These Pumpkin Apple Quinoa Breakfast Bars are a delicious and portable healthy fall breakfast or snack for both adults and kids, everyone loves them!
Hello, friends! I’m so excited to reshare this recipe from my VERY first year of blogging. Yep, I originally shared this one back in October 2013! Over the years, quinoa bars have been quite a hit in the HH household, including my cinnamon apple quinoa breakfast bars, cranberry date quinoa breakfast bars, and my banana walnut quinoa breakfast bars. I wanted to share this pumpkin apple version with you again today because it’s become one of KJ’s favorite breakfast or snack options!
And if your toddler likes something, you make it frequently because toddlers are finicky, picky, and somewhat hard to please. So we’ve been making these bars on repeat because he likes to help make them and he likes to eat them, double entertainment!!!!!
Usually, we make a double batch and freeze one to have the following week. Or if I don’t make a double batch, I still make one cup dry quinoa (yields 3 cups cooked quinoa) and freeze the remaining quinoa in 1 cup portions to use next time we make a batch or for the next meal.
The texture of this wonderful fall treat is somewhere between a bar and a bread. You can definitely pick it up and eat it with your hands, or you could top it with peanut butter and use a fork. As you can imagine, KJ just eats it with his hands, and most of the time, he does not prefer that I cut it up.
Let’s talk ingredients:
- Pumpkin Puree – you can swap sweet potato or butternut squash puree, but do not omit. Also, if you swap, they won’t be pumpkin anymore! Just saying!
- Vanilla Extract – optional, but adds sweet notes.
- Cinnamon and Pumpkin Pie Spice – do not omit, or it will taste bland.
- Smooth Peanut Butter – any nut or seed substitute will work here, such as almond butter or cashew butter
- Honey – swap brown rice syrup, agave, or maple syrup for vegan
- Almond Milk – swap any kind of dairy or non-dairy milk
- Grated Apples – do not omit. Make sure to squeeze dry.
- Egg – flax egg substitute will be fine!
- Organic whole wheat flour – personally, I’ve switched to organic oats and wheat in my house. It SUCKS because it’s so much more expensive, but the fact of the matter is non-organic wheat and oats are doused in round up, so I made the switch. You could still use regular whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour. For gluten-free, swap in oat flour (see how to make it here) or garbanzo bean flour.
- Organic Rolled Oats – you could also use quick oats. I get my organic oats and whole wheat flour from Thrive Market.
- Baking soda – do not omit
- Walnuts – sub any type of nut (I omit these when I make it for KJ)
How to Make Pumpkin Apple Quinoa Breakfast Bars
The best thing about this recipe is that you can make it all in one bowl, aside from cooking the quinoa! Which if you’ve been an HH reader for any amount of time, you’ve probably figured out that for a food blogger who makes a living cooking, I freaking hate dishes. HATE them! So one bowl recipes are life!
Sometimes I make my quinoa in the Instant Pot and then use that as the bowl, which is, well, just amazing! Anyways, you basically blend up your seasonings and wet ingredients, add your grated apples, and then your “dry” ingredients (including quinoa). Mix it all up, and viola, it’s time to bake!
Tag me if you make these! I love to see what you guys make! You can tag me on Insta @hungryhobbyRD and Facebook @hungryhobby!
You may also like:
- 18 Healthy Quinoa Recipes
- 40+ Kid-Friendly Snacks
- 90+ Healthy Breakfast Recipes to start your morning off right!
More Apple Recipes:
- Apple Crisp with Oatmeal Topping
- Stuffed Baked Apples
- Sausage and Apple Stuffed Butternut Squash
- Cinnamon Apple Quinoa Bars
- Cinnamon Apple Vegan Baby Muffins
Pumpkin Apple Quinoa Breakfast Bars
Equipment
- 8 x 8 baking dish
- rubber spatula
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/3 cup natural smooth peanut butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/3 cup vanilla unsweetened almond milk
- 1 cup grated apples squeezed dry
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup organic whole wheat flour or oat flour for GF
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1 cup organic rolled oats
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup walnuts optional
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package directions.
- Preheat oven to 350F and line 8 x 8 paper with parchment paper.
- Combine pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, honey, peanut butter, almond milk, and egg.
- Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour mixture into a baking dish and bake for 35-45 minutes. Should be firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted to the center should come out clean when the bars are done.
- Let cool completely (at least 30 minutes) then cut into 6-9 bars.
- Store in refrigerator. Eat warm or cold. They are super sweet, so I usually top mine with sun butter or peanut butter!
Nutrition
[…] week totally wears you out but I know it’s all worth it. When I did get up I ate a half of a pumpkin apple quinoa bar covered in pumpkin […]