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These Trail Mix Granola Bars are chewy, satisfying, and endlessly customizable. The bars are packed with wholesome ingredients like nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and a touch of chocolate, all held together with a naturally sweetened, no-bake base. Think of these as your favorite nostalgic granola bar—but made with real, simple ingredients you can feel good about.
If you’ve ever grabbed a store-bought chewy granola bar on your way out the door, you already know how convenient they are, but making them at home is a total game-changer. These healthy granola bars are perfect for busy mornings, lunchboxes, road trips, or anytime you need a quick grab-and-go snack. Bonus: these bars are TOTALLY toddler-approved.
Why You’ll Love These
Trail Mix Granola Bars check all the boxes when it comes to an everyday staple snack:
- No-bake and super simple to make
- Easily customizable with whatever you have on hand
- Naturally sweetened and made with wholesome fats
- Great for meal prep and storing in the fridge or freezer
- Perfect balance of chewy, crunchy, sweet, and salty
This recipe is a great way to clean out your pantry, just mix and match your favorite trail mix add-ins.
Ingredients & What You Need to Know
One of the best parts of this recipe is how flexible it is. Here’s what goes into the base version, plus why each ingredient matters. *Scroll down to the recipe card for all details.
- Seeds (sunflower seeds + pepitas): These add a delicious crunch along with healthy fats, fiber, and minerals. You can swap in hemp seeds or flax if that’s what you have.
- Chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds): Nuts bring richness, texture, and staying power. A mix works best, but feel free to use just one variety.
- Gluten-free oats: Oats help bind everything together and give granola bars their classic chewy texture. For a paleo option, you can leave these out and increase the nuts/seeds slightly.
- Chia seeds: A small but mighty addition—chia seeds help with binding while adding fiber and omega-3s.
- Unsweetened coconut flakes: These add subtle sweetness and texture. Toasted coconut works great here, too.
- Dried fruit (cranberries + pineapple): This is where you get little bursts of sweetness and chew. Use whatever dried fruit you love—raisins, cherries, apricots, or blueberries all work.
- Chocolate chunks: Totally optional, but highly recommended. A little chocolate makes these feel like a treat.
- Honey: Acts as the main sweetener and binder. It helps hold everything together once chilled.
- Nut butter: Adds creaminess and richness while helping bind the bars. Almond butter, peanut butter, or cashew butter all work.
- Vanilla extract, cinnamon, and sea salt: These small additions bring everything together and enhance the bars’ flavor.
How to Make Trail Mix Granola Bars
These come together quickly and require no baking—just a little mixing and chilling.
1. Toast the nuts and seeds: This step adds extra flavor, but you can skip it if you’re short on time. *optional
2. Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the nuts, seeds, oats, chia seeds, coconut, dried fruit, chocolate, and seasonings.
3. Warm the wet ingredients: Gently heat the honey, nut butter, and vanilla until smooth and pourable.
4. Combine everything: Pour the warm mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until fully coated.
5. Press and set: Transfer to a parchment paper-lined pan and press firmly into an even layer—this step is key for bars that hold together.
6. Chill until firm: Refrigerate (or freeze) until set, then slice into bars or squares.
Tips for Perfect Granola Bars
Press firmly: The tighter you pack the mixture, the better your bars will hold.
Chill completely before slicing: This helps them set and prevents crumbling.
Store in the fridge: These stay freshest and firmest when chilled.
Adjust sweetness: You can slightly reduce the honey if you prefer a less sweet bar.
Easy Variations
Once you’ve made these once, you can switch things up endlessly:
- Swap honey for maple syrup to make them vegan
- Use only seeds for a nut-free version
- Add mini chocolate chips or cacao nibs
- Mix in protein powder for a more filling snack
- Add spices like pumpkin pie spice or cardamom for a seasonal twist
Storage Tips:
- Fridge: Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
- Freezer: Freeze for 2–3 months (great for meal prep!).
They’re delicious straight from the fridge, or let them sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften slightly.
Watch the video:
Trail Mix Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup seeds of choice I used 1/4 cup sunflower seeds and 1/4 cup pepitas
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts I did a mix of chopped walnuts, pecans, and almonds
- 1/2 cup gluten-free oats
- 1 teaspoon chia seeds
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flakes
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or apple/pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 cup cranberries
- 1/4 cup dried pineapple cut into smaller chunks if large
- 2 tablespoons chocolate chunks
- 1/3 cup raw honey reduce by 2 teaspoons if you don’t like much sweetness
- 1/4 cup nut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Toast seeds/nuts on a sheet pan a 350°F for 5 minutes (optional).
- In a large bowl combine the seeds, nuts, oats, chia seeds, coconut, sea salt, dried fruit, and chocolate.
- In a sauce pan over medium heat, heat honey, nut butter, and vanilla for 1 minute. Pour over the nut mixture and mix to combine.
- Pour into a loaf pan or a small sheet pan lined with parchment paper and flatten with a greased spatula.
- Refrigerate or freeze until hard enough to cut. Store in refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was historically sponsored by Nuts.com. As a reminder, I have and will continue to only work with brands that I 100% use in my own kitchen and personally support!
What to substitute in place of chocolate?
How to make in a lower sugar content?
Tips for making this diabetic desirable.
Will be trying this using maple syrup.
You can simply omit!
Can’t wait to make then they look delicious
I made these with my two year old. We’ll be making them again. Loved that she could eat the ingredients while we were making the bars 🙂
Love this!
These are delicious! I love that they are quick to make and a healthier alternative to store-bought! Thanks for another great recipe! 😊
Do u deliver please live a link for order and delivery ?? Thanks…Tony
Omg, LEXI! These are amazing 🙂 mine came out more like granola than bars, but holy wow!! Can’t wait to make this every week. Thanks for a killer recipe!!!
Omg, LEXI! These are amazing 🙂 mine came out more like granola than bars, but holy wow!! Can’t wait to make this every week. Thanks for a killer recipe!!
Hi: I’ve not been able to download the nutritional info? Any chance you could put here?
Thank you
We’re working on fixing this. Site glitch. Thank you for bearing with us!
These look fantastic!! I can imagine so many flavor combinations. Thanks for sharing
I stumbled across this on Facebook, and it looked so good. My wife made them last night and they ARE so good!
The only downside is that they are so tasty I have to be careful not to eat the whole batch right away! That would defeat the purpose of such a healthy snack.
As we say in our house, “This is a do again!”
I love it!!
I made the bars and used almond butter. They cut beautifully and I wrapped in wax paper. They are delicious.
These taste so good ! I have a peanut allergy, so I used almond butter instead of peanut Butter. I replaced the honey with rice malt syrup and coco nibs instead of chocolate. Delicious!
If I was looking for the macro count does anyone have it?
Thanks
Just fyi, calorie count is roughly 350 per bar if you made 6.
Sugars and Carbs in these Trail Mix Granola Bars, please! I’m a Type 2 diabetic.
I see a lot of questions on calorie count etc. C ould we please get an answer.
We’re currently working on adding them to all of the recipes! In the meantime if there is a specific recipe feel free to enter the info it into any free online nutrition calculator!