Healthy banana flapjacks are chewy oat bars sweetened with banana and no refined sugar. They are an easy to make healthy snack which tastes delicious and will keep your energy levels up.
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What you'll love about the recipe
- Healthy banana flapjacks are high in fibre, and low in added sugar. They won't crash your blood sugar and they'll keep you fuller for longer.
- The soluble fibre in oats, called beta glucans is good for heart health. The combination of banana and oats provides a good source of B vitamins and a wide range of important minerals.
- Easy to make, with everyday ingredients. It takes just 10 minutes to make a batch of healthy banana flapjacks. There are only 5 ingredients, and no special equipment required.
- Great for on-the-go snacking. Homemade healthy banana flapjacks are a great replacement for packaged snacks, and much healthier. They are robust, and mess free.
- Chewy banana flapjacks are delicious. I've been making healthy flapjacks for over 20 years, and these are one of my favourite recipes!
If you are very short on time, or don't want to heat up the oven you might also like these no bake flapjacks.
Ingredients
You'll just need 5 simple everyday ingredients for these easy banana flapjacks.
Oats. Rolled or porridge oats are best in this recipe. Instant oats won't have as good a texture, and steel-cut oats will be too chewy and won't cook through properly.
For gluten free banana flapjacks, use gluten free certified oats which have been processed separately from other grains.
Banana. Make sure that your banana is properly ripe, as you'll get better, sweeter flavour. As an alternative to bananas, you could also make healthy flapjacks with applesauce, or sweeten your flapjacks with dates.
Butter, or vegan butter. If you prefer, you can use olive oil, or another type of healthy oil in this recipe. Compared to traditional flapjack recipes, healthy banana flapjacks are lower in fat, but a little butter or oil gives a better taste and texture.
Honey. This provides a little extra sweetness and flavour. You can use runny or set honey. For vegan banana flapjacks, use maple syrup.
Cinnamon enhances the natural sweetness in the recipe. Use mixed spice instead if you prefer, or experiment with other spices such as grated nutmeg, allspice or ground cardamom.
How to make healthy banana flapjacks
Peel and mash the banana with a fork in a large bowl.
Melt the butter in a pan. If you are using set honey, add this to the pan along with the butter so that it softens and is easier to mix.
As soon as the butter is melted, turn off the heat. (If you are using oil instead, skip this step.)
Add the melted butter, honey, cinnamon and oats to the mashed banana and stir well.
Place a piece of baking paper in the bottom of a 1lb/450g loaf tin. Spoon the flapjack mixture into the prepared tin and level out with a spoon.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees (160 fan) for 30 minutes. Turn partway through the baking time if necessary to ensure that the flapjacks brown evenly.
When cool enough to handle, remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Cut into 6 pieces.
You might also like a version of these banana flapjacks with blueberries.
Serving and storage
Healthy banana flapjacks are as wholesome and filling as a bowl of oatmeal, so you can enjoy them as breakfast on the go:)
Adults and kids will also enjoy them as a snack at anytime of day, or a healthy sweet treat at the end of a meal.
Healthy banana flapjacks will store well in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
If you want to store them for longer, wrap them well and pop them in the freezer.
Frequently asked questions
For this quantity of mixture, I use a 1lb/450 g loaf tin, which has dimensions of 21cm x 10cm. Obviously, you don't need the depth of a loaf tin to make flapjacks, but it was the best size of tin that I had. If you want to make double the mixture, then use a 20 x 20cm square pan.
This recipe can easily be adapted to vegan. Simply switch the butter for oil - you could use olive oil or coconut oil. You'll also need to replace the honey with maple syrup.
You can use certified gluten free oats to ensure that these flapjacks are free from gluten.
You could use a food processor or blender to mash the banana, but stir in the oats by hand otherwise they will lose their texture. I find that the recipe is so quick to make that it's not worth the hassle of washing up the food processor.
Other healthy flapjack recipes
If you like baking with oats, you might also like these other healthy flapjack recipes. They are all naturally sweetened and gluten free.
- These double chocolate flapjacks have chocolate in the mixture, plus extra chunks of dark chocolate.
- This simple gluten free flapjack recipe is a granola bar sweetened with honey.
- Apricot oat slices have a thick layer of apricots through the middle of the bar.
- And these delicious almond butter flapjacks are fudgy, nutty and dairy free.
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Recipe
Healthy Banana Flapjacks
Ingredients
- 1 large banana
- 30 g butter
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 120 g porridge oats
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (160 fan). Line the base of a 21cm x 10cm loaf tin with baking paper.
- Mash the banana in a large bowl.1 large banana
- Melt the butter. If you are using set honey, add this to the pan with the butter so that it is easier to mix. Turn off the heat as soon as the butter/honey are melted.30 g butter
- Add the melted butter, honey, cinnamon and oats to the banana and stir together until well mixed.1 tablespoon honey, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 120 g porridge oats
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, and bake for 30 minutes.
- When cool enough to handle, remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Cut into 6 rectangles.
Notes
- Instead of melted butter, you can use olive oil or another healthy oil
- Maple syrup can be used instead of honey if you want vegan banana flapjacks
- Use ground mixed spice instead of cinnamon if you prefer. You could also use some allspice, nutmeg or cardamom
- For a bigger batch of healthy banana flapjacks, double the quantities and bake in a 20x20cm lined tin
Nutrition
Please note nutritional information is per serving and is provided for guidance only.
Danielle Griffin says
I love this recipe! It's great as it is, and also very versatile if you want some variation. I added some chopped nuts and seeds to one batch, and halved the butter quantity and replaced the other half with pure peanut butter for another batch. All have turned out well and very tasty!
Wendy Faulkner says
Thank you, your variations sound delicious:)
Wendy Faulkner says
No problem:) I hope you enjoy it.
Lorraine says
Very tasty. I used coconut oil.
Chris Read says
Thank you for a nice easy recipe with clear instructions. Moist with a good flavour so shall make again.
Wendy Faulkner says
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it.
Rachel says
These are great, thanks for the recipe! I made mine with maple syrup and they are really yummy. Will definitely be keeping this recipe bookmarked for future use.
Wendy Faulkner says
Thank you, that's really nice to hear:) I've just done a version of these with strawberries in too which you might like. https://www.cinnamonandkale.co.uk/healthy-strawberry-flapjacks/
Corinne says
Very Tasty and easy to make, great for lunch boxes.
Wendy Faulkner says
Thank you very much for posting your comments:)
Corinne says
Want to make these vegan, how much oil please?
Wendy Faulkner says
Hi there, 30g butter is the equivalent of 2 tablespoons. You could either use oil or a vegan butter. I hope you enjoy them:)
Kristin says
Made these today. Turned out absolutely delicious.
Wendy says
Thank you, that's great to hear. Enjoy:)