Healthy Nut Bar Recipe
You'll go wild over this healthy nut bar recipe. It's my new favorite no GMO snack/treat, and very easy to make. (Thank you Anthony from the comments for reminding me to put the “no sweets are healthy” disclaimer on this, but it's a *little* better than some other treats.) The only downside is that all the nuts can get expensive if you make it a lot. Be sure to check out the information below about the various sweeteners if you haven't seen it already, including why the natural sweeteners in this recipe are a better choice compared to refined sugars.
Healthy Nut Bar Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups ground or finely chopped crispy almonds I had some bigger pieces in there and it was fine – crispy nuts are something I always keep on hand in the freezer. When I get low, I soak more that night. They’re great to toss into recipes or give the kids for a quick snack. Soaking and drying them is easy and increases the nutrients in the nuts significantly.
- 3 cups chopped crispy pecans You can actually use any type of crispy nuts you like, they all taste good in this recipe.
- 1 cup dried fruit raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, etc.
- 1/2 cup organic no GMO chocolate chips – the mini size if you can find them
- 3/4 cup real maple syrup
- 2 Tablespoons organic molasses more on this and the other natural sweetenersbelow
- 2 Tablespoons raw local honey or if you don't have a local source find raw honey here
Instructions
- Bake at 275* for 40 minutes. (A little longer if you want it crunchier, just don't let it burn.) Let cool so they can crisp up, then cut into serving size pieces and store in the freezer if you’re making a lot to keep on hand. The amounts here are actually a double batch, but it fit perfectly on my cookie sheet. Next time I’ll make two cookie sheets of it so I can freeze some for school lunches. (NOTE: I just made these again before posting and this time I didn't chop my pecans as small so it made a thicker batch on one cookie sheet. They came out more chewy and less crunchy, so if that's the case with your batch, you may want to spread it out over a couple cookie sheets.)
Good luck staying out of these!
More:
- Read all about sweeteners in order from best to worst
- More snack ideas
- More dessert ideas
- My entire recipe index
Carly Pugliese says
Question about crispy nuts, my last batch of almonds didn’t come out crispy. Did I not dry them enough? I dried at 135° (I think, the dehydrator recommendation) for 24 hours but they were still a little soft and kind of bitter
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
@Carly Pugliese — Yes I’d just try drying them longer and add a little sea salt.
Raymur Rachels says
I also make crispy nuts but I’m wondering since the nuts are then cooked at 275, has it defeated the purpose of dehydrating them in the first place?
KitchenKop says
Hi Raymur,
Good point, maybe cooking them longer at a lower temp might be worth a try.
Kelly
Sue E. says
Linda,
Can you give us that recipe??
Sue E.
Linda Ikeda says
Kelly,
Please correct me if I misinterpreted you.
Carbs are not given the right credit. We still need good carbs for energy.
Would you allow me to introduce you to my “alternative” healthier
sweeter bars that is better for snacks and breakfast as well?
I am allergic to wheat. My doctor recommended me to stay away from
wheat. So, I develop this wheat free bars that are truly hand made and
use oats and organic black strap molasses, small amount of agave and raw cane sugar. I have been thinking of using Inulin
thank you for your time, Linda Ikeda
Kelly says
Erin, no I think it’s more the straight sugar + carbs + fats that are the problem. (Mostly the sugar/carbs!)
Fats do help with digestion and help slow the insulin response to our foods, so we shouldn’t cut back on healthy fats, but basically, we all need to cut back a LOT on our sweets/carbs, unfortunately…
Anyone want to explain it better? Feel free to help me out! 🙂
Erin says
Hmmmm….the comments concerning fats and carbs are rather confusing to me. In NT, doesn’t Sally Fallon recommend pairing fat with carbs? For example: oatmeal and cream; sourdough bread and butter; icecream; or soaked pancakes with butter and maple syrup? So are you saying that carbs and fats should not be paired? Or maybe sugar and fats? Thanks for your help.
Kelly says
Lee, try making your own! Use soaked almonds and pumpkin seeds, though, but I’ll bet they would be good!
More info on soaked nuts and seeds and why they’re better for you:
https://kellythekitchenkop.com/category/crispy-nuts
Lee Wilson says
I’ve been eating pumpkin seeds lately because they’re supposed to have a lot of zinc among other things. Almonds of course are high on the list of healthy foods. I wish there was an almond pumpkin granola bar!
Brenda says
These look really good and I might even leave out the chocolate chips!
Brenda
Life with Kaishon says
These do sound like something I would go nuts about : ). YUMMY to the max : ).
Life with Kaishon
Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam says
I just love that you keep giving us great healthy choices. Thanks so much for linking up. 🙂
Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
Kelly says
Hi Rachel,
Good Cal/Bad Cal has been on my list for a while, and just the title, “Life Without Bread” sounds like one I should read for sure – thanks for your great advice. 🙂
Chef Rachel says
Yes, these treats are a step up from energy bars and candies made from high fructose corn syrup and as Anthony & Food Renegade pointed out, the combination of fat with sugar (even if it’s from honey, maple syrup, agave, or molasses) causes an insulin spike and stops fat burning.
I would recommend against anyone using these bars as a breakfast bar or for daily use. A better breakfast on the go would be some kind of meat with good fat plus veggies or veggies and fruit to stabilize blood sugar, energy, and promote hormonal balance.
To understand more about the effects of insulin, you could check out these books: Life Without Bread and also Good Calories, Bad Calories.
Chef Rachel
Kelly says
Hi Dr. John,
Here’s more info on nuts:
https://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2008/07/soaking-nuts.html
FoodRenegade says
Anthony’s assertion is spot on. When you eat sweets, your pancreas responds by pumping out insulin. This tells your liver to STOP converting stored fat to energy and to SWITCH to using the latest influx of glycogen (what your liver converts sugars into) for fuel. Any fat that you eat with the sugars you ingest will lessen the insulin spike, which is arguably a good thing. That said, the increased presence of insulin and the resulting switch from burning fats to burning carbs makes it so that any fat you eat gets stored as fat. So not only are you NOT burning your stored fat, you’re also ADDING more fat to your fat stores.
FoodRenegade
John La Puma, M.D. says
The recipes look great.
What is the evidence for soaking/drying “…increases the nutrients in the nuts significantly”?
Thx
John La Puma, MD
http://www.drjohnlapuma.com
Kristen says
oh so yummy. I needed a recipe to kick me in the butt. I know I should make more of this kind of stuff instead of buying the expensive “good/organic” ones. My kids always need something for after school that is not rubbish.
Kristen
CHEESESLAVE says
Yum! Looks very tasty! The only thing I would want to add to this is some coconut oil.
I agree about natural sweeteners vs. xylitol and these other modern new-fangled sweeteners. People have been eating honey for 10,000 years.
I think the key is moderation. If you cut out all HFCS and refined sugar out of your diet, it’s OK to eat a sweet treat made with honey or maple syrup or an unrefined sugar now and again.
That said, I might also reduce the amount of maple syrup in this recipe. I have found that my taste buds have changed and I now prefer things less sweet. Too much sweetness overpowers the food and all you can taste is sugar.
CHEESESLAVE
Kelly says
Hi Anthony,
Actually we don’t disagree all that much. I normally make it clear in my “sweets” recipes that natural sugars are only a *little* better for us (because they still have some nutrients intact) than refined sugar, I just failed to say that again in this post and really shouldn’t have called these “healthy” due to the sugar! Thanks for the correction. 🙂 I’ll go back and make some adjustments to this post. (I forget that new readers are popping on all the time and may not have seen my previous disclaimers.)
Regarding this comment: “cookies made with sprouted flour, raw sugar, AND butter make for a lethal combination. The carbs in the grains and sugar shoot out the insulin, and the fat is shuttled into our cells since insulin is the
Anthony says
Maple syrup and honey aren’t significantly healthier than white sugar. There’s no hard evidence to conclude that your body doesn’t panic and shoot out just as much insulin as it does with white sugar, and it all comes down to insulin (google “Syndrome X”). As much as I like to believe that “natural” is healthier, there’s nothing natural about that many carbohydrates at once in the form of boiled down tree sap. Try non GMO xylitol or erythritol (erythritol is easier to digest) for truly “healthy” sweeteners. Sugar in all forms suppresses the immune system. Eating a lot of fat is very healthy IF you don’t combine it with carbohydrates. That means, for example, cookies made with sprouted flour, raw sugar, AND butter make for a lethal combination. The carbs in the grains and sugar shoot out the insulin, and the fat is shuttled into our cells since insulin is the “fat storage hormone.” I love your blog, but this hype about “natural” sweeteners is something we’ll have to agree to disagree on. 🙂
Jen says
These look yummy! I’ve been searching for a good “breakfast bar” type recipe to send with my hubby to work for his breakfast. These will go nicely with pastured, hard boiled eggs and fresh fruit. Thanks!