might work. Just make sure it's not too watery - measure it out and let it sit in a bowl for a few minutes and use a paper towel to blot any water that collects. Mashed avocado may also work but it will change the color, and the flavor will be less sweet. Let me know if you try!