My pistachio obsession continues today! I mean, what a fun and gorgeous little nut to make these crunchy quinoa granola bars pop with beauty, right?
I found myself making and snacking on these no bake quinoa granola bars all the time during my first few months postpartum. They’re loaded with nutrition thanks to nourishing ingredients, naturally sweetened with honey and covered in dark chocolate + sea salt. A healthy snack that feels indulgent. My favorite.
The best part though? They’re completely no bake. So, let’s get to it!
Ingredients in pistachio quinoa crunch bars
We’re packing these delicious, gluten free chocolate quinoa granola bars with healthy fats from nuts, omega-3s from flaxseed meal and so much more. They’re naturally sweetened (plus a little chocolate). Here’s what you’ll need:
- Almond butter: be sure to use a natural, drippy kind or feel free to sub peanut butter or sunflower seed butter.
- Honey: for a delicious hint of sweetness in these bars.
- Vanilla extract: a little vanilla adds the perfect flavor.
- Gluten free rolled oats: rolled oats help hold the crunch bars together.
- Quinoa: we’re using uncooked quinoa in these bars for a delicious crunch and boost of protein.
- Flaxseed meal: add in some nutritious omega-3s with flax!
- Pistachios: you’ll love the flavor that pistachios give these quinoa crunch bars.
- Roasted cashews: I love the flavor of roasted cashews but you can also use roasted almonds for even more crunch.
- Dark chocolate bar: for topping the bars. You can use dairy free chocolate or dark chocolate chips, too.
- Coconut oil: a bit of coconut oil will help the melted chocolate harden over the bars.
- Sea salt: sprinkle a little fancy sea salt on top for that sweet & salty combo.
How to make quinoa crunch bars
These delicious gluten free quinoa crunch bars are easier to make than you think!
- First, line an 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Next, add your quinoa and oats to a medium pan and place over medium low heat. Toast quinoa and oats in the pan for 3-6 minutes or until quinoa begins to turn a slight golden brown color. You can also toast them on a pan in the oven at 325 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. Once done toasting, set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the almond butter, honey and vanilla until smooth. Add in the oats and quinoa mixture, along with the flaxseed meal, pistachios and cashews. Stir until well combined.
- Add mixture to the prepared pan and spread out evenly, then press mixture down in the pan very firmly.
- Next break up the chocolate bar into chunks. Add the chocolate and coconut oil to a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Pour over the bars, tilting the pan to evenly coat the bars with chocolate. Add a few tablespoons of chopped pistachios on top.
- Place the pan in the fridge for 4 hours or until the mixture has completely hardened. Remove the bars from the pan, sprinkle with sea salt and cut into 8 squares or bars.
Storing these chocolate quinoa crunch bars
- In the fridge: store these bars covered in a container in the fridge for up to 1 week. When you’re ready to eat them, just let them come to room temp for about 5 minutes so that they soften a bit.
- In the freezer: place the chocolate quinoa crunch bars in the freezer for up to 2 months in an airtight container. I’d recommend separating the bars with parchment wax paper as well. When you’re ready to eat them, let the bars thaw in the fridge and then bring them to room temp as described above.
I hope you love these delicious salted dark chocolate pistachio quinoa crunch bars! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating to let me know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
The
Ambitious Kitchen
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Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Salted Dark Chocolate Pistachio Quinoa Crunch Bars
Delicious salted dark chocolate pistachio quinoa crunch bars filled with nutritious ingredients like quinoa, flaxseed meal, pistachios and cashews. These sweet & salty, protein-packed quinoa crunch bars are naturally sweetened with honey and a little chocolate for a wonderful no bake snack or healthy treat!
Ingredients
- ½ cup natural drippy almond butter (or sub peanut butter or sunflower seed butter)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup gluten free rolled oats
- ⅓ cup uncooked quinoa
- ⅓ cup flaxseed meal
- 1/3 cup shelled pistachios
- ¼ cup roasted cashews or almonds
- For the dark chocolate topping:
- 1 (2.5 ounce) dark chocolate bar, dairy free if desired (or sub ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips)
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios, for sprinkling on top
- Maldon sea salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Line an 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Add quinoa and oats to a medium pan and place over medium low heat. Toast quinoa and oats in the pan for 3-6 minutes or until quinoa begins to turn a slight golden brown color. You can also toast them on a pan in the oven at 325 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. Once done toasting, set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the almond butter, honey and vanilla until smooth. Add in the oats and quinoa mixture, along with the flaxseed meal, pistachios and cashews. Stir until well combined.
- Add mixture to the prepared pan and spread out evenly, then press mixture down in the pan very firmly.
- Next break up the chocolate bar into chunks. Add the chocolate and coconut oil to a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Pour over the bars, tilting the pan to evenly coat the bars with chocolate. Add a few tablespoons of chopped pistachios on top. Place the pan in the fridge for 4 hours or until the mixture has completely hardened. Remove the bars from the pan, sprinkle with sea salt and cut into 8-10 squares or bars. Store bars covered in the fridge.
Recipe Notes
To make these vegan: use date syrup instead of honey and make sure to use a vegan chocolate bar.
Nutrition
Serving: 1barCalories: 307calCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 8.1gFat: 18.9gSaturated Fat: 3.9gFiber: 5.7gSugar: 17.2g
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84 comments
Hi Monique! Any subs for the oats– unfortunately, I’m allergic 🙁 Love all your recipes and can’t wait to try this one out!
You could try a scoop of protein powder, more flax or even almond flour!
Could these be frozen? Looking to have these as a postpartum snack in a few weeks!
Absolutely! Just thaw them a bit in the fridge before eating them 🙂
Do you chop the pistachios and almonds/cashew?
I didn’t chop either, but you can feel free to. 🙂
Oh my gosh!!!!! This is like your favorite chocolate candy bar …..but healthy!!!! I love the crunch with the sweet and salty tastes. The recipe doesn’t say whether to chop the nuts that go into the bar. I chopped them coarsely and it was great! So not sure how it would be if you left them whole. Probably just as amazing! This would be a great snack or dessert! Fabulous!
I didn’t chop either, but you can feel free to. 🙂 So glad you loved these!
Simply amazing
Glad you love them!
Seriously the most delicious bars ever. Stop whatever you’re doing and make them! Used tri color quinoa since that’s what I had on hand. Also doubled the batch and used both almonds and cashews. SO DELICIOUS!!! My new favorite.
Amazing! So happy you love them!
These are soooooo delicious. Can’t stop eating them!
The best healthy treat!
This is really good, but next time I want to make it less sweet. Would you recommend something to hold it together besides the honey?
You could try using a little less honey to make the bars less sweet!
Would maple syrup work instead of honey??
Yes that should be fine, or you can use date syrup or coconut palm syrup.
Thank you!!!
I will be making this one today… but just want to let you know that your dessert recipes are AMAZING
Thanks so much, Dana!
Absolutely delicious, super easy to put together and Hard to resist from sneaking into fridge before totally set!
So good! Glad you loved them 🙂
I am constantly looking for healthy nutritious snacks for the athlete son and these bars are absolutely perfect. My only substitution was using homemade cashew butter as I happened to match a batch in the morning. The quinoa give a wonderful crunch and the pistachio and dark chocolate topping adds the right amount of sweetness.
Perfect! So glad you found this one!
These are the best treats! I’ve tried so many of your recipes and I’ve not been disappointed once!
It started with the Nourishing Asian Soup and I’ve been hooked ever since!
Amazing! So happy to hear that, Rebecca 🙂
Hi! Is there a substitute for quinoa? Allergies. How about buckwheat groats? Thanks!
Hi You could try subbing oats instead! I haven’t tried it though, so I can’t be certain they’ll stay together as well.
I haven’t made these but would love to, would I be able to use dates ground in a food processor in place of honey?
Yes, I think that could work well as long as the dates are nice and soft!
These are the best bars I’ve ever made. They are sooo delicious and feel so gourmet!!
I’m so glad you love them!
These are my favorite breakfast bars! I make them w/ almonds instead of cashews and a little extra chocolate (bc duh, chocolate). So quick and easy. Pro tip- using vanilla Almond butter adds some extra flavor (not that you need it, these are already delicious!)
I love this recipe, it is such a quick and nutritious snack! I used to make it a lot to have a healthy but super yummy snack at work in the afternoon
It’s such a challenge to get my family to eat anything healthy. These were a big hit with everyone. Thanks!
Unbelievably delicious! Thank you for such a nutritious treat!
Absolutely! Glad you loved it!
These are so addicting, I can’t stop making (or eating) them! I add a little cinnamon to mine and use almonds instead of cashews. The perfect amount of crunch. My mother loves them too. Makes an excellent mid-afternoon snack to curb candy cravings and gets me to dinner time without binge snacking.
Love it!!
i make these weekly for when a sweet craving hits! i didnt add the maple syrup and subbed pepitas instead of the pistachios. wonderful treat that my husband loves too!
Love it! Perfect treat 🙂
These could be the best “bars” ive ever had. Super easy and quick and have such an amazing flavor.
So glad you love them!
These were amazing! The roasted oats and quinoa added a really nice flavour. I am also now trying them as energy balls with a mix of mini chocolate chips and cacao nibs for the chocolate hit.
So glad you love them! Let me know how they go as energy balls 🙂
These are perfectly sweet and healthy! Love them for a snack or dessert. I can’t have pistachios so I opted for pecans and almonds in the inside and then went extra with the pumpkin seeds on top. Perfect recipe – thanks Monique!
Perfect! Glad you loved them!
LOVED the delicious sweet and salty combo from these bars, loaded with great nutritious ingredients, didn’t last long at all 😜🤭
So glad you enjoyed 🙂
This was so delicious and easy to make. I love the crunch quinoa gives throughout the bar. I leftout the salt and kept flax seeds whole because i couldn’t bother. Otherwise, i followed the recipe exactly. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
I made these for my family and they loved them so much!!! Such a great recipe with the crunch from the quinoa, the satisfying sweetness of the chocolate, and the nutty-ness from the pistachios and cashews. They were so shocked to find out it had uncooked quinoa in it – it’s such a secret superstar! Will definitely be making these again 😍
So happy to hear that! Perfect treat 🙂
Love these! Perfect for lactation too!
Such a great snack or treat!
I’d love to try but flaxseed meal really bothers my stomach. Is there a gluten-free substitute that might work here??
I think it should be fine to just leave the flax out!
Hi, these look absolutely delicious! But are you really using raw uncooked quinoa? Or puffed quinoa? I’m worried that normal quinoa will be hard to digest when uncooked..
Hi! Yes it’s raw quinoa. It does get toasted in the pan, but I think puffed quinoa would work well, too, if you prefer!
Can you use tahini instead of the almond butter? I have some soom tahini both chocolate and vanilla
Hi, Renee! I haven’t tested it personally but I think it should work just fine. Let me know how it goes!
Hi there,
There sound delicious! Any sun for quinoa, I’m allergic but I would love to try these!
Hi there,
These sound delicious! Any sub for the quinoa? I’m allergic but would love to try these.
Hi You could try subbing oats instead! I haven’t tried it though, so I can’t be certain they’ll stay together as well.
Absolutely delicious and very easy! I used almonds instead of cashews. Will definitely be making these again.
Yay! I am so glad you are enjoying this recipe and it turned out great!
I would like to substitute Trader Joe’s cacao chips instead of the chocolate bar. Would I need to add any sweetener since they are unsweetened? If so, what do you recommend, and how much?
Thank you!
You could add some liquid sweetener to the melted chocolate if you would prefer your chocolate be a bit sweeter.
It’s the crispity crunch of the quinoa for me. I slapped these babies together in under 15 minutes. Roasted the quinoa and oats in the oven for 10 mins – perfectly toasted. Used butter with the chocolate instead of coconut oil – worked great. Didn’t bother to line my pan with parchment – slid out easily. These were epically crunchy, crispy, nutty, toasty, chocolatey. Great quick snack for after work or something sweet and healthy after dinner!
Amazing! SO glad these bars turned out amazing for you, Hannah 🙂
Hi! I cannot eat flaxseed in any form. Is there something I can use in place of flaxseed meal?
Thanks!
Hi! You could substitute oat flour – feel free to make your own using rolled oats (here’s a tutorial!)
Do you rinse the quinoa first to remove the bitter taste
I typically don’t because you’ll be toasting it first!
I made your salted dark chocolate, pistachio quinoa bars today. Oh my goodness! They’re so gourmet tasting and hearty. I will never buy another Jojo bar from Costco again when I can make my own bars that are this amazing!
So happy to hear that!
Absolutely amazing! Made them exactly as the recipe detailed then tried a couple variations, once cutting the peanut butter in half and adding 5 stewed dates and other times adding different nuts and seeds.
Perfect! Glad you loved them!
Can I sub the flaxseed meal for something else? This sounds amazing and I want to try it!
You could try oat flour!
My oh my are these good! I made them during postpartum meal prep but nabbed a few to eat beforehand. They are perfectly salty, sweet and crunchy and I love that you get a hefty dose of fiber, protein and fat! Honestly couldn’t ask for a more perfect postpartum snack. I upped the ante a bit by using Trader Joe’s chocolate covered pistachios and I only had plain cashews, not roasted. Made everything else as written and they’re divine!
These are amazing for postpartum! Great idea to add chocolate covered pistachios – YUM.
I’ve been “sampling” each component as it’s being put together so I know I’m going to love these! I made this even more certain by adding dried cherries because I felt like I wanted some chew. Very easy to put together & I’m excited to enjoy it for breakfast tomorrow😋
Love that! Such a great snack 🙂