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If your mornings are hectic, this make ahead breakfast oat bars are a great option! This Starbucks copycat recipe is so easy to make at home, and every bite is extra delicious! If oat bars are your favorite Starbucks treat, you’ll love this healthier homemade version!
Ingredients & substitutions
- Quick oats: These quick cooking oats, also called 1-minute oats can literally be cooked in that little time so they result is a chewy soft texture and are best for the recipe. You can use rolled oats, but make sure to grind them in a food processor first. Do not use steel cut oats. If gluten-free, use GF certified oats.
- Butter: Butter adds richness and helps to hold the oats together. Use unsalted butter, if you use salted, decrease the amount of added salt. Any plant-based butter would work perfectly in this recipe too.
- Light brown sugar: The molasses in the brown sugar adds a wonderful rich flavor. You can use white granulated sugar if you are in a pinch.
- Maple syrup: Maple syrup adds a nice earthy sweetness. Honey will also work well if you prefer.
- Milk: We used unsweetened almond milk for these oat bars, but any plant-based or dairy milk will work well.
- Vanilla extract and salt: To sweeten and round out the flavor of the oat bars.
How to make Starbucks oat bars
- Melt the butter, brown sugar and maple syrup in small saucepan. You can also use the microwave to make it faster.
- Whisk together until smooth and and then whisk in the milk and vanilla extract.
- Pour the butter mixture into the oat mixture.
- Stir to combine.
- Press the mixture into a lined square baking pan.
- Bake until lightly golden and firm.
Tips for making the bars at home
- Use quick oats for best results. They soften and cook quicker than rolled oats to result in a chewy tender texture that resembles the Starbucks recipe.
- Line the baking dish with parchment. Allow the parchment to hang over the sides of the pan so that the baked oats are easy to remove to cool and slice.
- Allow the oats to cool. If you cut into the baked oats too soon, they won’t be set. Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Add in some extras. Make these Starbucks oat bars exactly to your tastes by stirring in some chocolate chips, dried fruits or nuts to the oat mixture before baking. Or finish them with a drizzle of melted chocolate!
Frequently asked questions
These oat bars contain butter so they are not vegan. But when tested with plant-based butter, they work out perfectly so it’s the only change needed to make them vegan!
These breakfast oat bars are great for meal prep. Once cooled, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can enjoy them cold, at room temperature, or warm them through slightly.
Yes, these will freeze well for up to 2 months, so make a double batch. Freeze the bars solid on a baking sheet before transferring to a container or bag, or, wrap individually in parchment. Thaw in the fridge or at room temperature.
Skip the line at Starbucks and make your own oat bars at home quickly and easily for those busy weekday mornings or as a midday snack. Hearty and filling, they will keep everyone feeling satisfied!
More bars recipes to try:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars
- Honey Nut Cereal Bars
- Pecan Date Bars
- No Bake Samoa Bars
- Vegan Protein Bars
If you try this healthy-ish feel good Starbucks Oat Bars recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe. We would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots, share it on Instagram so we can repost on Stories!
Starbucks Oat Bars
Video
Ingredients
- 3 ¾ cups quick oats
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F and line an 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, grind 2 cups of oats until super fine and flour-like. Add to a large bowl and stir in the remaining 1¾ cups oats and salt. Mix to combine.
- Melt the butter, brown sugar, and maple over medium heat in a small saucepan until the butter is completely melted and the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and whisk in the almond milk and vanilla extract. Let cool slightly.
- Pour the butter mixture into the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and press the oats into the pan evenly.
- Bake until slightly golden brown, rotating halfway through, 20 minutes. Let cool and then slice into bars.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
I’m not understanding something. Recipe calls for 7.5 cups of quick oats. Instructions say to grind 2 cups of the oats until super fine then add in the remaining 1 3/4 cups of oats. 2 cups plus 1 3/4 cups equal 3.75 cups. What happened to the other 3.75 cups?
Hi there, thanks for your comment! The recipe calls for 3 3/4 cups of quick oats. I think you may have accidentally set the scale of the recipes to “2x” which may be where you are seeing 7.5 cups of quick oats. Hope that sorts out any confusion.
These are fantastic!! At first they did crumble but once they set up and stored in fridge, stayed together perfectly! Thanks for sharing this recipe! I added cinnamon and raisins.
Thank you so much, Kelly!
How much does 2c quick oats end up being when ground down? I already have some gf oat flour and wanted to use that instead, but not too sure on the exact measurement I should be using.
Hi Modeeha, I am not sure either as the ratio would be different and I have not made these with oat flour. If I was to try it I would start with 1 and 1/4 cup of oat flour and then test from there.
Very crumbly, but quite tasty. I was hoping to be able to slice into bars. They just fell apart. Might be good to use like a granola topping over yogurt.
So sorry to hear that your bars didn’t stick together for you. Using it as granola is a great option! I am going to retest this and see what’s going on with them.
Made your recipe for the Oat Bars (copycat Starbucks) and I liked them but felt they needed something extra. So, I melted 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 tsp. oil in the micro-wave, stirring until chocolate was smooth. Then I covered the oat bars evenly with the chocolate. By the second day, the chocolate had hardened and the bars are tasting wonderfully, according to my husband!
Love that idea! So glad to hear that you and your husband are enjoying them.