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Fresh Raspberry Bars
With summer berries rolling in, we had a vision in mind for a make-ahead breakfast bar with minimal ingredients, a minimum amount of (unrefined) sugar and one that could be made with minimum effort. These Fresh Raspberry Bars with Oatmeal Crumble definitely check all those boxes! We were thoughtful about what ingredients we added in to the fresh raspberry bars and wanted to make them feel like a true breakfast food with good-for-you ingredients. Think of these raspberry oat bars as an on-the-go oatmeal!
To make them, you mix together a quick oat crumble mixture that doubles as both the crust and the topping. Then you take fresh raspberries with a touch of sweetener and vanilla, spread it on the crust, top it with the crumble and bake it away. The bars are soft, flavorful and perfect for a make-ahead (or fresh) breakfast.
Fresh Raspberry Oat Bar Ingredients:
- Oat Flour
- Rolled Oats
- Maple Syrup
- Baking powder
- Sea salt
- Butter or coconut oil
- Vanilla Extract
- Fresh Raspberries
- Tapioca starch (optional)
Can you make substitutes?
We haven’t tested this with frozen raspberries, or any other fruit. Frozen raspberries could potentially work, but they might need a little more tapioca since they will exude a lot more liquid than the just cooked fresh raspberries. Similarly, if you added in other fruit like strawberries or blueberries they may be a bit more runny than the raspberries.
Looking to avoid egg? We tested this with an egg substitute and without egg. The egg helps hold this together, but it can be made without if if you really have to. It will be just a little less stable of a “bar”. We do not like the addition of a flax egg as it made it too crumbly, so simply omit the egg if you need to.
How healthy is oat flour?
Oat flour is made from rolled oats. If you tolerate this grain, rolled oats are a good source of fiber. We’ve been working a lot with oat flour over the last year, and are impressed with this gluten-free flours ability to replace some of our typical go-to gluten-free flour. This is a good alternative gluten-free flour if there is a nut-allergy, or you are looking to add more fiber to your diet.
Is oat flour gluten free?
Oat flour and oats are naturally gluten-free. However, they are sometimes processed in the same facility where wheat (gluten) products are processed, and can therefor be contaminated. If you are celiac or gluten-free, look for oat flour that is certified as gluten-free.
If you like this breakfast recipe, check out these others:
- Sheet Pan Classic Breakfast Bake (Eggs, Bacon, & Home Fries!)
- Breakfast Prep Baked Egg Cups
- Breakfast Fried Rice
- Everything Bagel Hummus Breakfast Toast
If you like this oat recipe, check out these others:
- The Ultimate Guide on How to Make Oatmeal
- Maple Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
- Savory Breakfast Sausage Oatmeal
- How To Make The BEST Baked Oatmeal Cups (Gluten-Free)
Watch The Video:
Raspberry Oat Breakfast Bars
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract divided
- 1/2 cup butter melted and slightly cooled
- ⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 cup 120 grams oat flour
- 1-1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 pints fresh raspberries
- 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 8”x8” pan with a parchment paper sling and set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together the egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, melted butter and 1/3 cup of maple syrup. Add in the oat flour, oats, baking powder and salt and mix together until it forms a wet crumbly mixture.
- Take about two thirds of the crumble mixture and place it in the prepared dish. Pat down the mixture evenly with your hands or a spatula.
- In a small bowl toss together the fresh raspberries and 1 teaspoon tapioca starch. Add in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons maple syrup and toss together, mashing a few raspberries as you mix.
- Place the raspberry mixture evenly on the on top of the crust.
- Sprinkle the remaining crumble mixture evenly on top.
- Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes until the topping is golden.
- Cool on a wire rack and then cut into squares.
Notes
- We really wanted to keep the sugar low on these for breakfast. If you are serving these more as dessert you can increase the maple syrup in the fresh raspberries from 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup. We've also tried honey as a sweetener, and that works well.
- Looking to avoid egg? We tested this with an egg substitute and without egg. The egg helps hold this together, but it can be made without if if you really have to. It will be just a little less stable of a "bar". We do not like the addition of a flax egg as it made it too crumbly.
- These bars can be stored at room temperate for up to 1 day, and should be stored in the refrigerator after that for up to 3 days.
These were delicious but they completely fell apart. I can’t figure out where it went wrong but will definitely try again. There didn’t seem to be enough crust for a good bottom layer to hold the raspberries and I definitely did not have enough topping like in your video. Maybe make 1 1/2 the recipe for the crust or less raspberries? Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks for tasty recipe though!
A pint is 16 oz. Two pints equals one quart (32 oz). Are you sure you don’t mean two store bought containers which are 6 oz each (12 oz TOTAL)? Because this turned out as a gloopy mess and I didn’t even use all of the berry mixture.
I just made my first attempt at making these. They look delicious, however, my crusty was overly sticky and not very crumbly. Do you know what I could have done wrong? Maybe my buyer wasn’t cooled enough?
Maybe. I also wonder if there wasn’t enough oat flour? I do know that in general, crumb mixtures with melted butter can thicken up as they cool. How did they bake up?
Made these yesterday! So great! Just did a second batch today subbing coconut oil for the butter.
Also I made mine with the strawberry chia seed jam as the filling! I had a jar that was about to go bad from making it for the strawberry chocolate cups.
Lastly – I just blended 1 cup of oats in my food processor and used that as oat flour – worked great.. for those asking for subs.
Really love all 3 of these recipes from LCK.
Can these bars be frozen and eaten at a later time?
We haven’t tried freezing them yet. My best instinct says they might be a bit soft after defrosting but still probably ok. Please let us know if you try and how it went!
Made these today – super delish!
Can you swap coconut oil 1 to 1 for the butter? Thanks!
Yes!
Is it really 2 pints? 4 cups of fruit seems like a lot for an 8×8?
Hi! Yes, this is a based off of 2 pints of store-bought raspberries. To be honest, they don’t always equal 2 cups exactly.
Should these be refrigerated after cooling?
They can be stored at room temperate for up to 1 day, and should be stored in the refrigerator after that for up to 3 days. -Kelli
The 2nd time I made them, I filled up my 1/3 C measuring cup 1/2 way with coconut palm sugar, then filled it the rest of the way with maple syrup. I also used 2 T coconut palm sugar in the raspberries. I made the bars in a deep pie plate I have that I buttered. We loved this recipe both times we have made it, but preferred it with 1/2 maple syrup, 1/2 coconut palm sugar.
The recipe says ⅓ cup, plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup, but also lists maple syrup later in the ingredients post for the raspberries. Do I follow the directions and only use 1/3 C of syrup in the oat mixture?
1 cup (180) oat flour – when you say 180, is that grams? When I measured out 180 grams, it was way more than 1 cup, so I was not sure what to use. Did you weigh it and use 180 grams?
My topping looked a little different than yours, but we loved this recipe. Thank you!
Hi Alexis, thanks for catching that. The recipe has been updated!
From reading above, I assume I can sub almond flour 1:1 for the oat? I’m just too lazy to go to the store today
Hi Erin! Sadly oat flour isn’t a 1-1 sub with almond flour, and we haven’t tested this with almond flour so we can’t advise on that swap here.