No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars

Simple and delicious no bake Chocolate Oat Bars are a great dessert to enjoy any time of year without heating up the house!

These easy no bake chocolate oat bars are simple, and full of oat and chocolate yummy-ness. For more oat goodness try Almond toffee bars, Oatmeal Pie, or Banana Oatmeal Cookies.

Simple and delicious no bake Chocolate Oat Bars stacked on a white plate

chocolate oatmeal bars

I find it hard to want to get in the kitchen during the middle of the summer in Arizona. I mean, who can blame me when temps are at 115?! This place is HOT, but that doesn’t mean our desire for treats is gone. Instead, we try to make as many quick and no bake treats as possible. We recently tried some No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars that the entire family loved, and I wanted to share the recipe with y’all today.

These Oat bars were like a more chocolate-y and delicious granola bar, which means they were loved by all. Layers of oat and chocolate all topped off with a drizzle of even more chocolate made up this yummy dessert. The best part? NO BAKING involved!! Not only are these perfect for summer time, but they’re great all year long and can give you the feel of a delicious baked chocolate and oat treat without actually having to bake them!

The thick layer of chocolate in the middle is definitely my favorite part (how could it not be?)!! We hope you can give these a try and enjoy a delicious treat without heating up the house. 😉

oat layer in a baking dish

Making No Bake Bars

PREP. Grease a 9×9 inch pan and set aside.

OATS. In a medium pot, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Add oats and cook on low for a few minutes. Pour half of this mixture into the greased pan and press down with spatula. Set aside reserve.

CHOCOLATE. In another pot, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter on low. Stir until smooth and pour over bottom oat layer. Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the chocolate layer, pressing in gently.

DRIZZLE. Melt chocolate chips and drizzle over top.

ENJOY! Cover, and refrigerate for a few hours. Bring bars to room temp before cutting and ENJOY!

chocolate layer topped with more oats

Tips + Variations

We used quick cooking oats, but you can use rolled/old fashioned oats.  Quick oats are the most processed of all the oat types and also take the shortest amount of time to cook. If you wanted to use old fashioned/rolled oats add a couple extra minutes of cook time in step 2 to soften them up. 

Unlike some layer bars these don’t need extra time to set before piling on the next layer. This is because you want the oats to really be a part of the chocolate layer, which is only possible when they have the opportunity to meld together. 

Line the pan with parchment paper. Once the bars have set, all you have to do is lift them out using the paper and cut them. Easy Peasy.

Dress ’em up: We topped these delicious bars with a chocolate drizzle. You can get creative with what you would use such as:

  • Caramel Drizzle
  • Butterscotch Chips
  • Mini M&M’s

 no bake Chocolate Oat Bars stacked on a white plate

Storing Info

STORE the bars at room temperature in an airtight container for 3-5 days. They will last even longer if stored in the fridge. Finally, they can easily be wrapped and stored in the freezer for 2-3 months. 

Wrap the entire bar with plastic wrap or cut it into individual bars and wrap those. Fold top sandwich baggies also work for the individual sizes. FREEZE either wrapped again with foil or place them together in a freezer Ziploc. Thaw before eating.

These would be a great thing to pack into your kiddos’ lunches. Just make sure to send them with an ice-pack so it doesn’t melt all over everything else in the lunchbox

Simple and delicious no bake Chocolate Oat Bars covered with chocolate drizzle

For more great no bake desserts, check out:

No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars Recipe

4.92 from 25 votes
Simple and delicious no bake Chocolate Oat Bars are a great dessert to enjoy any time of year without heating up the house!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 12 minutes
Refrigerate 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 12 minutes
Servings 9
Calories 528 kcal
Author Lil' Luna

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 cups quick cooking oats
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • chocolate chips for drizzle

Instructions
 

  • Grease a 9x9 inch pan and set aside.
  • In a medium pot, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Add oats and cook on low for a few minutes.
  • Pour half of this mixture into the greased pan and press down with spatula. Set aside reserve.
  • In another pot, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter on low. Stir until smooth and pour over bottom oat layer.
  • Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the chocolate layer, pressing in gently.
  • Melt chocolate chips and drizzle over top.
  • Cover, and refrigerate for a few hours. Bring bars to room temp before cutting and ENJOY!

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About Kristyn

My name is Kristyn and I’m the mom of SIX stinkin’ cute kids and the wife to my smokin’ hot hubby, Lo. My mom’s maiden name is Luna, and I’m one of the many crafty “Lil’ Lunas” in the fam. On this site I like to share all things creative - from recipes to home decor to gifts and home decor ideas. Welcome!

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Comments:

  1. This chocolate oat bars look delicious and very well made. I would try making this for my family. Thanks for sharing Kristyn.

    1. A lot like a granola bar. Very tasty and may add nuts next time. What could some of the butter be replaced with?

  2. Is there some trick to getting the recipes to print? There are so many ads on the page, my print command does nothing. The print button on the recipe doesn’t work either.

    1. I’m sorry you are having trouble. There isn’t a trick, if the curser is over the recipe, the print option should be there. I’m not sure what could be causing it not to print. I hope you can get it worked out.

  3. 5 stars
    Everything looks delicious but My printer doesn’t work right now so
    I can’t print these beautiful and delicious looking receipts.
    Thanks for sharing all.

  4. 5 stars
    I was looking for a no bake oatmeal cookie recipe and came across this recipe. Oh my gosh, they are so good, much better than the usual no-bake oatmeal-chocolate-pb-cookie and I love that they are bars!! Don’t even think about this one, just make it!

  5. It is important to let the layers sit before building, because unlike some layer bars these don’t need to sit before piling on the next layer. This is because you want the oats to really be a part of the chocolate layer, which is only possible when they have the opportunity to meld together. This tip is a contradiction, unless I’m just missing it here.

    1. You could probably swap for a different type of nut butter… maybe almond or cashew butter? I haven’t tried, so if you do swap it out, you’ll have to let us know how they turn out.

      1. Since tiffany asked – just wanted to let you know I swapped the peanut butter out with sunbutter and it turned out great (our family has nut allergies). You could use oat haus granola butter, wowbutter soy butter, or lotus biscoff cookie butter too 👍 all of those are guaranteed nut free

        1. Oh thank you for the feedback! That is so good to know!! I’m glad it turned out well swapping with different butters.

  6. The bottoms come off of mine after I made these. Any idea as to why? I buttered the pan before putting in the first layer so it shouldn’t have stuck like that 😒

    1. Sorry to hear the bars stuck. I’m not totally sure why if the pan was greased well. I love to use a metal spatula/turner to help get mine out. Maybe using something like that might help keep them together when cutting/removing from the pan.