When I successfully made the lectin-free green plantain granola, I noticed the mixture was quite sticky without having to add any liquid sweetener. So I decided to try green plantain granola bars. The first attempt was successful, but I didn’t measure the quantities, so I made it again and wrote everything down.
They are super nutritious snacks, a great breakfast, excellent for travel and kids’ snack. You can even pack them nicely and give them to your friends or coworkers.
Green plantain granola bars, a healthy nutty snack for everyone
There is nothing nasty in these granola bars: nuts, coconut oil and butter, few figs, unsweetened dry cranberries, cacao, hemp seeds and green plantain, but it tastes super good.
And you only need to mix everything in a food processor and bake for 30 – 35 minutes. It gets a little bit crumbly on the sides when cut and you have to handle them gently. But after one or two days in an air-tight container in the fridge, they are perfect.
You can use your own mix of nuts and if you want to go really safe with the texture, you can add Lakanto syrup (but you may have to skip figs in this case if you don’t want it to be too sweet). You can taste it after you mix it and see if you like it.
I’ve been making my own granola for years, but it was always with oats and honey or maple syrup. I’m happy a no oats granola is possible, and I’ll be working on perfecting this recipe.
Green Plantain Coco-Nutty Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1 green plantain, peeled and sliced
- 2 cups (heaped) of mixed nuts (I used macadamia, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts)
- 7 black mission figs, roughly chopped (they are twice as small as the Turkish ones)
- 1/2 - 2/3 cups of coconuts flakes
- 3 tbsp hemp seeds
- 6 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 tbsp coconut butter (manna)
- 2 tbsp cacao powder
- 1/2 cup dry unsweetened cranberries
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Mix all ingredients in a food processor until moist and almost smooth (there will still be some texture, which is what we want, but not too much so it sticks together). Put in a baking tray covered with parchment paper, press and level the mixture with the back of a spoon and smooth out.
Bake in the oven at 275F for 30 - 35 minutes.
Take out and cool completely.
Cut carefully, at this stage it is still a bit crumbly.
When completely cooled store them carefully in an air-tight container, in the fridge. They are good to eat immediately, but for some reason, they get so much better after one or two days in the fridge. You can also pack them individually and store them in the fridge. Or freeze.
Notes
I didn't want to add any sweetener because the sweetness from nuts, coconut and figs is exactly enough for my taste, but you can add some Lakanto syrup, or honey if you are in Phase 3 of The Plant Paradox program, that will help with the texture even more.
9 Comments
Rose
October 17, 2022 at 4:45 pmHave you created your recipe yet for oat-free granola?
Claudia
October 18, 2022 at 9:57 amHi Rose, yes, if you type “granola” in the search bar, then press enter, you will find the recipe for my granola. It’s called Sugar-Free Crunchy Granola with Green Plantain. xx
Tracie
May 15, 2020 at 3:53 pmI made these with some substitutions. They turned out delicious but more like brownies or dense, moist banana bread. I substituted what I had in hand: about a cup and a half of frozen-and-thawed strawberries in place of the 1/2 cup of dried cranberries, 7 medjool dates instead of the figs, and the nuts I used were pistachios, pecans, walnuts, and salt-and-pepper macadamias (a tiny portion of those). Because of the strawberries it was much “wetter”. The food processor gave up before everything was well-enough blended so I had a lumpy layer and a brownie batter layer, tbh I really like that texture. Baked at 275 for almost 35 minutes, then cooled for 15 minutes, still quite moist (and only slightly crumbly at the edges). Rich and delicious! Now cooling in fridge and if it lasts for a couple days, I look forward to it getting even more yummy. Thank you for sharing this very forgiving recipe!
Claudia
May 18, 2020 at 8:41 amHi Tracie, thank you for sharing your experience, so happy you got creative with the recipe and you loved the result. xx
Gwyneviere
October 28, 2018 at 8:18 pmHi I also can’t find green plantains! Is green banana plant paradox friendly? Or can you suggest another substitute? Thank you, just found your blog and really enjoy it! 🙂
Claudia
October 29, 2018 at 9:53 amHi Gwyn, green banana is plant paradox friendly, but I believe that it shouldn’t be cooked (resistant starches becomes sugar). I’m not sure though, maybe you want to search that. For this recipe you need plantains. Where are you based? Check stores that cater to latin American cuisine. Once you find some you make a big batch of granola and freeze it. It’s difficult to find them here too, and we are in Texas.
Jewel
April 20, 2019 at 4:58 pmYou can ask your produce person at the store to order them in for you at no extra cost. I live in a tiny rural town and they order anything I ask for.
Erika
August 3, 2018 at 6:23 pmLove these ingredients and happy to find a homemade bar that’s PP approved! I couldn’t find a green plantain, so opted for a green banana. They still turned out well. My processor struggled a bit with the mix, so hard to get a unifor mixture, but they taste great!
Claudia
August 4, 2018 at 10:14 pmThank you so much Erika for letting me know. I’ll have to make a note that it also works with green bananas. xx