Have you ever found yourself gazing at a bunch of browning bananas on your worktop, wondering what to do with them? We certainly have. Before you consider the bin, we have a wonderful alternative that turns them into a glorious treat. We’re presenting our ultimate Banana Oatmeal Bars Recipe. These delightful bars are incredibly soft, satisfyingly chewy, and brimming with wholesome goodness. They serve as the perfect solution for a speedy breakfast, a tasty addition to a lunchbox, or a lovely afternoon snack with a cup of tea. Move over, shop-bought cereal bars with their confusing ingredient lists; this straightforward, one-bowl recipe is poised to become your new favourite for a delicious and nourishing bite.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• They are packed with flavour, offering a lovely natural sweetness from the very ripe bananas, a gentle warmth from cinnamon, and a wonderfully satisfying chewy texture that everyone loves.
• This is a brilliantly simple, one-bowl recipe! You can prepare the mixture in fewer than 10 minutes, which makes it an ideal bake for a busy week or a relaxing weekend afternoon.
• We use straightforward, wholesome ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen already. This recipe is a superb way to make use of overripe bananas and whip up a healthy snack without any refined sugar.
• It’s wonderfully versatile. You can treat this recipe as a fantastic starting point. Feel free to stir in chocolate chips, nuts, seeds, or dried fruit to craft a batch that’s all your own. We’ll offer some inspiration below!

The Heart of Our Banana Bars

The brilliance of these bars is rooted in their simplicity. We harness the natural sugars of overripe bananas and the robust texture of rolled oats to create something truly special. Before we start mixing, let’s explore why each component plays a vital role in baking the perfect batch.

The Bananas: The browner, the better! Those heavily spotted bananas you might be tempted to discard are a baker’s treasure. As bananas mature, their starches transform into sugars, making them exceptionally sweet and flavourful. This allows us to rely on less added sweetener in our recipe. They also contribute crucial moisture, ensuring the bars are soft and tender, not dry and crumbly.

The Oats: For this recipe, we heartily recommend using rolled oats, also known as old-fashioned oats. They give the best texture—a delightful chewiness that holds its form beautifully after baking. While you could substitute quick-cook oats if needed, they absorb more liquid and can yield a softer, more cake-like result. We’d suggest avoiding steel-cut oats, as they will not soften sufficiently in the brief baking period.

The Sweetener and Fat: We’ve chosen pure maple syrup for a little extra sweetness and a lovely, deep flavour note. It complements the banana and cinnamon perfectly. For our fat, we’ve selected melted coconut oil, which imparts a subtle richness. You could just as easily swap this for melted unsalted butter if that’s what you prefer.

Ingredients

• 3 large, very ripe bananas (about 350-400g, mashed)
• 200g rolled oats (use certified gluten-free if necessary)
• 80ml pure maple syrup (or honey)
• 60ml melted coconut oil (or unsalted butter)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 100g dark chocolate chips (optional, but highly recommended!)
• 50g chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Instructions

1. Set Up Your Station: To begin, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C Fan / Gas Mark 4). Lightly grease a 20cm (8-inch) square baking tin and line it with baking parchment, allowing some to hang over two opposite sides. This creates a ‘sling’ that makes lifting the bars out later a breeze.
2. Mash the Bananas: In a generous mixing bowl, peel your ripe bananas and mash them well with a fork until they are mostly pureed, with just a few small lumps remaining. These little lumps contribute to a lovely final texture.
3. Mix the Wet Ingredients: Into the bowl with your mashed banana, pour the lightly beaten egg, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Whisk these ingredients together until they are fully incorporated into a smooth liquid.
4. Incorporate the Dry Ingredients: Next, add the rolled oatmeal, ground cinnamon, baking powder, and salt directly to the wet mixture. Use a spatula to fold everything together until it is just combined. Take care not to overmix; stop as soon as you no longer see any dry pockets of oats.
5. Fold in the Goodies: Now for the exciting bit! Gently fold through your desired add-ins, like the dark chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. For an extra indulgent twist, you could even add chopped pieces of our Biscoff Truffles.
6. Transfer and Smooth: Pour the batter into your prepared tin. Use the back of your spatula to guide it into the corners and smooth the top, ensuring an even layer across the entire tin. This will help the bars bake uniformly.
7. Bake to Golden Perfection: Pop the tin into your preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. The bars are done when the edges are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. The surface should also feel firm when gently pressed.
8. Cool Completely: This step is crucial for achieving perfectly-formed bars! It’s essential to let them cool entirely in the tin, placed on a wire rack. They will be quite soft straight from the oven and need this time to firm up. Attempting to slice them while warm will cause them to crumble. Once fully cooled, use the parchment sling to remove the slab from the tin before cutting it into 12 or 16 bars.

Customise Your Banana Oatmeal Bars

One of the most wonderful things about this recipe is how easily it can be personalised. It serves as a brilliant blank canvas for all sorts of tasty experiments. Here are a some of our top variations to spark your creativity:

• Peanut Butter Boost: Stir two tablespoons of your favourite peanut butter (or another nut butter) into the wet ingredients for added protein and a delicious nutty flavour. A sprinkle of chopped peanuts on top before baking would be a great touch.
• Fruit and Nut Delight: Swap the walnuts for pecans or almonds, and toss in a handful of dried fruits such as raisins, sultanas, or chopped dried apricots for more chewiness and natural sweetness.
• Seedy Goodness: For an extra nutritional kick, mix in a tablespoon each of chia seeds, flax seeds, or pumpkin seeds with the dry ingredients. They will add a lovely texture and healthy fats.
• Ultimate Chocolate Treat: For the serious chocolate lovers, add a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder to the dry mix along with the chocolate chips. A little drizzle of melted chocolate over the cooled bars would be heavenly! For more oaty chocolate ideas, have a look at our scrumptious Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies.

Frequently Asked Questions

And there we have it – a straightforward, wholesome, and utterly delicious snack that gives those overripe bananas a new lease of life. These banana oatmeal bars demonstrate that healthy treats can be both simple and exciting. They’re soft, chewy, endlessly customisable, and suitable for any time of the day. Whether you pack one for a post-gym energy boost or enjoy it with your afternoon brew, we’re sure this recipe will become a firm favourite in your baking collection. If you’re searching for another easy recipe the whole family will enjoy, why not try our Bacon Brown Sugar Chicken Tenders for dinner?

We truly hope you enjoy baking (and of course, eating!) these fabulous bars. Don’t forget to let us know in the comments if you experiment with any exciting flavour combinations!

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Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 3 large, very ripe bananas (about 350-400g, mashed)
• 200g rolled oats (use certified gluten-free if necessary)
• 80ml pure maple syrup (or honey)
• 60ml melted coconut oil (or unsalted butter)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 100g dark chocolate chips (optional, but highly recommended!)
• 50g chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Instructions

1. Set Up Your Station: To begin, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C Fan / Gas Mark 4). Lightly grease a 20cm (8-inch) square baking tin and line it with baking parchment, allowing some to hang over two opposite sides. This creates a ‘sling’ that makes lifting the bars out later a breeze.
2. Mash the Bananas: In a generous mixing bowl, peel your ripe bananas and mash them well with a fork until they are mostly pureed, with just a few small lumps remaining. These little lumps contribute to a lovely final texture.
3. Mix the Wet Ingredients: Into the bowl with your mashed banana, pour the lightly beaten egg, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Whisk these ingredients together until they are fully incorporated into a smooth liquid.
4. Incorporate the Dry Ingredients: Next, add the rolled oatmeal, ground cinnamon, baking powder, and salt directly to the wet mixture. Use a spatula to fold everything together until it is just combined. Take care not to overmix; stop as soon as you no longer see any dry pockets of oats.
5. Fold in the Goodies: Now for the exciting bit! Gently fold through your desired add-ins, like the dark chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.
6. Transfer and Smooth: Pour the batter into your prepared tin. Use the back of your spatula to guide it into the corners and smooth the top, ensuring an even layer across the entire tin. This will help the bars bake uniformly.
7. Bake to Golden Perfection: Pop the tin into your preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. The bars are done when the edges are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. The surface should also feel firm when gently pressed.
8. Cool Completely: This step is crucial for achieving perfectly-formed bars! It’s essential to let them cool entirely in the tin, placed on a wire rack. They will be quite soft straight from the oven and need this time to firm up. Attempting to slice them while warm will cause them to crumble. Once fully cooled, use the parchment sling to remove the slab from the tin before cutting it into 12 or 16 bars.

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