Low-Carb Breakfast Bar

low-carb-bars4Are your mornings hectic?
They are for most of us. Getting yourself and your family ready for a new day. So many things to organise and remember. And no spare time to cook.
Quick breakfast options like cereal or toast are pure carbs. So how about making some low-carb granola bars? Great for a quick breakfast on the go. Or perhaps a mid-morning snack with your coffee. 
Adapting traditional recipe to be low-carb is easy.
All we need to do is use nuts and seeds instead of grains. And substitute sugar for a sweetener. We will add a spoonful of nut butter, and a couple of eggs to hold the bars together.
The recipe will take about 30 minutes in total. Make them in advance, and they will keep for a week or two. You don’t even have to put them in the fridge.
And the best thing is, they only clock up 3g net carbs per bar.

Choosing nuts and seeds

You can use any combination of nuts and seeds. Avoid peanuts and cashews, as they are higher in carbs than other nuts.
Almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, macadamia, pine nuts, walnuts are all great choices.
The only type of seed I included separately is flaxseeds. Flax is very high in fibre. Fibre binds water and helps to hold the bars together. Otherwise they might be a bit crumbly.
If you don’t have flax, substitute with 1 tbsp psyllium husks instead, or a small amount of emulsifier such as xanthan gum or guar gum.
Traditional granola bars often include dried fruit. Unfortunately, that’s a sugar bomb. So we need to avoid them. Adding a bit of sweetener makes the bars taste sweet enough without the fruit.
I used flaxseeds

  • Almond butter (or another nut butter) – 2 tbsp (30g / 1oz)
  • 2 eggs
  • for the chocolate drizzle (optional)
    • 30g (1oz) [CBC show="y" country="uk"]

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5
    • Blitz all the nuts and seeds in a blender, or using a hand-held beater. Don't completely pulverise them - overall texture will be more crunchy if you keep some biggish bits as well as very small ones.
    • Add all other ingredients and mix together thoroughly. You should end up with a dense sticky mixture.
    • Line a small baking tray (I used 33cm x 23cm one) with baking parchment
    • Press the mixture firmly into the tray and distribute it evenly in a single dense layer
    • Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown
    • Using a very sharp knife, cut your mix into 16 separate bars
    • Cool completely
    Optional - chocolate drizzle
    • Melt the chocolate and coconut oil together in a bowl placed on top of a pan of gently boiling water (Bain Marie)
    • Cool the mix considerably until it runs very slowly - if the mix is too hot and liquid, it will seep into the bars
    • Drizzle your bars with chocolate, or coat completely if you'd prefer
    [raw]

    Nutritional information

    Serving size: 1 bar Total quantities above produce 16 bars
    Per 1 bar: 180 calories, 2g net carbs, 16g fat, 6g protein

    Recipe by Margarita White (@Carbophobic), published on

    Do you need more low-carb breakfast recipes?

    Check out these great low-carb cookbooks:

    18 thoughts on “Low-Carb Breakfast Bar”

    1. This is so sad, I really would like to make these. But with the ingredient details missing, could be iffy. Nuts/seeds, flax seeds-whole or ground and quantity, chocolate, how much & what kind. If anyone has the original recipe and would post it, there would be gratitude.

    2. This recipe has changed and is missing key measurements. How many nuts to use? How to make the drizzle? I made the bars a few years ago and at the time all the measurements and steps were there.

      1. Carbophobic (SITE AUTHOR)

        Hi Helen, I think ground cacao nibs should work but not sure about the amounts – they taste more intense than regular cacao powder, don’t they? I rarely use nibs so I am afraid I don’t know – you may have to do a bit of experimenting. Good luck!

      1. Hi Laura – yes it does – if it’s made as described in the recipe, using pure sugar-free 100% cocoa baking chocolate or powder.

    3. Lynne Dickerson

      I made these last night and my husband won’t eat them. I’m a pretty healthy water but they are too bland even with the drizzle. Any suggestions to save them? Pretty expensive to through out to the birds. I tried spreading with more peanut butter and sliced banana and that helped but they can’t be stored like that. Thanks!

      1. Hi Lynne, sorry to hear the recipe didn’t turn out well. The taste should be nutty and rich, not bland. Did you make any substitutions? I agree that the best thing to do now would be to store them as they are and then try them with various spreads and toppings. Good luck and I am sorry it wasn’t a success 🙁

    4. Hi, could I just use normal butter in place of the nut butter?
      Some really great recipes, thank you!

      1. Hi Linda, thank you! I am not so sure about normal butter, as it melts so quickly. Nut butters are denser and more sticky, and help to hold the bars together. You could try it but I am not 100% sure if it will work. Sorry!

    5. I really enjoyed making and eating these. I know from previous experience I don’t like drizzle so I left them plain. They keep my energy going for the morning until lunch so they are an excellent breakfast option, especially when I’m short on time.

    6. Tried this receive and am very impressed. Easy to follow instructions and the end result has gone down very well. Could make breakfast a much easier thing to cope with when you need to go really fast and don’t have time to do anything. Excellent thanks for that

    Leave a Comment

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Scroll to Top