Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola Bars

Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.

Let’s take a trip back to the 80s, when I was a little kid. I used to eat Kudos Bars, the chocolate chip ones were my favorite and the cookies and creme was a close second. Want to take a trip down memory lane with me? Here is a video of an old Kudos commercial. Back then there wasn’t a huge variety of granola bars available in grocery stores. These days there are a dozen different companies making a huge variety of flavors. And so I went happily along buying granola bars for myself and my hubby to have with our lunches, not even thinking about making my own, until one day I saw one on Pinterest

Total light bulb moment. I could make them in any flavor I wanted, add in flax meal, go organic, no corn syrup… The possibilities were endless! Since seeing that pin, I have made granola bars for us and haven’t looked back. The best part is you can splurge on more expensive ingredients because even with whole honey roasted cashews from your favorite premium grocery store mixed in, you are still going to spend WAY less than you would on that 4-5 dollar box of granola bars that has 5 bars inside. On the flip side you can make these out of ANYTHING. Say you have a small handful of nuts left over, or leftover Halloween candy? Did another recipe use 85% of your bag of chocolate chips? This recipe can use any of those leftovers and make something delicious!

Let’s start by adding cereal, oats, flax meal, raisins and pretzels into a bowl.Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.

Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.
Stir to combine the dry ingredients. In a saucepan, add honey, brown sugar and salt.Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.
Over medium heat, whisk until combined and let it come to a boil for 45 seconds.
Add in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth.Peanut Butter Mixture

Let the mixture cool for a couple of minutes since it is still so hot.
Add to the dry ingredients.Wet and Dry
Combine and let cool again until you can add your M&Ms without them melting before mixing them in.Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.
Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.

Add in your delicious M&Ms.Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.

Our favorite flavor is Peanut Butter ones, so of course those go in here. You can use any other size/flavor you want. Or even just chocolate chips or peanut butter chips. These granola bars can have any snacks you love go into them! I’ve even added crushed Oreos or graham cracker pieces. That being said, we are a PB M&M sort of family (No advertisement/sponsorship here, just M&M love).PB MMsGrease a 9×13 pan and gently pat the mixture into the pan, then refrigerate until it has firmed up. At this point you can enjoy them chewy but we are looking for crispy and chewy, so we are going to bake them. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take out of the fridge, flip tray upside down onto cutting board.Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.

Cut in half lengthwise, then into bars of your choosing. I cut ours into 16 pieces.Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.
Put onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutesCrispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.

Let cool and enjoy!Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.

5 from 1 vote
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Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola Bars

Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.
Course Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola Bars, granola bars, trail mix
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 16 bars
Calories 217 kcal
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups Puffed Rice Cereal (I use Organic Brown Rice Cereal from Whole Foods)
  • 1 1/4 cups regular oats
  • ¼ cup ground flax seed
  • 1/3 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup chopped pretzels
  • ½ cup honey
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup chunky peanut butter
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup peanut M&Ms

Instructions

  1. Add cereal, oats, flax seed, raisins and pretzels into a bowl.
  2. Stir to combine
  3. In a saucepan, add honey, brown sugar and salt.
  4. Over medium heat, whisk until combined
  5. Let it come to a boil for 45 seconds.

  6. Add in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth.
  7. Let the mixture cool for a couple of minutes since it is still so hot.

  8. Add to the dry ingredients and combine.
  9. Let cool again until you can add your M&Ms without them melting before mixing them in
  10. Grease a 9×13 pan and gently pat the mixture into the pan
  11. Refrigerate until it has firmed up.
  12. At this point you can enjoy them chewy but we are looking for crispy and chewy, so we are going to bake them.
  13. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  14. Take out of the fridge, flip tray upside down onto cutting board.
  15. Cut in half lengthwise, then into bars of your choosing. I cut ours into 16 pieces.
  16. Put onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes

  17. Let cool and enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola Bars
Amount Per Serving
Calories 217 Calories from Fat 72
% Daily Value*
Fat 8g12%
Saturated Fat 2g13%
Sodium 110mg5%
Potassium 155mg4%
Carbohydrates 33g11%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 20g22%
Protein 4g8%
Vitamin A 15IU0%
Vitamin C 0.2mg0%
Calcium 29mg3%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.

Crispy & Chewy Trail Mix Granola bars have all the same flavors of your favorite trail mix and are a perfect snack or meal substitute in a pinch.

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Hello Sabrina, will these hold up without refrigeration? Meaning will they stay firm for consecutive days?
    Thanks

    1. Sorry this comment took so long to get to, it ended up in my spam filter somehow! Yes, I’ve kept them for a couple of weeks 🙂

  2. Yes yes yes! These are exactly what I’ve been looking for! Definitely pinning to make later. Thanks for this recipe!

  3. I really wish I would have stumbled on this post sooner. I am going on a 30 mile hike tomorrow and this would have been perfect!