Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Bars

Five-ingredient Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Bars are an easy, no-bake recipe for healthy snacking! These bars are vegan and naturally sweetened.

Well, I should have seen this one coming. Since giving dates an inaugural whirl in these no-bake coconut almond bars, I've been brainstorming different flavor combinations to mix up next.

These bars are made with five ingredients (dates, PB, peanuts, unsweetened cocoa powder, and ch-ch-ch-chia seeds) and are made in just a few minutes all thanks to your food processor.

Ultra quick snack-making for the week just so happens to allow you more time on a Saturday afternoon to watch Forensic Files and Google how to become a forensic pathologist.

Is it typical for weird obsessions to blossom in your mid-twenties?

Say yes, please.

One obsession (beyond that one) for me has become podcasts. Do you listen? I have a few different kinds on my Stitcher list depending on my mood. Blog ones get me excited about blog things, inspirational entrepreneurial ones to calm my anxieties when I stress out that I haven't gotten my career all figured out by now (see: my forensic pathology search history), and I geek out with the ladies of Stuff I Missed in History Class multiple times a week.

My favorites though are true crime ones, which despite my propensity for getting agita about lesser things, don't bother me one bit. Funny how the mind works.

I do my best podcast listening in the afternoons at work, which happens to be the time I start thinking about my afternoon snack. Lately I've been digging low-sodium roasted almonds (which I use in this crunchy dark chocolate almond bark), but these chocolate peanut butter chia bars have cut the line and become my #1.

As is the case with a lot of no-bake bars, these do better when they've been stored in the refrigerator, but can hold up several hours outside of the fridge for a few hours. They'll just be a little softer.

And for the taste? The cocoa powder and peanut butter shines through big time. Any time I can get my chocolate + PB fix in a healthier way than plowing into a Reese's or four is a snack time win!

Recipe Note

• I suggest using a no-stir peanut butter variety in these bars. Even with a lot of stirring, I'm afraid the "natural" varieties would add too much oil.

Ways to Use Up Chia Seeds

Have a big bag of chia seeds and are looking for more recipes to use them up? Here are some of my personal favorites:

• Chia seeds are a really important part of my extra filling green smoothie. This smoothie will totally fill you up like a meal (and I don't take saying stuff like that lightly!).
• They thicken blended chocolate chia pudding beautifully. Soaking them before blending ensures they become nice and smooth.
• Add them to protein overnight oats.

More Chia Bars

If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, I’d love for you to leave a star rating in the recipe card and/or a comment review below!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Bars

Five-ingredient Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Bars are an easy, no-bake recipe for healthy snacking! These bars are vegan and naturally sweetened.

4.31 from 39 votes

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Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 50 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 squares

Calories: 199kcal

Author: Alyssa

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup pitted whole dates (about 12-13)
• ▢ ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon peanut butter, I used creamy [see note]
• ▢ ¼ cup peanuts
• ▢ 2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• ▢ 1 ½ tablespoon chia seeds

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Instructions

• Add all ingredients to food processor and process until the ingredients break down and become a mostly cohesive mixture. You will still have little pieces of peanuts remaining, and the consistency of the mixture should hold together when you press it together.
• Line a rimmed dish with parchment paper and press mixture into it, leaving your desired thickness. I used only about half of an 8" x 8" baking dish as I didn't have a smaller dish available.
• Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes before slicing. Store bars in the refrigerator.

Video

Notes

I suggest using a no-stir peanut butter variety to prevent the bars from being too oily. If using a peanut butter that features a layer of oil on the top in the jar, I would stir it up very, very well before adding to the recipe.

 

Total recipe time includes 45 minutes of inactive chilling.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bar | Calories: 199kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 8.4g | Saturated Fat: 1.6g | Sodium: 48mg | Potassium: 353mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 23g | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 1.8mg

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Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.

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