These banana oat bars are delicious and moreish! Packed with banana, almond butter and chocolate chips, they’re fabulous for breakfast or a snack.
My lovely friend recently had a baby – yay! Lucky Little Person is feasting regularly on finest Mummy Milk! So it seemed only right to take Mummy some energy-dense, milk-supply-boosting, indulgent yet health-packed yummy treats, as a gift. Right?
Enter, banana oat bars! Scrumptious, easy to eat, and full of nutritious ingredients.
Foods that help with lactation
Kellymom and other reputable sources of breastfeeding information recommend oats as a potential galactagogue – a food that will increase milk production in a nursing mother. And as a big fan of flapjacks, I know how delicious they can be too! I made oats the basis of this yummy banana oat bars recipe, before getting carried away with the extras.
When in doubt – chocolate!
I began thinking about what other ingredients to include in these delicious bars. Every new mum needs chocolate, so I put in a generous amount of both dark and white chocolate chips. Ripe banana for vitamins and minerals? Perfect. Almond butter adds healthy fats and trace elements, while milk and eggs provide calcium, iron and extra protein. The banana oat bars recipe was shaping up nicely!
Healthy breakfast oat bars
It occurred to me as I reviewed the ingredients in these fabulously moreish banana oat bars that even if you aren’t a breastfeeding mum (or a mum of any kind), they would make a pretty tasty and healthful breakfast bar. Perfect as a grab-and-go when you’re short on time but still need a nutritious start to the day.
Extra fruity oat bars
These delicious oat bars already include bananas. But if you love them extra-fruity you can substitute raisins, dried cranberries, or chopped dried apricots for some (or all) of the chocolate chips. Chopped nuts like pecans, pistachios and almonds also add a delicious crunch and a unique flavour.
Yummy banana oaty bars
My daughter Kipper has been scoffing these banana oat bars as snacks, and requesting more of them. She didn’t seem to notice that I’d just snuck a load of fruit, milk and oats past her. A few chocolate chips go a long way, apparently!
This recipe made 16 banana oat bars, but next time I’ll be tempted to cut them bigger and make fewer. Yum.
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📖 Recipe
Banana oat bars with chocolate chips
Ingredients
- 200 g porridge oats
- 50 g dark muscovado sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- pinch salt
- 125 ml milk or natural yogurt
- 1 large egg
- 2 large bananas, mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 50 g almond butter
- 75 g dark chocolate chips
- 75 g white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 20cm (8 inch) square tin with baking parchment.
- 200 g (2 ½ cups) porridge oats, 50 g (¼ cups) dark muscovado sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp mixed spice, pinch saltCombine the oats, muscovado sugar, baking powder, spice and salt in a large bowl.
- 125 ml (½ cups) milk or natural yogurt, 1 large egg, 2 large bananas, mashed, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 50 g (⅕ cups) almond butterIn a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, mashed bananas, vanilla and almond butter. Whisk thoroughly to ensure the almond butter is well mixed in.
- 75 g (3/7 cups) dark chocolate chips, 75 g (3/7 cups) white chocolate chipsAdd the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and stir well to combine. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spread the mixture into the prepared tin.
- Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes.
- Allow to cool in the tin. Turn out and cut into bars.
Notes
Nutrition
More delicious oaty bakes
If you love oaty bakes like these banana oat bars, why not also try these deliciously squidgy date flapjacks, these yummy oatmeal cookies with coconut and cranberries, or these fabulous fruity flapjack fingers.
Corina
I love the banana and chocolate combination along with the oats.