I finally baked a healthy cookie. And I think I shall call it a breakfast bar to celebrate—it’s vegan after all. And contains oats, mashed banana, banana chips, chocolate chips and love. Lots of love.
These things are good.
I actually can’t stop picking at them. So far, I’ve eaten all the edges off of all the end pieces. If you ever have baked with banana chips you know that upon baking, they get all chewy and almost caramelized. It’s sorta like banana heaven, if I do say so myself.
These bars are the perfect thing to bake for your vegan friends. Or, they’re the perfect thing to bake for yourself because, although they may taste like a jumbo loaded oatmeal cookie, they are on the healthy side of the spectrum.
And you know what that means!
You can eat two.
I’ll be honest, I usually bake vegan treats when I’m out of butter and too lazy to go to the store. But that really wasn’t the case with these!
I baked these very intentionally because my friend Cindy (remember our Chinese food adventures?) brought them to one of our bible studies last Fall before she moved to Cambodia to save the world. I remembered them being delicious and remembered I still had the recipe that she emailed me last September in my inbox. I made a few modifications and there ya go!
And you know what? I didn’t even miss the butter.
Don’t worry—you’ll get plenty of that later this week. Who do you think I am, anyway?
Double Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Bars
makes about 12 bars
Ingredients:
1 very ripe banana
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup chopped banana chips
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups quick cooking oats
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mash the banana with a fork and then add the canola oil and brown sugar. Mix well until there are no sugar lumps left.
In another (smaller) bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and oats. Mix into wet ingredients and add banana chips and chocolate chips.
Pat batter down into a greased square 8-inch pan. Bake for 25 minutes, or until edges are golden. Let cool before cutting into squares.
Time:
40 minutes
{ 122 comments… read them below or add one }
I always snatch the edge pieces (and better yet the corner pieces) up before anyone else can!
We would get along well, I hate the outside pieces!
Now THIS is breakfast!
These sound divine!! And I’m pretty sure I have all the ingredients sitting in my kitchen too… hmmmm…. I know what I’m doing after work today!
Definitely my kind of breakfast! Those look divine- banana bread + cookie
+ breakfast all in one
Jenna, these look awesome! It’s like a granola bar + blondie, baked into one!
I make nobake vegan granola/energy bars and use banana as my “glue”. As well as Peanut Butter, and maple syrup.
I love that you put choc chips in these. And edge pieces rock, too. As long as there is a gooey center!
These sound fantastic!
I always feed the edge pieces to my husband in a selfish effort to get to the center pieces.
oh my yum! another one i have bookmarked to make once I am able to move out of my parents’ home.
i have to say, i’ve always been a little scared of vegan treats, but all the ones i’ve had/made are delicious! definitely takes a little more thought and time, but still worth the effort. i still need to make your chocolate tofu pudding…it looked and sounds amazing!
Yum, yum, yum!
I just love the whole concept of the breakfast bar! I’ll take any excuse to eat a “cookie” for breakfast
These look great. And no butter? Bonus.
I’ve never baked with banana chips but now I need to immediately!
Oh my gosh Jenna these look SO delicious. I love the banana for butter substitute, I’ve used this in the past and things still taste just as good. But I agree, everyone once in a while a girl just needs a little butter
Yum!! Is there any good substitue for banana chips? I’m living in Kenya and they haven’t heard of chocolate chips here, let along banana chips!
These look delicious! I love banana chips, but can’t keep them in the house bc I devour them in no time flat
Haha! That’s so funny, Annie, I’m EXACTLY the same way! How are they SO good?!
This looks amazing. Love all the chocolatey goodness with the wholesomeness of the oats and bananas. Def. going to try this
Thanks Jenna!
Um, yum. I mean, my two eggs over easy & fruit were good this morning, but I wish I had these!
looks GREAT!!!! cant wait to try
These look delicious — I actually try to not bake very much lately since I find myself eating the entire pan or at least picking all around it. Now I take it to work and give them away (then I get to bake more!)
I’ve never baked with banana chips before. I should try it
Yay, I like me some healthy ‘breakfast bars’. Sometimes breakfast can get so bland, but these are anything but. Love the banana chocolate combo. Have you ever made frozen chocolate covered banana pops? SO GOOD!
I am visiting a friend who’s Vegan in a couple of weeks and these sound like the perfect treats for her (and me)!
I am visiting a friend who’s Vegan this weekend and these sound like the perfect treat for her (and me)!
Love the idea! Do you think this could be adapted to use steel cut oats – perhaps if I soaked them a bit beforehand?
Now these look so good! Almond butter smeared on top perhaps too ; )
Loving these easy and yummy recipes you create!!
I am always looking for banana recipes. Love these bars!
Anything with bananas, bread and chocolate-chips – that’s my usual baking repertoire. And picking off edges – yes…right till the whole thing is “Accidentally” gone of course.
Mmm breakfast bars with chocolate sound like heaven to me!
These look SO good. I’m going to have to make these soon! Oh, I made your pizza balls last week and posted about them on my blog today. I linked up to your recipe, hope you don’t mind! They were fantastic!!
oooh, DOUBLE banana, these sound delish! i’ve gotta go make these
These kind of sound too good to be true. Or at least too good for Monday. Jenna, let me now pronounce my love for you
Those look divine. I could eat those as breakfast, a snack, or dessert! Yum, good combo.
Bananas and chocolate are a match made in foodie heaven. A breakfast bar is a great idea! I will definitely be making these
xo
Those look delicious. I can’t have treats like that around my apartment because I’ll pick at it all day long and by the time theday is done….half the pan is gone.
Oooh those look good. I love any kind of bars with oats. Yummy!
Ohh – these sound fantastic – and any cookie that lands in the healthy spectrum is my friend!! haha I love the idea of using the banana chips!!
I’ve rather quickly transitioned into vegan baking, and I absolutely love it! I feel like it has more flavor? My husband would adore these… Hm…
that chocolate looks so gooey and delicious, I am definitely making these!
yes! this is what I have been looking for, no more banana bread in my kitchen.
These look SO good! I wish I could reach through my computer screen! I will most definitely have to make these soon!
Healthy AND chocolate? I’m in!
These sound great jenna. I’ve never baked my banana bread with banana chips, but I must admit I am interested in how they change texturally.
awwwwwwwww YUM. Oh dang that looks so delicious. They are certainly in my future.
I have a lot of oatmeal! And I am not the biggest fan, but these look delicious. I’ll have to make them this weekend!
i have all these ingredients in my house at all times, thank goodness!
oh wow these look delicious! and i love that they are breakfast bars and include chocolate! just the way i like to start my day : )
Lol, I nibble off the end pieces too!
Shhh, don’t tell anyone;-)
Oh these look wonderful. Perhaps with a glass of milk…..or is that wrong because they’re vegan???
Trying your recipe today. Looks yummy and healthy plus I have bananas that need to be used. Thanks for sharing.
These look delicious, I love a breakfast bar that includes chocolate!
Hey Jenna – these look DELISH! Do you have to use quick cooking oats or will Old Fashioned work as well?
I recommend using quick cooking but you can try old fashioned—shouldn’t make too much of a difference!
Awesome! Perfect timing too because I finally made the commitment to go vegan this weekend ( for my birthday ) Aloha!!
You know, I LOVE banana chips, but have never baked with them!
Those bars look fabulous…can’t wait to whip up a batch
I cannot believe i’ve never baked with banana chips before. I’d had them in granola and by the handful, but never baked in. Looks delicious as always Jenna!
My kids are pretty fussy when it comes to breakfast (not the cold cereal types)They are going to go crazy for these…can’t wait to try them! Thanks!
Banana + chocolate is becoming my favorite combination!
oh my goodness! these look fabulous
i love everything banana.
Oooo…banana and chocolate is just about my favorite combo (throw in some peanut butter and it can only get better!). A good friend will be getting a batch and hopefully I can resist the urge to eat before I deliver. Hmmm…maybe I’ll make two batches!
Yummy! Banana + Chocolate = Bliss!!! I think that this calls for some baking this weekend!
The best part about these is the simplicity! They look easy.
P.S. . . . The blurred Quaker cylinder is magical.
bahahaha
Gahhh soo gooodd!! I love anything with ripe banana in it. Even better if it has chocolate chips!
YUM I LOVE vegan treats! Thanks for the recipe, can you make any more vegan recipes for us vegan fans of ELR?
Why must you keep coming up with these treats of wonderfulness?? Adding it to the “to make from Jenna’s blog list”
Just made these — they look great and smell delish! My brothers keep circling through the kitchen, waiting for me to cut into them.
Wow! Those look “to die for!!” Can’t wait to make them. BTW…loving my Elvis Granola!
Thanks for all the recipes, Jenna:)
I made them tonight…….. devine !!!!
Seriously, it is uncanny how your wavelengths meet mine. I was staring at some Quaker breakfast bars today at Target and I thought, “I can surely make something more delicious.” And here you are to save the day. It’s not the first time. Thank you for not knowing me yet reading my mind. :~)
I will definitely have to make these this weekend – the fiance will appreciate a new breakfast treat before heading off to culinary school at 7am each morning!
I love when healthy cookies (with chocolate) are involved in my breakfast! This recipe looks awesome
I just made these…I had to. It was one of “those” types of Mondays and baking always puts me in a better mood and as soon as I saw title, I had to make them–even though I didn’t have quick-cooking oats or banana chips.
I think my pan is 9×9″ square because mine look thinner than yours and they baked in about 21 minutes. I also added chia seeds and psyllium husks (to up the ante) but also added some milk (oops, no longer vegan) because I used old fashioned rolled oats. They still taste great but tomorrow I’m getting quick-cooking oats and banana chips to make these the right way
I’m going to make these when I get home in the morning. They sound delicious!
Looks great and inexpensive to make! (hey, I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it!)
I might be giving these as gifts. I love baking anything edible and gifts for loved ones!
Hey Jenna, wanted to comment and see if anyone else is having this issue: when i visit your site, the most recent posting is still about the banana oat bars, but if i click your site on my iphone (for example), there is another post listed more recent than this one. this happens a lot, and then all of a sudden several of your posts will show up at once. does that make sense? so tomorrow i might still only see the banana oat bars post, then tomorrow night i will visit your site and see 3 more updated posts even though i’ve been to your site since the time they were technically posted.
phew, that was wordy.
but, how weird?!
I get the same thing….
me too..but its only when i go on my mac – if i use a windows computer it seems to be updating normally.
same here!! I read in my google reader & they’re all showing up there, but I randomly headed over to the site today & this was the most recent post
Same thing has been happening for me too. Weird. Also, on a Mac.
I LOVE the idea of adding the banana chips! I can’t wait to make these.
Making these right now! they’re in the oven as i type this. Will let you know how they turn out:):)
…and they are a success!!
These were AWESOME!! I made them last night, and I wanted to eat the whole pan! Yes, I controlled myself, but it was hard:)
thanks again for the recipe, Jenna!
These look so amazing. I only have steel cut oats right now, can I use those instead of the quick-cooking ones?
no…steel cut oats won’t cook properly in the bars. You really need either quick cooking or old fashioned oats!
I made these for a potluck I went to today, and they were a huge hit! I subbed shredded coconut and flaxseed for the banana chips, and a chopped chocolate bar instead of chips (couldn’t find vegan dark chocolate chips here) and they were incredible. I’ll be making these again for sure!
I’ve been reading you for years and your recipes are one of the reasons I decided to start a blog, to keep track of everything I’ve tried and loved!
These look great! And I love bananas, we always have them around… I’ll just hide the last one from my husband so it’ll get super ripe and I can actually make these little breakfast bar treats.
Hi Jenna,
I cooked these last night, my husband has been bugging me to make him something good for morning/afternoon tea and these were perfect! I substituted chopped walnuts for the banana chips as we didn’t have any and they were so good!
Thanks for your creativity, the salted pecan bars look fantastic, i think they’ll be next!
Lisa
Hi Jenna
I made these today and they are GREAT!!! I used old fashioned oats and whole wheat pastry flour. Also, didn’t have banana chips so I used toasted chopped walnuts. They turned out so yummy! Thanks for the recipe!
I made these too and they are fantastic!!! I cant stop eating them and my 22 month old loves to snack on them too! So easy to make, thanks for the great recipe!!
I made these yesterday and they are DELICIOUS! Like oatmeal chocolate chip cookies combined with banana bread. I’m five months pregnant and they make a great snack…me and my little one thank you, Jenna!
I just took these out of the oven 10 minutes ago and already can’t keep my hands errr fork out of them. I ended up throwing in a tablespoon of PB for kicks and they are fabulous! I was just looking through my google reader and realized that out of the last 20 items I’ve starred, 15 are from your blog. Love it!
These were amazing! Thanks! Next time I’m going to put walnuts in them, and perhaps a bit of peanut butter
These are in the oven at the moment! I substituted banana chips for hazelnuts as here in the UK banana chips are cooked in coconut oil and have something like 27 grams of saturated fat per 100g! eek! They sound delicious though… The chocolate and banana are smelling so good already…
I made these last night and they were great! I used half chocolate chips, half peanut butter chips.
I made these last night and had one for breakfast this morning. Delicious! Looking forward to having another for an afternoon snack.
Anyone know how many calories are in these?
Looks like everyone loves these! Awesome job Jenna!
I made these this weekend and they are delicious!!! This was my first vegan baking experience! I will be making these again!
I just made these today and I love them!!!! They are so delicious and satisfying. I’ve had them bookmarked for awhile and I’m glad I finally took the plunge. They seem pretty much perfect to me right now. Plus, they are the perfect snack for me to bring to school! (I am a teacher.) The only thing I changed was adding more chocolate chips…which is always a good thing!! Thank you!
I’m 14 and my mom cant have dairy
so when i found these i just had to make them! even with out her permision! oopps!:)
Can I use gluten free flour ans sweetend or unsweetened banana chips?
I have the same question — sweetened or unsweetened ? Recipe sounds great & so many rave reviews I think might be great to try!
I just made these this morning before work, because, you know, I have priorities.
I didn’t have any chocolate chips, so I threw in mini peanut butter cups instead. They are amazing, thanks for the great recipe!
I made these twice this week! My boyfriend and I love them!!
These are by far my favorite! I fell in love with them and share them with others! I remain amazed as to how long they keep you full! Thank you!!!!
I made these tonight. I had some issues. They came out, looked fine, and I waited until they were cool to cut them into bars… but when I did… Only about 4 actually stayed in bar form, the rest crumbled and I decided to store it as granola for my yogurt. What did I do wrong? I did everything your recipe said to do… maybe I didn’t mix and pat down well enough for it to stick?
ah well… still good.
did anyone else have this same issue or know how i can prevent this next time? thanks..
i have made these bars a few times now. making them tonight to bring to pot luck brunch tomorrow at work. LOVE THEM SO MUCH
These looked delicious in your pictures, so I couldn’t wait to make them.
However, my spin on this recipe isn’t quite true vegan (I added a dollop of greek yogurt) and the bars ended up way too sweet. I kept amount of brown sugar the same, but tweaked a couple of ingredients. Next time I think I will omit the brown sugar. I added three very ripe bananas, 2 Tbls grapeseed oil, a handful of blueberries and walnuts, chia seeds, and 1/3 cup Greek yogurt, omitting the canola oil. I also substituted in whole wheat four, but kept everything else the same, to include cooing time. Delicious, but rich.
Made these a few days ago. I added 1/2 cup of peanut butter, 3 bananas instead and put a layer of melted chocolate over them, instead of in them.
Thanks for the recipe!
They are delicious!
Loved these, but the second time I made them I modified them quite a bit to better fit my style of breakfast. I thought I would share in case anyone was interested.
-I use 2-3 bananas
-NO sugar
-only 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
-1/3 cup of mini-chocolate chips — nice hit of chocolate w/o much sugar
-1/3 cup of another mix-in, such as banana chips, craisins, coconut, walnuts, etc.
-I often add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter to the banana and oil mixture.
-I use old fashioned oats
-Bake for 15 minutes in a greased pan, until the edges are only just barely turning golden.
LOVED the inspiration… I modified to be gluten free, using gluten free flour/oats. I used 2 bananas, 1/2 cup more oats, almonds instead of banana chips, and butterscotch chips instead of choco! FREAKING AMAZING!
Chocolate chips actually are not vegan. For a vegan substitute, try carob chips.
Can you replace the canola oil with butter?
I have not tried that variation so I cannot guarantee the outcome. I bet it would though — try melted and cooled butter.
I was very skeptical of these in spite of the great reviews because it seemed like a health food trying to be a dessert, you know? Well I was totally wrong. I love them. I used 1 cup of quick oats and 3/4 cup old fashioned because I ran out of quick oats. They were great!
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