Homemade Trail Mix Bars
- June 28, 2021
- Last Updated: April 2, 2025
- 6 Comments
- Recipes
These vegan homemade trail mix bars are great for athletes on the go, as a pre or post-workout snack. Made with oats, maple syrup, peanut butter and nuts, raisins, and hemp seeds, these wholesome diy trail mix bars are easy make ahead snacks!
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We love having meal prep snacks on hand for the week, and this trail mix bars recipe is just that.
Snacks are so important because if you don’t have healthy options on hand, or prepped and ready to go, you’re more likely to skip them altogether or choose something unfulfilling, like a bag of chips.
And, some snacks only need as little as 3 ingredients, like these healthy banana oatmeal cookies.
It’s a no-brainer to put a bit of time into your snack prep.
There’s nothing wrong with a bag of chips, but if you’re looking for sustained energy and more nutrients, these healthy cereal bars are worth your while.
Especially if you’re planning for travel snacks for kids, or working on putting together cheap meals ideas.
Athlete snacks are a must buy according to my Athletes Grocery list, but they are also super simple to make at home.
Like these diy yogurt pouches for instance – great for kids and post workout!
Just make sure to keep many of these healthy pantry staples on hand!
Plus, you’re getting carbs, protein, and healthy fats in these – it’s the best kind of trail mix in the form of a trail mix granola bar.
Or, you can try these frozen trail mix bites!
That’s why I think these are the best snacks for hiking – they can keep you full and satisfied. They’re also a great food for nutrition after surgery!
Ingredients in Homemade Trail Mix Bars
These healthy cereal bars can be made with your favorite cereal.
I love peanut butter and cheerios together because the cheerios seem to be the perfect shape to soak up that gooey peanut butter and hold these homemade trail mix bars together.
But you may also like Chex Mix or granola or something else – which all work in these diy trail mix bars.
Here’s what else you’ll need:
- choice of drippy nut butter (this drippy peanut butter and this bare almond butter are my favorites)
- coconut oil
- maple syrup
- cheerios, or choice of cereal (chex is also great!)
- quick oats (quick oats are less thick than old fashioned)
- hemp seeds
- raisins
- almonds
- sea salt
So many trail mix bar ideas, depending on the ingredients you have on hand, what nuts/seeds you enjoy, and whether you want to make a vegan trail mix or not.
I’ll also say, as a breastfeeding mother myself, many of these ingredients, like oats, peanut butter, and almonds, are great lactogenic foods to increase milk supply, too. Another bonus!
If not vegan, honey works great, and maybe a little bit better than maple syrup.
But both are delicious options for sustained homemade cereal bars.
This is one of many of our favorite healthy kid snack ideas! For 15+ other healthy recipes for toddlers and kids, check out our ebook!
How To Make Trail Mix Bars Recipe
Trail mix bars are like a portable trail mix…in bar form.
Wondering how to make trail mix? Check out this easy healthy homemade trail mix.
What makes these trail mix granola bars different is the fact that you can HOLD them.
Having them be handheld is great to reduce the mess of a salty trail mix, but also you’re able to eat trail mix bars in the car, at your desk, etc.
My next point of recipe testing is to make these into vegan trail mix cookies because I think they’d fair just fine.
- Microwave your peanut butter.
- If you’re not using a drippy peanut butter (I love the Kirkland’s brand), you may need to microwave a little longer.
- Stir in your maple syrup (or honey) and allow to cool slightly.
- Mix in the dry ingredients to the peanut butter and maple syrup.
- Pour mixture over pan lined with parchment paper and pop in the freezer
Recipe Tips & Modifications
- These peanut butter cheerio bars with nuts and seeds are best out of the freezer in my opinion. You can enjoy them cold – they stay together well, and they aren’t too cold to hurt your teeth when you bite into them.
- This also helps make them great for after a workout, when you need calories and energy (and something cold to cool you down), but don’t necessarily have a huge appetite. We love athlete snacks!
- I used quick cooking oats and did not test with old fashioned. You may need a higher proportion of syrup or peanut butter if you use old fashioned oats.
- I just chopped my almonds on a cutting board for these trail mix cereal bars. You can choose to do that in a food processor, but it’s not entirely necessary – save yourself the extra clean up!
- Smooth peanut butter tends to work best. If you’re using a thicker nut butter, you may need to microwave longer.
From start to finish you can make these in just over an hour, allowing time for these trail mix granola bars to set.
These are hands down one of my favorite no bake healthy snacks. No bake snacks are great for especially hot days, or days when you just don’t feel like using the oven, or maybe it’s being used for something else.
They make for a great postpartum snack (one handed snacks are life) to handle the breastfeeding hunger.
More Athlete Snacks:
- Vegan Hemp Protein Bars
- Homemade Vegan Granola
- Sweetpotato Oat Bars
- Frozen Cookie Dough Bites
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Balls
- Homemade Nut Free Protein Bars
Easy Trail Mix Bars
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup peanut butter or nut butter
- 1 T coconut oil
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 cups cheerios
- 1 cup rolled oats/quick oats
- 1/3 cup hemp seed
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1/3 cup almonds, halved
- 1/8 tsp tsp sea salt + more for topping
Instructions
- Place peanut butter and coconut oil in small microwavable bowl and heat for 30-60 seconds. Alternatively, place in small pot over medium high heat and whisk until combined and warm.
- Mix in maple syrup/agave/honey to peanut butter mixture and let cool for 3-5 minutes.
- Add dry ingredients (cheerios,oats, hemp seeds, raisins, almonds and salt) to a bowl. Pour over peanut buttermixture.
- Line 8×8 pan with parchment paper.Pour trail mix bar batter and push down. Cover and freeze for 60+ minutes.
- Once frozen, remove parchment paperand cut bars into 10-12 square sized bars.
Notes
- I’ve found that a smooth peanut butter works best. Depending onits thickness, you may have to microwave a little longer.
- You can add almonds to food processor to chop them but I find it’s just as easy to do it on a cutting board and save using extra equipment
- I did not test these with old fashioned oats, so you may need to add more peanut butter or syrup
- To store trail mix cereal bars, keep in airtight container in freezer or refrigerator. You can store them room temperature, but they will stay fresher if refrigerated or frozen.
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Support Bucket List TummyI always worry that trail mix is going to be bland, but these bars are delicious!
So easy to make and very delicious, these are my go to for busy weeks.
Can you use something else in place of the hemp seeds?
Hi Vera, you can just leave them out. Or, if you’d like, you could replace with flax seeds.
Delicious! Love how adaptable these are too with what you have on hand, ie different dried fruit or chopped nuts/seeds. I even used crushed peanut butter Chex cereal instead of Cheerios since that’s what I had on hand. Kid-friendly and yummy! Highly recommend giving these a shot and making homemade granola bars versus buying store bought.
My new favorite bar! Glad I don’t have to buy expensive ones anymore