Vegan Blueberry Oat Bars
These healthy vegan blueberry oat bars are delicious, dairy-free, and gluten-free for the ultimate breakfast recipe. Imagine blueberries baked on a gluten-free, oatmeal crust with a crumble topping. Each bite is so delicious!
These vegan blueberry oat bars make my summers better, but they can be enjoyed any time of year.
When you’re looking for a healthy, yet satisfying breakfast, these bars really hit the spot. I compare them to blueberry overnight oats or vegan breakfast cookies which are both easy to make and pretty tasty, too.
What Makes This Recipe Shine?
- Adding oatmeal to the crust makes this a flavorful gluten-free recipe
- Blueberries are thickened with a low-carb flakes that are easy to buy online and will help keep this recipe healthy and delicious
- The crust mix doubles as a crumble topping, sandwiching the rich blueberry sauce with a flavorful, crunchy crust and topping.
Key Ingredients
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including substitution ideas:
- Blueberries — You can use fresh or frozen.
- Agar agar flakes — Did I lose you with the agar flakes? I hope not! Because agar agar flakes are so easy to work with. Imagine it like the gelatin of the sea. You never need gelatin because agar agar flakes work the same way. Buy them at health food stores or online. This 3-pack of agar flakes at Amazon (paid link) comes reasonably priced.
- Lemon juice — You can use fresh or bottled lemon juice.
- Agave nectar (or maple syrup) — Keeping these blueberry bars healthy means the recipe uses minimal sweetener.
- Rolled oats — Otherwise known as old-fashioned oats.
- Almond meal – I buy this with my favorite vegan products at Costco, but you can also make homemade almond meal.
- Ground flax — You can substitute ground chia seeds.
- Baking powder — We’ll add a bit of baking powder to give a soft texture to the oatmeal crust.
- Applesauce — Use unsweetened applesauce or use these ideas for applesauce substitutes in baking.
- Almond butter — You can substitute peanut butter or cashew butter.
- Plant-based milk — Use your favorite plant-based milk.
- Apple cider vinegar — I use vinegar as a flavor enhancer and to create the perfect texture.
How to Make Vegan Blueberry Oat Bars
- Make the blueberry sauce by cooking the ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Make the crust by stirring together the dry ingredients, from the oats to the salt.
- Stir together the wet ingredients from the applesauce to the vanilla.
- Make the batter by mixing the wet and dry mixtures.
- Press half of the batter evenly across the bottom of a prepared pan and bake.
- Spread the blueberry filling over the baked crust.
- Spoon dollops of the remaining batter equally over the filling.
- Bake for 10 minutes, until the top crust turns golden brown.
Storage Tips
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days. Individual slices can be frozen in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 months.
Healthy Blueberry Bars
What makes these berry crumble bars healthy?
- First of all, they’re free of white, refined sugar. That’s great news because it’s good to keep an eye on that. We’re learning daily about reducing refined white sugars in our diets.
- Sugar is minimized. In addition to the type of sweetener used, I also kept it pretty minimal. If you have a sweet tooth, you may be inclined to increase the sweetness in this recipe just a tad to meet your needs.
- Healthy fats. There are no added oils in this recipe. Instead, I’m using almond butter and almonds from the almond meal to add healthy fats to this recipe.
- Nutritious Ingredients. Finally, there are just lots of great healthy ingredients in this blueberry squares recipe, like applesauce and oats that add fiber, nutrients, and the right ingredients to give this crumble texture and flavor!
If you love healthy, berry-infused sweets, check out my Blackberry Banana Chia Pudding! It’s amazing!
How do you make freeze-ahead blueberry crumble bars?
To freeze blueberry crumble bars, make the bars, bake them, and let them cool completely. Freeze the entire batch or individual slices by storing it in a freezer-safe container or freezer bags. They will keep up to 3 months when properly stored in the freezer.
Can you make blueberry oat bars vegan?
It’s easy to make blueberry oat bars vegan by using ground flax seed and/or applesauce as an egg substitute. These vegan oat bars are just as delicious without eggs and healthy, too!
More Blueberry Favorites
It’s true these healthy blueberry oatmeal bars are the best! Now, here are even more vegan blueberry recipes you’ll love:
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Vegan Blueberry Bars
Ingredients
Blueberry Filling
- 3 cup blueberries , fresh or frozen
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon agar agar flakes
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup agave nectar (or maple syrup/honey)
Oatmeal Crumble
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats
- 2 cups almond meal
- 1 tablespoon ground flax meal
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup applesauce , unsweetened
- ⅓ cup agave nectar (or maple syrup/honey)
- ¼ cup almond butter
- ½ cup plant-based milk
- teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×9 inch square baking dish with vegetable cooking spray.
- Place blueberries in a saucepan. Add the water and agar flakes to the blueberry mixture and stir to combine. Bring this to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it begins to boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
- Pour the lemon juice and agave in the blueberries. Stir to combine. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate.
- Combine the oats, almond meal, flax meal, baking powder, and sea salt in a bowl. Stir to combine. Scoot the ingredients to one side of the bowl. In the other half of the bowl, combine the applesauce, agave nectar, almond butter, milk, vanilla, and vinegar. Stir to combine. Then stir the wet and dry ingredients together. Add a tablespoon or two of water if necessary.
- Take 3/4 of that oats mixture and press evenly across the bottom of your prepared pan. Set the rest of the batter aside.
- Place the crust in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove crust from the oven. Check the blueberry filling. It should have thickened by now. Spread it over the baked crust.
- Place dollops of the remaining crust batter distributed equally over the blueberry filling. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes, until the top crust turns golden brown.
- Remove from oven and set aside to cool before refrigerating to allow the filling to set completely.
Recommended Equipment
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Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This post was originally published in 2018 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.
You have apple cider vinegar listed in the ingredients but it’s not mentioned in the instructions. Does it go in the crust batter or in with the blueberries?
Hi Emjay! Thanks for your comment. The vinegar should have been included in the instructions. It’s fixed now. Thanks for letting me know about that!
I love blueberries. I’m going to make these crumble bars.
Thanks! So glad you like these blueberry gars!