Vegan Blueberry Breakfast Bars
These vegan blueberry breakfast bars are healthy oatmeal bars with a juicy, sweet blueberry chia seed jam and crunchy oatmeal crumble on top. An easy healthy breakfast recipe to make in 20 minutes and meal-prep all your weekly breakfasts!
What are vegan blueberry breakfast bars?
These bars are a healthier version of the classic blueberry breakfast bar recipe but are made without butter, cornstarch, or dairy.
They are naturally sweetened with unrefined sugar from maple syrup and loaded with plant-based proteins from oats and chia seeds.
How to make healthy blueberry oatmeal bars?
This is easier than you think to make your own breakfast bars with berry jam. It takes only 3 steps and minimal pantry ingredients to create a healthy oat bar to start the day.
The best part of this oatmeal crumble breakfast bar recipe is that the base and crumble pieces on top use the same recipe!
So you don’t have to create an extra dough for the crumble, which greatly reduces the preparation time. Let me explain step-by-step how to make the healthiest blueberry breakfast bars, 100% dairy-free, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free!
Oatmeal base and crumble
As I mentioned above, you need only one dough to create the base and crumble. The trick is to make the whole oatmeal dough first and then set aside 1/2 cup of dough to use later as a crumble. The ingredients you need to prepare these two layers are:
- Homemade Oat flour – make your own. It is easy and cheap. Bring rolled oat into a blender, blend at high speed until a fine powder forms. It shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds in a high-speed blender. Measure the amount you need to make the recipe and store the leftover in an airtight container in the pantry for later. Also, if you don’t have oat flour, you can use all-purpose flour for this recipe.
- Rolled oats or instant oats if preferred
- Maple syrup or brown rice syrup, or agave syrup.
- Coconut oil – you can also use avocado oil to decrease saturated fat, but the base will be more fragile. Don’t skip oil nor use applesauce as an oil-free replacement. It doesn’t work.
- Vanilla
- Salt
Blueberry chia jam layer
This is where this recipe stands out. A regular blueberry breakfast bar uses cornstarch to set the jam layer. As its name suggests, Cornstarch is mostly starch, which is very high in calories, carbohydrates, and it’s poor in nutrients. That’s why this healthy breakfast blueberry bar uses chia seeds to set the jam.
Chia seeds are super-seeds loaded with healthy fat, plant-based protein, calcium, iron, and magnesium! So this really adds a healthy boost to your breakfast bars! All you need to make the blueberry layer is:
- Blueberries – fresh or frozen, no need to thaw.
- Maple syrup or brown rice syrup, or agave syrup.
- Lemon juice
- Chia seeds – white or black both work the same. If you can’t eat chia seeds for any reason, a healthy swap is flaxseed meal. Replace the chia seeds in this recipe with 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal.
- Lemon zest – optional and only if you are using untreated lemon!
How to store your bars?
These vegan, gluten-free breakfast bars store really well in the fridge in an airtight container for up to one week. Also, you can freeze the bars and defrost the day before.
Grain-free option
I know that many of you love paleo vegan options for my recipes which means finding a grain-free alternative. So below, I listed my easy swap tips to turn this recipe into a vegan paleo blueberry recipe.
- Almond flour – use this flour instead of oat flour.
- Nuts– replace rolled oats with chopped walnuts, almonds, pecan or shredded coconut, or a combo of all!
More healthy vegan breakfast recipe ideas
I love to share simple healthy vegan recipes, so you may also like the following vegan gluten-free breakfast recipes.
Have you made this blueberry oatmeal breakfast bar recipe? Share a picture with me! Join me on Instagram. I reply to all your messages.
Your friend, Carine
Vegan Blueberry Breakfast Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup Oat Flour - or all-purpose flour or spelt flour
- 1 ¼ cup Rolled Oats
- ⅓ cup Maple Syrup - or agave or rice syrup
- ⅓ cup Coconut Oil - melted
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla
Blueberry chia seed jam
- 2 cups Blueberries - fresh or frozen
- 3 tablespoons Maple Syrup - or agave or rice syrup
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoons Chia Seeds
- ½ teaspoon Lemon Zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line an 8-inch x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all the crust ingredients: oat flour, rolled oats, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, salt, and vanilla.
- Squeeze the batter with your hands to bring all the ingredients in contact and create a dough that sticks together. If too dry (may happen if you are using a coarse oat flour), add 1-2 tablespoons of water, add 1 at a time, until the dough is soft and stick together.
- Press 1 3/4 cup of the dough all over the baking dish, using a spatula to smoothen the dough and making sure there is no hole left. Set aside leftover dough in a small mixing bowl in the fridge. You will use it for the crumble on top of the bar.
- Place the pan in the fridge while you make the blueberry chia seed jam.
Blueberry chia seed jam
- In a small saucepan, add the blueberries, maple syrup, lemon juice, lemon zest, and chia seeds.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes on medium heat until bubbles form on the sides of the pan.
- Mash the blueberries using a fork or potato masher and keep cooking for 2 minutes, stirring all the time to prevent the jam from burning. It should slightly thicken but still be very runny. It will thicken in the oven, don't worry.
- Pour the jam on top of the prepared crust then use the remaining dough to crumble all other the bar.
- Bake the bar for 35 minutes or until crispy on top and golden.
- Remove from the oven and cool in the pan 10 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack.
- Cool for 3 hours or until it reaches room temperature before slicing into 16 bars. Waiting will prevent the bar from crumbling, and the jam will set perfectly.
- Store the bars in the pantry in an airtight container for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week. Otherwise, freeze and defrost the day before breakfast.
Notes
Nutrition
Can you sub EVOO for coconut oil or does it have to be coconut/avocado oil?
Youcan use any oil in the recipe
Delicious and so so easy. I left the slice in the tin to cool and placed directly into the fridge for an hour or so till it was cold. I cut the slices in the tin and slice didn’t crumble at all. Great recipe.
Love this recipe! I made it for the first time last week and brought it to work (or else I have eaten it all in one sitting!). Now I’m getting requests to make it again! The recipe is so easy to follow and it’s the perfect amount of sweetness. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m currently in Week 3 of lockdown in China and have been craving oat bars. I found this recipe and was thrilled to see that I had all ingredients on hand, so I tried it out today. I didn’t have oat flour (and running low on oats) so I used 1 c WW pastry flour + 1/4 c coconut flour.
Used raspberries and blackberries (frozen) for the jam.
Followed recipe for everything else, including baking time.
Could perhaps use a touch more salt (and a smidge less syrup?) in the dough, but VERY, VERY TASTY! This is a keeper recipe I know I’ll be trying with different berries/combinations. Thanks!
This was just the treat I desired for having an evening of tea and treats :). I used whole grain flours I had for the oat flour which worked out nicely. I baked the whole thing only to realizeI left the melted oil out… I scrapped off the fruity top part, poured the oil over the crust and slapped the fruity mixture back on and baked it for another 10 or 15 minutes at a wee higher temperature and SAVED IT! I was thankful.
I make these delicious bars every other week for my husband. I add strawberries to the mix and use 1/2 oat and 1/2 almond flour! So moist. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
So yummy!! Very easy to make. I definitely recommend chilling in the fridge before eating as it’s a bit crumbly at room temperature– I’m going to be making this again and again for sure!
Great with a cup of earl grey tea in the morning ❤️
Love love love ! Delicious & easy ! These have become a regular at our house
Can maple syrup be replaced with coconut sugar or monk fruit sweetener? If yes, how does it work to replace a liquid sweetener with a dry one
You can’t replace a liquid sweetener by a dry one, the bar won’t hold.
These are my go to recipe for breakfast bars! I use various fruits, which I always buy when reduced!I currently have two batches in the oven made with blackberries that I have foraged 🙂 I always use 1 cup of and then 1/4 cup of chopped nuts for the base. Works really well! Me and my partner enjoy them for breakfast on working days, or bring them along when we go on long hikes as they really give us a energy boost and keep us going. Thanks for the delightful recipe!
Going on a road trip and will need breakfast snack bars that will keep without refrigeration. Please let us know how to handle 7 days in a car for healthy eating. Thanks!
They will last 7 days perfectly without refrigeration
Awesome recipe to try at home. Tastes amazing – awesome breakfast option
The best healthy bar to make. Thanks for the recipe.
The best recipe to make
Wonderful! And so adaptable. I used sprouted spelt flour with gf oats. My fruit was a mix of blueberries, blackberries and a couple of tablespoons of elderberry syrup (I reduced the maple syrup to compensate.) This turned out great. Thanks!
Could I leave out the maple syrup? In the either both topping and jam or at least just the jam? Also wondering if I could replace some of the oat flour with a vegan protein powder to add some additional protein.
Thanks!
I didn’t try this option but it will be very dry I think. I wouldn’t swap oat flour by protein powder, it won’t hold together as a crust. Feel free to experiment
oh my goodness. Delicious! I sprinkled a touch more brown sugar on top, don’t judge. The lemon makes it!
These sound incredible! I’m allergic to coconut, would avocado oil be ok to sub for coconut oil?
Sure, this should work well too
If I make my oat flour out of rolled oats to i still add the rolled oats also?
The recipe required an amount of oat flour and an amount of rolled. You can replace the rolled oats by oat flour, you need both
Delicious! I had to put under the broiler to brown the crumbles. I will definitely make these again.
Hi. I made these yesterday using gluten-free all purpose flour for my husband who is trying to identify stomach issues. This review comes from someone who can eat healthy foods but just as easily eat a Big Mac from McDonald’s. This isn’t like when my husband attempts veganism and asks me to try his tofu because it’s “good”. It’s not because I am not accustomed to eating it. However, these Vegan Blueberry Breakfast Bars are delicious! I tried the dough and blueberry filling separately just to make sure they tasted OK and were sweet enough. They did and were! I was pleasantly surprised! They are not overly sweet, but that is a perfect breakfast addition to a cup of coffee. They were pretty crumbly but after the 3 hour cool down time, I stored them in the fridge. It helped with the crumbles. I will definitely make again! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!
Love these. I’m using strawberries the second time. The satisfy my sweet tooth guilt free and are great for breakfast.
Awesome
These blueberry breakfast bars are the greatest for anytime. They are a hit in my home + my customers love them + are asking me over + over to make them.
These are so good!!! My family and I have loved this recipe.
I swear these are the BEST blueberry bars I’ve ever tasted, and believe me…. I’ve tried so many recipes. So delicious!
These blueberry bars are our new obsession! Aka eating one right now with my morning smoothie. They aren’t overly sweet, and super easy to make! I love the idea of using chia seed to create the jam, my 2 year loves helping me make them and of course eating them after 🙂 I recently started an organic granola company, so I subbed the oats with the granola and it was SO good.
Thank you for creating such a wonderful healthy recipe!
Everyone in my household loved these!!! I thought the crumble topping was a good amount. Thanks you!
Can almond or coconut flour be used in place of oat flour?
No sorry, these flours won’t work as there is no eggs in the dough and it won’t hold, be very crumbly.
I use almond flour every time and they hold up for me. You could also add a flax egg to the crust. We love these bars
Been making these for months, one of my favorite snack, breakfast, or even dessert options! I added cinnamon to the crust mixture, delicious! I like to add whipped cream to a warmed up bar and eat it for dessert sometimes. Thanks!
Hello!
Should the crust be a bit crumbly? Cause mine turned out to be a bit hard/dry. Not sure if it might be from the whole oats that I used.
Any tip regarding the crust?
Othen than that the jam turned out perfect! Did it with mixed wild berries.
It’s a hard crust but not crumbly. This may happen if your oat flour is coarser than mine. Simply add a bit more liquid ingredients in the batter next time to make the crust less dry
I am super excited to make these….I will post after the finished product!!
Also, when spreading the bottom crust across the pan, I would recommend placing a small sheet of parchment paper over the crust just to press and spread dough evenly. This will allow the crust to remain intact. Then remove the sheet, add the blueberry mixture and topping. Mine is baking now. Yum! Thank you!
I can’t wait to see your picture! Enjoy, XOXO Carine
Just made these and everything was perfect! Waited the 3 hours and cut them up, they are delicious!
Absolutely delicious! I practically ate the entire pan by myself. Made it exactly as written except for the lemon zest as I completely forgot, but it was good as is.
Oh my yum!! Made these with raspberries and they were delicious! Making them again with blackberries this time. Can’t wait!!
Raspberries sounds delicious too! Thanks for the lovely comment, Enjoy the recipes around here, XOXO Carine
I just made this. And We all loved it. However half cup reserve was not enough for top. It has to be 1.5 cup for top and same for bottom too. I will definitely add more oat ( flour and rolled in total) I gave 5 stars because it is SUPER YUMMY recipe. My 10 year old is hard to please and he is loving it. He said ” i never knew something healthy could be this good) 🙂 Thanks
Thanks for the lovely feedback. I am glad you love it. XOXO Carine
I just made this recipe exactly as posted.
I’m about to place in the oven.. while I’m hoping and assuming the flavor will be great the measurements are just off. The 1/2c of reserves crumble is not nearly enough for the topping.
9 x 5 pan?? That would be ridiculously small. Maybe that’s why the measurements are just off to me. So so small.
I used a 9 and a half x 12 pan and just barely made it. We’ll see what happens.
I am sorry to hear that but a 9 inches x 5 inches pan is a conventional slice pan in New Zealand. If your pan is larger it will obviously impact the amount of batter needed to cover the bottom of the pan and crumble on top. You can always double the recipe if you are using a large pan. XOXO Carine
This recipe works in an 8×8 inch pan. Mine is cooling right now, it smells and looks amazing! I added some cinnamon to the crumble mixture.