Cranberry Chia Gluten Free Vegan Snack Bars: this healthy vegan snack bars recipe yields chewy & satisfying bars! The best vegan snack bars recipe—packed with chia & flax to keep you full! Gluten-Free, Vegan, Healthy.
So… I had to take a drivers test!!
For the first time in 15+ years, I had to take a friggin’ drivers exam. Thank goodness it was only a written exam, or else I’d probably be sweating bullets on the road exam.
Just a couple weeks ago, I discovered that I had to re-take the written driver’s exam to transfer my license from Massachusetts to Minnesota. Before moving here, I’d already done the research and learned that I’d have to so do.
But. Isn’t there always a but? I didn’t learn that I’d have to take the exam within 60 days of gaining residency until, well, 3 weeks before the end of that 60 days. . .
So there I was cramming for the exam like it was the end of days. Y’all should have seen how sweaty, nervous and intense I was. Then again… I’m quite glad that you didn’t have to see that side of me.
Erik and I studied (yep, he had to take it too) like we were newly-minted college students—staying up late, skipping meals, taking “breaks” to make some gluten free banana chocolate chip oatmeal breakfast bars as study snacks because we were so hungry, and snapping at each other/holding hands and promising to trade hand signals to help one another during the test, then scrapping the idea because no one wants to get kicked out of the DMV.
Well, with all of that said… we PASSED!!! Without cheating at all!!! Go us. Lol.
And boy do I wish we had these cranberry chia gluten free vegan snack bars with us so we could’ve easily & healthily fueled up.
And boy do I wish we never, ever have to study like that again.
Ya hear?
So, yeah, like make a triple batch of these gluten free vegan snack bars and freeze them… just so you’re ready for surprise drivers exams, unexpected events, work/family overload, etc. so you have something to keep ya going! 😉 In case of emergency! (And lack of desire to cheat. On tests. And on food.)
Cranberry Chia Gluten Free Vegan Snack Bars
If you’re like me, you’re probably spending way too much time in the snack aisle, frowning/reading nutrition labels, negotiating the delicate balance between high prices & healthy ingredients (and totally losing), and leaving the store feeling completely helpless. And dizzy.
Why not make your own snack bars? I mean, it’s ridiculously hard to find gluten free vegan snacks bars anywho… This way, you can make them & know exactly what ingredients are used and you can customize them! Without any dizziness involved!
How do these Healthy Vegan Snack Bars Taste?
Wondering how these healthy vegan snack bars taste? Let’s see… these Cranberry Chia Gluten Free Snack Bars are the perfect combo of sweet & tart (due to delicious dried cranberries, which I’ve been loving in my snacks ever since I first made these no bake cranberry coconut energy bites). There’s a tasty nuttiness from healthy flaxseed and an entire cup of nuts that balances out the caramel flavor courtesy of the coconut sugar and maple syrup in this recipe.
The texture: These cranberry chia vegan snack bars are soft ‘n chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Packed full of crunchy & hearty chia seeds, these healthy snack bars will keep you full and satisfied.
Storing Instructions for the BEST Vegan Snack Bars
Be sure to store your gluten free vegan snack bars in an airtight container. Keep the bars for 1-2 months. Just make sure to keep your snacks bars out of direct sunlight & away from heat sources.
You can also freeze these vegan snack bars for up to 3 months!
>>Related: Keto Chia Pudding Recipe – 4 Ingredients!
Tools for the Best Vegan Snack Bars with Cranberry & Chia!
Click below to explore the exact tools & ingredients I use to make these healthy vegan snack bars:
- 8-inch Square Baking Pan – a tried-and-true piece of kitchen equipment that I’ve literally used 100’s of times.
- My Favorite Knife – this knife is super sharp, and perfect for slicing through homemade snack bars.
- Chia Seeds – a wonderful superfood ingredient that I love using in my recipes.
- Coconut Sugar | Coconut Oil | Maple Syrup – three baking staples that I use all the time, and absolutely love.
So… have you had any unexpected exams or the like come up recently? Tell me all about it! 🙂 In the meantime, if you try my Cranberry Chia Vegan Snack Bars recipe, let me know what you think by commenting below! It’s always a pleasure to chat with you. ‘Til the next kitchen adventure…
Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
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Did you make this healthy vegan snack bars recipe? Take a pic & share it on Instagram with the hashtag #beamingbaker & tag @beamingbaker. I’d love to see it!
More Gluten Free Vegan Snack Bars
- Best Keto Snack Bars Recipe – Easy Prep!
- Easy Paleo Snack Bars (Vegan + Gluten-Free)
- 5 Ingredient Homemade KIND Nut Bars (Vegan, GF, Dairy-Free)
- Dark Chocolate Paleo Snack Bars Recipe
- 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Energy Bars
- Homemade Grain-Free Cranberry Walnut Granola… just for fun!
Cranberry Chia Gluten Free Vegan Snack Bars (Healthy, GF, Dairy Free)
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 25 min
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 16 squares 1x
Description
Cranberry Chia Gluten Free Vegan Snack Bars: this healthy vegan snack bars recipe yields chewy & satisfying bars! The best vegan snack bars recipe—packed with chia & flax to keep you full! Gluten-Free, Vegan, Healthy, Dairy-Free.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup nuts, chopped*
- ½ cup gluten free rolled oats
- 2 tablespoons dried cranberries, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
Wet Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted, natural creamy almond butter
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Optional Topping
- 1 tablespoon dried cranberries, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or greased foil. Set aside for later. You can also use this Energy Bar Mold to make rectangular granola-bar style bars.
- Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl: nuts, oats, cranberries, chia seeds, flaxseed, and spices/salt if using. Stir until well mixed.
- Add all wet ingredients to a medium bowl: coconut sugar, coconut oil, almond butter and maple syrup. Whisk until well incorporated.
- Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, stir and fold until very well mixed.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Using the spatula, nudge the mixture until loosely and evenly spread out. Then, use the spatula to press the mixture firmly down into an even, very tightly-packed layer. Optionally, press chopped cranberries into the bars.
- Bake for 22-27 minutes. Mine took 25 minutes.
- Place baking pan onto a cooling rack to cool for about 30 minutes, or until completely firm. After, lift bars and parchment paper onto the cooling rack to finish cooling for 1-2 hours. Slice and enjoy! Storing instructions below.
Adapted from my Easy Paleo Snack Bars Recipe.
More Gluten Free Vegan Snack Bars:
Equipment
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Notes
- *My go-to mixture of nuts: 1/3 cup almonds, 1/3 cup pecans, 1/3 walnuts. You can try other types of nuts and see what you like best! 🙂
- Storage Notes: Store in an airtight container for 1-2 months at room temperature.
- To Freeze: store in a freezer friendly container for 1-3 months.
- Where to Buy Ingredients: Chia Seeds | Ground Flaxseed | Coconut Sugar | Raw Walnuts | Unsalted Almonds | Pecans
- Nutrition Information: is an estimate based on the best-selling, most common brands per ingredient. Also, it’s estimated based on 16 servings per recipe, made without optional ingredients.
- Category: Snack, Dessert, Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 square
- Calories: 107
- Sugar: 4g
- Sodium: 2mg
- Fat: 8g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 8g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Keywords: best vegan snack bars, healthy vegan snack bars, gluten free vegan snack bars
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Can regular sugar be used as a substitute for coconut sugar?
Hi Crystal! I haven’t tried it myself in this recipe so I can’t say for sure, but it should be okay. If you do try it, let me know how it goes. 🙂
Thank you for sharing..
How do you know when they are cooked?
It’s my first time making something like this.
TIA
Hi Kas, look for the edges browning a bit, with the top appearing much drier (the bars were wet on the top when they went into the oven). Generally speaking, you can follow how long it took me to bake them, then adjust as you learn more about your oven and baking (if it runs hotter or colder than what most recipe developers advise you go higher or lower on the recommended bake time.) Hope this helps! 🙂
Sounds delicious. What could I use instead of gluten free oats?
Thanks Sibh! If you have regular old-fashioned oats (and you’re not GF), you can use that instead. 🙂
Hi! Would using fresh instead of dried cranberries work? The only dried cranberries I can find are sweetened.
Hi Karen! Hmm…I’m not sure I can recommend that since regular cranberries are so large–the chopped dried cranberries are small enough to not cause crumbly bars. If you end up trying them, let me know how it turns out. Good luck! P.S. You can also try another dried fruit as well. Just make sure to chop it up. 🙂
Love these .absolutely. Delicious made just like the recipe and they turned out great .tasted one and went back for 2 more .danger danger warning warning bet you can’t eat just one !! Thanks for the recipe
★★★★★
Hi Faye! Omigosh, your lovely comment sure gave me a few chuckles. Reminded me of what I say to Erik when we’re doing a huge bake-a-thon and he’s eating all the cookies. Lol. I’m so pleased that you enjoyed them! Happy holidays! 🙂
I’m so looking forward to trying this particular recipe next. But unfortunately I’m struggling to find Golden flax meal. I have approached a few stores and they do not carry it. What I was wondering was, is the golden flax meal in the recipe used as a binder, to add flavour and structure or some other reason? What could I replace it with? I was thinking perhaps sesame seeds? Is there some other ingredient that is very easy to find and that would do a similar job without changing the recipe to much?
And secondly in the wet ingredients, do you think it would still work if I substituted the almond butter with tahini? Thank you in advance for your help! .
Hi Nancy, have you tried the natural food section of your grocery store? You can also click on the link for the ingredient in the post to find it online. 🙂 You can replace the flax with ground chia seeds, too! Tahini would probably be a bit too runny and would likely ruin the structure of the bars. Hope this helps!
I found all the ingredients that I needed and made them today. So delicious! Thank you, for another fabulous recipe. I can’t wait to share them with those that I love. 😊
Woohoo!! I’m so glad you had all the ingredients on hand. 🙂 You are so welcome. Also, thank *you* for trying my recipe & letting me know how it all turned out. Happy baking & eating!
These are delicious. Great for lunchboxes (mine included). 🙂
★★★★★
I’m so happy you enjoyed my snack bars recipe, Jenny! Oh, this has definitely gone into my lunchbox! 😉
What are the macros on these? per 1 serving
Hi Claudia, I just added the nutrition facts for the cranberry snack bars in the recipe card. 🙂 Enjoy!
I’ve been trying to eat vegan for breakfast and lunch, can’t wait to try these out!
Ooh, these will definitely help! 🙂 Let me know what you think!
Delicious. Hard to stop eating them!
Used a spice blend called divine desserts from pollen ranch spices that really plays nicely with these flavors. It can be used anywhere cinnamon is called for. Also like your recipes because I have to substitute based on what’s on hand in the pantry and things still come out great. My almond butter was the dryer type and no problem. I added just a little bit of coconut for fun too, and the only oats I had were already ground into an oat flour so I used that. Thanks for the work you do here!
★★★★★
Woohoo!! These cranberry snack bars are one of my very faves, so I’m over the moon that you love them, Christine! 🙂 I’m happy to hear that you’re able to make swaps with what you have on hand, too. How convenient is that? 😉 Thank you for your sweet note. Happy baking!
I have been looking for delicious vegan recipes, and this is right up my alley! Looking forward to enjoying this asap!
★★★★★
Yay!! Right on time for ya, Sara. 🙂 Enjoy!
Hi Lisa, yes! You can swap it for peanut butter, cashew butter, etc. Hope you love them! 🙂
I am drooling over these vegan snack bars! I will make them this weekend!
★★★★★
Yay!! I know you’ll absolutely love them, Catalina. 🙂
These look brilliant! I am always looking for a healthy snack for my husband to bring to work. I will make him a big batch of these.
★★★★★
Thanks Chrissie! You and your husband will absolutely love these. Happy baking!
These Bars sound delicious! Dangerously good…
★★★★★
Thanks Erin! They totally are! Lol.
I can’t wait to make these for after school snacks and lunches. I will feel good about a healthy options for my kiddos!
Yeah!! The good news is that these vegan snack bars are super portable & keep for quite awhile! 🙂
My family loves these bars! I make a double batch because they always disappear so fast!
★★★★★
Woohoo!!! I’m so happy to hear it, Anna! 🙂 Such a good idea to make a double batch–that way, there’s more for everyone!
For myself I’ll make these exactly as you developed the recipe but I also belong to a plant based nutrition support group who follow Dr Esselstyn’s no oil life style. When I bake for their meetings I have to follow their rules. Do you think these could be made without oil? Do you suggest increasing the amount of the liquid ingredients or perhaps adding something to take the place of the oil? Thanks for any suggestions you may have.
Hi Annemarie, I can’t promise perfect results, but I suggest trying the following: swap the 2 tablespoons of coconut oil with 2 additional tablespoons of almond butter. The dough will be a bit thicker & stickier than intended. Please let me know how they turn out! 🙂 Good luck!
What type of nuts do you use?
Hi Stephanie! I used a combo of almonds, pecans and walnuts. I listed the exact amounts in the recipe notes. Happy baking!
These bars are calling my name! I love all of the wholesome ingredients, and I know the kids will love to snack on them!
★★★★★
And what a tasty call it is! 😉 I’m so happy to hear that you love all of the ingredients for these vegan snack bars! Hope you and the kids enjoy!
I love these for fast snacks and even an on the go breakfast! Amazing!
Thanks Jocelyn! These snack bars are the best for breakfast! Enjoy. 🙂
I could certainly do with a couple of these right now as I’ve just finished my workout! They look so delicious and full of flavour. I love cranberry anything, so I know I’ll love these!
★★★★★
Oh yeah!! These snacks bars are the BEST after a good workout! Happy baking, Annie!
These look so healthy and yummy! I’m always searching for good snack recipes to grab on the go- it can be hard to eat mindfully when you’re in a rush. will try these!
Thanks so much, Estelle! It’s so true that it’s tricky to eat mindfully when you’re in a rush. I know you’re absolutely gonna love these snack bars. Happy baking!
Yum, those look and sound so tasty – plenty of crunchy nuts and I do love cranberries. And congrats on the exam, always good to have things like that over with!
★★★★★
They’re so good! The combo of crunchy nuts & chewy cranberries truly is a delight. 🙂 Thanks so much! Thank goodness it’s done with! Lol.