These raspberry oatmeal bars are the perfect healthier dessert! They’re soft & chewy in texture and are made with 6 wholesome ingredients that are gluten-free and vegan-friendly. You’ll be so surprised by how EASY they are to prepare!
I love to make these fruity raspberry bars for a sweeter breakfast or a healthier dessert! They’re made with an oat and almond flour base that is naturally sweetened, and sandwiched between the crumble is sticky raspberry jam.
The taste is perfectly sweet and a little nutty, and the texture is soft and crumbly, and if you chill them the results are even better! The texture of the bars becomes chewier when chilled and it is my personal favorite way to eat them.
Key Ingredients
My favorite thing about this recipe is that you only need 6 ingredients to make it, and they are all super nutritious! See below for all my ingredient tips.
- Oats – I like to use sprouted gluten-free whole oats!
- Almond flour – this adds a great nutty flavor, and some protein, and is naturally gluten-free.
- Raspberry jam – to make this recipe simple, I like to use store-bought raspberry jam.
- Coconut oil – to help bind the ingredients together I use melted coconut oil. You can also use melted unsalted butter.
- Peanut butter – only a little is used to bind the ingredients together and for a touch of peanut butter flavor! You can also swap for almond butter, cashew butter, or even tahini.
- Honey – for sweetening the oatmeal bars and for binding the ingredients together. To make the recipe vegan you can swap it for maple syrup!
How to Make Raspberry Oatmeal Bars – Step by Step
Add crumble bar base ingredients to a bowl. In a large bowl add the oats, almond flour, honey, coconut oil, peanut butter, and pinch of salt.
Mix together. Then use a rubber spatula to mix the ingredients completely together.
Make the base of the bars. Next, line a 8×8 baking pan/dish, and line it with parchment paper. Set aside 1/2 cup of the crumble mixture, and lay the rest of it in the baking dish. Use a rubber spatula to firmly press and pack the crust all around. Then prick the crust with a fork in a few places to help the crust not rise.
Bake the crust. Then bake the crust for 10 minutes at 350F. Remove and let cool for about 10 minutes before moving on to the next step.
Spread the jam. Then spread the jam evenly over top of the crust.
Sprinkle remaining mixture. Then sprinkle the remaining crumble mixture that was set aside over top. Bake the bars at 350F for 18-20 minutes, or until golden on top. Then allow the bars to cool for about 15 minutes before lifting from the pan using the parchment paper edges and slices into 9 bars.
Tips For Success
Make it nut free – if you have a nut allergy you can make this nut-free by swapping out the peanut butter for either tahini or sunflower seed butter. And instead of almond flour, use more oats instead!
Use different jam flavors – this recipe is a great base to use different jams! Aside from using raspberry jam, we also love to use strawberry, mixed berry, or blueberry jam.
Quality jam matters – since we’re using store-bought jam in this recipe, we like to make sure it’s a quality jam/jelly so the flavor is perfect. We recommend a jelly that has few ingredients, meaning no additives, and one that is relatively low in sugar! We love to use this jelly.
Don’t skip using parchment paper – this recipe requires parchment paper for lining the pan and easily transporting the bars out of the pan. If the parchment paper isn’t used the bars will be quite difficult to remove from the pan. So I don’t recommend skipping this step!
How to Store Leftovers and Freeze
Refrigerating leftovers: store the bars in an airtight container and refrigerate for 7-10 days. Keeping the bars at room temperature is fine too, but they will only last a few days especially if it’s warm. I recommend keeping any leftovers chilled to stay fresh longer.
Freezing leftovers: If you would like to freeze any leftover bars, store them in a freezer-friendly bag and lay the bars flat (if you’re going to stack them on top of each other then layer them with parchment paper). Freeze for up to 1 month! Let the bars thaw at room temperature until they’re soft enough to eat.
More Healthy Desserts to Try
Oatmeal Peach Blueberry Crisp
Healthy Pumpkin Blondies
Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Got Pinterest? Pin this recipe to your Pinterest boards!
6 Ingredient Healthy Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats (use gluten-free oats if needed)
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup honey (or maple syrup for vegan)
- 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 cup raspberry jam
- 1 healthy pinch of salt (omit if the peanut butter is salted)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Chop the oats: In a food processor or high-powered blender, roughly chop oats until they are small pieces.
- Make the crust: In a large mixing bowl, add chopped oats & almond flour, coconut oil, honey, and peanut butter. Mix until the ingredients are completely combined.
- Bake the crust: Line an 8×8 square baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside 1/2 cup of mixture for the crumble topping, and pour the rest of the oat mixture into the pan. Press the mixture down firmly with a rubber spatula, spoon, or using your hands. It should be packed evenly and completely together. Use a fork to poke a few holes on top of the crust – this helps the steam rise without the crusting rising. Bake the crust uncovered in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let it cool for about 10-15 minutes.
- Spread jam over the crust: After the crust has cooled, dollop the jam over the top and carefully spread it evenly over the crust. Use the extra oat mixture that was set aside to sprinkle as crumble on top.
- Final bake: Then bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes, until the edges of the crust are golden brown. When they're baked, remove the bars from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes before lifting the paper edges from the pan and cutting them into 9 squares. Enjoy them right away warm or chill them in the fridge for 15-20 minutes for a chewier texture!
Sounds so yummy! Thank you!
crowd pleaser!
These bars are delicious. I’ve been looking for a recipe that uses almond flour and this is a great recipe. I used strawberry jam, added a few chocolate chip morsels and sprinkled some unsweetened coconut flakes for some added toppings. This is a keeper for me and will continue to explore different toppings and bake over and over again! Thank you!
Thanks so much, Christine! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed them. 🙂
Hi Bethany:) Did you have another Raspberry bar recipe on your blog? I could have sworn the one I tried recently was from your blog and it was perfect but I am not seeing it! It had no peanut butter or oats I believe. Thanks!
Hi Karine! So sorry about that. That must’ve been a recipe I removed not too long ago. I believe I still have the recipe in my archives and can e-mail it to you!
I just saw this! I would love for you to e-mail it to me please!!
I would like to try this recipe. Was wondering if there is an alternate for the almond flour? What could I use instead ?
Hi Cathy, you can swap almond flour with quick oats!