Honey Oat Bars
Oats, nuts, seeds, and raw honey baked into bars that hold together. No golden syrup, no refined sugar - just honey doing the work it's meant to do.
Prep
10 min
Cook
20 min
Makes
12 bars
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats
- ½ cup mixed nuts, roughly chopped (almonds, walnuts, macadamias - whatever's in the pantry)
- ¼ cup mixed seeds (sunflower, pepitas, sesame)
- ¼ cup desiccated coconut
- 100g butter
- 3 tablespoons raw desert honey
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Optional: ½ cup dried fruit (sultanas, cranberries, chopped apricot)
Method
- 1
Preheat oven to 170°C. Line a 20×20cm baking tin with baking paper.
- 2
Combine oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, and dried fruit (if using) in a large bowl.
- 3
Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add honey and brown sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves - about 2 minutes. Don't let it boil.
- 4
Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients. Mix until every oat is coated.
- 5
Press the mixture firmly into the prepared tin. Use the back of a spoon or your hands - pack it down hard. This is what stops them crumbling.
- 6
Bake for 18–20 minutes until golden at the edges. The centre will still look slightly soft. That's fine.
- 7
Cool completely in the tin before cutting. This is the bit people skip. Don't skip it - they'll fall apart if you cut them warm.
- 8
Cut into 12 bars and store in an airtight container.
Notes
- They keep for a week at room temperature. Beyond that, the texture starts to change.
- Press harder than you think you need to when filling the tin. Loose bars crumble when cut.
- The honey and butter mixture: keep it on low heat. If it gets too hot, the bars will be brittle rather than chewy.
- Raw desert honey tastes of something, unlike commercial honey - you'll pick it in the finished bar.