Chewy Homemade Popcorn Granola Bars

Full of whole grains and natural sweetness, these homemade chewy Homemade Popcorn Granola Bars will quickly become your family's favorite snack!

I make homemade granola bars every week.

In fact, I don't know what I'd do at snack time if I didn't have some homemade or store-bought granola bars on hand to feed my kids.

Granola bars are great for so many reasons

• they're versatile (flavor possibilities galore!)
• they're delicious, and
• if made with wholesome ingredients, they're a nutritious snack that can pack a lot of calories to keep you going in between meals.

Some of our favorite granola bars currently are these No-Bake Granola Bars, these Oatmeal Date Granola Bars and of course, today's recipe for Chewy Homemade Popcorn Granola Bars!

Let me show you how to make these!

Popcorn Granola Bars Ingredients

Recently, these homemade popcorn granola bars were the wonderful result of some late-night inspiration.

They have the most amazing chewy texture which is speckled with more chewy dried fruit and crunchy chopped nuts.

To make these vegan and gluten-free Popcorn Granola Bars you'll need the following ingredients:

• Air popped popcorn
• Rolled oats
• Nuts
• Dried fruit
• Sticky liquid sweetener
• Nut butter
• Coconut oil
• Cinnamon
• Sea salt

I think the popcorn is the star of the show when it comes to these homemade granola bars. It adds the best flavor and texture!

I prefer to use air popped popcorn to keep them light and healthy.

If you don't have a hot air popcorn machine, don't worry! Neither do I. I'll share how I'm still able to pop my popcorn at home without one below.

As for the dried fruit, nuts and nut butter, just use your favorites or whatever you have on hand.

Additionally, these popcorn granola bars can easily be adapted to use whatever dried fruit, nuts and nut butter you have on hand and I'd love to hear what combinations you all come up with!

Best Homemade Granola Bar Mix-Ins

Granola bars are so fun to make at home, because you can always switch up the mix-ins and create delicious new flavor variations every time!

Some of our favorite granola bar mix-ins are listed below:

• Chopped roasted and salted nuts
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Craisins
• Raisins
• Other chopped dried fruit
• Chocolate chips
• Cacao chips
• Coconut flakes
• Crushed, puffed cereal

Get creative with the mix-ins you put in your granola bars. That way you'll never get bored!

How to Make Popcorn in the Microwave

My favorite way to make the air-popped popcorn for this recipe is to use a paper bag, popcorn and a microwave.

Yep. A paper bag and a microwave.

Simply put about 3-4 tablespoons of un-popped popcorn into a paper bag, close the top of the bag by folding it over 1 to 2 times.

Then microwave the bag on high. After about a minute or two the popping of the popcorn will become less frequent and you'll know the popcorn is done when you can count 3 seconds between pops.

As soon as you can get to three seconds between pops, stop the microwave. You don't want to over-microwave the popcorn or else it will burn.

And that's it! You now have easy and healthy air-popped popcorn that you can use in these vegan and gluten-free granola bars!

How to Make Gluten-Free Granola Bars

Let me talk you through how to make these deliciously chewy, gluten-free granola bars.

1. Start by lining an 8x8 pan with parchment paper and set is aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, crush the air-popped popcorn with your hands until there are no large pieces remaining. Stir in the rolled oats, chopped almonds and dried fruit.
3. In a sauce pan, combine the liquid sweetener, nut butter, coconut oil, cinnamon and salt and heat the mixture over low heat for about a minute, stirring constantly until smooth and combined.
4. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir everything well until all the dry ingredients have been coated in the sticky mixture.
5. Pour the batter into your lined baking pan and, using damp hands, press everything down until nice and compact. You can use the base of a cup to press everything down even more tightly.
6. Place the pan in the fridge to set for 1 hour. Once chilled, remove the mixture from the pan and cut it into whatever size bars you desire. I love making 9 large squares.

Gluten Free: Obviously, if you want your granola bars to be gluten-free, you need to ensure that all of the ingredients are themselves gluten-free.

How to Keep Homemade Granola Bars from Crumbling Apart

I can understand why some people like store-bought granola bars better than homemade.

One big reason is because store-bought granola bars often stick together well and don't crumble apart when you take them with you throughout the day.

But, homemade granola bars can stick together too!

You just need to learn a few tricks to keep them from crumbling apart.

Some of my tips for keeping homemade granola bars well stuck together are to:

• Use sticky ingredients to bind everything together (nut butter, dates, coconut oil, etc.)
• Press your mixture together well before chilling to make sure things stick together
• Keep your granola bars chilled until just before eating
• Add a thin layer of chocolate to help bind everything together

Mess around with one (or all!) of these methods and I'm sure you'll get the hang of it!

Storage

These bars stay best when stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

I'd say they should last about a week, maybe even up to two weeks!

I haven't tried it, but I don't think they'd freeze well due to the air-popped popcorn. I'm guessing it would get too chewy after being frozen and then thawed.

More Homemade Bar Recipes

If you like this homemade healthy popcorn bar recipe, you'll love my other healthy snack bar recipes!

📖 Recipe

Homemade Chewy Popcorn Granola Bars

Faith VanderMolen

Full of whole grains and natural sweetness, these homemade chewy Popcorn Granola Bars will quickly become your family's favorite snack!

5 from 3 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course Snacks

Cuisine American

Servings 9 bars

Calories 294 kcal

Equipment

• Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls
• Unbleached Parchment Paper

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 3 cups air popped popcorn crushed
• 1 ½ cups rolled oats
• ½ cup almonds chopped
• ½ cup craisins*
• ½ cup rice syrup or honey if not vegan
• ½ cup peanut butter**
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions 

• Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, crush the popcorn with your hands until there are no large pieces remaining. Stir in the rolled oats, chopped almonds and dried fruit.
• In a sauce pan, combine the remaining ingredients and heat the mixture over low heat for about a minute, stirring constantly until smooth and combined.
• Pour the peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir everything well until all the dry ingredients have been coated in the sticky peanut butter mixture.
• Pour the mixture into your lined baking pan and, using damp hands, press the mixture down until level and compact. You can use the base of a cup to press everything down even more tightly.
• Place the pan in the fridge to set for 1 hour. Once chilled, remove the mixture from the pan and cut it into whatever size bars you desire. I love making 9 large squares.
• Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a week or longer!

Video

Notes

*You can use whatever dried fruit you desire. Just make sure it's cut into small pieces.
**If you have a peanut allergy or want your kids to take these to school, feel free to use a different nut/seed butter!

Nutrition

Calories: 294kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 8gFat: 15gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.001gSodium: 141mgPotassium: 205mgFiber: 4gSugar: 18gVitamin A: 9IUVitamin C: 0.03mgCalcium: 53mgIron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!