Easy strawberry dessert recipe! These strawberry oatmeal bars have a filling of fresh strawberries sandwiched between oatmeal crumble crust and topping.
Strawberries are one of my favorite spring foods! I love how bright and colorful they are. I love that they’re sweet and just a bit tart, and I love that they’re just as at home at breakfast as they are at dessert.
These strawberry oatmeal bars could be served as a decadent breakfast. Or, if you’re like my husband, you could top the bars with a scoop of ice cream for the ultimate strawberry dessert.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Oats: I haven’t tried using quick oats in this recipe.
- Flour: Feel free to substitute an equal amount of all-purpose flour for the white whole-wheat flour.
- Brown sugar: Light brown sugar or dark brown sugar will work. If you’d like the topping to be sweeter, you can pack the brown sugar.
- Strawberries: Frozen strawberries can be substituted for the fresh strawberries, but you may find that you need to make a couple of adjustments. First, you may need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time. Second, the filling may be thinner, so you might find that you need to add additional cornstarch to the filling to help it thicken properly.
- Lemon juice: The lemon juice helps to brighten up the flavor of the strawberry filling.
- Milk: Using milk with more fat, like whole milk, will give you a slightly richer glaze.
How to make strawberry oatmeal bars
Here you’ll find step-by-step photos showing how to make this recipe. The full recipe is given below.
Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 F. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper with the parchment overhanging the edges of the pan. Set aside.
Step 2: In a medium bowl, stir oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together until combined.
Step 3: Stir the melted butter into the oatmeal mixture until it forms clumps.
Step 4: Set aside 1/2 cup of the crumble mixture.
Step 5: Press the remaining oat mixture into an even layer in the bottom of the prepared pan.
Step 6: In a small bowl, toss strawberries, sugar, corn starch, and lemon juice together.
Step 7: Sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the fruit filling. The crumbs won’t completely cover the fruit.
Step 8: Bake the bars for 35-45 minutes, or until the topping smells is light golden brown.
Step 9: Cool the bars in the pan until they reach room temperature.
Step 10: To make the glaze, whisk powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk together until combined.
Step 11: Drizzle over cooled bars, and cut into squares to serve.
Recipe Tips!
- Icing: For a richer icing, whisk 1 tablespoon of melted butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla together. Whisk in enough milk to form the glaze.
- Gluten-free: If you’d like to make the bars gluten-free, swap the white whole wheat flour with a 1:1 gluten free flour blend and use gluten free oats.
- Dairy-free: If you’d like to make these bars dairy-free, swap the butter out for melted coconut oil and use non-dairy milk in the glaze.
Storage
Store any leftover bars in an airtight container at room temperature. The bars will keep for about 2-3 days when properly stored.
More strawberry recipes!
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Strawberry Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients
Bars
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- ¾ cup white whole-wheat flour
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 cups diced fresh strawberries
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar sifted
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper with the parchment overhanging the edges of the pan. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together until combined.1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, ¾ cup white whole-wheat flour, ⅓ cup brown sugar, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Stir the melted butter into the oatmeal mixture until it forms clumps.6 tablespoons butter
- Set aside 1/2 cup of the crumble mixture.
- Press the remaining oat mixture into an even layer in the bottom of the prepared pan.
- In a small bowl, toss strawberries, sugar, corn starch, and lemon juice together.2 cups diced fresh strawberries, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the fruit filling. The crumbs won’t completely cover the fruit.
- Bake the bars for 35-45 minutes, or until the topping smells is light golden brown.
- Cool the bars in the pan until they reach room temperature.
- To make the glaze, whisk powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk together until combined.½ cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon milk
- Drizzle over cooled bars, and cut into squares to serve.
Video
Notes
- Oats: I haven’t tried using quick oats in this recipe.
- Flour: Feel free to substitute an equal amount of all-purpose flour for the white whole-wheat flour.
- Strawberries: Frozen strawberries can be substituted for the fresh strawberries, but you may find that you need to make a couple of adjustments. First, you may need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time. Second, the filling may be thinner, so you might find that you need to add additional cornstarch to the filling to help it thicken properly.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
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Adapted from Well Plated. Originally published 5/10/18.
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Comments & Reviews
Elaine says
Did you spoon and level the flour when measuring for this recipe? And did you measure the strawberries before or after dicing?
Kate says
Hi! I make my recipes with volume and then again with weight measurements. When I measure by volume, I sift or stir the flour and then lightly spoon it into the measuring cup. I dice the strawberries and then measuring them.
Krista says
Found your recipe and it was so easy! I used frozen blueberries instead of strawberries and it was yummy! I skipped the icing. Thanks!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that it worked out well for you!
Lisa says
This is for the Strawberry granola bar I’m wondering how to make the strawberry filling not so sweet. Also evidently I tasted some salt in the granola did I not mix it up very well?
Kate says
You can omit the tablespoon of sugar in the filling. Yes, if you’re tasting some of the salt, it’s because it wasn’t mixed in properly.
Job and Miss France says
We had strawberries starting to get at that almost over ripe stage. Found this recipe and followed it exactly. Seriously delicious.
Kate says
Thank you so much! =)
Lisa says
My whole family loves this recipe! I make mine with steel cut oats so I cook it for 10 minutes longer. They came out perfect!
Kate says
That’s great! Thank you for sharing that! =)
Crystal says
I don’t see where it mentions how much salt?
Kate says
You are so right! Thank you! I’ve added the salt into the ingredients. Thanks again!
Kelsey says
Awesome! Delicious strawberry bars.
Rachel George says
can we use frozen straw berries?
Kate says
Probably, but I think you would need to adjust the filling ingredients (sugar, cornstarch) depending on whether the frozen strawberries are sweetened and depending on how much juice they have with them.
Angela says
Do you think these could be made in bulk and frozen?
Kate says
That’s a great question! I think that they could be made ahead and frozen. I would wait to glaze them, though, until you’re ready to serve the bars so that the glaze doesn’t disappear into the bars.
Stephanie @ Velez Delights says
These look scrumptious!!! Perfect for Spring/Summer!