Healthy Blackberry Crumble Bars (Gluten-Free & Vegan)
These healthy Blackberry Crumble Bars are an easy, delicious, healthy dessert or snack! They are made with only 7 ingredients and only 10 minutes of prep time. Plus, they are gluten free, vegan-friendly, and have no refined sugar!
These healthy Blackberry Oat Crumb Bars are one of my favorite healthy desserts! They are so delicious, especially in the summer when fresh blackberries are in season. The best part is that these crumb bars are made with healthy ingredients yet taste like an indulgent dessert!
Blackberry Crumble Bars are so easy to make. The base doubles as the crumb topping and is made entirely in a food processor. The blackberries are also pureed in the food processor. The longest and most difficult part of this Blackberry Oat Crumb Bars recipe is letting them cool in the refrigerator for a few hours so that they cut without making a mess.
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HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY BLACKBERRY OAT CRUMB BARS
These Blackberry Crumble Bars are SO easy to make. I’ll walk you through the whole process step-by-step to ensure your bars come out perfect!
- COMBINE THE DRY INGREDIENTS: Combine the rolled oats, almond flour, cinnamon, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 3-4 times until the oats are slightly ground.
- COMBINE THE WET INGREDIENTS: Next, combine the wet ingredients by melting the coconut oil in a small pot over medium-low heat or in a microwave. Once the oil is melted, stir in the honey, and cashew butter until smooth.
- ADD THE WET INGREDIENTS: Add the wet ingredients to the food processor and process until everything is well combined.
- PRESS MIXTURE INTO A BAKING PAN: Remove 1 cup of the mixture and set aside for later (this will be the crumb topping). Using a spatula or your hands, press the remaining of the mixture into the bottom of an 8×8″ baking pan that has been lined with parchment paper. Use a fork to pierce holes in the crust to prevent it from puffing up during baking.
- BAKE THE CRUST: Bake the crust in a preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- MAKE BLACKBERRY PUREE: In the same food processor (there is no need to clean it), add the blackberries and tapioca starch. Pulse 3-4 times to break up the blackberries. If you want a smooth filling, pulse until the blackberries are completely pureed.
- POUR BLACKBERRY PUREE AND TOPPING: Pour the blackberry puree on top of the baked crust and use a small offset spatula to spread it out evenly. Use the crumb mixture that you set aside earlier and sprinkle it over the blackberry puree.
- BAKE BLACKBERRY OAT CRUMB BARS: Return the pan to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the crumb topping is golden brown. Once baked, remove the pan from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool completely. Place the Blackberry Oat Crumb Bars in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours to set completely.
- CUT CRUMBLE BARS AND SERVE: Remove the Blackberry Crumble Bars from the refrigerator. Cut into squares and enjoy!
BLACKBERRY OAT CRUMB BARS: INGREDIENTS & SUBSTITUTIONS
Let’s chat about the ingredients and a few possible substitutions in this Blackberry Crumble Bar recipe!
- Rolled Oats. Quick-cooking oats can also be used here. Just be careful not to turn them into flour in the food processor!
- Almond Flour. I use superfine almond flour made from blanched almonds. Natural almond flour that is ground from whole almonds also works.
- Coconut Oil. Grass-fed butter can be substituted for coconut oil.
- Honey. I have made this recipe with a few different natural sweeteners, but honey is my favorite! For a vegan version use maple syrup.
- Cashew Butter. Any nut or seed butter works well in this recipe. My favorite is cashew or almond butter.
- Blackberries. You can use fresh or frozen blackberries. If you are using frozen blackberries, make sure to thaw them before pureeing. If you don’t have blackberries on hand, any other berry or fruit can be used!
More Healthy Recipes You’ll Love!
- Coconut, Date, and Puffed Millet Bars
- Healthy Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Paleo Lemon Poppyseed Doughnuts
- No-Bake Dark Chocolate Nut Bars
- Paleo Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread Bars
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Blackberry Oat Crumb Bars
Ingredients
- 3 cups 310 g rolled oats
- 1 cup 120 g almond flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon optional
- 1/2 cup 100 g coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 cup 117 g honey (or maple syrup for vegan option)
- 1 tbsp 32 g cashew butter (can substitute any other nut or seed butter)
- 12 oz blackberries
- 1 tbsp tapioca starch
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8 x 8-in baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Combine oats, almond flour, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse to chop oats and combine.
- In a small pot, or microwavable bowl, melt coconut oil. Stir in honey and cashew butter.
- Pour into dry ingredients in food processor and process until mixture comes together (make sure there are not dry spots).
- Set aside 1 cup of oat mixture for crumb topping. Evenly distribute and press down the remaining mixture in the parchment lined baking pan. Prick the crust with a fork a few times to allow steam to escape. Bake for 10 minutes.
- While crust is baking, add blackberries and tapioca starch to the food processor and pulse 3-4 times to break the blackberries up. If you prefer a smooth filling, process until blackberries are completely pureed. Remove the crust from the oven and pour blackberry puree over crust. Crumble reserved oat mixture evenly over blackberries. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until topping is golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cool completely in pan for 1 hour. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours until completely set. Remove from pan by lifting the edges of the parchment paper and cut into bars.
- Enjoy!
These are delicious and exactly what I was looking for! After picking a boatload of raspberries (which I used instead of blackberries), I needed a recipe that uses a lot of fruit (most scone/muffin recipes call for less than a cup) and that has a sane amount of sugar. Having said that, I wanted to make sure my kids would eat this and not complain that I made another “health dessert” 🙂 So I used 1 cup granulated sugar in place of the honey. Since I can’t eat FODMAPs, honey was not an option. Admittedly, 1 cup of sugar is more than what is called for, but not by as much as you might think since honey is sweeter than sugar– you can’t necessarily substitute 1:1 honey to sugar and get the same result. These are delicious with the 1 cup of sugar and pleasantly sweet, though not overly so– you can still really taste the berries. Additionally, I used lactose-free butter instead of coconut oil and opted to NOT use the cinnamon. I will definitely be making these again!
I loved this and more importantly, so did my gluten intolerant daughter and the other gluten tolerant folks in the house! So a win-win for this Momma. I was able to make one dessert that everyone enjoyed! Oh, how “sweet”! I did have to make some adjustments, but not by a stretch. I had to make my own almond flour with my whole almonds. Thank you for the tip! I had tapioca for pudding, but not tapioca starch, so I took my time grinding it into a powder. As a side note, a mortar and pestle is probably the worst way to do that. Also, I only had some jelly that did not set up that I used as my fruit base. I thought what I saw up in my cubbard, was my brother’s blackberry jam that did not set (because mine always sets, doesn’t yours ;p), but it turned out to be my cherry jelly… sorry big bro. So very happy to find this recipe. I look forward to trying it just as you have written it in the future!
Hi Angelina!
I am excited to make this recipe but I don’t have tapioca starch and with everything going on I’d rather not make a trip to the store. However, I do have corn starch, whole wheat flour, white rice flour, almond flour, oat flour, and spelt flour. Would any of those be a good substitute?
Hi Miranda! Although I’ve never made this recipe with any tapioca substitutes, your best best it to replace the tapioca starch with cornstarch.
I replaced it with cornstarch and it was great!
NEED NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION!!!
Nutritional info can be found at the end of the recipe
This was amazing Everyone loved it. I have a bunch of plums I need to use. Do you think plums could work with this recipe?
I’m so happy you liked these bars!! I’ve never tried it with plums, but it sounds like it will be delicious!! I might give it a try too 🙂
These look fantastic! I am seriously putting blackberries in everything right now!
Thank you!! I love EVERYTHING blackberry!!
Very tasty & simple recipe. Everyone loved it. A few changes that I found necessary:
– changed the oats & almond flour ratio to 50/50, 2 cups oats and 2 cups almond flour so that the dough is little bit lighter, crunchier & fluffier and not as dense and chewy as with 3 cups of oats
– added some freshly squeezed lemon juice to the blueberries to brighten up their flavor
– needed to bake it much longer than the 15 minutes specified. Mine took about 35 minutes but came out perfect.
Thanks for a great recipe!
Thank you Sarah! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!! I’ll be giving your changes a try next time I make it!
Can I use gluten free all purpose flour instead of almond flour?
Hi Debbie! I have never tried substituting the almond flour with gluten free flour, but I think that it will work! The texture might not be as crumbly though.
These look super delicious! Love that they’re on the healthier side of dessert, too.
Thank you! I love “healthy” desserts!! 🙂