Blueberry-Oat Bars
Sometimes I really miss living in the country. When I was growing up, acquiring fresh blueberries was just a matter of walking outside and picking them from one of the bushes in our yard. Getting my blueberry fix these days takes a little more effort. For the past few summers, E and I have visited a local U-pick blueberry farm where we'd spend an hour or so in the sun and come home with a couple of gallons of blueberries, some to be eaten immediately and most to be frozen for later.Well, this year "our" U-pick farm has gone out of business, and we haven't succeeded in finding another. So we've had to make do with the next best thing: organically grown blueberries from the local natural foods store. When I saw them there a few days ago, I just had to pick up a pint; even though the cost was several times what I'd pay to pick my own, blueberries are such a part of summer to me that I couldn't pass them up.
Besides, I really needed them to make these bars, which I'd been craving for a few weeks. You won't believe how healthy they are: no refined flour, no white sugar, no added fat, no soy, and no gluten*. They're not super-sweet, but they're full of fresh fruity taste.

Blueberry-Oat Bars
(printer-friendly version)
If you prefer a sweeter bar, add more agave nectar, sugar, stevia, or your favorite sweetener to the blueberries as they are cooking. Or add a sugar glaze on top by mixing a little vegan powdered sugar with water until it's the right consistency for drizzling.
1 pint blueberries
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup apple juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with enough water or juice to form a smooth paste
3 cups oatmeal* (regular, not instant)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 ounces unsweetened applesauce
6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) agave nectar
6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 375F. Oil an 8x8-inch baking dish.
In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, agave nectar, and juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, stir in the vanilla and the cornstarch mixture. Continue to stir as the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.
Put 1 1/2 cups of the oatmeal into a blender and grind it to a fine powder. Pour it into a medium-sized mixing bowl and add the remaining oatmeal, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Stir in the apple sauce, agave nectar, water, and vanilla, and mix well.
Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing well to cover the bottom of the pan. Spoon the blueberry filling over the batter, and cover the blueberries with the remaining batter.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.
*Use gluten-free oats to make these gluten-free.
Makes 16 bars. Each contains 117 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (7% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 26g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 81mg Sodium; 2g Fiber. Weight Watchers 2 Flex Points.

Labels: gluten-free










85 Comments:
These look delicious! I'm going to try them tomorrow!
Oh wow--these look SO good, Susan! I am always shocked by the price of blueberries--even the conventional ones are pricey! I will have to "splurge" on some soon, though, in order to make these bars. They look too good to pass up!
Courtney
Gluten-free oats? I never heard of such a thing. I thought oats were oats. Can you explain? Thanks. :o)
if i were to make these with sugar or splenda instead of agave nectar what measurements should i use?
Ahh these look too good! Even though I have made enough baked goods to last a month I must try these out soon!
These look so yummy!!! Do you think frozen blueberries will work in the recipe? I also have some frozen blackberries that I picked and froze earlier this summer. Wonder how these would work? :)
Melissa C., as I understand it, oats are naturally gluten-free. But when they are grown and processed, they are often contaminated with gluten from other grains. Some companies guarantee that their oats are grown and processed to be gluten-free. Unfortunately, some people with celiac disease are still sensitive to oats and can't eat even the gluten-free ones.
Anonymous, the agave in the blueberries could be replaced 1-to-1 with sugar (and probably splenda, but I've never used it so I can't say for sure). In the crust, you may have to add more water if you substitute a dry sweetener for the agave. Just add enough extra to make a medium-thick batter.
Anonymous #2--I think both kinds of frozen berries would work great here.
Hi Susan,
these look great! Do you think they would freeze well? I think I might try using raspberries as well...
Thanks again!
Ain't that a lovely photo (the last one)... Color splash done right.
These look incredible! I've never used agave nectar, but I (a non-vegan) always have honey around. Do you know if honey can replace agave nectar 1:1?
Great recipe! Saving it right now.
mmm...this sent me to the freezer for a handful of frozen blueberries (which for some reason were salty...haven't figured that one out!). I'll definitely be making these the next time I break down and pay a fortune for GF oats.
these are the best ones i've seen goint to save it this instant!!
Hi Susan,
These look so beautiful and delicious that when the blueberries arrive at our farmer's market, temperatures permitting, I just may have to break my rule of not turning the oven on in the middle of summer. . blueberries and oats are two of my favorite foods. . and this seems like a lovely improvisation on the skinny figgy bars, which are so dear to my heart and taste buds. . .sad that your organic u-pick blueberries have gone away. . that sounds like a wonderful summer mother-daughter outing, and now memory. The photos are scrumptious too. lol
so glad i found your blog. :)
i am GOING to make those bars! yumma.
Hi, Susan!
Can I just say I love the way you add the calorie content to your recipes...especially the ww points! Thank for that!
Also, you can add milk/dairy free to your recipe! Love finding yummy desserts not filled with a cream of some sort in it!
Double thanks!!
^.^
Thank you, this looks great! I just stumbled here, and I'm so excited! I'm pregnant and my body won't let me eat meat or high fat anything...you are a life saver, literally!
Those bars look delicious. And yeah, what's up with the crazy cost of fresh blueberries? Here you get a scant cup for $4 to $5!
Blueberries are my biggest weakness but they're just so expensive here! And I gave up sugar a few months ago so I'm not even sure why I clicked on this story in my feed reader, - I guess I was just going to live vicariously through the photos or something.
But O. M. G.! Agave nectar! I love you! I don't care if buying these blueberries means I eat boiled rice for the rest of the week, I'm making these!!
Those look amazing!
These look so good! A mostly guilt-free summer treat. Thanks for the recipe!
Wow, this is such an amacing recipe! All natural sweeteners and low fat content. I have to try these! :)
I just picked 5 pounds of blueberries at my nearby organic U-pick. I love putting them in my morning oatmeal with some agave nector so I definitely have to give this a try. What a wonderful alternative to cobbler or buckle.
This is way too perfect--I was just looking around for a recipe for a vegan breakfast treat to make to convince my coworkers that there is a good healthy, vegan answer to their croissants, danishes, etc. I am absolutely going to try making this this weekend. Thanks!!!
thank you so much for sharing this recipe!! the pictures are beautiful and make me want to go out and buy some blueberries asap! this recipe fits all of my difficult dietary requirements and i can't wait to try it :)
Thank you! I just had a much more unhealthy version of these at a place in flagstaff. I have been dying for them! I can't wait to try them. I could make them for breakfast, or for desert :)
these are truly good for the body, eyes and soul.
In our family we've been making blueberry bars for years every summer that are far from healthy (but taste great)in a recipe handed down from my mom. But I can't wait to try these! Susan, your photos are always wonderful, but these are so outstanding that I could eat my monitor, your photos of cut pieces look that delicious. Mmmmmmm.
For Melissa C and the oat question:
http://www.celiac.com/articles/21550/1/Another-Study-Okays-Oats-for-Celiac-Patients/Page1.html
It seems that not so much oats, but contamination continue to be the problem for celiacs.
Those are very yummy looking bars, Susan. I too remember my sis and me getting all purple stained and dirty every day picking black berries from the trees in the backyard (Jamuns)! Those were tastier and much more satisfying than buying them off the shelves! I was going to try a similar thing but with apricots inside a pie - May not be fat free though:)
these look wonderful, Susan! i think i'm going to make some this weekend. i have a TON of blackberries growing in the field behind my house and i'm gonna pick some more & try this recipe with some of them (because i'm a weird girl who doesn't like blueberries! gasp!)! :) thanks so much for sharing another stellar recipe! your recipes are always the best! :D
Susan_
Thanks so much for this recipe..
i have a story about them.. i tried them today and..
so i didn't have class today so i went out and bought all the stuff and made it up..
and it was working fantastically!! i was really proud of myself..
and the timer went off.. 30 minutes.. ding ding ding..
so i went and took the bars out of the oven.. and they looked perfect!! i mean just like the picture on the blog.. and they smelled fantastic..
i put them on the back burner so that i wouldn't burn the white part on the stove.. and i went to email a professor
so i was typing away.. and smelled burning.. and a lot of burning..and i look into the kitchen and there is smoke coming from my pan of blueberry oat bars!!!!! oh my gosh!
i thought for a second.. okay.. i will cut them so the steam can get out.. and it will stop smoking.. i lifted up the bottom of the pan and noticed the entire bottom was burnt! black.. charcoal black AHHHHH.
in the recipe it called for a medium boil of the blueberry and agave nectar and vanilla.. well for 40 mins at least that back burner had been on and when i set the pan on the burner it charred the bottom of my blueberry oat bars! ugh.. i'm so silly.
i shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen by myself EVER! wow.
but.. the top part of the bars is perfect still.. it's more like blueberry cobbler without a bottom crust now..
next time:
i will remember to turn that stupid burner off so that one-i don't burn the house down and 2-i don't burn my perfect blueberry oat bars.
hahahaha..
hope this made you laugh..
thanks again for the recipe. ;)
Yum!!!! I wish I had some blueberries right now so I could make those. Your pictures are beautiful!
These look so good and I'm happy to see they are so healthy as well. My sweet tooth has been going crazy lately and these might just solve my problem :-)
Those look so good!
Susan, my mouth is watering. Thanks for the great recipe! I will be making these tonight for company.
A question, though... the food stats (THANK YOU for always putting these at the end of your recipes; so helpful!) bases its information on 16 servings. Is that right? The picture you posted is how probably everyone cuts them... 9 servings per pan.
Just loving the idea of the 2-point scrumptious blueberry bar and hoping it's true, that's all : )
Oh, yum! I'll have to tried these. They look perfect for a summer picnic, like the one I'm attending this weekend. Hopefully the weather will co-operate. Or else I'll be stuck sitting on the couch eating a whole tray of blueberry-oat bars. Hmm... maybe that wouldn't be so bad actually :-)
Erin, I actually did cut them into 16 bars, but only 9 fit on that plate. They're small, about 1 x 1.5 inches, I'd say, and two of them is probably right for breakfast or a substantial snack.
Susan-
I just love all your recipes and am so glad you posted this! I was just about to make a version off your Skinny-Figgy recipe after staring at my huge abundance of fresh berries I got last weekend at a nearby u-pick farm. These came out fantastic! Delicious!
Amber
reporting back (yay!): thanks again for the rock'n recipe! it's indeed another great one - and super yummy! dan & i made your bars with some of the blackberries we picked and they were AWESOME! we're gonna freeze half of the batch for later - but i'm working on finishing off the first half as i type. they're sooooo good! especially with a little spoonful of vegan vanilla ice cream on top! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
I just made these! I cut them into 9 bars so they were about 200 cals each... a great healthy dessert!
I bought my blueberries at Costco so they were super cheap... not organic though.
These look absolutely divine. Susan, you probably heard I am hosting Tried And Tasted event each month, where we cook from Blog Of The Month. This month, we are featuring What´s For Lunch, Honey? and it is a lot of fun. I have always admired your site, so dare to ask, would you volunteer FFV to be Tried And Tasted? Come over to my blog for more details...
Mmm... I just made these yesterday. My mom and brother ate most of them before I could take a picture though! I just started a little vegan blog and I wanted to post something about them, but now I've got no photo. Oh well, they were delicious anyways :)
(I love your blog, by the way.)
Hi Susan, I made these the other night and they came out quite good I'd say! Thanks so much. Question though -- I find the "crust" a bit softer than I would like. Granted it's not much more than just plain oatmeal. Anyway to get the bottom/top crust a bit crisper or crumbly? The taste is great, but I find myself wishing the crust wasn't so soft and chewy. Thanks! P.S. The chance I did something wrong is always there -- I somehow didn't have enough oatmeal "batter" left to cover the entire top. Maybe I put it too thick on the bottom of the pan.
What do you mean by regular oats?
Quick cooking (3-5 minutes bubbling on the burner kind?), "old fashioned" (10-15 minutes on the burner) or steel cut oats?
Why are there so many kinds of oats!?
Old fashioned oats. Though quick cooking will probably work, I haven't made this with them.
Thanks for the recipe, Susan! I just made these and they are great--sweet but healthy tasting. For anyone who's interested in conversions, I used half honey and half sugar whenever the recipe called for agave and got a really nice texture.
i need to try these! i love bars but find they are usually too sweet for my taste. have you tried maple syrup in place of agave? i wonder if it's too strong?
These were good, but with the addition of lemon zest would have been even better. I ended up grating some over the top...but next time it will go in with the berries and maybe even a bit of the juice too. I'm not a vegan, so ate them with a dollop of Greek yogurt. :-)
Since I JUST found out that I am allergic to wheat/gluten, I DEFINITELY appreciate this recipe, Susan - but you knew I'd love it anyway, since you're the one who ignited my passion for baking :0)
These were wonderful, I posted them on my blog today. Although I goofed up by using the wrong measuring cup (1/3 cup and I thought it was the 1/2 cup) so I only used 2 cups instead of 3 cups of oats, they were still wonderful even though the top didn't get covered all of the way!!
I just made these they are fantastic! I love your blog thanks so much!
I had another go at these today for a friend who's had to go off dairy while nursing...can I just say...delish! I squeezed 1/2 a lemon in the berries, added the zest of 1/2 a lemon to the batter, and used a little more salt and cinnamon. Perfect! :-)
These look lovely! I was just looking for a recipe to feature my blueberries in.
yum.
Hi, I'm someone who loves cooking and baking, enjoy good food and yet health conscious. COntradicting yeah? I try to eat in moderation and keep a healthy lifestyle. So glad to found your blog. :)
Oh ya what's agave nectar by the way?
Wow I just made my own slightly less healthy version of these bars with what I had around me and the recipe is really great! Thanks so much for the inspiration. I never knew porridge oats could taste so gorgeous!!!
Hi Susan,
I was wondering if you could give us a tip on how you spread the top layer of oat dough over the berries without smooshing the berries out to the edge. . .I made this with an overflow of raspberries from my backyard, and substituted cardamom for the cinnamon. They tasted great, but I really had a hard time getting the top layer to spread, and had to sort of plop it. So the berries squished out more than I would have like them to. But I just put them in the fridge and they kept their shape well once cut that way. . .and, they were delicious. . .but anyway,
any secrets about spreading that top layer? Even dipping my fingers in cold water didn't help much this time. . .I'll want to try this again when we have blueberries around here, and with my own blackberries. . .:)
thanks,
moonwatcher
Moonwatcher, I had the same trouble. I wound up dropping it by spoonfuls over the blueberries and then smoothing it as best I could over them. I wonder if adding a little bit of water would make it easier to smooth and still work. I may have to try a variation next time.
These are delicious! I have made them twice already :)
Thanks for this wonderful recipe, Susan! I love them!
And I'll be making them often with all the blueberry picking I've been doing :)
Susan,
I just made these (albeit with raspberries and strawberries because we don't have blueberries available in November here), and they are so delicious! My gosh! And gluten-free :D I didn't know it was possible haha. Although..
I hope that the oats I got are gluten-free.. I got them from a natural foods store, but next time I go in i'll have to ask and make sure. I don't have celiac's so I guess if they are slightly contaminated it's okay.
Thank you for this tasty recipe :)
Great recipe - I tried it last night and discovered that either I got supersweet blueberries, or the American concept of "sweet" is way beyond "European sweet"! ;))
I have to try a variation some time, using cranberries. I imagine the cookies would taste just like my favourite (Austrian) cake, "Linzer Torte". :))
MMMM I added about 1/3 blackberries, used honey instead of agave, spiced apple cider instead of juice, added a bit extra cinnamon. They are baking rite now and smell deeeelicious!! Thanks for the great use of berries in a healthy vegan recipe!1 I think these will fulfill my breakfast sweet tooth craving, and will i'll pack one along for a lunchtime snack too! not that eating massive amounts of sweets usually makes me feel guilty, but this makes me feel healthy and excited!! lol.
We made these tonight - my daughter was to make a heart healthy meal and since blueberries and oats are on the top-25 heart-healthy foods we thought this would be perfect. They were very good and my heart-patient husband loved them, but I thought the "bar" part was a little tough. I used frozen blueberries which held up pretty well but had trouble getting the cornstarch "paste" integrated into the blueberries. I had to pick out a lot of blobs of cornstarch and make more of a slurry to add to the blueberry/juice/agave mixture to thicken. I was glad to see this recipe with no refined sugar and no flour and look forward to trying the leftovers tomorrow - am hoping the crust becomes softer and more like a cake. Thanks so much for working it out and posting it!! sharon.
Hello! Thanks so much for such a lovely blog! I am originally from MS, but am now in graduate school in Wisconsin where I have easy access to great vegetarian meals and natural food stores! It is wonderful to see such a successful blog such as yours based in MS! I also wanted to let you know that my parents own a U-pick blueberry farm in Lauderdale County, MS and I keep telling them every year that people are 'stealing' their berries! The price of berries everywhere else is sky-high! Visit pickyourown.org to locate other u-pick farms for local produce! So, you may not have to go far to stock up on ridiculously cheap 'local' fresh berries for yummy recipes such as this. Fresh berries in MS should be available the first week of June! Plus, the berries that you buy in the store are usually picked red and they won't ripen off of the bush (= sour)! I look forward to trying this recipe when I visit home this summer!
I've made these twice now, I love them. I used half xylitol half maple syrup for the oat mixture and watered down some applesauce for the apple juice since I never have that on hand. I wonder how long you can freeze them? Thanks for a great recipe!
I made these 2 nights ago and they smelled delicious when they came out of the oven!
But I had a craving for vanilla ice cream, so I heated up a blueberry bar and put a large scoop of soy vanilla ice cream on top. It tasted like blueberry pie a la mode. Soo good. Thanks Susan!
These are very lovely. I've been really into blueberry treats lately, so I'm going to have to try these! Thanks for posting the recipe.
Susan, if you have any yard at all, you could plant some blueberry bushes or even use them as a foundation plant. Works great in suburbia.
One of the lovely things about living in Alaska is the abundance of blueberries! Tonight, I stepped 20 ft from my front door and picked about a cup, just to add to the others that I've picked. I didn't know WHAT I would make with them, until I happened upon your blog... now I know!!! (I'm quite possibly your newest subscriber, but I know I won't carry that status for long - what a treasure I've found!!)
Susan (also :)
These are delicious. I made them exactly as the recipe states but substituted strawberries for blueberries. My family loved them.
Thank you for all the terrific recipes.
Susan, I'm dying to make the blueberry bars recipe but I don't have a blender, and my food processor is broken. Could I use oat flour for the ground-up oats?
Sure, Gracie, if you have oat flour, that will work perfectly. Hope you enjoy them!
I tried this recipe last night since I had some leftover blueberries and I must say....WOW!!! I followed the recipe word for word but I did not put any powdered sugar as I felt they were great as is. I realized this is a great idea for diabetics since there is no sugar (agave nectar is an approved sweetener by the Diabetic Association due to its low glycemic index) or white flour in this recipe. I have already referred a friend to your site as we both have diabetic parents and also we are always looking for a healthier vegan treat :)
Please keep up the wonderful work and I look forward to trying more of your recipes!!!
Even my "I hate anything healthy" family loved these! Thank you!
They were great! Thanks for the recipe.
I made these the other night and they were delicious. For seconds, my husband and I had them with some chocolate cherry soy icecream which was also quite yummy.
I made these and they were delicious. Unfortunately I am on my own a lot so I gave most of it to some friends who have a big family and they all loved it and asked for more. Will definietly make them again.
I made these and they were absolutely delicious!
I went out and bought a pint of blueberries specially for these bars. I'm so glad I did! These bars turned out fantastic. I ended up using a blueberry-flavoured applesauce and they are so tasty. Thank you!!
Susan, I love love love your blog and these were amazing! Thank you so much for your work.
These were truly delicious!
I too had some trouble with the top layer, but as they say, practice makes perfect, so I guess I'll just have to cook this more often :-D
these bars are amazing. in fact, this website in general is simply amazing!! so fantastic to find alternative recipes for health junkies! these bars satisfy even those with the sweetest tooths' cravings! i (non-vegan but self-diagnosed health freak) teamed these yummy bars with natural yoghurt and fresh strawberries - much more than a bar, more like a slice of crumble! fantastic - thanks!!
I have made these many times since discovering the recipe about three months ago, they are a huge hit around here with my 3.5- and 2-year-olds. My husband would probably like them too, but he's been too slow to partake and they all get eaten before he gets to them! They work well with raspberries in place of blueberries, or apples. Yesterday I made them with a no-cook pumpkin filling -- 1 c pumpkin + 1/2 c applesauce + nutmeg -- which I thought was great, but it was a little less popular with the kiddos.... I sub nutmeg for the cinnamon, and I'm going to try the lemon zest suggested by some people. I too found the filling a bit on the sweet side, so I tried using water instead of apple juice. Thanks for the great recipe!
These look delicious--I'm going to try them once I get some blueberries. Do you think you can post the sugar content for your recipes along with all the other nutritional information though? some recent studies show that sugar contributes much more to weight gain and aging than fat or anything else does, so I'm most concerned about the sugar content.
Thanks!
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