Carrot Cake Oatmeal Breakfast Bars (V + GF)

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These vegan, gluten-free carrot cake oatmeal breakfast bars are like baked oatmeal in handheld form. They’re sweetened naturally with bananas and dates, and have entirely whole foods ingredients like oats, carrots, walnuts, and chia.

Carrot cake for breakfast! You’re not dreaming. Carrot cake is just one of those classic desserts that is beloved by so many. It’s my dad’s favourite dessert, so as you can imagine, we have enjoyed many carrot cakes in our house over the years. It took me awhile to warm up to it; I’ve always been more of a chocolate gal, and I’ve struggled to overcome the trauma I suffered as a little girl when my mom would bake shredded carrots into chocolate cupcakes to get me to eat my veggies. But in the past year or so, I’ve gained a real appreciation for carrot cake. I wanted to find a reason to eat it for breakfast without the empty calories or sugar buzz, so that is why I created these healthy carrot cake breakfast bars. 🙂

I will admit that these carrot cake breakfast bars are so called for their spice profile and their carrot, coconut, and walnut content more than for their texture. The texture of these bars is more like a sliceable baked oatmeal, because our goal at breakfast is to nourish our bodies with more than just sugar. 😉 But these bars have become a new favourite of mine. And with Easter just a few weeks away, it feels like the right time to share the recipe with you today.

These breakfast bars are inspired by the Oatmeal Almond Banana Breakfast Bars that I shared a few weeks ago. The recipe is very similar, only I’ve added carrots and coconut, and swapped the almonds with walnuts. They are very simple to whip up, as all that you need to do is throw all of the ingredients into a food processor and blend away. Then, you scoop the batter into a prepared baking dish and bake for 40 minutes! The bake time is longer on these than on the oatmeal almond banana breakfast bars due to the carrot content. They moisten and add volume to the batter, which is why these ones take much longer to bake.

Once you’ve allowed them to cool, slice them into nine squares and top with your favourite nut or seed butter and jam, honey, or a drizzle of maple syrup. Or mix together some coconut yogurt or Greek yogurt and honey or maple syrup for a simple 2-ingredient frosting. (This is entirely optional, of course, but definitely recommended!)

the details

These bars require just a handful of ingredients. If you have a well-stocked whole foods pantry, you probably have them on hand already: Carrots, rolled oats, walnuts, dates, coconut oil, ripe bananas, chia seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, sea salt, vanilla extract, shredded coconut, and plant-based milk.

They key to these carrot cake bars, and what distinguishes them from many carrot cake recipes, is that you are going to pulse the carrots into little carrot flakes/crumbs right in your food processor instead of grating them. This leads to a much improved texture and a better bake. (Thanks to theMoosewood Restaurant cookbook for this tip!)

So, after you have pulsed the carrots into little pieces, empty out the food processor and give it a rinse. Dry it out and then add two cups of the oats to the food processor and process into a coarse flour. Next, add the walnuts and process until ground as well. Add the dates, bananas, coconut oil, chia, spices, salt, vanilla, and milk to the food processor and process until fairly smooth. Finally, pulse in the flaked carrots, the remaining ½ cup of rolled oats and the shredded coconut.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8×8-inch baking dish with parchment paper and scoop the dough into it. Using wet hands or a spatula, smooth the dough out in an even layer. Bake for 35-40 minutes, remove from the oven, and let cool before slicing.

These bars are really lovely and quite honestly one of my favourite breakfasts. But remember, they are not meant to be like carrot cake in texture! I would say that they are more like a portable baked oatmeal. Dense, chewy, and delicious. They’re also packed with healthy fat, fibre, and a reasonable amount of protein (especially if you enjoy with some nut butter or Greek yogurt (if not vegan) and berries sprinkled with hemp) to hold you over for a few hours. And they taste great with a latte in the morning!

Looking for more healthy breakfast and snack bars and cookies?

Well, you might also like these ones!

Oatmeal Banana Almond Breakfast Bars (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Power Cookies
Vegan Tahini Banana Chai Oatmeal Bars

Finally, I hope that you love these carrot cake oatmeal breakfast bars! If you make them, let me know how you enjoyed them: Leave a comment or rating below the post, and share a photo on Instagram (just tag @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen to make sure that I can see it). I really love hearing from you!

Enjoy.