Homemade Healthy Vegan Granola Bars with Mango and Pistachio
These homemade granola bars are everything I want in a snack: healthy, crunchy, just sweet enough, and full of texture. The combination of roasted oats, cashews, and pistachios gives them that perfect bite, while the dried mango adds a little sour and fruity touch. Spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and bound together with a natural syrup blend, they outperform the store-bought bars by far!
Ingredients (Serves 3-4)
Dry Ingredients:
225 g rolled oats
90 g cashews, roughly chopped
120 g pistachios
35 g sunflower seeds
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
100 g dried mango, diced
50 g quinoa pops
Wet Ingredients:
160 g rice syrup
110 g date syrup
28 g coconut oil
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Toast the oats
Preheat your oven to 180°C. Spread the oats out on a baking tray and toast them for about 20 minutes, or until golden.
Step 2: Toast the nuts & seeds
On a separate tray, toast the cashews, pistachios, and sunflower seeds for about 12–15 minutes. They should smell nutty but not be too dark. Once everything is toasted, reduce the oven to 160°C.
Step 3: Make the syrup
In a small saucepan, combine the rice syrup, date syrup, and coconut oil. Warm over low to medium heat until it begins to bubble. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla paste.
Step 4: Mix it all together
In a large bowl, combine the toasted oats, nuts, and seeds with the dried mango, quinoa pops, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour the warm syrup over and stir well until everything is evenly coated.
Step 5: Shape & bake
Line a baking tin (approx. 30 x 30 cm) with parchment paper. Press the mixture in firmly - It should be no more than 2 cm thick. Use the back of a spoon or another piece of parchment to press it down evenly.
Bake at 160°C for 20–25 minutes until just golden around the edges.
Step 6: Cool & cut
Let the it cool completely in the tin before cutting into bars. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Use parchment between layers to keep them from sticking.
