Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars — A FAST and EASY dessert that is on the HEALTHIER side with only 1/4 cup butter and no oil!! Bold banana flavor, chewiness from the oats, and plenty of chocolate in every bite!!
Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
I’ve never met a banana bread, banana cake, banana cookie, or banana muffin that I didn’t love. So I knew these banana chocolate chip bars would be a winner before I even tasted them.
These oatmeal cookie bars have the flavor of banana bread, the dense and chewy texture of oatmeal cookies, and the melty chocolate factor of chocolate chip cookies. I took a tried and true recipe for Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies that has been a reader favorite over the years and adapted it into bars.
Truth be told, it is so much faster and easier to make bars compared to cookies. Rather than making dough that needs to be chilled and then making individual cookies one by one, this dough needs no chilling and you just slap it all in a pan. No fuss baking is the only kind of baking I do.
I consider the bars to be on the healthier side, but you would never know it because they taste so good. There is only 1/4 cup of butter used and lots of whole-grain oats.
You’re going to love the bold banana flavor, the chewy oats that add so much texture, and plenty of chocolate that melts in your mouth in every bite.
What’s in Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars?
To make these banana chocolate chip bars, you’ll need:
- Egg
- Ripe bananas
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Unsalted butter
- Vanilla extract
- Old-fashioned oats
- All-purpose flour
- Cinnamon
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to Make Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
In a large bowl, cream together the egg, bananas, sugars, butter, and vanilla, then beat until well combined. The mixture won’t be smooth, fluffy, or ‘creamed’ like traditional cookie dough and will have small chunks of bananas present and it’s on the runnier side. Add in the dry ingredients, then fold in the chocolate chips.
Turn the batter into a greased 9×9-inch pan and sprinkle the top with more chocolate chips. Bake until the bars are set. Allow bars to cool in the pan for 30 minutes before slicing and serving
Can I Use Instant Oats Instead of Old-Fashioned?
Make sure you use old-fashioned whole rolled oats and not quick cook or instant. The latter two more flour-like and would overly dry the dough and render the bars dry and crumbly.
Can I Add Other Mix-Ins?
Yes, you can add up to 1 cup of mix-ins. Chopped nuts, different flavors of chocolate chips, or even butterscotch chips would taste delicious in this recipe.
Tips for Making Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
If you’d like your bars to have a stronger cinnamon flavor, feel free to add more in. I like my bars super cinnamon-y, so I added a full teaspoon to the batter.
Also, if you don’t have an electric mixer you can certainly make this recipe with just a bowl, spoon, and elbow grease. It’ll be a bit tricky to cream together the banana and butter mixture, but it’s doable.
Lastly, note that because bananas have differing levels of moisture and no two are exactly alike, baking times could range. Don’t get too hung up on what the clock says and bake until your cookies are done.
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Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 2 small/medium or 1 extra-large ripe bananas, about 1/2 heaping cup mashed banana
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened (1/2 of 1 stick)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups old-fashioned whole rolled oats, not instant or quick-cook because they act more like flour and aren’t suitable here
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ to 1 teaspoon cinnamon, added to taste
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, line an 9×9-inch pan with foil for easier cleanup, and spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the egg, bananas (I leave them whole and don’t pre-mash them before adding to bowl), sugars, butter, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well combined, about 4 minutes. The mixture won’t be smooth, fluffy, or ‘creamed’ like traditional cookie dough and will have small chunks of bananas present and it’s on the runnier side.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add 1 cup chocolate chips, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
- Turn the dough out into prepared pan and using a spatula, spread it into a smooth, flat layer.
- Evenly sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, or until just set. Bars firm up as they cool. Baking times may vary due to the moisture content variances in bananas, climate and oven variances; etc.
- Allow bars to cool in the pan for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Recipe adapted from my Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I made these last night. They were delicious and so chocolatey and had substance. Sad for my diet, but I ate 3 bars!! My guests liked them also.
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad you and your guests loved these!
I have to tell you that I accidentally omitted the butter when making these last night. I only realized this after they came out of the oven. I was afraid that I had just spent the time for naught, BUT these turned out to be moist and delicious w/o the butter!!!!! Great recipe and a nice change of pace from banana chocolate chip bread! THANKS!
Thanks for the five star review and glad they worked out great even without the butter!
Our family loved these! Will be making these frequently :-). My 11 year old had her friends over and they ate half of the batch!
Thanks for letting me know they were a big hit with the kids!
My new hubby has a really bad sweet tooth. Sadly only toaster oven or air fryer to cook in. Takes too long to make like 6 chocolate chip cookies at a time. Too hot for that. Saw this while browsing. Made them today. They are really good. Thank you. Hubby likes them a lot. T
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this was a success!
I made these last night, and true to all of your recipes, they are delicious! I had a few bananas laying around and saw this one come through and knew I had to try it. I added an extra banana, and I ran out of chocolate chips for the top, so I used chocolate chunks I had laying around – they’re delicious! Another favorite!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved the cookies!
Can you make this if you don’t have a mixer? I have a food processor and two hands.
Use elbow grease then but not your food processor; that’s not the right tool for this job.
How in the world do you expect us to wait 30 minutes for these to cool! Gah!
Haha! Enjoy!
hey girl- these bars look so yummy!
How many servings from the recipe? Thanks
It makes a 9×9 pan…so anywhere from 9 to 18 servings I would say depending on how you cut them.
These looks so good! Do you think I could use a ‘Sugar in the Raw’ rather than regular granulated sugar? Been trying to eat healthier in the sugar department, and I never use sugar substitutes. Also wondering if I could use a different kind of flour. I don’t think I have a gluten issue but am not sure, and there are so many out there now! Coconut flour might change the taste, not sure. I have never tried any of the alternate flours.
I’ve only made the recipe as written so can’t really say how altering ingredients will effect the results.
The combination of chocolate, oats, and bananas is sure to be delicious! AND I have ripe bananas on hand right now…perfect for weekend baking!
Perfect little baking recipe for the weekend!
Is there a way to cut down on the sugars??
I’ve only made the recipe as written so can’t really say how altering the sugars will effect the results.
Love that this is the trifecta combo of banana bread, oatmeal cookies and chocolate chip cookies! Can’t wait to try it!
Enjoy it!
Oh man, these look sooo good! Can imagine they’d go down a treat with a cup of morning tea or coffee. Yum!
Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea!
Looking forward to trying this one. So often, banana cookies/bars are cakey but this looks more dense, like your other cookie bars, which is my texture preference. :) Time to buy bananas!
These are on the denser side but if you want truly dense bars, I would go with https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/08/fudgy-banana-bars-with-vanilla-bean-browned-butter-glaze.html or possibly these https://www.averiecooks.com/banana-bread-bars-with-vanilla-bean-browned-butter-glaze/ but the first link is the densest of all.
Anything with chocolate chips gets my attention and the texture looks wonderful. You always come up with great bar recipes!
Thank you and have a wonderful weekend!