Gorgeous Strawberry Oatmeal Bars with a buttery, shortbread-like crust. Made with plenty of whole grain oats, fresh ripe strawberries, and sweetened with maple syrup for a healthy twist. A delicious, nourishing treat perfect for potlucks! Easy to make, kid-friendly, gluten free and vegan-friendly.
Stunning summer produce is upon us! Don't you just want to go berry crazy at the grocery store right now?! We simply can't get enough of juicy, sweet strawberries right now.
Bars with oatmeal are kinda my jam, no pun intended (like my blueberry oatmeal snack bars, raspberry oatmeal bars and blueberry pie bars). I wanted a simpler ingredient list without sacrificing that stellar shortbread crust, and I must say I seriously delivered!
Ingredients
- Strawberries: You'll need one package of fresh, ripe strawberries that we'll cut into small pieces for the jammy strawberry layer.
- Old fashioned oats: Also knows as rolled oats, I love this whole grain that makes up the base of the crumble. I recommend these over quick oats. Don't miss all my healthy snacks made with oats! You can grind oats in the Nutribullet to make homemade oat flour or buy it at the store. I love the cookie-like flavor it adds.
- Almond flour: This adds natural sweetness and moisture to the crumble. Note that this recipe won't work if you substitute another flour like purpose flour since almond flour is so high in fat. If you do experiment with another flour, I'd recommend using 8 tbsp butter instead of 6.
- Butter: Butter adds amazing flavor and mouthfeel to the crumble layer to achieve the perfect strawberry crumble bar! I like salted for extra contrast to the sweet strawberries.
- Maple syrup: We're sweetening the bars with a bit of unrefined maple syrup versus sugar. You could also use honey, but they will have more of that honey flavor profile.
- Cornstarch: To thicken the strawberry layer and help it stay together. You could also use arrowroot powder.
- Lemon juice: For some nice acidic contrast.
- Salt: A pinch to round out the flavor.
See recipe card for full ingredient quantities.
Substitutions and dietary modifications
- Frozen strawberries: You can use frozen strawberries instead of fresh! It will be about 3 cups.
- Make it vegan: Simply use vegan butter.
- Gluten free: Be sure to use certified gluten free oats and oat flour.
How to make
Add strawberries, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cornstarch to a medium pot.
Stir, bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes.
Whisk oats, oat flour, almond flour, and salt in a mixing bowl.
Add maple syrup, butter, and vanilla, stirring until a moist dough forms. Set aside about ½ cup for topping.
Press the remaining mixture firmly into the lined pan.
Pour strawberry mixture on top.
Crumble remaining topping on top.
Bake for 35-45 minutes. Fully cool, slice and enjoy!
Storage
You can store strawberry oatmeal bars on the counter for up to 2 days and then refrigerate for 3 more days. I actually prefer them right out of the fridge.
These freeze well, too!
I hope you're as obsessed with this fun recipe as I am!
I'd be super grateful if you'd take a moment to leave a quick star rating and review below. Comments mean the world to me and your honest feedback helps me to continue to share recipes you'll crave!
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Healthy Strawberry Oatmeal Bars
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Gorgeous Strawberry Oatmeal Bars with a shortbread-like crust. Made with whole grain oats, fresh ripe strawberries, and sweetened with maple syrup for a healthy twist. A delicious, nourishing treat perfect for potlucks! Easy to make, kid-friendly, gluten free and vegan-friendly.
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 1 lb fresh strawberries, diced small
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp cornstarch
For the bars:
- 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup oat flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 6 tbsp butter, melted (I like salted)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8x8 inch baking dish with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- Place a medium pot over medium heat. Add strawberries, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cornstarch, mixing to combine. Once mixture is gently bubbling, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk oats, oat flour, almond flour, and salt. Add maple syrup, melted butter, and vanilla, stirring until a moist dough forms. Set aside about ½ cup of the mixture for the topping.
- Press the remaining mixture firmly into the lined pan. Pour strawberry mixture on top, smooth with a spatula, then crumble remaining topping over strawberries.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the topping is golden and smelling delicious. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting. (I like to put them in the fridge once they've cooled down a bit to speed up the process.) Delish with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!
Notes
VEGAN: Sub vegan butter.
Carly says
I was so excited by this recipe until I saw the almond flour- nut allergy here 🙁 maybe I’ll try the extra butter version and see how
it goes!!
Alexis Joseph, MS, RD says
Ya I'd try 8 tbsp butter and swapping more oat flour?
Alexis Joseph, MS, RD says
Hey Amy! Shoot--did you use almond flour? Did you change anything about the recipe?
Amy McBride says
I followed the recipe exactly under the “x2” option. I realized after I cooked it that the “x2” option doesn’t increase the vanilla or syrup. Next time I’ll just double everything myself and not rely on the recipes calculator. The taste was great though! Hopefully it’s not as dry next time around.
Alexis Joseph, MS, RD says
I'm so sorry for this error, Amy--I just confirmed myself that the calculator was indeed glitchy. I just rewrote the recipe and it's now functioning correctly. I appreciate you letting me know!
Kris says
How much maple syrup goes in the dough? It just says “1/3”. Thanks
Alexis Joseph says
1/3 cup, thanks for catching!
Maddie says
We loved this! I doubled it and baked it in a 9x13 - it worked perfectly.
Alexis Joseph says
I'm so glad that worked! And I'm thrilled you enjoyed them, Maddie 🙂
Grace says
We loved this recipe! Such an amazing one for the summer! We topped it with vanilla yogurt but would be amazing with ice cream, too! We will be making this one on repeat! Thanks for an amazing recipe!
Alexis Joseph says
How fun, yum to vanilla yogurt! Thanks, Grace!
Andrea says
I just made these bars and they are so delicious! I'm afraid, however, that I might eat the whole batch myself. They are so yummy! A bit of work to chop up the strawberries in a nice small dice, but well worth the effort. The base is chewy and shortbread like and holds up well to the strawberry filling. These are my new favourite treat. Highly recommend you try them!
Alexis Joseph says
Thank you so much Andrea, your comment made my day! Enjoy!
Dylan says
These are so good and perfect for an afternoon treat! I love how buttery and chewy the crust is 🙂