Oatmeal Bars with an applesauce filling are easy to make and delicious for snacking. These bars are always a hit with even the pickiest of eaters! Made with an oatmeal crust and an oatmeal crumb topping.
I started cleaning out my pantry last weekend. I found several jars of homemade applesauce I canned two years ago.
My kids don't eat nearly the amount of applesauce they used to eat. I decided to make applesauce oatmeal bars to use up some of that extra applesauce.
These easy oatmeal bars were a huge hit in my house. They disappeared before I even knew it! I think I'm going to have to start hiding my creations so they last a bit longer. Three teenagers can go through food like crazy!
Another recipe I make using applesauce is this Applesauce Cake!
Key ingredients
- Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Flour
- Cinnamon
- Oats
- Applesauce
You can use any type of oatmeal you have on hand. I prefer to use old fashioned oats in these bars rather than instant or one-minute oats. The old fashioned variety is thicker and adds great texture to the bars.
You don't need to have homemade applesauce to make these oatmeal bars. Any type of applesauce will work. You just need two cups for the recipe.
Another version of these bars are Raspberry Jam Bars and these Blueberry Bars. They are super delicious too! The raspberry jam bars use jam as the filling and are just as easy and as delicious as these applesauce bars. The blueberry bars use fresh or frozen blueberries in the filling!
Steps to make
A complete list of instructions is available below! Just scroll to the bottom!
- Place butter, flour and brown sugar into a food processor. Pulse until mixture becomes coarse crumbs.
- Add oats and cinnamon. Pulse just until mixed. The mixture will be dry and crumbly.
- Add half the mixture to the bottom of a greased pan. Press down firmly with your hands
- Mix additional cinnamon with applesauce. Add on top of flour mixture in pan
- Sprinkle on remaining flour mixture.
- Bake in a 325 degree oven for 40-45 minutes
- Allow bars to fully cool before slicing
What if I don't have a food processor?
I mixed this crust in a food processor, but if you don't have one I have a few options for you. First, you can place the crust ingredients in a bowl and mix using a mixer with beaters. Make certain the butter is very soft, but not melted.
Second you could mix with your hands. Place ingredients in a bowl and use your hands or your fingers to mix. This may be a bit messy, but your hands are really a great kitchen tool. Simply use your fingers to mash butter into the flour and oat mixture.
Tips for making
- Use salted butter that is softened. The butter should be soft enough to spread easily on a slice of bread
- Use old fashioned oats, which are a bit thicker than a quick oat.
- Allow bars to cool before slicing
- Store any leftover bars in a covered container
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Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients
Filling
- 1½ - 2 cups applesauce
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray a 9 x 13" baking dish with a non-stick spray .
- In a food processor bowl, add butter, brown sugar and flour. Pulse until mixture forms small, pea sized crumbs.
- Add cinnamon and oats. Pulse just until incorporated.
- Place half the oat mixture into prepared baking dish. Press mixture down with your hands.
Filling
- In a small mixing bowl combine applesauce and cinnamon.
- Pour filling on top of oat mixture. Spread evenly over oat mixture.
- Sprinkle remaining oat mixture over applesauce.
- Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 40 - 45 minutes.
- Allow bars to fully cool before slicing into 12 equal pieces.
Notes
- Use salted butter that is softened. The butter should be soft enough to spread easily on a slice of bread
- Use old fashioned oats, which are a bit thicker than a quick oat.
- Some people prefer not quite as much applesauce filling. You can use 1 ½ cups instead of the 2 cups.
- Allow bars to cool before slicing
- Store any leftover bars in a covered container
- First, you can place the crust ingredients in a bowl and mix using a mixer with beaters. Make certain the butter is very soft, but not melted.
- Second you could mix with your hands. Place ingredients in a bowl and use your hands or your fingers to mix. This may be a bit messy, but your hands are really a great kitchen tool. Simply use your fingers to mash butter into the flour and oat mixture.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted in February 2018.
Kim says
Great recipe, thank you for sharing! I do not think it needs 1 cup of butter, I am going to try again over the weekend with 1/2 cup. I also think the butter needs to be harder to cube and make it more like a crumb cake base ... otherwise, love the recipe ... super easy, super healthy - win win!!!
Kathy says
Hi Kim,
Thanks for the suggestions. Let me know how they turn out! I always like to try new tweaks with recipes.
Thank you!
Kathy 🙂
Lisa says
The only substitute I made was using vegan butter to make this a vegan recipe and pumpkin spice in the crust/topping in place of cinnamon; Everything else I left the same. After 40 minutes, mine was very soft, more like a mushy apple pie than any slice-able bars. I ended up baking it another 30 minutes before it was done. The flavor is amazing and i'll definitely make again but next time I will reduce the amount of applesauce to 1 cup or 1 1/2 cups!
Kathy says
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your comment. I have added your tip of reducing the applesauce as an option to the recipe. I have found when I make this, that the applesauce varies with the amount of liquid each time and that can add to the additional cook time. These are a softer bar, but should not be mushy.
Thank you!
Kathy 🙂
Melanie Adams says
This is a great recipe but I did make a few changes for what I had on hand. I used steel cut oats, very hearty! Subbed a spice mix I had leftover from an apple cake I recently made, instead of just cinnamon. I used 4 single serve applesauce cups, 3 unsweetened and one was strawberry flavored my son brought home from school. I also had 2 snack cups of diced peach and pear so I mixed those in with the applesauce. Lastly, I dotted half the pan with leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving. They are really delicious.
Kathy says
Sounds like a good combination!
Helen says
Could you use almond flour instead? If so, would be same amount (1:1 ratio)?
Kathy says
Hi Helen,
I have not used almond flour before. I did a quick search and read up on almond flour. It should be okay to substitute it in these bars. Sub at a 1:1 ratio. Let me know how they turn out.
Kathy 🙂
erin says
This is one of our family's favorite desserts! Simple and delicious.
Kathy says
Thanks, Erin! I'm so glad everyone loves it. It's one of our favorites too!
Celia says
Easy to make, turned out very well. I cut down the amount of sugar by half in the oatmeal mixture and it was fine. I had a lot of small apples from the tree in my garden to use up. Peeling them would have taken too long to peel them all. So I just cored them and whizzed them in the food processor and the skins weren’t noticeable.
Kathy says
Hi Celia,
Great idea and I loved that you were able to use up what you had on hand.
Kathy 🙂
Katherine S says
I am going to make these today.i am using leftover apple puree from a spiced apple cider I made so there' will bea nice spiced flavour.
Kathy says
Sounds like a good use of that leftover puree! Enjoy 🙂
Sabrina says
Very tasty! We liked that it wasn’t overly sweet. I added some chopped pecans on top and it gave a nice crunch! Already planning to bake again.
Kathy says
Hi Sabrina,
Chopped pecans sounds like a great idea! I'm going to add those the next time I make these bars!
eileen lakritz says
is it a 9 x12 or a 9 x 13 baking dish?
Kathy says
Either one is fine.
Ellie says
Hi, do you use sweetened applesauce or unsweetened?
Kathy says
Hi Ellie,
Either sweetened or unsweetened applesauce works fine in this recipe.
Enjoy!
Lauren says
Could you halve this recipe and cook it in a smaller pan, maybe an 8x8? If so, how long would you bake it for?
Kathy says
Hi Lauren,
You could halve this recipe. I think I'd start by reducing the baking by about 25 minutes and check the bars. You are looking for some browning on the top and edges. After you check, you might cook for 5 more minutes if needed.
Let me know how they turn out.