Banana Blueberry Bars
As an avid lover of sweet things, I’m always looking for new recipes for sweet treats. This is a recipe that I developed when I was trying to come up with dessert recipes for breakfast. It combines all of the best things: oats, bananas, brown sugar, and more! It’s a healthy way to start of the day with something sweet and enjoyable.
These bars consist of ripe bananas, combined with a bunch of ingredients and baked in the oven until they come out chewy and delicious. They’re super moist and flavorful, and super easy to make!
I sometimes have these for breakfast, with some yogurt, fresh berries, and tea. Or, I have these for dessert with a scoop of ice cream (salted caramel is my favorite). These are essentially a healthier version of banana bread, which is one of my favorites as well.
The recipe starts off with ripe bananas, which has to be the most important part in terms of ingredients. If you have non-ripe bananas, the resulting bars will not be as sweet and delicious. I’ve found that you can produce ripe bananas super quickly from non-ripe bananas by baking them in the oven at 350ºF for about 10-15 minutes, until the skin is browned. It is important that the bananas cool down before you bake with them, however.
For this batch, I decided to add blueberries! You can honestly add any berry, or chocolate chips, or just leave out any add-ins entirely! It’s completely up to you. It’s also super delicious to add nut butter to the batter. Another option is to create a frosting out of 1/4 cup nut butter, 2 tbsp powdered sugar, and a splash of milk to top the banana bars.
This is a super simple recipe and will produce delicious, moist, and healthy banana bars perfect to start off your morning, have after a workout, or enjoy for dessert!
Ingredients:
- 5 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, + 4 tbsp
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup whole wheat flour, + 1 tbsp
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1/4 tsp butter or nonstick spray
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl, mash four of the bananas until they are fairly smooth with some lumps left. I either use a fork or a potato masher for this step.
- Then, add the oil and 1/2 cup brown sugar to the mashed bananas and mix with either a silicone spatula or a wooden spoon. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again.
- Add the salt, baking soda, 1 cup whole wheat flour, cinnamon, and rolled oats to the mixture and stir. In a separate bowl, mix the blueberries and the tablespoon of flour. If you’re adding chocolate chips, there is no need to cover them in flour. Add that to the mix.
- Spray your baking dish with nonstick spray or grease with the butter. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of brown sugar onto the greased pan and shake the sugar around. This will help prevent the mix from sticking to the pan. Pour the mix into the greased pan and spread out until even and flat on top.
- Slice the remaining banana into thin slices and arrange on top of the poured out mix like shown in the picture above. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-22 minutes, then optionally put the oven on the low broiler setting and leave the bars for 3 minutes. This will give them an opportunity to caramelize on top, due to the sugar. Let cool, then top with whatever is desired and enjoy!
Banana Blueberry Bars
Equipment
- large bowl
- baking pan/dish
- wooden spoon or silicone spatula
- fork/potato masher
Ingredients
- 5 bananas ripe
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1/2 cup brown sugar + 3 tbsp
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup whole wheat flour + 1 tbsp
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup blueberries or chocolate chips
- nonstick spray or butter to grease the pan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- In a large bowl, mash four of the ripe bananas. Mash until mostly smooth but some lumps remain.
- Add the oil, 1/2 cup brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well.
- Add the salt, baking soda, 1 cup whole wheat flour, cinnamon, and rolled oats. mix to combine.
- Separately, combine the blueberries and the 1 tbsp of flour and then add to the main mix.
- Grease your pan by spraying it with nonstick spray or spread over some butter. Sprinkle about 1/2 the remaining brown sugar, shaking the pan to distribute it.
- Pour in the batter and spread it out. Slice the remaining banana and arrange the slices as shown in the picture. Sprinkle with the left over brown sugar.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes, then optionally broil on the low setting for 3 minutes to caramelize the sugar on top. Enjoy!
Notes
- See the blog post for more information about making the bars, as well as customization and meal options.