Ideal for meal prep! These chocolatey and nutritious Oatie Bars are the perfect make ahead meal for an easy and quick breakfast for you and your kids! Toss them right from the freezer to the air fryer for a low effort, gluten free, vegan and protein packed meal!
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Instant Pot Chocolate Chip Oatie Bars are a game changer, especially for parents. This recipe is the perfect meal prep to keep on hand for those busy mornings, instead of reaching for the frozen waffles or cereal (it's me. I'm talking about me).
These bars are so good and toddler approved. Loaded with wholesome ingredients, like oats, quinoa, peanut butter and banana and just a touch of chocolate chips 'cause that makes them more fun, right??
There's so many varieties of frozen breakfast bars in every store and my kids love them! But they eat them so often and go through the little box so fast that the bills were piling up quick. So now we make our own and you should too!
This recipe makes a lot of bars that you can shape however you please. They're stored in the freezer for an easy grab and go breakfast during the week!
Ingredients
Here's the ingredients you'll need for these nourishing Chocolate Chip Oaties.
- quinoa
- rolled oats gluten free if needed
- cinnamon
- water
- plant based milk
- banana
- peanut butter
- coconut sugar
- ground flax
- vanilla extract
- sea salt
- vegan mini chocolate chips
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Prepping the Oaties
Add quinoa, rolled oats, cinnamon, milk and water to Instant Pot and mix. Place the whole banana on top of that mix, don't stir it again. Cover and pressure cook for 2 minutes and allow natural pressure release.
While oat mixture is cooking, prep your quick flax eggs by mixing 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed and 4 tablespoons of water.
When the oat mixture is finished, carefully remove lid. Stir in peanut butter, coconut sugar, flax eggs, vanilla extract and salt until fully combined and no large chunks of banana or peanut butter remain. This mixture will be thick.
Add in your chocolate chips!! If you want your bars to look like they have chocolate chips and not just streaks of melted chocolate, you'll have to let the oatie mixture cool. I usually let it cool a bit and then just pop the whole thing into the fridge for a couple hours and come back to it later once it's completely cooled down. You can skip this if the melted chocolate doesn't bother you.
When mixture is cool, remove from fridge and fold in chocolate chips.

Shaping the bars
Dump the oatie mixture on a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet and lightly flatten mixture with a spatula or a spoon.
Place another sheet of parchment top and use your hands to compress and smooth out the bars until flat to your desired thickness, about ¾-1 inch thick. Pro Tip- Using the second sheet of parchment keeps the mess down and helps you get the smoothest bars!

Time to freeze
Remove top parchment sheet from bars and chill them in freezer for 2-3 hours, until bars are no longer tacky to the touch. You want them to be hard enough that you can pick it up and transfer them to a cutting board without breaking.
Remove from freezer, transfer to a large cutting board and cut into desired shapes. I usually shoot for small granola bar size, but you can do whatever you want!
Return to freezer until bars are very hard, then store in a bag or container in freezer until ready to use! Will keep in freezer for up to 6 months!

Time to eat
Air Fryer- Grab as many bars as you like from the freezer and air fry for 8-10 minutes at 370°
Oven- Toss the bars onto a prepared baking sheet at 375°F for 15-18 minutes
Serve with maple syrup to dip and enjoy!

TIP: At a glance, all the time and steps can look overwhelming. But don't let that deter you! Hands on time here is very low and it's super flexible for a busy schedule as you can adjust the chilling times to fit your day.
Tips, Tricks & Substitutions
- Make them Gluten Free- Grab some Gluten Free Oats and this recipe is completely gluten free
- Cut down time- Cut down on time by adding in the chocolate chips while your mixture is still hot. They will melt into your mixture but will be equally as delicious.
- Nut Free- substitute tahini or sunflower butter for the peanut butter to make this recipe nut free
- Make this a family activity by including everyone in the mixing and rolling! Kids will love the feel of smoothing out the bars with their hands.
- Fun Shapes! You can also make this another fun activity by grabbing your cookie cutters and making fun shapes.
Equipment
- Instant Pot - stove top directions are available in the recipe notes
- Parchment Paper or my favorite Non-Stick Baking Mat
Storage
Store bars in a container or freezer bag in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below! Take a picture and tag me on Instagram @samcookskindness !
Recipe

Chocolate Chip Oatie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 2 cups rolled oats gluten free if needed
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 3 cups water
- 2 cups plant based milk
- 1 large ripe banana frozen or fresh
- ½ cup peanut butter (natural, no sugar added) may sub other nut or seed butters
- 2 tablespoon coconut sugar may sub cane or brown sugar
- 2 flax eggs 2 tablespoon ground flax + 4 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ⅓-½ cup vegan mini chocolate chips
Instructions
Prep the Oaties
- In Instant Pot, add quinoa, rolled oats, cinnamon, milk and water and mix till combined. Place whole banana on top, do not stir again. Cover and pressure cook for 2 minutes and allow natural pressure release. (Stove top directions in notes)
- While oat mixture is cooking, mix flax eggs (2tbsp flax + 4 tablespoon water) and set aside.
- When pressure has naturally released from oat mixture, carefully remove lid. Stir in peanut butter, coconut sugar, flax eggs, vanilla extract and salt until fully combined and no large chunks of banana remain. Mixture will be thick.
- If using chocolate chips, allow mixture to cool and then chill in the fridge until no completely cooled. (I usually leave mine in for a few hours) Oatie mixture needs to be cold when stirring in chocolate chips, or they will melt. (You can skip this step if the melted chocolate doesn't bother you!)
- When mixture is cool, remove from fridge and fold in chocolate chips.
- Dump oatie mixture on a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet and lightly flatten mixture with spatula or spoon.
- Place another sheet of parchment top of mixture and use your hands to compress and smooth out the bars until flat to desired thickness, about ¾-1 inch thick. (The second parchment sheet limits the mess and make your bars a bit smoother.)
- Remove top parchment sheet from bars and chill in freezer for 2-3 hours, until bars are no longer tacky to the touch. You want them to be hard enough that you can pick it up and transfer them to a cutting board without it breaking.
- Remove from freezer, transfer to a large cutting board and cut into desired shapes. I usually shoot for small granola bar size, but you can do whatever you want!
- Return to freezer until bars are very hard, then store in a bag or container in freezer until ready to use! Will keep in freezer for up to 6 months!
When you're ready to eat...
- Remove desired amount of bars from the freezer and air fry for 8-10 minutes at 370°(Alternately, You could also bake them on a silicone mat lined baking sheet at 375° for 15-18 minutes)
- Serve with maple syrup to dip!
Chris says
My kids love these! They’re so good and great to keep on hand in the freezer.