Lighten up on the crispies and oats to make room for the cooked kernels in these popcorn granola bars. The recipe requires just 5 ingredients and takes mere minutes to make for a wonderful weekday snack.
Perfect Popcorn Tips
There’s nothing like the taste of freshly popped popcorn, but nothing like the disappointment of burnt popcorn. Follow these simple steps and you’ll have perfect popcorn every time.
- Whether on the stove, in an air popper or in the microwave, popcorn will begin popping in a few minutes.
- When the popping begins to slow, listen until you can count two seconds between pops. Remove the pan from heat or bag from microwave. With an air popper, you can wait for most of the kernels to pop before shutting it off.
- Remember to lift the lid or open the bag away from your face to prevent steam burns.
Keep in mind that most brands of microwave popcorn do contain dairy and they’re all inferior in taste, in my opinion. If possible, invest in an air popper (I have this one), or prepare your popcorn on the stove top.
This recipe with photo for popcorn granola bars was shared with us by popcorn.org.
Special Diet Notes: Peanut Butter Popcorn Granola Bars
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, optionally gluten-free, optionally tree nut-free, optionally soy-free, optionally vegan, plant-based, and vegetarian. Just be sure to pick the granola that works for your dietary needs.
For peanut-free popcorn granola bars, you can swap in sunflower seed butter for the peanut butter and sunflower seeds or more nut-free granola for the peanuts.
- ½ cup honey (can sub agave nectar or maple syrup for vegan)
- ⅔ cup peanut butter
- 3 cups popped popcorn
- 1 cup dairy-free granola (gluten-free, if needed)
- 1 cup roasted and salted peanuts
- Line an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan with foil and lightly grease it.
- In a large saucepan, heat the honey until boiling. Stir in peanut butter until combined.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the popcorn, granola and peanuts until coated.
- Press the mixture evenly into your prepared pan.
- Refrigerate until cool. Cut into bars.
