Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars — So much better than a bowl of plain oatmeal!! Easy, portable baked oatmeal bars perfect for snacks or breakfast on-the-go!!
Easy Baked Oatmeal Bars
This is my idea of oatmeal. Smothered with chocolate chips and a hearty dose of peanut butter stirred in. It’s like eating oatmeal in portable form, except better.
Because the oatmeal my mom used to make for me didn’t include chocolate chips or peanut butter. Even though there are extra goodies that you may not normally use with your morning oatmeal, the bars still taste more like breakfast than dessert.
If you’re looking for desserts with oats, chocolate, and peanut butter, check out the related recipes linked below the recipe card.
The peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal bars are soft, chewy, and filling. They’re definitely on the denser side and if you’re looking for a hearty, comfort food breakfast, you’ve found it.
What’s in Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars?
To make the peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chips bars, you’ll need:
- Milk
- Old-fashioned oats
- Egg
- Light brown sugar
- Creamy peanut butter
- Cinnamon
- Raisins (optional)
- Vanilla extract
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to Make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars
To make the chocolate peanut butter oatmeal bars, add the milk, oats, egg, brown sugar, peanut butter, and cinnamon to a saucepan. Cook uncovered over medium-high heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture has thickened considerably.
Once the mixture has thickened, remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and raisins. Turn the mixture into an 8×8-inch pan and sprinkle with chocolate chips.
Bake the oatmeal bars at 350F for about 25 minutes, or until the center is set.
Can I Use Instant Oats?
No, you must use old-fashioned oats (aka rolled oats) in this recipe. Quick-cook or instant oats behave more like flour and the recipe will not work properly with them.
Can I Add Extra Mix-Ins?
Of course! You’re welcome to substitute the raisins with chopped nuts, another dried fruit, or another favorite oatmeal topping.
Tips for Making Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
While the oatmeal mixture cooks, make sure to stir it regularly so it doesn’t form a skin on top.
I added raisins because I love them with oatmeal but if you’re not a fan, simply omit or try dried cranberries instead.
I think the bars taste best when warm and I nuke the leftovers for a few seconds before enjoying. But my daughter likes them at any temp and happily goes to town on them in the car on the way to school in the morning or as an after-school snack.
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Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups milk, soy, almond, cow, etc.
- 1 ½ cups old-fashioned whole-rolled oats, not quick-cook or instant
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- heaping 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ cup raisins, omit if you don’t like them
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8×8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- To a large saucepan, add the milk, oats (not quick-cook or instant because they behave more like flour and recipe will not work properly), egg, brown sugar, peanut butter, cinnamon, and cook uncovered over medium-high heat, whisking frequently, for about 15 minutes, or until mixture has thickened considerably. If you’re in doubt if it’s thick enough, it’s better to err on the too-thick-side than not-thick-enough. Once mixture starts to boil, allow it to really bubble, making sure to whisk it so it doesn’t form a skin.
- After about 15 minutes, remove saucepan from the heat, and add the raisins (or another dried fruit, or omit), vanilla, and whisk to combine. Use caution when adding the vanilla because it could cause the mixture to bubble up a bit.
- Turn mixture out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Evenly sprinkle with the chocolate chips, lightly tapping them down with a spatula if necessary.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, or until center is set. Baking times could range greatly based on how thick your mixture was on the stovetop, what kind of milk you’re using, oven and climate variances, etc. Bake until your bars are done to your liking, noting that they are very soft bars, shouldn’t be over-baked, and the top will be shiny even when set and done.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Oatmeal Breakfast Recipes:
Oatmeal-To-Go Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins — Like having a bowl of warm pumpkin oatmeal in portable muffin form!! Fast and easy!
No-Bake Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars – Make healthy bars that taste like candy bars in 10 minutes!
Loaded Oatmeal Breakfast Bowl — There’s texture and flavor galore including bananas drizzled with melted peanut butter and a touch of cinnamon, fresh and juicy pomegranate arils, and a diced Quaker Chewy Granola Bar with chocolate and strawberries.
Healthy Oatmeal Muffins — These healthy oatmeal muffins won’t jeopardize your New Year’s resolutions and are skinny jeans-friendly. No oil, no dairy, and just 1/4 cup of brown sugar!
Copycat Whole Foods Peanut Butter & Jelly Granola — The granola is very chewy, a little bit gooey, slightly crunchy, and highly addictive. It’s a one-bowl, no mixer, easy recipe.
Trail Mix Muffins — They’re some of easiest and least fussy muffins to make. No mixer, one bowl, and so fast.
No-Bake Tropical Granola Bars — For the tropical twist I added dried tropical fruit. They’re soft, perfectly chewy, have great texture and remind me of Quaker Chewy Granola Bars.
great
How did this get such great reviews? I would give this zero stars if that was an option. It only calls for one cup of flour and it was a runny nonconforming mess. I let it sit for a couple hours after cutting into it and it was very oily. My teenage children said to never make less again and a for once I agree with them.
I made this recipe back when I didn’t yet have an oven, used quick oats instead of whole-rolled and replaced some of the sugar with flour, and it still turned out perfectly! Time to revisit this recipe now that I have an oven!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this worked well for you even without an oven!
I made this recipe back when I didn’t yet have an oven, used quick oats instead of whole-rolled and replaced some of the sugar with flour, and it still turned out perfectly! Time to revisit this recipe now that I have an oven!
I love oatmeal so I knew that this recipe would be for me. I was right! Made it yesterday and it was great – warm and cold. My kids also liked it (even though the older one doesn’t eat ‘normal’ oatmeal at all).
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And that your kids enjoyed it too!
Making these right now ! May be a dumb question …?…. My baking common sense is about a level 0. Can you freeze these ?????
I haven’t frozen them but you’d probably be okay doing that.
ohhh yes this is def. the best way to use oatmeal!!!
Those bars look and sound so good!
Thanks Kevin! Enjoy your holiday weekend!
Oh yeah. These are my kind of oatmeal too. I’ll only eat oatmeal if it’s smothered with something else, especially if it’s chocolate.
My husband has been trying to get me to eat oatmeal foreverrr but I just can’t do it. But these bars I could definitely eat ANYTIME! We can call them my oatmeal compromise. AND they have chocolate and peanut butter! Pinned!
Hi Averie – I love your site. Your photos are gorgeous. I would love to make these with gluten free oatmeal and almond butter, instead of peanut butter. I think that would work. That way my son can enjoy them too. How nice to have breakfast/snacks planned for the week!
Thanks for the compliments! GF oats are fine…almond butter is thinner than PB so you may have to fiddle around with the consistency of the batter but I think you can make it work!
This is my idea of oatmeal too, perfection, I can’t ever get sick of PB & Chocolate. Pinned!
Thanks for pinning!
Because they taste more like breakfast than dessert, i think i’ll have two for breakfast please :) You’re daughter is so lucky to have you, for many reasons besides your baking, but still i mean, she gets to eat delicious bars like these! I say you cant go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter. And oatmeal really works as a base for those two delicious things. Loving these oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip bars. Nom nom nom xo
Thanks for the sweet comments about my daughter being lucky to have me…I feel lucky to have her :)
You totally read my stomach’s mind :D This sounds amazing, and I’ll definitely be whipping up a batch of this tonight. I have a huge bag of dried cherries that are delicious and I think I’ll try adding them to this! I never ate sweet oatmeal when I was younger. It was always with salt and I thought everyone else was crazy for adding sugar. Now I like it both ways, and oatmeal bars are one of my favorite breakfasts!
I’ve never had salty oatmeal! Bet that was a shocker when you went from salty to sweet oatmeal!
These were great!!!!
Thanks for trying the recipe the day I posted it and I’m glad it came out great for you!
What a fun breakfast treat!