Healthy Crunch Bars
Chocolate Crunch Bars made healthy! By using almond butter and puffed quinoa, this vegan and gluten free treat will satisfy your sweet tooth without any refined sugars or unhealthy ingredients.
Are you a fan of Crunch Bars? Me too! In fact there aren’t many chocolate bars I don’t like. 😉
Making some Healthy Crunch Bars seemed like a good idea to me!
The inspiration for this chocolate bar was a bag of puffed quinoa from the bulk food store.
My goal was to re-create a Nestle Crunch bar with healthy, nutritious, but equally delicious ingredients.
I achieved that goal.
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY CRUNCH BARS:
It was an easy prep.
It consists of measuring out the ingredients and stirring.
Check out the whole foods list of ingredients:
Maple syrup.
Natural Almond Butter.
Cocoa powder.
The puffed quinoa.
Pour melted coconut oil over the almond butter, cocoa powder and maple syrup.
Add in the puffed quinoa and stir it all up.
…pour into parchment lined mini loaf tins. You could also use lined muffin tins or a parchment lined square pan.
Licking the bowl is mandatory. 🙂
Freeze for 15 minutes and store in the fridge/freezer in a sealed container
I ended up cutting these bars in half for better portion control. I wanted these to last longer! Very, very good. I could also see using puffed brown rice in this recipe as well.
This was quick and easy. These bars are nothing but good for you.
The following are my top 5 favourite snack recipes. I hope you enjoy your time in the kitchen creating magic for your family and for yourself!
MORE HEALTHY SNACK RECIPES:
Maple Cinnamon Roasted Almonds
*Originally posted May 17, 2013. Updated November 19, 2019*
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Quinoa Crunch Bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut oil melted but not hot
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup natural almond butter
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup puffed cereal ** such as puffed quinoa, brown rice crispies cereal, puffed millet, etc. **
Instructions
- Line your pan with parchment
- Combine all ingredients and stir
- Pour into pan and freeze for 10 minutes
Nutrition
I have some “healthy BLOCK of dark chocolate” that I’d like to melt and use for these instead of the cocoa powder. Do you know how to convert this recipe? I appreciate any advice you might have.
I would melt down the chocolate, stir in the puffed cereal and freeze! Done 🙂 Maybe add a touch of maple syrup to sweeten it slightly if it is super dark chocolate.
When using a block of dark chocolate, do you have any idea how much to use? how many ounces for this recipe?
Hi,
Just wondering how this would work if you reduced the oil and tempered the chocolate…
Sorry, I haven’t tested that method. Please let us know if you try it!
I couldn’t find puffed quinoa. I used puffed millet. There was little to no crunch using puffed millet. I recommend trying one of the other options. The chocolate was delicious!
Yes, some of the puffed grains definitely have more ‘crunch’ to them. Puffed rice works really well!
All my puffs rose to the top and the puffs were not very crunchy. What did I do wrong?
Hey Joan! I’m not sure why they would rise to the top. Perhaps your bars are a bit too thick? Also, I have found that puffed rice works better than puffed quinoa for the crunch factor. A fresh bag helps too! Sometimes the puffs can be stale.
I am new to food allergies with my kids. Coconut is an issue what else can I use?
If you can handle dairy melted butter could work. The oil is what holds these together and it is kind of hard to replace, unfortunately. Coconut allergies are difficult.
I don’t use oil- is there anything I can use to replace that to give the same consistency?
That is a tough one because the oil really holds everything together once it is solid.
I made these for my family and they loved them. My kids even asked for seconds! I’m planning on making them again, do you think I could omit the sunflower seeds? I want to make them for my extended family and my mother doesn’t like sunflower seeds! Thank you!!
Hmmm … there aren’t any sunflower seeds in this particular recipe though? Was it this one? –> No Bake Sunbutter Energy Bars In those you could use a different nut butter like peanut butter or almond butter. Let me know!
I just started trying out Vegan dishes, desserts, etc and this one is a MUST! It does not taste like it is “vegan” as some people have this particular taste association for vegan foods. So I am careful about dishes I make. For this I didn’t tell anyone that it is categorized as “vegan”. They loved it. Gone in 60 seconds (I think it was less!). I have to make more and will put it in a tight container to be displayed so it is the choice for snacks. I gave out the recipes as popularly requested and no one questioned because it is just o good and so easy to make. THANK YOU! This will be ne of my go to desserts” till I find out to add.
That is so awesome! So satisfying when the recipe goes over this well. Thanks for the great review, Claire! Much appreciated. 🙂
Love these! How do you keep them from melting so quickly when you remove them from the freezer? I’d love to have them out for a party or to take to work, but I can’t keep them from making a huge mess when you try to eat them.
Hey Rebecca! I love these too – but the downside is they don’t travel well at all. Coconut oil melts SO fast and they need to be kept cold to hold together. It’s too bad because like you, I would love to share these with friends at work.
Thanks for sharing! Does its keep long?
keep it in the fridge for up to week!
These look so good! Do you use quinoa in any other desserts?
Did this with puffed amaranth. I like the chocolate recipe although in the future I think I’ll lend 1/4 cup less from the coconut oil and add it to the nut butter. I know coconut oil is necessary for it to solidify in the freezer, but this was a tad oily. Solid, solid recipe though!
I made these for a Halloween party and they turned out great! They get soft pretty quickly though as soon as I took them out of the freezer (not really surprised based on the ingredients!). I made my on quinoa as well since I didn’t have any puffed on hand (I had never even heard of it before). It was relatively easy and turned out pretty well! All I had to do was rinse the quinoa well (this was the hardest step… in retrospect I should have used cheesecloth but didn’t think of that til afterwards), dry it in the oven on the lowest setting with the door propped, then drop it in small-handful batches into a pot pre-heated to medium on the stove (no oil necessary). It started popping almost immediately, and once the popping slows down and it starts to look toasty I removed it to a bowl and started the next batch. Mine looks a lot toastier than the stuff in the picture, but my chocolate turned out very crispy!
That’s so cool Allison! I totally just bought my puffed quinoa at the bulk food store. I love that you popped your own. I’ll bet they tasted much crispier than my version. I’ll have to give this method a try! Thanks. 🙂
Just made these with toasted couscous. Anxiously waiting for these to chill!
Sounds like a great swap! Yum. 🙂
These look and sound wonderful. Just wondering if you have ever made an extra large batch and kept any frozen for a longer time. I’m always trying to prep for later too ??
Hey Corbey! These freeze very well. Make a large batch with no fear! 🙂 Enjoy.
I didn’t have any luck popping quinoa. It either burnt immediately or didn’t pop at all! But I used a puffed boxed cereal instead, and these turned out so delicious!!! Will definitely make these again and again!
I usually buy it already puffed at the bulk store. I’ve never tried to pop it myself. 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed them. Using any kind of crispy cereal would probably work well. Lots of variety with this one. 🙂
These. Are. Awesome. I tried puffing my own quinoa or amaranth and that didn’t really work for me, so I used a puffed cereal instead. Will try again with different ‘puffy’ things! 🙂
Thanks Rachel! This one is a classic, for sure. 🙂
Hi Lisa,
I love the ideas of these bars. Unfortunately, I can’t do coconut oil What would be a good alternative. Anxious to make these. Thanks.
If you’re not vegan, a nice melted organic butter should work. Good luck! 🙂
Girl, these look awesome! Is the quinoa soft or actually crunchy? I’m heading to TJs tomorrow and would love to give these a try!! 🙂
It’s not quite crunchy yet not quite soft either. It just gives a nice texture. If you want a bit more of the crunch factor puffed rice is nice. 🙂
Wow,these are good. I used Agave nectar instead of maple syrup. For those of you also counting points with weight watchers, I cut them into 15 pieces & I calculated the Points Plus Value @ 3.
Thanks for the calculation Krista! I’m glad you like these. They are a favourite of ours 🙂
These look absolutely delish…& so easy to make!
They are indeed both 🙂 You will love these! Thanks for the comment.
These look epically delicious, and that ingredient list is killer. I’m making these ASAP!!
I know, right?! These are a perennial favourite for us 🙂
Hey! Sounds so yumm and easy to make!
I have a question though, does puffed quinoa mean raw quinoa grain or are you supposed to cook it?
Hi Ankita! Puffed quinoa is actually similiar to a puffed cereal (think rice crispies). It can be bought in the bulk stores. If you can’t find it puffed brown rice also works well.
Sharon! Thank you for your wonderful recipes. I had some quinoa puffs sitting in my cupboard (intended to be used for cereal) and loved the idea of using them in a dessert! I’m happy to say that all your recipes that I have tried (5-7) in the past 5 days are excellent. So happy I discovered your blog. Looking forward to trying many more!
Thanks, Kara! I’m glad you found me, too 🙂 These bars are a favourite of my very picky boyfriend so I’m sure you’ll love them! Thanks again for the kind words!
Is it 1 cup of each or one of them?
Just one cup. Thanks for letting me know – it wasn’t really clear. I edited the recipe. Thanks again!
Made them! Wow! five stars – thank you ! No one in the family believes they are healthy.. made your quinua today for dinner also with a tomato paste and coconut milk sauce – ( ihad planned on making your bolognese sauce but time didnt permit the shopping – my creamy red sauce wasnt bad.. had no idea how great a sub the quinoa would be for pasta! delish! thank you!
I love it when people can’t believe things I make are healthy. It shows that good food is just that. Good food! As far as quinoa as a sub for pasta…I know! It’s been years now since I’ve eaten standard white pasta and I’ve never looked back…
Thanks so much for your positive feedback! It’s muchly appreciated:)
OMG these look fantastic! That’s so creative to use them for a crunch bar-type recipe. I’ve never even heard of puffed quinoa and would have no idea what to do with it!
They are so good! That batch was gone before I knew it…Look for puffed quinoa in the bulk bins.
I will!!
Can I use amaranth instead of puffed quinoa?
I haven’t tried it with amaranth but, I think if it was puffed it should be a fine swap. Let me know if it works out!
I love crunch bars and I know they’re terrible for you. I love this idea! Kudos for being so creative.
Enjoy the guilt free goodness:)