The apricots and maple syrup help glue all the ingredients together, while bringing a lovely sweetness to the bars.
- Make sure you blend the apricots into a thick paste. If you’re struggling to reach the correct consistency, add a splash more water.
- Leave the bars to cool fully before slicing them, otherwise they might crumble!
- Press down as much as possible on the mixture in the tin, which will help compact the ingredients so the bars don’t fall apart.
Homemade Energy Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup oats, or gluten-free oats
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 cup soft dried apricots
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- 4 tbsp water
- 1/2 cup raw buckwheat groats
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan / 400°F and line an 18 cm x 18 cm (7” x 7”) square tin with baking paper.
- Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Spread the oats, pumpkin seeds and almonds evenly across the tray, then roast for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put the apricots, maple syrup and water into a blender and blend to a smooth paste. Note: if you are struggling to blend the ingredients, add an extra splash of water. The paste should be super smooth, otherwise the bars may not hold together and may crumble. Transfer the apricot mixture to a mixing bowl, along with the buckwheat groats, raisins and cranberries.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven and transfer the oats, pumpkin seeds and almonds to the mixing bowl, giving everything a good mix. Leave the oven turned on.
- Put the mixture into the lined tin. Smooth over the top using a piece of baking paper, pushing the mixture down as you go to make sure it’s compact (this will prevent the bars falling apart when you slice them later on). Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the tin from the oven and leave to cool completely. Note: the energy bars may crumble if you try to slice them before they have cooled completely.
- Take the mixture out of the tin and slice into 10 energy bars.
88 Comments
To good loved it
do you need to soak the groats first! They are really hard!!
Love the recipe, is there a way to use something other than the groats? I don’t have any in the house, but I have everything else here to make this now! 🙂
I would just add more of another grain or oats.
Any chance I could get the nutrition list. How many calories and carbs per bar
Or toasted quinoa would have the same texture
I used sprouted quinoa (dry from the bag ) and it was tasty!
Hey Roberta we haven’t tested this recipe with other ingredients, so we’d recommend using more of the oats or almonds! Hope that helps, Roxy (So Vegan)
What can I substitute for the almonds (nuts) so that my kids can take it to school?
You could add more pepitas or shredded coconut.
I am going to try it with amaranth.
Did them with amaranth and came out great!!!
Love this idea! I added some chia seeds and hemp hearts to them and that was good too! The recipe can be very flexible!
Thanks Victor! Roxy (So Vegan)
I made these successfully using sunflower seeds instead of groats. : )
I will be making these for my ravenous 19 year old nice and nutritious.
I need more recipies for energy bars please!!!
What can I use as a substitute to buckwheat groats ?
Buckwheat Groats can be found in the kosher section. They are called Kasha. It is not wheat but a berry. There is no gluten.
Kasha is the toasted version of buckwheat, you can use it (it’s not raw), and it has a stronger flavor.
Can these be made without the oats? Any ideas of what I could use instead as it is not so easy to find snack bars that are not oat based and have been searching?
Quinoa?
Can these be frozen?
Do you have nutritional information to share on these amazing bars? I’d like to know how many calories. Thank you.
I would also like to know the nutritional value. Did I read that these are sugar free? Isn’t maple syrup considered a sugar?
And it seems to be a lot of sugar with the range of dried fruits
Yum! Just made these, it was hard to wait for them to cool. They smelled like heaven. They taste wonderful too, perfect texture. I had to substitute Farro for Groats, but the internets says they are very similar.
Amazing, thanks for letting us know! We haven’t used farro in an energy bar recipe before, but we’ll give this a go, thanks for the tip. Roxy (So Vegan)
They look delicious. Do you think I could substitute dates for apricots? I have a bunch I’m trying to use up. Thanks.
Hi Sheila, we haven’t tried using dates instead but someone else has mentiond they have done it and it worked fine. Let us know how it goes. Thanks, Roxy (So Vegan)
Could I substitute honey for the maple syrup? And I will be using toasted quinoa instead of groats because I have it on hand. Thanks.
Maybe you needed to compress them more before baking ,and I would do it after baking if it was on ongoing problem
Thanks, I’ll try that next time.
se ven buenisimas las barritas de cereales
Looks delicious. It Is there a per serving calorie count or nutrition list for this recipe?
Hi! I made the bars this afternoon and they are simply delicious! ! However by necessity I had to change a few ingredient.. .. I used spelt instead of buckwheat (couldn’t find any and we don’t have a health shop ) and honey instead of maple syrup! They taste really great! I’ve been looking for a good energy bar recipe for quite a while now and this one really has a lot in it. Thank you very much!
Amazing, really glad you enjoyed them! We don’t eat honey but we like the idea of using spelt, thanks for the tip! Roxy (So Vegan)
So the honey was ok? Maple syrup is super expensive in South Africa.
Are the buckwheat groats presoaked or uncooked and raw? You use sulfured apricots which are soft. If the apricots are untreated and dried, should I presoak them to make them soft before adding them to the recipe?
Thank you!
i was after the same reply.
Hey Sam. Yes we would recommend soaking them. It’s important the apricot and maple syrup mixture is smooth so it helps everything stick together when you combine all the ingredients. Thanks and enjoy! Roxy (So Vegan)
Oh, and the buckwheat groats are raw! Roxy (So Vegan)
Hi, I made these last week; absolutely fantastic, tasted great except there was a problem. The buckwheat was completely uncooked, everything else was perfect. I was a little unsure when I was making them that the buckwheat would cook so I made sure the mixture was quite wet, but I have used other recipes on your site so I went with raw buckwheat. I am an Englishman living in central Europe so I wonder if my understanding of raw is different or the buckwheat is different here.?
Anyway, I made them yesterday but cooked (boiled) the buckwheat separately and then added it to the mixture Even better and they e more solid too.
Great recipe!
Don’t like using maple syrup Is there a healthy substitute
Hey Brenda you could try without and replacing it with more apricots, but we haven’t tried this ourselves. It’s important you have enough of the dried apricot mixture to help all the ingredients combine together. Hope that helps, Roxy (So Vegan)
I had dried cherries instead of apricots. No raisins so sunflower seeds. You can really do alot with this recipe.
Hi Mindy, this sounds great! Thanks for sharing your take on the recipe 🙂 Roxy (So Vegan)
Hi, what can you substitute for the apricots? I have IBS and am on a low FODMAP diet so can’t use apricots. Any suggestions for a substitute?
Hey Debbie, others have tried using dried cherries, which have worked though we haven’t tried this ourselves. Hope that helps! Thanks, Roxy (So Vegan)
Generally, how long will these last (say you are going on a 3 day hike)?
Hi Diane, I’d say they last around a week. I’ve been eating them for over a week now though and they still taste great 🙂 Thanks, Roxy (So Vegan)
What I do the nutritional details per serve?
Could you use agave instead of the maple syrup?
Hello! I made these a few hours ago and they taste DELICIOUS! I am kind of surprised they taste this good. I actually substituted the apricots for dates because I only had those and the flavor is just great. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hi Delfina, thanks so much for getting in touch. So glad you are enjoying the energy bars as much as we are 🙂 Take care, Roxy (So Vegan)
Maybe cuz there might be about 200 calories in one bar. My other recipe has that many and others have more but they taste great.
I see that they will only last for a week. I was hoping they will last longer if kept in the fridge. What do you think?
Hi Arina, they should keep for over a week in the fridge 🙂 Best, Roxy (So Vegan)
By the way, mine came out delicious! A bit crumbly, but still fine! Thanks for the great recipe.
I was wondering what’s the calories on one bar?
I will try it for sure ! The link to have a print friendly version doesn’t work. Can you help ?
0h Delicious! I didn’t have maple syrup (Southern Hemisphere and it’s outrageously expensive) so I substituted Argave syrup. at a slightly reduced quantity. I try everything raw and loved the crunch from the groats. I would never have tried them raw without this.
Hi Wenderella, Glad you enjoyed the energy bars as much as we do! 🙂 Thanks, Roxy (So Vegan)
What kinds of oats? Steel cut? Rolled?
Hi Sue, we use rolled oats. Thanks Roxy (So Vegan)
I agree!!! I’m scrolling through looking for the answer!
I don’t think that anyone who posts a recipe is responsible for providing any nutritional information – if readers wish to work it out for themselves it’s up to them. It’s kind that people make and share their recipes with us for free. Most cookbooks are not free and still do not provide nutritional information.
Thanks Roxy for a delicious recipe that did not crumble when I made it, tastes good, and I hope you post many more!
Are you people brain-damaged? THIS ISN’T SUGAR FREE BY A LONG SHOT. Maple syrup is SUGAR. Sweetened dried cranberries have SUGAR in them. Raisins are loaded with SUGAR. This would send the BG skyrocketing.
Now I KNOW that veganism damages the brain!
I don’t see anywhere that it claims to be sugar free. It is however, PROCESSED sugar free. You can buy dried cranberries with no sugar added.
Make sure when you buy the maple syrup that you buy the genuine article – as in REAL maple syrup, not maple-flavoured syrup which is loaded with processed sugars.
I don’t get why people feel they have to attack other people on-line. A recipe is shared – do with it what you will. If you don’t like it MOVE ON.
Thanks for the amazing recipe. I found it worked really well. I essentially subbed a lot of the dry ingredients for other things, like the nuts for various seeds, and threw in some chia and hemp seeds too. I used hulled buckwheat instead of the groats too. I think it’d be a pretty flexible recipe to be able to sub for wheat free, or nut free eating. For me, its a great lunchbox filler for my energetic boys.
I did make a little more of the apricot paste than the recipe probably called for, as I found it wasn’t blending into a smooth paste without a little extra water added. A teaspoon of vanilla wouldn’t go astray either, just to lift the flavour.
I did press it down extensively, and left the paper on when I baked it, which I assumed that the recipe insinuated be done. I let it cool in the tin, within the paper ‘wrapping’ til just about room temperature, and then sliced it into chunky bars. The knife does need to be very sharp (using the tip worked best for me), and my pieces did crumble a little at the edges, but nothing to complain about, really.
In future, I’d probably look at the balance of dried ingredients, and I’d probably throw some coconut in there somewhere. Overall though, a great base recipe. I just love the idea of using the dried fruit and sweetener as a paste to hold it all together. Next time I may even try throwing in a tablespoon of coconut oil to see how that goes 🙂
Hi Sarah – I actually always put in a tablespoon of coconut oil (with the apricot mixture), and also include coconut flakes. I’ve done this since the first time I made it. But don’t toast the coconut flakes first as they will burn.
My other little trick is to toss the oats in a little melted coconut oil and maple syrup before toasting them, extra yummy!
Thanks Grere! Love the idea of using coconut oil and flakes. Glad you’re enjoying the recipe! Thanks, Roxy (So Vegan)
What are the nutrition values…..carbohydrates, etc? Thanks
When looking for some great vegan energy bars, I stumbled upon this recipe. It looked really great, but then reading all the reviews I started doubting. These reviews about the bars being crumbly and not holding shape almost made me not make them.
I’m really glad i ended up making them in the end anyway. They are really great and I just pressed the mixture extremely firmly in the tin. After baking and cooling them, I could cut them easily with a sharp knife. The consistency is perfect and it’s a great snack for on the go.
I’m normally not one to post reviews, but I just felt I needed to set the record straight: these bars are great if pressed down firmly, as is said by the author numerous times!
Thanks Melanie! Roxy (So Vegan)
It’s really easy to put the info in an app like Myfitnesspal and it’ll create the nutritional info for you. Hope that helps.
For folks wanting nutritional information, download an app to help with that. Myfitnesspal is great, this way you can decide how many servings, put in your substitutes, and more.
Excellent recipe. I used toasted quinoa instead of groats and hazelnuts instead of almonds. Cooled completely and cut easily with a sharp knife. I made 15 bars and MyFitnessPal took the recipe directly from the web and with my changes estimates 230 calories per bar.
I used 8”x8” pan
There are 296 calories per bar if you make it according to the original recipe for 10 bars. I usedMy Fitness Pal.
Thanks Susan! Glad you enjoyed the recipe! Roxy (So Vegan)
These bars are amazing! I didn’t have enough almonds so I added some walnuts too and it was a great decision! Love the walnuts in the bars. Also, I didn’t have any apricots so I used dates. Instead of maple syrup, I added a bit more dates. Turned out AMAZING!!! Thank you for a wonderful and healthy recipe!
Amazing, thanks Daniella! Glad you enjoyed them!
Hi Roxy and Ben,
I made your energy bars today and they came out perfect. I changed nothing from your recipe. Perhaps I can give a bit of advice to the whingers on here about keeping the bars together: Follow the instructions; wait for the bars to cool completely (I waited approx 3 hours!); and use a sharp serrated knife to cut them. No problem at all. Thanks for what will become a family classic!
P.S. Would love to post a pic if that option were available!
Hey Mario, so great to hear from you and so happy the bars came out well. They are delicious aren’t they! If you’re on Instagram or Facebook you could share a picture there. You can find us @wearesovegan Take care, Roxy
Why won’t you answer the question regarding the nutritional values of these???????????
Because she doesn’t have to. Look it up yourself if you want it so badly!
Why are people so demanding?
I added honey backed bacon on it…vegan be damned, its tastly……ok ok use vegan bacon if you want but trust me ….one the trail its a nice treat….bars are good on their own also