Strawberry Oatmeal Bars – (Gluten Free & Vegan) Sweet Breakfast Bar

Looking for a way to use fresh strawberries? Combine them old fashioned oats in this recipe for gluten-free strawberry oatmeal bars.

This bar recipe has a buttery crumb crust, a sweet strawberry filling inside, and a tasty and crunchy crumble on top.

They are a great way to use fresh strawberries for a dessert that everyone will love. I have included both a gluten free and vegan version of the recipe.

Keep reading to learn how to make these strawberry oat bars.

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Ingredients to make this strawberry oatmeal bars recipe

You can still enjoy tasty desserts when you are trying to follow a gluten-free or vegan diet. Gather the following ingredients to make these oatmeal strawberry bars.

For the strawberry sauce

• 4 cups of fresh strawberries
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• ⅓ cup of granulated sugar

For the crust

• 1 ¾ sticks of unsalted butter, cubed (use firm coconut oil for vegan)
• 1 ½ cups of gluten-free all purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups of gluten-free old fashioned oats
• 1 cup of packed brown sugar (use pure maple sugar for vegan)
• ⅓ teaspoon baking soda and ⅔ teaspoon cream of tartar mixed together
• ½ teaspoon pink sea salt

Fresh (and frozen) strawberries are naturally sweet. You can use them in desserts without having to add a lot of extra sugar to flavor them.

How to make these gluten-free strawberry oatmeal bars

It is very easy to adapt most dessert recipes to make them gluten free. For today’s recipe, I am using baking soda and cream of tartar in place of baking powder, and gluten-free all-purpose flour in place of normal flour.

Oats are considered gluten-free but if you are worried about cross contamination, you can also use gluten-free rolled oats.

Start with your strawberries. Remove the stems, blend half of them, and set them aside. Slice the other half of the strawberries into big chunks.

Place half of the strawberry puree into a small bowl and add the cornstarch.

Mix well and put the rest of the pureed strawberries into a saucepan along with the puree and cornstarch mixture. Cook over medium high heat until everything is well combined.

Now add the chunks of strawberries, the lemon juice, and the granulated sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring the whole time.

Cook until the puree thickens and set the pan aside to cool. I don’t like to use too much sugar, so I added just ⅓ cup. If you like your filling sweeter, you can add more.

The mixture will be sort of like a cooked strawberry jam. If you want it to be a thicker consistency, you can add more chopped strawberries.

Set this mixture aside while you make the crumb crust and topping mixture.

How to make the crumb crust

Combine all of the ingredients for the crust in a food processor and pulse until you have a nice crumbly mixture. 

Put half of the crumb mix goes in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. I find it helps to line the pan with parchment paper to make it easier to remove the bars later.

Pour the strawberry sauce over the crust, being sure to leave a space of about ½ inch all around the edges with no strawberry topping on it.

Add the remainder of the crust mixture over the strawberry mixture.

Bake in a preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes until the crumble is browned and the strawberry filling is bubbly.

The bars must be completely cooled before you try to slice them. The filling is quite soft when it comes out of the oven and needs time to set so the bars will hold their shape.

Tasting these sweet breakfast bars

These delicious strawberry oatmeal bars have the sweet taste of fresh strawberries in every bite. 

The buttery crumb crust and crumble topping is sweet and compliments the filling beautifully.

The bars make a quick and easy breakfast on the go and are the perfect sweet ending to any meal.

For a whole wheat version of this recipe, check out this recipe for oatmeal bars with strawberries and wholewheat flour crumble on my gardening site.

The recipe makes 24 bars, each with approximately 164 calories.  They are low in sodium and sugar and relatively low in fat. (For the gluten-free version – the vegan version has 159 calories per bar.)

Vegan adaptations for the strawberry oatmeal bars

This recipe is fine for a gluten free diet but needs a few adaptations to make it vegan since butter and sugar are both a no-no on this diet.

To make this recipe suitable for vegans, use maple syrup instead of granulated sugar in the filling. Also, use room temperature firm coconut oil in place of butter and pure maple sugar in place of brown sugar in the crumble.

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Looking for a way to use fresh strawberries? Head to Recipes Just 4U for a gluten-free strawberry oatmeal bar recipe. 🍓 #StrawberryBars #GlutenFreeBars #OatmealBars Share on X

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Admin note: This post first appeared in October of 2013. I have changed it to reflect the adjustments to make it gluten-free and vegan and have taken new photos to demonstrate the recipe. For the original recipe with whole wheat pastry flour, see this page on my Gardening Cook Site.