These chewy peanut butter trail mix bars are filled with healthful, wholesome ingredients like almonds, oats, nut butter, and raisins. Add chocolate chips for delicious flavor and pop them into the refrigerator to set. They’re no bake, easy, and totally customizable based on what you have or like.
Always in my regular rotation of homemade snacks, these no bake peanut butter trail mix bars are my favorite pick-me-up. The combination of chocolate chips and peanut butter make it feel like you’re indulging, while the nuts and oats keep you nourished and satisfied.
It’s a fact: 1 batch disappears in 24 hours. Same exact story with my no bake coconut granola bars. (Please tell me you’ve tried those by now!)
While I’ve been making these for years, I recently made 2 small updates to the recipe. They used to crumble and fall apart easily. However, gently pulsing some of the ingredients together and adding a touch of coconut oil keeps these granola bars compact, while still offering plenty of texture.
Why You NEED to Try These Peanut Butter Trail Mix Bars:
- From mixing bowl to refrigerator in 15 minutes
- 9 simple ingredients
- No bake, chewy, soft, wholesome
- Most of the ingredients are customizable
- Sweet, salty, totally satisfying
- Freeze easily
As much as I love granola bars, I can’t always justify buying them at the store. Obviously store-bought is the more convenient choice, but these are so simple that I end up throwing 1-2 batches together at a time. You also have complete control over what you’re putting in them. Like my healthy berry streusel bars and gluten free fudge no bake cookies, the ingredient list here is pretty small– and you can make substitutions based on what you have.
Customize Them (Ingredient Substitution Ideas!)
I’ve made the bars countless times and here are the swaps I know work:
- Instead of almonds or cashews, use all almonds, all cashews, or use all or a mix of peanuts, pecans, or walnuts. I don’t recommend skipping the nuts.
- Oats are a key ingredient, so I don’t recommend any substitutions. However you can use quick oats if that’s all you have.
- If you don’t have ground flax, add another 1/3 cup of oats in step 3. See recipe note.
- Feel free to use any dried fruit you enjoy. If the dried fruit you’re using isn’t small like dried cranberries and raisins, chop into smaller pieces.
- Instead of honey, you can use pure maple syrup, agave, or brown rice syrup.
- Feel free to use your favorite peanut butter, creamy or crunchy, natural or processed, or another nut butter you love like almond butter or cashew butter.
- Coconut oil holds these bars together, so I don’t recommend leaving it out. If needed, you can replace with butter because you need a fat that’s solid at room temperature.
- You can use regular size chocolate chips, but the mini size make these bars easier to cut. Feel free to skip the chocolate chips and replace with sunflower seeds, dried fruit, or chopped nuts.
Overview: How to Make Peanut Butter Trail Mix Bars
- Pulse some of the ingredients in a food processor. The food processor (or a blender!) is key in this preparation. Pulsing about 10x gently breaks down the nuts and oats, which guarantees the bars will stay intact.
- Pour the pulsed mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients. (Except for the chocolate chips– we’ll stir those in last!)
- Melt the peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil on the stove or in the microwave. Pour over dry ingredients.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Press tightly into a lined 8-inch or 9-inch baking pan.
- Refrigerate. The bars take about 1 hour to set up in the refrigerator.
- Cut into squares or rectangles.
All of the different textures – the dried fruit, the crunchy salty nuts, chewy oats, stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth peanut butter, and the dots of chocolate – work SO well together!
Are These Peanut Butter Trail Mix Bars Healthy?
I say this a lot with the lightened-up recipes I publish, but “healthy” is a relative term. In my eyes, these are perfectly healthy granola bars. They’re made with whole foods like almonds and fiber-filled oats, plus there’s no white flour or refined sugar. However, they may be too sugary for someone who needs to watch their sugar intake and they’re obviously not ideal for anyone allergic to nuts.
When it comes to labeling recipes as healthy, use the best judgement for YOU. 🙂
- I’m unsure of the nutritional information for these, but feel free to calculate it yourself using an online calculator and the exact products/brands you use.
Peanut Butter Trail Mix Bars
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
- Category: Bars
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These healthy peanut butter bars will make you feel like you’re indulging! Bonus: they’re no bake! Bars are gluten free if using certified gluten free oats.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup (about 95g) whole almonds
- 2/3 cup (about 95g) whole cashews
- 1 and 1/2 cups (120g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats or quick oats, divided
- 1/3 cup (32g) ground flax
- 1/3 cup (40g) dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup (50g) raisins
- 1/2 cup (120g) honey (or maple syrup or brown rice syrup)
- 3/4 cup (185g) creamy or crunchy peanut butter
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) coconut oil
- 1/3 cup (60g) mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the bars out (makes cutting easier!). Set aside.
- Pulse the almonds, cashews, and 1/2 cup (40g) oats in a food processor about 10x or until lightly chopped. (Without pulsing these ingredients, the bars will fall apart.)
- Pour pulsed mixture into a large bowl. Stir in remaining oats, the ground flax, cranberries, and raisins until combined. Set aside.
- In a medium pan over medium heat or in a microwave-safe bowl, melt the peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil together. Stir to combine, then pour over the dry ingredients. Add the chocolate chips, then stir to combine everything.
- Transfer mixture to prepared pan. Using the back of a flat spatula, press the mixture tightly and firmly down into the pan. Make sure it’s compact, which helps guarantee the bars will hold their shape.
- Place bars into the refrigerator to set up for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
- Cut into rectangle or square bars. Cover and store the bars for up to 1 week at room temperature or for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Layer the cut bars between sheets of parchment in a freezer-friendly bag or container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
- Ingredient Questions: I’ve made these bars countless times with all sort of ingredients substitutions. See all successful ingredient substitutions in the blog post above.
- Nuts: Instead of almonds and cashews, feel free to replace with your favorite nuts. I like to use salted nuts for a sweet/salty bar, but feel free to use unsalted. You can use raw or roasted, whichever flavor you prefer. I usually use roasted.
- Ground Flax: If you don’t have ground flax, replace with the same amount of whole oats. No need to pulse these with the ingredients in step 2. (Use in step 3.)
- Dried Fruit: Feel free to use any dried fruit you enjoy. If the dried fruit you’re using isn’t small like dried cranberries and raisins, chop into smaller pieces.
- Peanut Butter: Feel free to use your favorite peanut butter, creamy or crunchy, natural or processed, or another nut butter you love.
- Chocolate Chips: You can use regular size chocolate chips, but the mini size make these bars easier to cut. Feel free to skip the chocolate chips and replace with sunflower seeds, dried fruit, or chopped nuts.
Keywords: peanut butter trail mix bars, trail mix bars
Reader Questions and Reviews
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I haven’t cut mine yet, letting them set a bit longer. But…should you let them peanut butter mixture cool before stirring in? I didn’t, and my mini chocolate chips immediately melted when I added them. I’m sure they will be delish either way, but they don’t look like your photo…they are brown due to the chocolate. And I feel like I could have used regular chocolate chips since they melted anyway? Would love to know about whether to cool the melted ingredients, for future reference. Thanks!
Hi Jill! I usually don’t, but you certainly can let the mixture cool down next time. I usually warm the mixture on the stove. It’s not usually piping hot when I pour it over the dry ingredients.
Thanks, Sally. I did mine on the stove as well. Will experiment a little more next time. They are tasty anyway!
I had the same thing happen! They were still delicious, but a bit sweeter than I’d hoped for and I couldn’t really taste the salt from the salted nuts. This time around I used crunchy peanut butter and I let the mixture cool before adding in the chocolate chips to keep them from melting. Fingers crossed, but I know they’ll be delicious regardless!
Klaire, I made them again yesterday and did the melting step first. I also melted on very low heat. The bars came out perfectly with intact chocolate chips! We enjoyed the first batch too, it was just different. 🙂
Jill, that sounds like a really good idea for my next batch, because I know I’ll be making these again and again! Thanks!
We made these to eat as an afternoon snack while we are building our log cabin. They have a good nutritional balance for us and keep us going until we break for dinner. We love them.
I’ve made these twice now and they are just to-die-for! Sooo easy, and I had all of these ingredients in my pantry! Swapped pecans for the cashews. These are honestly like a dessert- 10/10!
★★★★★
Amazing recipe! So easy to make!
★★★★★
I consider myself a rather experienced baker, but have never made granola bars before. I like the ease of swapping the nuts and raisins for whatever you have on hand or prefer to eat. These were absolutely delicious AND easy to make. Thank you so much for sharing.
★★★★★
This is now something we have to have in the fridge at all times, it’s so good! For some reason the last time I made them, they didn’t hold together so had to add more peanut butter and honey, but there’s NO such thing as too much PB! I eyeballed the chocolate chips and that may have been what made them a little crumblier – but 1/3 cup just isn’t enough! Lol. Love love love this recipe!
★★★★★
So easy to make, and really delicious. We have some in the fridge and some in the freezer. The mini chocolate chips are a nice touch.
★★★★★
These were absolutely delicious. As is every single recipe I’ve made from this website. I made the Guiness brownies this weekend and have been dubbed a baking goddess (didn’t tell anyone that Sally should be getting the credit)! Anyway, my experience with this trail mix bars recipe is that they are GOOD when freshly made, but cut them up and let them sit covered in the fridge for 2-3 days, and they are GREAT! The flavors blend and the oatmeal softens as it slowly soaks in the honey or syrup. Thank you again, Sally!
★★★★★
Yum! I used a bit less honey in my second batch and enjoyed them a little less sweet.
★★★★★
These are amazing!! Very nutritious but taste like a real treat. Will definitely become a regular recipe for us!
★★★★★
Delicious! Subbed sunflower seeds in place of the chocolate chips. Subbed chopped dried figs in place of the cranberries as well. I learned the sweetness of these bars really depends on the type of dried fruit you use, as well as the peanut butter. My peanut butter had added sugars, which was just too sweet for me. I will definitely have to find unsweetened peanut butter next time. However, I love that it’s easy to sub in ingredients based on what I have in hand. Overall, Yummy recipe! Super easy and will definitely make again!
★★★★★
I just left a review, but realized that the overly sweet bar I was tasting did not come from the peanut butter, but rather the honey!!!! *facepalm. Although my sweetened peanut butter is a contributing factor, the honey was the biggest culprit. 1/2 cup honey makes the bars very sweet. I still give this recipe 5 stars because people may like it as is. With that said, for MY taste buds, I will reduce down to 1/4 cup honey next time! As well as unsweetened pb. 🙂
★★★★★
Great recipe! Do you have the nutrition information?
★★★★★
Hi Heather, we’re glad you enjoyed these! We’re unsure of the nutritional info of this recipe, but there are many great online calculators like this one: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
Delicious! That taste like no bake cookies but healthier.
★★★★★
I made these and they are delicious and have healthy ingredients. I love the nut and oat combination. Is the nutrition information available for these?
★★★★★
Hi Julie! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
Hi! Looking to make a double batch of these. Could I do that in a 9 X 12 pan or would two 9 x 9 pans be best?
Hi Andrea, Either would work, they would just be thicker in a 9 x 12 pan. Enjoy!
These bars are very good.
Recipe that I will kept and make again and again .
Thanks Sally!
★★★★★
My bars came out really dry but still delicious. Do you think it is because I used all natural nut butter freshly made?
★★★★
Hi Antonia, It’s certainly possible. We often find natural peanut butters to be more dry than a creamy commercial variety like Jif or Skippy. You can try changing your peanut butter if you try this recipe again, or try increasing the honey a bit. I hope this helps!
Love the recipe and can see it as my go to hiking bar. I’m trying to avoid saturated fats and looking for a coconut oil substitute. Any suggestions? Thanks
I made as the directions said except my flax was seeds and I didn’t know if I was supposed to pulse all the oats or just the first with the nuts. It is delicious but falls apart. What did I do wrong?
★★★★★
Hi Jan, you’re correct — you only need to pulse the 1/2 cup of oats in Step 2. Did you replace the flax seeds with more oats as indicated in the recipe notes? That will help to make sure there is enough substance holding the bars together. Also be sure to press firmly into the pan, which will help the bars stay together better. Thanks for giving this recipe a try!
I love this recipe so much! I make a double batch every few weeks and keep in the fridge for easy snacks. My 3 year old loves them. I use roasted walnuts instead of cashews, leave out the cranberries and double the raisins.
★★★★★
Sally! I made these 2 days ago and they were so DELICIOUS! I used some leftover homemade granola that covered most of the ingredients. It was out-of-control good. Thank you for your delicious recipes that are always a big hit!
★★★★★
I loved this receipe !! So easy, but the outcome is so delish ! Everyone liked them ! Although my chocolate chips melted too ( in spite of trying to be careful as I had read in comments). Next time I’d just mix them with rest of the stuff before adding the liquid ingredients. And I thought it was a tad too sweet for us, so next time, less honey.
A winner ! and will be made again and again since we have so many active people in the family ! Thanks Sally !!
★★★★
Ive made these for my son to have as a snack, he has ADHD and we are currently struggling with unintentional weight loss, having had a discussion with the specialist nurse about adding extra fat into his diet and healthy fat sources I decided to make some snack bars. These are perfect packed with lots of healthy fat sources, Ive added mixed nuts, oats, mixed seeds, mixed raisins and cranberries and of course some dark choc chips. They are delicious cant wait for him to try them and try some different mixes with the next batch
Scrumptious!
Thanks Sally, for someone who is a horrible baker your recipes are so easy to follow and always delicious. My 3 yr old says “yum”
*we ran out of honey so we used half as much but it was still perfect!
★★★★★
Dear Sally, I live in the tropics and my coconut oil at room temperature is already in a liquid format.
2 questions.
a) Do I still need to melt my peanut butter into the coconut oil over stove?
b) Will the coconut oil still solidify despite my room temperature being so warm?
Please help. Thank you.
Hi Angie, because the peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil are rather thick, we’d still recommend heating them over the stove to make sure they properly combine. Because the bars are placed in the refrigerator to set, the bars will stay solidified. If the temperature in your kitchen is usually pretty hot, we’d recommend storing them in the refrigerator to be safe. Enjoy!
Does this recipe have to have ground flax ?
If you don’t have ground flax, replace with the same amount of whole oats. No need to pulse these with the ingredients in step 2. (Use in step 3.)
Thanks so much Sally… that was really helpful !
So I’ve made these numerous times before and they have always been a delight, but I made an error in my most recent batch that I’d like to share in case it’s of any use to anyone reading! On this occasion the bars turned out quite crumbly and are falling apart, which is not usually the case when I make these.
This time I used a mix of date syrup and honey, and while this is delicious I’m not sure the date syrup acts as a sticky enough binder as if I had used just honey.
The other difference in this batch was that I used 2/3 smooth peanut butter and 1/3 crunchy as I was finishing off a jar. Again I’m not sure the mix of the two is quite as good to bind the bars as using entirely smooth peanut butter, which is what I would normally use and has always been successful!
★★★★★