I made a double batch of my vegan coconut oat bars recently for visiting family. These delicious treats disappeared rather quickly haha! With only five ingredients, they are remarkably easy to make. And everyone loves them.

These are wonderfully simple vegan oat bars made with creamed coconut, oats and date syrup, with a few other basic ingredients to bring everything together. There is no butter, no dairy and absolutely no need for regular refined sugar. 

What I particularly love about these bars is the way the creamed coconut works. It melts when heated, helping to bind everything together while the bars are baking, and then firms up again as they cool. The result is a lovely chewy, coconutty oat bar that holds together really well.

If you are looking for an easy vegan coconut oat bar that you can make with just a handful of ingredients, this is a good one to have in your repertoire.

What do I use to bind my vegan creamed coconut oat bars?

I use two things to bind my vegan oat bars. First up, instead of butter or oil, I am using creamed coconut.

Next, I am using date syrup. These two plant-based ingredients work together really well. The melted creamed coconut coats the oats, while the sticky date syrup helps everything hold together.

This is what gives these vegan coconut oat bars their lovely texture without needing butter or another added oil.

Why I use creamed coconut for my vegan bars

Apart from being an excellent binder, creamed coconut has some very special properties that lend themselves particularly well to making vegan bars.

Creamed coconut is solid at room temperature, yet melts when heated. That creates a very helpful alchemy for this recipe.

You melt the creamed coconut first, combine it with the other ingredients and then bake the bars in the oven. Once they have cooled, the creamed coconut firms up again.

This is important because you don’t want to slice these bars while they are still hot. They are much more fragile straight out of the oven and can crumble or fall apart if you try to cut them too soon.

Let them cool properly first and they firm up beautifully.

Is creamed coconut the same as coconut cream or coconut butter?

No, and this is worth knowing before you make these bars.

Creamed coconut is made from concentrated coconut flesh and is usually sold in a solid block or packet in the UK. It becomes liquid when heated and solid again as it cools.

Coconut cream is different, and coconut butter is also different. They can have quite different textures and behave differently in recipes.

For these vegan coconut oat bars, I specifically use creamed coconut because of the way it melts and then firms up again.

How to melt creamed coconut

In most UK (or temperate-climate) kitchens, your creamed coconut will come in a solid block.

There is no need to melt the whole block if your recipe only needs part of it. Simply chop or break off the amount you need and melt it gently.

You can melt creamed coconut in several ways:

1. Chop it into small pieces and warm gently in a saucepan, stirring until melted.
2. If it is still inside a suitable sealed packet, you can stand the packet in hot water to soften the creamed coconut.
3. If your recipe ever involves heating other ingredients, you can sometimes add the creamed coconut and allow it to melt into the mixture (but not in the case of these oat bars).

I generally find the saucepan method the easiest because you can see exactly when it has melted.

You don’t need to get it boiling. A gentle heat is fine. The aim is simply to melt it.

Can I use another syrup instead of date syrup?

Yes. If you don’t have date syrup, maple syrup, agave syrup or molasses can all work as alternatives.

The flavour will change slightly depending on which one you use. Date syrup gives these bars a lovely deep sweetness, while maple syrup will give them a lighter flavour. Molasses has a stronger, more distinctive taste.

If you are making these specifically because you want a recipe without refined sugar, check the ingredients on whichever syrup you choose, as products can vary. Ideally use a pure syrup with only one ingredient.

When should I cut the vegan oat bars?

This is probably the most important thing to know about making these bars.

Don’t cut them straight from the oven.

When they first come out, they are soft and haven’t had time to firm up. Leave them in the tin until they have cooled completely.

Once cool, the creamed coconut will have solidified again and the bars will be much easier to cut cleanly.

If you want particularly neat squares or bars, you can even chill them for a little while before slicing.

Why are my vegan oat bars falling apart?

If your bars are falling apart, the first thing I’d check is whether they have been cut while they are still warm.

These bars rely partly on the creamed coconut firming up again as it cools, so they won’t have their final texture straight from the oven.

Also make sure that you have measured the ingredients accurately and followed the recipe quantities. The balance between the oats, syrup and creamed coconut is what gives the finished bars their structure.

Finally be sure to press the ingredients down firmly in the tin before baking.

If they are still very crumbly once completely cool, they may need a little more binding rather than simply more baking.

How to store your creamed coconut oat bars

I store these in three different ways…

1. In a sealed container on the kitchen counter. This way they are perfect to enjoy on the spur of the moment. They keep for about 10 days like this.
2. In the fridge in a sealed container. This is ideal if it’s especially warm in your house. They do firm up a little more in the fridge, but they’ll keep for up to a couple of weeks.
3. In the freezer in a sealed container or wrapped in parchment paper. This is ideal if you want to batch make them ahead and keep them for up to several months. Simply take them out and leave them at room temperature to defrost before you enjoy them.

If freezing them, I like to separate the bars with pieces of parchment paper so that they are easy to take out individually.

Can I make these vegan coconut oat bars ahead?

Absolutely. In fact, they are a good recipe for batch making.

Because they keep well and can be frozen, you can make a batch when you have time and then have homemade vegan oat bars ready whenever you want something sweet.

This is also why I like making a double batch when I have family visiting. As I discovered recently, though, you might need to make more than you think. They disappeared rather quickly haha!

Why these vegan coconut oat bars work so well

There is something I really like about recipes where a small number of ingredients each have a proper job to do.

Here, the oats provide the main structure and texture. The date syrup brings sweetness and stickiness, while the creamed coconut helps bind everything together and then firms up again as the bars cool.

So although these are very simple bars, the ingredients aren’t just thrown together. Each one is doing something useful.

And that is really the beauty of this recipe: five ingredients, very little fuss, and a homemade vegan oat bar that actually holds together.

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Creamed Coconut Oat Bars

Yield: 7 bars

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Vegan oat bars made with creamed coconut, organic date syrup, oats, cinnamon and raisins.

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Ingredients

• 250g oats
• 150ml date syrup
• , chopped and melted
• 1 heaped tablespoon of ground cinnamon
• 25g raisins

Instructions

1. Melt the creamed coconut first. It comes in a solid block. Please note creamed coconut comes in a solid block, it is not the same as coconut cream. if unsure please check out my full guide on creamed coconut here: What is creamed coconut?
2. You melt the creamed coconut by chopping it first with a knife and then putting it into a bowl. Then place the bowl on some gently heated water in a saucepan. As the creamed coconut heats you can melt it. You can help it along with a spoon too.
3. It's best to use porridge oats or quick cook oats for this. If you only have super thick jumbo oats blend them for a few seconds to get them a little smaller first. This will help them to bind.
4. Add all ingredients together and stir thoroughly until everything is evenly combined. If you can see any oats that are not coated, keep mixing.
5. Put your mix into a parchment lined loaf tin and press down throughly. Don't not skip this step as it is important for them to hold together perfectly.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at around 180C for about 15 minutes.
7. Take out and cool before slicing. If you slice when hot them may crumble.
8. Once cool they should hold together to perfection. If you want topping on then add once cooled. I like to melt and drizzle chocolate and then add chopped nuts and ediblie flower petals.
9. If you want super perfect slices then pop them in the fridge before slicing too.
10. For storage tips see article above.
11. Enjoy and share your treats with love.

Did you make this recipe?

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