3 Ingredient No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars

Do you have 10 minutes in the evening to dedicate to making a delicious healthy breakfast? If so, you have to try these bars!

Breakfast is so challenging at my house. My boys do not typically like the same foods for breakfast. My older son enjoys a traditional breakfast of eggs and bacon or sausage, pancakes or waffles. My younger son would rather eat pizza, spaghetti or leftovers from the night before. I have to admit, spaghetti was often on my breakfast plate as a kid, but when I became pregnant with my first child that all changed.  From then on I could only eat breakfast foods for breakfast. Spaghetti for breakfast ~ yuck!  Since he will not experience pregnancy, I am hoping puberty hormones will eventually cause him to develop a more mature palate.

These Peanut Butter Bars are AMAZING! I made some last night and served them this morning with fingers crossed. Both boys really liked them! That totally excites me, but what excites me even more is that the bars are healthy too. They were eating oatmeal and they didn’t even care! Woohoo! I can’t get them to eat oatmeal for anything. So this recipe is definitely a keeper.

I feel a little David Letterman coming on.

Top 10 reasons why you should make this recipe:

10. Only 3 ingredients!
9. 10 min prep time!
8. Both my boys like it so I bet your family will too!
7. Perfect on-the-go food!
6. Customizable ~ add in dried fruit, nuts, or protein powder (for extra flavor and protein)
5. Satisfies longer than sugary cereals, bars, or processed pastries!
4. Oats help lower cholesterol!
3. No baking required!
2. No morning dishes to wash!

and the number one reason you should make these bars

  1. Your kids will be eating oatmeal and loving it!

Buon Appetito!

3 Ingredient No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars

By September 28, 2012

  • Prep Time : 10 minutes
  • Yield : 12 bars
Nutrition facts (per portion) : 0: 281; 1: 12.2;

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Put peanut butter and honey in a heavy saucepan and heat on low until thoroughly combined and becomes a liquid consistency.
  2. Mix in oats and stir.
  3. Press into a 9 x 9 inch pan.
  4. Cover and let set overnight.

 

 

*for gluten free, use gluten free oats

*for clean eating, use raw honey

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108 Comments

    • Awesome! I have a son with a peanut allergy so we go through a lot of Nutella around here. As soon as I read this recipe my first question was “hmm, could I use Nutella?” Thanks for answering my question 🙂

  1. I just made these! They are delicious! Such an easy thing to make for an on-the-go breakfast! Thanks for the recipe!

  2. Made these and they didn’t make it past morning. My son ate a few and took them to school and was kind enough to leave me one. I feel good knowing what’s in my food. TIP: microwave the PB & honey for even quicker fixin.
    Thanks for the recipe!

    • I have never tried using pb2 in this recipe. I would imagine that half pb2 and half pb would work just fine. It would just be a little drier which I don’t think would be a problem. I would love to hear how it turns out if you try it 🙂

  3. Oh my goodness these are good!!! I just made them. Will definitely make them again- adding almonds, pretzels or chocolate. YUM!!

  4. I just made these with sunflower butter, organic rolled oats, and raw honey. I barely got them in the pan. My family was grabbing the mixture, out of the bowl, in spoonfuls. Delicious.

  5. I just made these to review on my Pinterest Recipes Review Blog and I have to say wow. They are fabulous and barely made it a day in our house. I definitely see these becoming a staple in our house! If you are interested in seeing how mine came out, you can view the review here. I have linked the review to your website. Congratulations on such an easy, delicious recipe!

    • I have not tried to freeze them, but my mom used to freeze peanut butter balls that were similar to these bars so I think it would be fine.

  6. Wondering about the honey…being pregnant I heard honey is a no-no…if I heat it up will it be okay?

    • Heating honey makes it easier to mix with peanut butter. Please check with your doctor about whether or not you can eat honey while pregnant.

  7. I made these and they were DELICIOUS! I also wrote about these on my blog and linked to your page so more people can make them :)Thanks for sharing!

  8. […] This Pinterest recipe consists of 3 ingredients: Peanut Butter, Honey and Oatmeal.  It took less than 10 minutes to make and they are DELICIOUS!  All you have to do is heat the peanut butter and honey in a saucepan on low heat, stir in the oatmeal, press it into a baking dish, cover and leave overnight.  Full recipe HERE […]

  9. These look fabulous! I would love to add the protein powder and nuts as suggested. At what stage would you suggest? I am thinking add the powder while heating and then the nuts with the oats?
    Thanks!!

      • In the “Top 10 reasons why you should make this recipe”, it says: 6. Customizable ~ add in dried fruit, nuts, or protein powder (for extra flavor and protein).

        I would think to add the powder/nuts/etc when adding the oats.

        • Oops, you are right. I did suggest that. I would add protein powder to honey and pb mixture then add the oats. If you are adding nuts, I would add it when you add the oats.

  10. Viewing this on my iPad, also cannot see amount for oatmeal. I see from earlier post the amount but wondering if it appears differently on some devices. Thanks.

  11. PB is already pretty sweet, does the honey serve another purpose other than sweetner? i.e. if i leave it out, will these be terrible?

    • You are correct that the honey will sweeten it, but it also adds moisture. Making these bars with only pb and oats will results in super dry bars. I would recommend a natural pb like Smuckers since it doesn’t include any sugar and you could even cut the honey to 3/4 cup with good results. Hope this helps.

  12. This may be silly, but, but did you cook the oatmeal prior to mixing it into the pan? I have quick oats, and I’m not too sure if I should toss them into the pan with the pb and honey.

    • Thanks for your question. No, you don’t cook the oatmeal. Old fashioned or quick oats will work.

  13. I have made these a number of times and each time I add a little something different, this last batch I added craisins and sun flower seeds and the little green pumpkin seeds.. and I always add a small amount of GF mini chocolate chips… they are my new favorite sweet tooth cure…. Thank you…

  14. Just made these in place of my usual homemade granola bars and they are delish! I added 1/2 milled flax seed & dark chocolate chips.

  15. I made them with almond butter last night (allergic to PB) and they are delicious! Ate one this morning before my workout. When I make them again, I will probably use a little less honey since the almond butter is a bit more liquidy than PB. My bars are very soft and crumbly.

    • I have never made them with Nutella, but have had a few people say they simply substituted nutella for pb. I would recommend cutting the honey to either 1/2 or 3/4 cup.

  16. I will be making these! I have an objection tou your comment about your son’s taste maturing- I am 52, and I can eat anything at any time, so obviously it has NOTHING yo do with maturity, and far more to do with an open-minded attitude toward food.
    Do not discourage this child- being adventurous now guarantees a healthy attitude toward food for his entire life!
    My 3 grown sons were encouraged to be open-minded about food, and all 3 are now accomplished cooks, willing to try anything- and that makes me terribly proud!

  17. These are fantastic! I made them last night before bed with almond butter. This morning when I tasted them, I kept thinking about what I could add to them the next time around!!

  18. I just made these. I used half crunchy PB & half natural PB along with 2 mashed bananas added with the oats. A handful of walnuts & dark chocolate pieces. I will be making these every week. I know they will be gone as soon as my son gets home

  19. I must be a dork…as I excitedly came out to look at the bars I made last night, they were still gooey. Is there something I may have done wrong?? I put them in the fridge to see if that will help.

    • Hmm, I am not sure. They shouldn’t be gooey. They may be a little sticky, but shouldn’t be gooey.

    • I have left them out up to four days and they were fine. There is nothing in them that would really go bad.

  20. I made these last night and mine never setup either. They are gooey. I used Jiff PB, honey and old fashioned oats. I even added a few extra oats because the consistency didn’t look like it would set. And it didn’t. Any ideas on how to thicken it up? Less honey? Anyone else have this problem?

    • Thanks so much for sharing!! The bars do need to sit overnight to set up, but if they still didn’t set up, it could be a combo of the Jiff pb and honey. I always use a natural pb which tends to be thicker than regular pb. After making these several times, I found that I like them better with less honey. I use only 3/4 cup of honey. I think using less honey may help. Hope this helps!!

  21. I just made these to help build up my milk supply, (oatmeal helps you produce more milk) and I can’t wait to eat them! I licked the spoon clean!

  22. I just made these bars, yummy! I didn’t have enough almond butter so I did half Jiff and half amond butter. Added about 2 tsp vanilla and subituted one cup of cocnut for one cup oats. Awesome! Thanks for the recipie. Ann
    I also cut the honey to 3/4 cup.

  23. I made these layered with nutella, honey, and oats on the bottom and peanut butter on the top… They turned out delicious! I might try adding some shredded coconut next time. Thanks!!

  24. This looks like a great recipe, do you think i could replace the oatmeal with powdered milk? i’ve been looking for a recipe that they used to use for kids when i worked at a daycare and this seems to be the closest one, but they used powdered milk not oatmeal.

    • Thanks for your question. I really do not know if you could use powdered milk. I am sorry that I couldn’t be of more help.

  25. Do the bars need to be refrigerated overnight or leave on the counter overnight? I put them in fridge because I was not sure. Can someone please let me know, ty

    • I would suggest adding the cocoa powder to the pb and honey mixture before adding the oats. I would suggest maybe 1/4 cup cocoa.

  26. I love how these bars are a complete protein. Peanuts are beans (weird, I know, most people think they are nuts). Oatmeal is a grain. Beans + grains = complete protein. I added some chia seed for Omega 3s. Thanks so much for sharing this easy, delicious, nutritious recipe!

  27. As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it!
    I made the bars last night, but this morning, they are not really set. Not gooey, but crumbly. When I cut into the bars, they just crumble apart.
    I used natural peanut butter, raw honey, and old fashion oats. Any ideas how I can get them to not crumble?

    Thank you so much!

    • Hmm, not sure what would make them crumble. If you followed the recipe as written and still had trouble, I would just try less oats next time.

      • Thank you, I will give it a try. On the up side, the crumbled bars, in a bowl, with vanilla almond milk is outstanding!

    • What type of natural peanut butter did you use? Was is from a jar or did you crush pure peanuts in the store? When I use almond butter, freshly crushed in the store it made the bars dry and a little crumbly. I have to add a little bit more honey and a less oats.

      • I used Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter. I am going to try again, right now, and see how it goes.

        🙂

        • It did not come out crumbly this time. Definitely bar like, but a bit sticky. Not a big deal. I find them too sweet, this time, though… Next time I will try less honey, and maybe more pb? Will just keep tweeking the recipe… Still yummy though!

  28. I made these just from the pinterest comment box, not knowing that the recipe called for heating the PB and honey before mixing in the oats. So I basically just mixed all 3 ingredients, cold, together and then refrigerated overnight. They were delicious! Is this alright to do, or is there another food safety purpose to heating the PB and honey first?

    • I think it is fine to mix without heating. I think the main purpose of heating the pb and honey is to make it easier to mix.

  29. I was wondering if this has been tried with fresh banana. I figured the flavor would work great with it but not sure if it would get too soggy.

  30. I made these with steel-cut oats because that’s what I had. They are pretty crunchy–hoping letting them set overnight helps.

  31. Hi – I just made these… I took a spoonful of them before they set and already can tell they are delicious. Was wondering… how long do they keep? I wasn’t planning on refrigerating them… should I? If so, how long do they keep in or out of the fridge? I only have a 2 person household and won’t go through them as fast. Thanks!!!

    • These only last a few days in my house so I haven’t ever had to worry about them going bad. I would think they could keep for about a week unrefrigerated and probably longer if kept in the frig. You could also try freezing some or cutting the recipe in half. I have not ever frozen them, but don’t see why it wouldn’t work.

  32. PERFECT!!! After trying a “zillion” granola bar recipes, this is the ONE!!! I’m so excited to have found this recipe! We added mini chocolate chips, coconut, and sunflower seeds–they didn’t have enough time to set up overnight because they were gobbled up for dinner! Thanks for creating an amazingly delicious, easy recipe!!!

  33. Londa, so glad that you and your family loved them. I will have to be honest and say that I didn’t create the recipe. I saw it online somewhere, but can’t remember exactly where. I don’t ever want to take credit for someone else’s genius!

  34. I love these!
    My brother is allergic to peanuts so I decided to make a batch with the soy peanut butter they sell and they are just as good!

  35. Approximately how did you make each bar for them to be 280cals a bar. I just want to make sure I make them in a similiar size. I love tastey treats, but I wanna watch my figure and not eat too many at once lol.

  36. Thanks for the recipe. It was very good. I reduced honey to 3/4 cup. They were still very sweet. Might even do 1/2 cup next time. My family loved it.

  37. On the no bake peanut butter bar recipe the ingredients is covered by a yellow sticky. That of course is problematic. Not that I can’t guess at the amount needed but the sticky needs to be removed. Have a great day!

  38. I am sorry you had trouble. I have heated the peanut butter and honey on the stove, but usually I put it in the microwave. It words great and never have had to add liquid. It is a little hard to stir, but it is supposed to be thick in order to make bars.

  39. I have never tried maple syrup. It probably won’t allow the pb and oats to set as well as honey, but I better it would taste good. I would only use 1/2 cup of maple syrup and taste test it before adding more.

  40. Jennifer, I am sorry the bars didn’t turn out right. Can you tell me specifically what was wrong with them? Did you let them sit for a while to set? More specifics may help me to know what to suggest.

  41. I am sorry that you didn’t like them. This is the most popular recipe on my blog, but I guess it is not for everyone :).

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