Don’t get me wrong, I love peanut butter and chocolate in my homemade granola bars but I wanted a change.
Something bright and fresh which is when the idea for tropical granola bars hit me.
The granola bars take 5 minutes to make, 20 minutes to set up, and in under a half hour your snack is ready. No baking necessary and they’re made in the microwave.
Compared to store bought, the bars are far more cost effective and as a bonus you can pronounce all the ingredients.
For the tropical twist I added dried tropical fruit. I found a mix at Trader Joe’s called Tropical Trek that contains candied pineapple, mandarins, mangoes, and coconut.
You can usually find candied pineapple and mango in bulk bins or in the dried fruit aisle of most grocery stores. Use what you can find. Dried apricots would be an easy substitute.
I definitely don’t miss peanut butter or chocolate bars after this refreshing snack.
They’re soft, perfectly chewy, have great texture from the oats and Rice Krispies, and they remind me of Quaker chewy granola bars.
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
No-Bake Tropical Granola Bars
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 cup quick-cook oats, do not use old-fashioned whole-rolled oats; too large and bars will not hold together
- 1 cup Rice Krispies cereal, or similar generic
- 1 cup tropical dried fruit medley, diced into small pieces (mine contained pineapple, mandarins, mangoes, and coconut)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Line an 8×8-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- To a large microwave-safe bowl, add the butter, brown sugar, honey, and heat on high power for 60 to 90 seconds, or until butter has melted and ingredients can be whisked smooth.
- Return bowl to microwave and heat on high power for 1 minute. Stop and whisk.
- Return bowl to microwave and heat on high power for 1 minute. Mixture should be bubbling. If you’ve ever made caramel sauce, it looks like the beginning stages of caramel. You want the mixture to be bubbling to ensure that the bars hold together upon cooling. If yours isn’t bubbling, return bowl to microwave and heat for another 30 to 60 seconds, or until bubbling.
- Add the oats, Rice Krispies, dried fruit, salt, and stir to combine.
- Turn mixture out into prepared pan, hard-packing it with a spatula so form an even, smooth, flat layer. Make sure to really press it down firmly and compactly.
- Freeze for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until bars have set, and slice into bars. I wrap each bar in plasticwrap and store them in a gallon-sized ziptop bag in the fridge for up to 10 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. I have not tried storing the bars at room temp for longer than a few hours.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Related Recipes
No-Bake Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars – (vegan, GF) – Make healthy bars that taste like candy bars in 10 minutes!
No-Bake Samoas Cookie Granola Bars (vegan, GF) – Granola bars that taste like Girl Scout Cookies!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (No-Bake, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free) – Like Quaker Chewy Bars, but so much better because they’re homemade. Fast, easy, inexpensive and my favorite homemade granola bars
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Granola Bars (no-bake, vegan, GF) – Granola bars that taste like peanut butter cookies with hearty oats!
Sunflower Seed Butter Granola Bars with Chocolate Drizzle (no-bake, vegan, GF) – Soft, chewy, easy, and great for anyone with peanut allergies or peanut-free schools!
Snickerdoodle Cookie Granola Bars (no-bake, vegan, GF) – Granola bars that taste like snickerdoodle cookies!
Big Clusters Maple Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Granola (vegan, GF) – Easy homemade granola for a fraction of the cost of storebought! Learn the secrets to creating those highly coveted big clusters!
Pumpkin Spice Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Granola (vegan, GF) – Crunchy, easy, and packed with rich spices!
I make granola bars all the time and never think to add tropical ingredients. Love it!! They look delicious!
I love a new twist on a granola bar!
hey girl this looks yummy!
How about adding roasted coconut chips? Wouldn’t they match perfectly to other tropical ingredients?
These look delicious.
These look amazing! I can’t wait to try them.
How did you know my oven was on the fritz? Made these today (no Trader Joe’s by me, I did a dried mango/coconut mix), definitely a hit. A little crumbly–I was still chopping the mangos when it was time to add everything together. I think you have a brief window of opportunity during the mixing stage to get them to adhere the best? But the y tasted good and every crumb was eaten.
Thanks for trying the recipe the very day I posted it! Glad it tasted great! As far as the slight crumbliness, I think that yes there is a window of opportunity where things are more ideal sooner rather than later. And also all dry ingredients vary in just how ‘dry’ they are with the oats and the Krispies. You could always just scale back slightly on those and then add in more as things are coming together and you’re stirring to get the ‘perfect’ consistency.
These are some of the most delicious looking granola bars I’ve seen in a looooong time!!
You’re so kind! Thanks, Todd!
Hey Averie! Thanks for this awesome recipe, the bars look great! I’m just wondering what would happen if you bake them instead of freezing them? Do you think they’ll hold together as nicely?
They’re really not designed to be baked. Just make as the recipe is written for best results.
I swear, once you make your own homemade granola bars you realize there’s no point in buying them anymore! They’re easy to make, so much healthier and taste AMAZING!!!
I love your tropical twist on the traditional! We love dried mango & coconut over here!
I know, there’s no point in buying them because storebought taste so lackluster after trying homemade!
They look great. Homemade granola bars are awesome, thanks for sharing
Can I use equal amount of brown sugar instead of honey? I am vegetarian but not vegan. I have tried many recipes for granola bars but haven’t been successful at all.
Thank You
Charu
I don’t think so because the honey is needed as a ‘glue’ in a way that brown sugar won’t work. I consider honey a vegetarian food but to each their own. You could try agave to see if that works.
Can you use molasses, that’s tropical ;-)
I haven’t tried it that way and fear it would be a bit too bitter and intense in this recipe if trying to sub it for the honey.
I could quickly become obsessed with these bars! Mandarins and pineapple – heck, yes! Pinned!
Thanks, Anna!
Jordan eats granola bars like air, so I don’t know why I’ve never made them. I’ll have to try these!
They were a nice changeup from chocolate/peanut butter (not that that ever gets that old!) but I have a stack of these in the fridge, individually wrapped, and throw them into the lunchbox every day!
these look SO easy Averie, love it! but how long do they last for? I’m assuming a week – 10 days? Let me know! x
Step 7. I mentioned that :)
I love the idea of a tropical fruit mix in granola bars–especially for spring and summer. I am especially intrigued by the fruit mix you used because I’ve never had dried mandarin oranges and I bet they are good. I have made a similar version with dried cranberries, chopped nuts and ground flax…time to switch it up!
They’re so good! They’re ‘candied’ so they taste like candied pineapple (at least in the bag from TJs that I bought), nice and sweet :) although I’m sure just plain dried mandarins exist. These were a nice changeup from chocolate/peanut butter!
I love that mix at Trader Joe’s! TJs is the source of all superior snacks. I can get lost in their aisles forever.
These are so great, too. The microwave? Who knew?
I had never bought that mix before but I knew it would be perfect in these bars. And yes their snack aisle is amazing…even after going there 10 years, I still see things (like this dried fruit) I’ve never seen before and they are always updating their products, too.