These easy keto granola bars are perfect for a snack or breakfast anytime! With the most wholesome ingredients, good fats from nuts and seeds, these sugar-free snack bars have 8 grams of protein and just 5 grams net carbs.
HOMEMADE LOW CARB GRANOLA BARS
Chewy, crunchy, sweet delicious flavors and a little salty too, packed into a perfectly portioned clean low carb energy bar!
Making homemade low carb sugar-free chocolate chips granola bars that taste like the real thing, just got easier using my favorite low carb liquid sweetener that doesn't spike blood sugar, Allulose.
But if you can't buy it where you live, make my Simple syrup to replace it.
Using just a small amount of this keto sweetener helps bind these sugar-free bars together with all the nuts and seeds used and brings just a slight sweetness to these low carb granola bars.
Carbs in Traditional Granola Bars
Using the app Cronometer, a Nature Valley Crunchy Granola bars with honey has 29.3 grams of carbs and 2 grams dietary fiber.
That amount of carbs is more than what most people following a ketogenic diet eat in one whole day. Then it contains some whole ingredients, it's still too high in carbs with 27.3 grams of net carbs.
Also since it's made with honey, this amount of carbs and with 11 grams of sugar, this product will spike blood sugar and probably cause some cravings.
For those on a committed keto diet or even those on low carb diets, the best way to reduce cravings and/or stay in a healthy ketosis range, is to curb your sweet tooth with our healthy candy bar alternative with delicious nuts that provide healthy fats for satiation.
Carbs in our crunchy granola bar are 7 total grams, with 2 grams dietary fiber so just 5 g net carbs. All the rest of the nutritional data is on the recipe card below with full printable recipe instructions.
SUGAR FREE SWEETENERS
Finding a low carb sweetener that is liquid and helps bind ingredients hasn't been an easy task.
While there are plenty of them out there, the keto sweeteners I like to use are not artificial and don't spike blood sugar. Keto sweeteners like Swerve and Monk fruit and Stevia great, but they wouldn't be the right one to use since those are either granular or confectioners style.
I don't use sugar alcohols like Maltitol or Sorbitol because they cause bad GI distress if you consume too much.
I don't use Xylitol since it's lethal for dogs and I have two. Those are also considered artificial sweeteners just like Splenda, Aspartame and Saccharin which I don't use as studies show they spike blood sugar.
Liquid Allulose comes in a granular form as well as in a liquid, but the liquid version works best in this recipe. I think if you can't find it where you live or online try my recipe for Keto Simple Syrup to replace the Allulose I used in this recipe.
Another low carb sweetener that doesn't leave an aftertaste, is Better than Sugar by Sweetleaf. It's a combination of erythritol and stevia and has plenty of sweetness as sugar would provide.
Swerve confectioners sweetener is also low carb but doesn't have as much sweetness and you may need to use a bit more in a recipe to get this as sweet as you like.
Many people are not wanting to use erythritol anymore since recent studies came out about possible blood clots for those with certain health conditions.
I've also used Sukrin Gold Syrup, which you also might like using, in some past granola bar recipes, like my grain free low carb granola bars.
SUGAR FREE NUT BUTTER OPTIONS
I used natural, no sugar added peanut butter in these low carb gluten free granola bars, but you can certainly swap that out with almond butter, macadamia butter or even sunflower seed butter if you prefer.
HOW TO STORE GRANOLA BARS
These can be left out on the counter and they will stay perfectly fine for up to 5 days. I like to refrigerate though, which will keep them crisp and will last a bit longer if you do.
You can also freeze these for up to 3 months. Wrap individually then in a ziploc freezer bag for easy grabbing from the freezer.
SUGAR FREE KETO GRANOLA BARS
Low Carb Keto Granola Bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup blanched almonds (72g) or sunflower seeds or another nut of choice
- ¼ cup macadamia nuts (34g)
- ¼ cup walnuts (30g)
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds (35g)
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds (32g)
- ⅓ cup unsalted sugar free peanut butter or nut butter of choice
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or butter (room temperature)
- ⅓ cup liquid allulose or make my Simple Syrup recipe
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large egg whites
- ⅓ cup almond flour (33g) or sunflower seed meal
- 1 pinch sea salt flaked
- ⅓ cup sugar free chocolate chips (60g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F / 200C / 180fan.
- Place the nuts and seeds on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes until slightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to fully cool.
- Meanwhile, melt the peanut butter and coconut oil in pan, stirring with a balloon whisk until fully melted. Allow to fully cool. Mix through the allulose and vanilla. Dip a spoon into the mix, careful not to burn your mouth and adjust the sweetness to your taste, remembering we have the chocolate chips still to add!
- Add the cooled nuts to a food processor and pulse so some are blitzed and some are chunky. I actually chopped some with a knife too so I got a nice mix of finer and chunky. You can do it all by hand using a sharp knife and chopping board if you prefer.
- Place the cooled peanut butter mix, nuts, seeds, egg whites, almond flour, salt and dark chocolate chips in a mixing bowl and stir to fully combine.
- Line a 16 x 24 x 2cm or 8 by 8 baking tray with parchment paper and press the mix into the tin until level.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 355F /180C / 160 fan and bake granola bars for about 20-25 minutes until golden. Don’t worry if you see any surface fat, it will soak in as it cools. Remove from the oven and allow to fully cool. You could also place in the fridge to set them quicker. Once set, slice into 10 bars.
- Storage: Storage: Airtight container for up to 5 days. They do not need refrigeration. You can Freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Colleen Elias
Mine crumbled when I cut them 😕. Did I do something wrong?
Eden
The next time I make these, I will reduce the amount of time to roast nuts to 5 minutes at 350 degrees. My bars just had a burnt taste. They, too, were crumbly. Good flavor though.
Kay
How do I stop them from crumbling apart.
Chris
This is the first recipe of yours that didn't work for me. The end result tasted pretty good, but was completely crumbly. I used Sukrin liquid as my sweetener (2.5 T). the only thing I did differently was to use a second egg white because my egg was more medium size than it was large and it wouldn't even whip up because there wasn't enough in the bottom of the kitchenaid mixing bowl. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. I notice another reader had a crumbly result as well... curious if anyone has luck with this.
Brenda
So sorry for the trouble you had. We retested these and I adjusted the amount of Allulose and also added another egg white and cooked them for longer. The recipe is now updated above. After they set, mine were solid.
Lauren Gonzalez
definitely going to use the liquid allulose next time...although they still tasted very good they fell apart(so i ate it like granola haha)
Brenda
Sorry about that. I've retested and adjusted some ingredients in the recipe so now it is perfectly solid.
Wendy paterson
Brenda, I have granular allulose but not liquid. How much would I use?
Brenda
I'm sorry I really don't think the granular will work for this recipe to stick together.
Wanda
In place of liquid allulose I used Keto maple syrup.....perfect and very delicious