4 Ingredient No Bake Healthier Blueberry Oatmeal Bars (No Flour, Eggs, Refined Sugar, Dairy, Butter or Oil)
These no bake healthier blueberry oatmeal bars are soft and chewy. The bars need just 4 ingredients and don’t contain any flour, eggs, refined sugar, dairy, butter or oil. The bars don’t require any baking or cooking and are easy to make.
These bars are soft, chewy, with a blueberry puree center. They taste like peanut butter and jelly oatmeal bars. I love how easy they are to make and you don’t need to do any cooking or baking to make them.
Ingredients
- Quick oats
- Maple syrup
- Peanut butter
- Blueberries
Quick oats: Quick oats are rolled oats that are smaller and thinner pieces. You do want to use quick oats for this recipe because they bind better than rolled oats.
Maple syrup: Maple syrup acts as a sweetener, thickener and binder. It sweetens the oat bars, thickens the peanut butter, and helps bind the oats. You can use honey instead of maple syrup but you will need to add more oats if you use honey.
Peanut butter: Make sure to use natural peanut butter with no added oils. Peanut butter with added oils will not thicken and set. You can substitute with almond butter with no added oils or cashew butter with no added oils.
Blueberries: This recipe works best with fresh blueberries. When blueberries are blended, they contain enough pectin that the puree will naturally thicken and have a jelly-like consistency. You can use frozen blueberries, but if you do, I recommend you reduce the puree on the stove, otherwise it is a little too runny. If you are using fresh blueberries, you don’t need to cook the puree (though you can if you want for a slightly sweeter and thicker puree).
How to Make No Bake Blueberry Oatmeal Bars
- Combine quick oats, peanut butter and maple syrup until you have a thick dough consistency. Divide the mixture in half.
- Spread half of the mixture across your prepared baking pan, doing your best to press it evenly acrros.
- Blend your blueberries in a blender. Pour the puree into the pan and spread it evenly across.
- Take the remaining oat dough and press it on a sheet of parchment paper, until it forms an 8 x 4 inch rectangle. Use a spatula to loosen the oat dough from the parchment paper. Then carefully transfer it on top of the blueberry mixture.
- Place the bars into the fridge to set. Once set, cut with a large sharp knife. Serve immediately.
Texture
The oat mixture has a soft and chewy texture. The blueberry center is like a jelly consistency. These bars are only lightly sweetened. You can make them sweeter by adding sweetener to the blueberry puree. These bars do hold up but they are not as sturdy as baked oatmeal bars. I do have a baked version as well.
Expert Tips
- These bars are best stored in the fridge. They will get a little too soft if left at room temperature for too long.
- You can cook the blueberry puree to reduce it and make it a little thicker and sweeter, but it is just thick enough to hold up even if you don’t cook it.
More No Bake Oatmeal Recipes
- 3 Ingredient No Bake Oatmeal Bars
- 4 Ingredient No Bake Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
- 4 Ingredient No Bake Oatmeal Brownies
4 Ingredient No Bake Healthier Blueberry Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp (101g) quick oats
- 1/2 cup (128g) natural peanut butter with no added oils
- 1/4 cup (2floz/59ml) maple syrup, or more as needed to taste
- 3/4 cup (120g) fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Line an 8 inch by 4 inch baking loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving some overhang for easy removal later.
- Add quick oats, peanut butter and maple syrup to a large mixing bowl. Mix with a spatula until everything is evenly combined. Your mixture should be thick, like cookie dough. You should be able to shape the mixture with your hands without it sticking to your hands. If your mixture is too wet or sticky, you can add a little more oats. If it's too dry, you can add a little more peanut butter or maple syrup.
- Divide the oat mixture in half. Add one half of it to your prepared baking pan and use your hands to spread and press it evenly across the bottom of your pan. The mixture will be thin, but you should have enough to cover the entire bottom surface.
- Add blueberries to a small high powered blender. Blend until the blueberries become a thick liquid. It's okay if there are specks of blueberry skin, but there should not be any blueberry pieces left. Taste the puree and if you don't think it is sweet enough, you can add a little maple syrup. Carefully pour the blueberry puree over the oat mixture. It should be thick enough that it sits on top. Use a spatula to spread it evenly across the surface of the oats. It's important to wait until right before you are about to use the puree to make it. The puree thickens a lot when it sits out and will be difficult to spread if you make it ahead of time.
- Place the remaining half of the oat mixture on a sheet of parchment paper. Measure the interior dimensions of your baking pan. Even if you are using an 8 x 4 inch pan, it may measure a little less than 8 x 4 inches inside. Use your hands to shape, press and spread your mixture into a thin rectangle on the parchment paper, with the same dimensions of the inside of your baking pan. This will be the oat crust placed on top of your blueberry puree. Use a thin cookie spatula to loosen and lift the oat mixture off of the parchment paper. You may be able to lift it in one piece but it's also okay if the oat crust breaks as you start to remove it from the parchment paper (you can press it back together once it's in the pan). Gently place the oat mixture crust on top of the blueberry puree. If you oat mixture broke into a few pieces, you can gently press together any cracks or breaks once it is on top of the blueberry puree. Just don't press too hard because that will squeeze up the blueberry puree.
- Place bars into the fridge to set, about 2-3 hours. This will help firm up the bars. Once bars are set, cut them with a large sharp knife. Wipe your blade between each cut. Serve bars immediately. You do want to eat the bars soon after they come out of the fridge because they will get a little too soft to handle if left out at room temperature too long. Store uneaten bars in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
Notes
- Honey note: You can substitute maple syrup with honey but you will need to add a little more oats to thicken the mixture enough that you can hold and shape it.
- Frozen blueberries note: If you want to use frozen blueberries, I recommend reducing the blueberry puree for a few minutes on the stove (simmer for about minutes, stirring constantly). You don't need to do this for fresh blueberries.
- It's best to blend the blueberries in a small high powered blender because it is a small amount. If you don't have a small blender, you can mash the berries a little to release the juices before adding them to the blender to help the blender blend them. Or you can blend double the amount to make it easier to blend and use only half or use the whole amount by doubling the rest of the recipe. I used my Nutribullet* which works really well for blending small portions without needing to add any liquid.
- This recipe works best with quick oats. Regular rolled oats do not bind as well. I used Happy Belly Quick Oats.*
- Make sure to use natural peanut butter with no added oils. The dough will not set if you use peanut butter with added oils. I used Kirkland natural peanut butter.*
- *These product links are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
Can I use PB2 (powdered peanut butter)? If so what type of liquid do you suggest I mix with it to make it like regular peanut butter?
Sorry, we haven’t tested this recipe with PB2 so we’re not sure what adjustments would need to be made or if the results would be the same!
I see this recipe twice from you, one with bananas and one with peanut butter. Can you combine both or choose one?
They are two different recipes. The banana one is for baked blueberry oatmeal bars. The peanut butter is for no bake blueberry oatmeal bars. They are not interchangeable. If you use banana, you need to bake it, otherwise the oat mixture remains wet and does not set. The no bake version uses peanut butter and maple syrup so that it can thicken and set without the need for baking. If you were to bake the peanut butter version, it comes out dry and crumbly.
Delicious and so easy! Made these for an after school snack for my kids, and we devoured them! Very tasty.
That’s great! We’re so glad you all enjoyed these!
These look delicous! Could they be made with other berries like raspberry or strawberry?
It does not work with strawberries. We have not tested it with raspberries. It won’t work with all berries. When blueberries are blended, they contain enough pectin that the puree will naturally thicken and have a jelly-like consistency.
These look so soo delicious! Do you have any recommendations for peanut butter substitutes/a nut free option? I’d love to make these for my family, but there’s a pretty severe nut allergy (peanuts and treenuts, including coconut). Thanks for putting together all of these recipes!
You can try sunflower seed butter
What is the shelf life for these bars?
These bars should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. They will last longer in the freezer!
Can I add Chia seeds to the blueberriesand if so, how much?
Hi! We haven’t tried that so we are not sure about an amount but you could give it a try and add how much you would like to test it!
Very good life saver for health snack
Thank you very much
We’re so glad you enjoy this recipe!
Mine were messier than pictured, but tasted delicious!
We’re sorry to hear that but so glad you enjoyed the recipe!