When you want a quick easy snack on the run or breakfast in the car, sugar-free chocolate bars are delicious, crunchy, and filling.
They are made from a few simple ingredients and made in a blender. So easy and perfect for meal prep for the week ahead. Keep some in the freezer.
So many readers are asking for nut-free recipes. Both for those who have nut allergies and for those (like me) whose children attend a nut-free school. It's tricky when so much low-carb baking uses a variety of nuts or nut flours.
Sugar-free chocolate bars
There is too much added sugar in regular granola bats and muesli bars. Then there is the dried fruit (sugar), maple syrup (sugar), honey (sugar), and chocolate coating (sugar). They are more like candy bars than a health bars.
The good news is it is super quick and easy to make homemade granola bars that are also sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free.
I have had many requests from my previous grain-free granola bars to make a nut-free version. They are so incredibly filling, even half a chocolate seed bar would probably be enough for a quick snack.
Sugar-free chocolate bars are easily adapted to whatever seed that you like or can tolerate. They can be dressed up with a drizzle of melted sugar-free chocolate too, for those kids who need a little more encouragement to give up their favorite high sugar muesli bar.
Why grain free?
If you are new here and are wondering why we avoid all grains (and aren't whole grains supposed to be healthy). Modern grains are not what our ancestors ate, and were never found in almost every single product, meal, and snack.
All grains will raise your blood sugar and so for those who are on the low-carb diet, keto diet or those with diabetes who want to maintain normal blood sugars, giving up starchy grains are a must.
By giving up grains, you immediately avoid the majority of processed junk food. You become low-carb almost by default.
Grains are used to fatten animals before slaughter and produce fatty liver disease in duck and geese, to make foie gras. No wonder all those whole grains are making us fatter and sicker. And as for the added sugar and processed oils ... You may also want to read my FAQ where all of these are discussed.
Top tips
Anyway, back to the sugar-free chocolate granola bars. My top tips for successful granola bars (that won't fall apart):
- Blitz them long enough in the blender until you can see it all clumping together.
- Press the seed bar mixture firmly into abaking dish lined with baking parchment paper. This helps to produce solid and sturdy granola bars. No one likes crumbly granola bars (muesli bars) that fall apart in the lunch box.
- As the chocolate granola bars cook, sometimes the oil appears to float to the surface, but don't worry, it soaks right back in as the seed bars cool.
Recipe FAQ
Too much. Period. Most regular traditional muesli bars/granola bars have added sugar, honey, maple syrup, dried fruit, and other creative ways to market and rename sugar.
Regular granola bars (muesli bars) are often packed with added sugars, preservatives, dried fruit, wheat, gluten, and chemical flavors.
Store-bought ones MAY be healthy BUT you HAVE to check your nutrition label for added maltitol. It is a sweetener (sugar replacement) that raises blood glucose. It's best to make homemade granola bars.
Yes, you can use any variety of seeds that you can tolerate.
The trick is to grind the seeds and other ingredients together and the fine powder that it creates will help stick with the coconut oil. Press the granola bar mix firmly into your prepared baking tray that has been lined with baking parchment paper.
Granola recipes
If you're in a rush and want a quick breakfast, make a big batch of homemade sugar-free granola for easy meal prep for the weeks ahead. Or make gluten-free granola bars of peanut butter granola bars (depending on what you can tolerate).
Best homemade granola recipes 
Gluten-free granola bars No bake peanut butter granola bars
📖 Recipe
Please rate this recipe.
Sugar-free chocolate bars recipe (dairy-free nut-free)
Calculate ingredients
Ingredients
- 300 g (2 cups) seeds of choice
- 50 g (⅓ cups) ground flaxseed/linseed
- 3 eggs - medium
- 50 g (¼ cups) coconut oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoon granulated sweetener of choice or more, to your taste
- 40 g (¼ cups) cacao nibs
- 100 g (1 cups) desiccated/shredded coconut
- 30 g (⅓ cups) cocoa powder (unsweetened) unsweetened
Instructions
- Place the seeds, linseed, and eggs in the food processor with the blade attachment. Pulse until the seeds are roughly chopped and mixed with the eggs.
- Place all the other ingredients in the food processor bowl and pulse until thoroughly mixed and starting to clump together.
- Pour the seed bar mix into a baking dish lined with baking parchment paper (mine was 17cmx25cm, 7inchx10inch internal measurements). Press firmly into the baking dish to ensure the seed bars are solid and not crumbly when they are cooked.
- Bake at 180C/350F for 15-20 minutes until baked and slightly crisp.
- Allow to cool. I managed to cut 22 seed bars.
Notes
5-INGREDIENTS COOKBOOK
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YOUR HOLIDAY PANTRY & GIFT GUIDES
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Approximate nutrition information is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. For the most accurate nutritional data, use the actual ingredients and brands you used in your preferred nutrition calculator.
hillary
The chocolate made the bars bitter. If you like bitter, then these are for you. I will try again and add more "sugar"
Rachel Groff
Hi Hillary, we definitely recommend adding or adjusting the amounts of sweetener used to meet your taste buds. Everyone's tastes are so different depending on how long they have been on their sugar-free journey. If you need help choosing the best sugar-free sweetener for you please check out our Ultimate Guide to Low-Carb Sweeteners.
Alena
Just add some more sweetener! It’s not sweet at all:( Would like more chocolatey - sweet flavour. Other than that it’s too! Thanks!
Myrna
I’ve really enjoyed this recipe and the variations I’ve played with. For the seeds I like to use 1/4 volume each of chia seeds, sesame seeds, pepitas and sunflower seeds. I reserve about a quarter of allthose seeds whole and the chocolate nibs, processing the other seeds with the other ingredients just adding the whole seeds and nibs before pressing in the pan. This makes a very dense bar but it’s the way I prefer it.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Yummmm.
Suzy
Excited to make these soon! Do I need to store them in the refrigerator? Will they get melty or soft if they are left out?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I keep mine in an airtight container on the kitchen bench top. If it is especially hot or humid where you live, you may wish to keep them in the container in the fridge, or just somewhere cool.
Ruth Gallagher
hi libby, would i be able to sub the caco nibs fir caco powder? and if so how much would you recommend please?❤️
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Yes, you could cocoa, simply add to your liking (some prefer it more chocolatey than others), I would estimate 4 tbsp would do the trick. You will need to add more sweetener as cocoa powder by itself is quite bitter, and add some more liquid to counterbalance the addition of more dry ingredients. Another egg perhaps? These are all educated guesses. Come back and let me know how it went.
Robin
I can't get either cacao nibs or sugar free chocolate chips where I live. Is there a way to sub cocoa powder and coconut oil/butter? I love the idea of these. Does the chocolate help with binding, or can I just make them not chocolate?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I purely like to add cacao nibs or chopped chocolate (I love 90% Lindt) as a noce touch and to help replicate the granola/muesli bars my children were once used to. You can easily play around with this recipe to add things you can buy in your area, and love. Why not some orange zest? Pecans? Walnuts? All yummy varieties.
Midnight
This is a great recipe, and not just for the freedom it gives you to experiment! I went with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, and walnuts. I had to add a few tablespoons of water when blending so my food processor could do it's thing, but the bars came out nice and firm after cooled and sliced. Also, I kinda wish I hadn't bothered adding the cinnamon as I find it overpowers the cocoa (I don't have cocoa nibs) and I'm a chocoholic, but look forward to playing about with this recipe, thank you for sharing.
Kerri
Sub for cacao nibs?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Sugar-free chocolate chips.
Sharon
Can you use something else instead of flaxseed, chia or linseed to bind these bars together?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
What were you thinking of using?
Sharon
I'm not sure I just do not use flaxseed, linseed or chia seeds due to estrogen & also keto.I also need nut free & dairy free for school lunches
Kris
Can I ask what flaxseed, linseed or chia seeds have to do with estrogen? I tried to look it up but like everything else it just confused me. I am also supposed to avoid estrogen foods due to having breast cancer last year...
Alena
Flax seeds supposedly slightly raise estrogen in your body, but the value you get through the fiber in it is way higher imho
Sherry Gay
I'm interested in making these so I was clicking your links for a few of the ingredients. However these links are constructed they don't take me to the product so I can see the product info, it's just directly to a page to add it to my cart. I've never seen that kind of link/page before. And it doesn't have any way to get to the product info. I wanted you to know it's not exactly a "friendly" kind of link.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Apologies, the information should show when you hover over my Amazon links.
NinaB26
Can you use sesame seeds? Or too high in carbs?
Alena
For sure, just not too much maybe, their taste is pretty overpowering…
Hélène
I like the idea of chia, no grinding n less estrogen. How much chia did u use?
Jenny Weyman
Loved these Libby. Didn't have flaxseed so added chia seeds, used the sunflower and pumpkin combo didn't know if it would bind properly without ground flax so added a tablespoon of buckwheat flour. Would be more even more delish with a dob of melted dark chocolate or ganache on the top. Added macadamias to the mix(included in the seeds weigh in) for sweetness and delight. Used xylitol which leaves no taste I can tell, my go to sweetener now. Lovely!!
Randolph
These taste great! What kind of a shelf life do they have?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I keep mine in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Or they can be frozen too.
Nikol
How do you think these would freeze?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
They are pretty sturdy so they would freeze well. Pop them in an airtight container with baking parchment in between each layer.
Chelsea
Would this hold together with flax eggs or gelatin eggs?? We have multiple allergies including eggs here.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I have never used flax eggs or gelatine eggs but would love to know. If you do try, please come back and let me know how they turned out. This would be a superb adaptation for those with egg allergies.
Paleo Huntress
So there is no sweetener of ANY TYPE in these bars? Are they supposed to be snacks or dessert?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
The recipe includes "1/4 cup sweetener of choice, or more to your taste". I always add that clarification as so many like more sweetener than I do, some like to use virtually zero. So it's up to you and those pesky sweet taste buds 😉
Monica
Do these have a lot of coconut taste? My daughter is not a fan of coconut unfortunately and so many low carb recipes seem to have it?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
They do, but it's not overpowering due the the chocolate in there. You might want to add more vanilla or cinnamon to overpower the subtle coconut taste even further.
Sharon
I am new to baking with seeds. What seeds would you suggest?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I would choose sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. Then as you get used to new low-carb ingredients and low-carb baking, you can try with other seeds and nuts (walnuts would be nice if there are no allergies to them). Welcome and good luck. 🙂
Lucy
Wow we all loved these! Thanks so much for this great alternative to conventional muesli bars! I'm wondering would it work as a cheesecake base for one of your cheesecake recipes?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Yes, that would be superb!
Linda Ellery
we also have coconut allergies in the family, as well as nut allergies, can something be substituted for coconut, or coconut flour in your recipies
carol
can you use honey as sweetener?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
You could, but it won't be sugar free. The choice of sweetener is always up to you 🙂