Pocket Muesli Bars
Baked at home, dense enough to survive a week of pack compression without turning to crumbs.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 2.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 132
- protein
- 7 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Day hike
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Jumbo rolled oats | 3 cups | jumbo, not quick oats, or the bar goes pasty |
|---|---|---|
| Walnuts | 1/2 cup | chopped |
| Sunflower seeds | 1/3 cup | |
| Pumpkin seeds | 1/3 cup | |
| Mixed dried fruit | 1 cup | raisins, sultanas, chopped apricot |
| Unsalted butter | 3/4 cup | |
| Light brown sugar | 1/2 cup | |
| Honey | 1/3 cup | |
| Sea salt | a pinch |
Method
- At home: heat the oven to 350F. Spread the oats, nuts, and seeds on a sheet pan and toast 10 minutes, stirring once.
- Melt the butter, sugar, honey, and salt in a pan over low heat until the sugar is gone. Do not let it boil hard or it sets brittle.
- Stir the toasted oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit into the syrup until every oat is coated.
- Dump into a lined 8x8 pan and press down hard with the back of a spoon or a flat cup. Air pockets are what make bars crumble, so lean on it.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes until the edges color. Score into 12 bars while hot, then leave it alone until completely cool before lifting them out.
- On the trail: unwrap and eat. Nothing to cook, nothing to clean.
Store-bought bars crumble because they are mostly puffed grain glued together with syrup that goes brittle. This one is built the other way around: jumbo oats, whole seeds, and enough butter and honey to hold the whole slab together as one flexible mass. It bends under pack pressure instead of shattering.
The pressing step is the recipe. Press it half-heartedly and you get granola in a bag. The toasting up front matters too, since raw oats and seeds taste flat and toasted ones do not. Butter and honey mean these are vegetarian but not vegan or dairy-free, and the walnuts are not negotiable for anyone with a nut allergy unless you use the swap below.
Packing
Wrap each bar in parchment, then all twelve in one bag. They keep about ten days at room temperature and stay pliable in the cold, though in real heat the butter will soften and they need to ride flat.
Variations
- Swap the walnuts for more seeds if you are packing for a nut allergy in the group.
- A quarter cup of powdered milk in the dry mix adds a few grams of protein per bar.
- Cut them into 16 smaller squares for a snack you can eat walking.
https://www.baldhiker.com/homemade-muesli-bars-recipe