Morning Glory Quinoa Breakfast Bars
Author - Alyssa Rimmer
These morning glory quinoa breakfast bars are a portable, high-protein way to start your day. They're sweetened naturally, with no eggs, gluten or dairy!
I get my sweet tooth from my dad. Chocolate tends to be my downfall, but for Dad, it's all about the breakfast pastries. He can't go by a bakery without popping his head in and grabbing a muffin, or a scone, or a sticky bun.
We have this lovely bakery in my hometown that makes the most amazing muffins. I've talked about their blueberry variety before – which were definitely my fave – but Dad always used to come home with Morning Glory. I couldn't understand it. Why would you want fruits, vegetables, nuts AND raising inside your muffin?
But now I see. Now we're on the same page, Dad. Morning Glory breakfast treats have become my jam.
I've taken the concept of those decadent muffins and turned them into even more amazing quinoa breakfast bars.
We stripped away all the junk that you usually find in traditional bakery muffins and instead filled these bars with ingredients that won't send your blood sugar on a roller coaster, will actually keep you full AND will provide lasting energy all morning long.
What you won't see in these morning glory breakfast bars:
- Eggs
- Dairy
- Gluten
- Refined sugar
- Oil
But even more important is what we will find in these bars. Not only are they incredibly moist and flavorful, but they're…
- Sweetened naturally using fruits + coconut sugar
- High in protein from the chickpeas + quinoa flour
- Crunchy from the pecans
- Warming from the ground cinnamon
- Bursting with mini pockets of flavor from the raisins
While they'll certainly remind you of a traditional morning glory muffin, these quinoa breakfast bars are anything but traditional. They're packed with protein, fiber, healthy fats AND vitamins. And are definitely a much smarter food to give your body first thing in the morning.
But aside from all the amazing ingredients, I also love that these bars are easy to make. You toss all your wet ingredients into a blender, then stir it into the flour + sugar, fold in your add-ins and you're done. I think the whole batch takes maybe 10 minutes to prepare.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE THESE QUINOA BREAKFAST BARS
See how simple? And I promise…don't be scared of the chickpeas. You can't taste them at all!
Your turn!
What is your go-to, unhealthy treat at a bakery? I'd love to see if I could recreate a healthy version for you! And while we're at it, let's talk about your favorite portable breakfast. Got any recipes that you'd like to share? Drop me a note in the comments!
xo Alyssa
More Scrumptious Breakfast Bar Recipes to try:
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Breakfast Bars with Quinoa
- Lemon Raspberry Quinoa Breakfast Bars
- Strawberry Quinoa Breakfast Bars
- Pumpkin Pie Quinoa Breakfast Bars
- Blueberry Quinoa Breakfast Bars
- Vegan Carrot Cake Quinoa Breakfast Bars
- Apple Pie Quinoa Breakfast Bars
- Flourless Banana-Quinoa Breakfast Bars
Morning Glory Quinoa Breakfast Bars
Ingredients
- 1 flax egg 1½ tablespoons flaxseed meal + 3 tablespoons water
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas
- ½ cup mashed banana about 1 large banana
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¾ cup quinoa flour
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup grated carrots
- ¼ cup grated apple
- ¼ cup chopped pecans + more for topping optional
- ¼ cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment and set aside.
- Whisk together the flaxseed meal and water in a small bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, blend the chickpeas, banana and applesauce in a blender until completely smooth.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, reserving the carrot, apple, pecans and raisins. Pour the chickpea puree into the bowl along with the flax egg and mix to combine. Fold in the remaining ingredients.
- Dump the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center rack for 25 - 28 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for 10 - 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. (if you want to use a frosting, you could use the one I put on my carrot cake bars!)
- Slice into 12 - 16 bars. Store in an airtight container for 2 - 3 days.
Nutrition
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what is your frosting recipe?
The one in this post! https://www.simplyquinoa.com/vegan-carrot-cake-quinoa-breakfast-bars/
What do you recommend using instead of chick peas? I can’t eat legumes 🙁
I’m not sure, sorry! I haven’t tested these bars with anything else, but you could try one of my other breakfast bar recipes 🙂 The blueberry and raspberry ones both don’t use legumes! xx
Hey Alyssa! Is there any reason why these wouldn’t work as a cookie? The batter looks a bit wet for a cookie, so I’m worried the edges might become thin as they spread out from the heat of the oven. Any thoughts?
I’m actually not sure! You could probably also bake them in mini muffin tins and they would work!
Yum!! I’ve been making the blueberry quinoa breakfast bars every week. Love those!! Trying these next!
YAY! So happy you enjoyed them 🙂
Hi Alyssa, I just wanted you to know that I tried saving the recipe and even opened a BigOven account but it only saved the ingredients but not the instructions. Is this something you can control or could it be the BigOven software?
I haven’t made the breakfast bars yet but will rate the recipe when I have. I’m sure it will be a 5 star rating though. 🙂
Hi Jann! I’m not positive about BigOven…sorry! You could try printing it out and saving it in a folder on your desktop though? Let me know how they turn out!
Aylssa I would really love to give this recipe a go but I’ve never seen quinoa flour in the stores where I live – wondering if I could just whir some quinoa in my Vitamix and make it myself? Any idea?
I haven’t tried it with homemade flour, but I think it would work! You could also substitute the quinoa flour for another GF flour 🙂 Let me know how they turn out! xo
Hi Alyssa…made these bars today they are really awesome, made a double batch, thanks for sharing! Wondering if you had the nutrition info?
So glad you enjoyed them! I don’t have the nutritional info, but you can plug in the ingredients into an online calculator and it will do all the work for you 🙂
It says “cool completely before frosting”. Frosting? What am I missing here? They don’t look like they have any, and I can’t find a recipe.
Yes! You could certainly use a frosting like I used with my carrot cake (which is what I meant here), but they certainly don’t need it. I’ll update the recipe to make that more of a note 🙂
Alyssa, you mention frosting in the directions..what frosting??
I meant to make that more as a note! I have a similar recipe for carrot cake bars that uses frosting and was thinking these would be delicious with that. I’ve updated the recipe to reflect it as an option 😉
Made them today.. Yummmmm:)
So glad you enjoyed them!
I was looking at this recipe wondering how in the world I would grate raisins, but watching the video I see they just get tossed in whole. What a relief! I was picturing badly scraped knuckles. LOL.
Yeah…woopsie! It’s all updated now 🙂 xo
These look like I would love them, but I only have quinoa flakes at the moment. Do you think that would be an ok substitute for the quinoa flour?
I’m honestly not sure….about making my breakfast cookies instead? Or you could substitute a different gf flour! someone on my YouTube channel suggested oat flour which I think would be lovely!
These are just perfect! I’ll be honest, I haven’t had many morning glory baked goods, but these are seriously making me drool. Love all the plant protein!
Thanks girlie! xo
Look so yummy! What could I replace the banana with? Thanks 🙂
You could try more applesauce, but I’m not sure how they would turn out. You could also try something like pumpkin or sweet potato!
My unhealthy go to breakfast is a donut. I know you have shared donut recipes in the past, but I recently tried some from Donut Mania. They are good, but I know they are not healthy. If you could make any of their donuts, particularly the gourmet flavors, healthier, I’d be in heaven! Their website is http://www.donutmanialv.com.
I’ll check it out! I’m a sucker for donuts too 😉
CAN I USE A DIFFERENT FLOUR OTHER THAN QUINOA FLOUR?
I haven’t tested these without quinoa flour, but you could also experiment. Someone suggested oat flour which I think could work!
Will definitely try these! My morning go-to portable breakfast is a green smoothie, but I’m always willing to try new things!
I am 77 and have both MCS and allergies which requires a four day rotation diet. Although I am usually able to substitute various ingredients thus is not always possible. Quinoa is on day two of diet and with almond the same day thus makes many
of your recipes possible. However many recipes include either the grain family, usually oats, or the legume family which, although healthy foods in themselves, should not be repeated for many folks more than one day in four to prevent future
allergies or sensitivities appearing. Thank you for your excellent site, very helpful to all us health seekers.Maybe, as you do with eggs, you might find some substitute suggestions of similar consistency ?Many thanks.
Thanks for the suggestion! Often times if a recipe uses oats you could replace them with quinoa flakes. I’ll definitely brainstorm some other substitutes for the legumes!
Can I substitute rice flour for the quinoa flour?
I haven’t tested them with rice flour, but you could certainly give it a try. I think it will probably work 🙂 (just make sure it’s not sweet rice flour!)