Whenever my heart feels heavy, lost, or confused I tend to turn to the kitchen to distract myself. Seeking comfort in food isn’t as bad as those ridiculous diet magazines make it out to be. Food can bring us all together and make us pause to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. Sometimes, a big pot of chili and garlic bread, creamy avocado pasta, or warm walnut banana bread is just the thing we need in that moment. Other days, it’s a big kale salad or a juicy basket of strawberries and coconut cream. Monday night, I made pasta with homemade spaghetti sauce while we watched the news. I felt like a zombie as I cooked, but I knew we needed something to settle our bellies.
It’s been an emotional week to say the least. I find myself extra sensitive about everything, trying to make sense of all the loss in this world. I haven’t made any sense of it yet and there’s no feeling of progress made in my mind. Despite this heavy heart, I can’t help but be inspired by all the good out there. The selfless people helping in a time of need. The bravery and generosity going on is a beautiful thing to see. Sometimes I don’t always see the good, but it’s there. Love always prevails.
These banana bread bars were my solution to another comfort food craving yesterday. Think of them as soft, doughy granola bars filled with crunchy walnuts, omega-3 lovin’ chia seeds, and a sprinkling of dark chocolate chips. The wet batter is made up of spotty bananas, a generous scoop of protein-packed peanut butter, a splash of vanilla, and just a hint of sweetener to round it all out. I’ve been enjoying them around the clock, so it’s safe to say they work nicely as breakfast, snack, or even dessert. Your call.
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Banana Bread Protein Bars
Yield
10 Bars
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
These banana bread bars were my solution to another comfort food craving yesterday. Think of them as soft, doughy granola bars filled with crunchy walnuts, omega-3 lovin’ chia seeds, and a sprinkling of dark chocolate chips. The wet batter is made up of spotty bananas, a generous scoop of protein-packed peanut butter, a splash of vanilla, and just a hint of sweetener to round it all out. I’ve been enjoying them around the clock, so it’s safe to say they work nicely as breakfast, snack, or even dessert. Your call.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2/3 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 1/2 cup raw buckwheat groats, ground into flour
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 3 tbsp chia seeds
- 3 tbsp mini dark chocolate chips (such as Enjoy Life brand)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
Wet Ingredients
- 3/4 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 small-medium)
- 1/2 cup natural smooth peanut butter
- 1/4 cup coconut nectar syrup (or brown rice syrup)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line an 8-inch square pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper, one going each way. Tip – to get the parchment to stick to the pan, give the base a spray with olive oil and do this for the next paper too.
- Add raw buckwheat groats into a high-speed blender and blend on high until a fine flour forms. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
- Mash bananas until smooth and measure out 3/4 cups. Stir together the banana and all the wet ingredients in a bowl.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir well until combined. The dough should be very sticky!
- Scoop batter into prepared pan. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the batter and press it down to spread out the batter evenly. You can also remove the paper and wet your hands lightly and spread it out that way. Make sure it’s as even as possible.
- Bake at 350°F for 22-26 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the bread is firm to touch. Cool in the pan completely (I left it for 1 hour) before removing and slicing into bars.
Tip:
Raw buckwheat groats are not the same as kasha or toasted buckwheat. Raw groats have a milder flavour than toasted. You can find raw groats online, in some health food stores, or the bulk bins of Whole Foods. I buy mine in bulk from Upaya Naturals online. You might be able to substitute the ground buckwheat for oat flour, but I have not tried this myself. If anyone tries it, please leave a comment and report back.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
I just made these, but swapped the brown rice syrup out for honey and applesauce instead. DELISH!!!
These look so yummy!! I can’t wait to try out the recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Made these as a double batch and added nutmeg and they were a huge hit, even with non-vegans at the office. Thanks for the great recipe!
I just discovered your blog and have found so many yummy recipes here. I can’t wait to try these bars. Just a question about the coconut nectar syrup. I recently started using some recipes from the ‘I Quit Sugar’ cookbook (Sarah Wilson) and she recommends to sweeten foods with Rice Malt Syrup because it is not a fructose based sweetener. Do you know if coconut nectar syrup can be used in a sugar-free diet also? Thanks! Love your work.
Hi Jill, I’m sorry but I’m not sure. I do know that coconut syrup has a low glycemic index (35ish I think), but not sure how that compares to the composition of RMS. good luck & enjoy!
They look very good.
Angela: I know you are busy but hoping you can answer a question for me. I might be moving to Oakville and renting a room in a condo with a senior lady (I’m in my 30’s). I’ve never been to Oakville ever…not sure what its like? She said the grocery stores are far awway but she could drive me to “Metro” once per week….the other grocery stores she mentioned didn’t even sound familiar to me ..she also said the library would be a longish bike ride away…so not the best location for me (far from food and library :) ). Yet the condo she has seems very clean and healthy and that’s important to me.
Thoughts? I have NO idea how big Oakville is or if its a neat place to be or not? I don’t believe there’s a university there right? I’ve heard its nice but I suppose if I live away from the “nice” spots, then I won’t get to see that. I like to walk, but am limited in how far/long I can walk and dont want to spend all energy on that I guess yuo know? And not sure getting a bike would be financially realistic for me, so…
hi, do you know what the protein content is in these bars ?????
Hi Leanna, Yes I linked to it at the bottom of the recipe – I recall it’s about 8 grams of protein per bar.
Looks great… my 10yo daughter would love these..too bad I cant send them to school because of the nuts
I’ve been looking for recipe’s for protein bars for a while. Never seen one with bananas, peanut butter and walnuts. Three of my favorite foods, can’t wait to try these!!
I used buckwheat flour and instead of chocolate chip, I added some carob power. It tasted wonderful! Thank you so much for the recipe. It’s such an economical way to make my own energy bars to go.
I was needing something today to use up some ripe bananas, these seem tasty!
I am new to your blog and absolutely love it! I just tried baking this particular recipe and it was a major hit. It turned out so well and I will be making this again. Thank you for all of your postings. I am a big fan!
Oh wowza! Can’t wait to get my hands on to these sticky lil bars! :)
Yummo! These are the kind of snacks that I can stick in my bag for when I’m doing errands and I need to eat now!
I’m off to bake banana bread! Its May and we have snow on the ground! The only answer for being snowbound is banana bread and I’m so happy to find this recipe that
is healthful! My tomato plants are on the sunporch, waiting to go in the ground and ice is pelting the windows. Thanks to Angela, there’s going to be a bright spot in my kitchen.
Tried this today, it was delicious and I shared with a gluten intolerant friend, thank you as always!
These were perfect! The ultimate solution to packing a homemade snack for work! I love that there was no added sugar and the brown rice syrup didn’t add much sweetness. They hold me over for the couple hours before I can get my lunch at work!
Hi Angela,
Can I sub agave for the coconut syrup??
These are AWESOME Angela!!! I was out of a few things so I made some substitutions: I subbed oat flour for the groats, pecans for the walnuts, and hemp seeds for the coconut (I have a coconut allergy). Thanks for another great recipe! :)
I’m new to your blog and love it! Love this recepie, had to try it out for myself as I am also a natural health blogger. I was so pleased, my kids loved the coconut flavours through the bars as well. Would it be ok if i featured some of your recepies on my blog with a link back to you? I’d love to spread them around among my clients and readers too.
Many thanks :)
Craig
Hi Craig,
If you’ve adapted the recipe feel free to post your version along with a link, but if you haven’t changed the recipe I ask that you do not repost it, but simply link. So glad you enjoyed the bars!! Take care
Ok great Angela that’s no problem at all will follow that guideline for you. Many thanks for your lovely food. :)
Craig
I am making it right now. I used ready buckwheat flour and added one more banana. Curious to see how it turns out.