These vegan baked oat bars have no sugar added and are a great breakfast finger food for infants and toddlers
Do you ever find yourself lacking baby led weaning breakfast ideas? I sure do!
Some days I lack the creativity and find myself rotating the same breakfast items to my now 9 months old daughter. So, if you feel this way, you’re not alone.
I wanted a breakfast item that included simple ingredients, one-bowl, easy to make and was kid-friendly and BLW-friendly for vegan children. These baked oat bars are perfect for 6 month old infants just starting solids, perfect for toddlers, and children too. They may even be a perfect on-the-go breakfast item for parents as well! I certainly had a couple bites.
These vegan breakfast oat bars recipe has no added sugar and is naturally sweetened with banana. They are moist and soft which makes them an appropriate texture for babies. But I think the best part about them is that they require just 6 ingredients!
What I also love about these baked oat bars is that they are healthy and nutritious. They provide omega-3s from the chia seeds, some iron and zinc from the oats, some vitamins from the fortified plant milk, and lots of good antioxidants from the blueberries.
You can use any plant milk you’d like and I always prefer to use soy for a little extra protein, iron, and fat since these are nutrients vegan children need (you can take a look at this blog post about the appropriate plant milk for toddlers). I also used wild blueberries in this recipe, which are smaller in size and have more antioxidants than the regular blueberries. But you can always use whatever frozen berry you have on hand.
Using blueberry baked oat bars in your meal plan rotation will help you have less stressful breakfast times. It’s so convenient for me to simply pull a couple of these bars out from the refrigerator without having to spend the mental and physical energy of figuring out what to prepare as a breakfast meal. You can also have these on hand for a quick, healthy snack for your vegan toddler.
I usually pair these with our favorite Greek-Style almond yogurt from Kite Hill Foods as it’s the only plant yogurt that I have found to meet the nutrition profile for growing vegan children. We usually mix some peanut butter, cinnamon, chia seeds, or ground flaxseed to it.
Some parents have asked when can they introduce rolled oats to their vegan infants and you can do so as early as 6 months! As long as it’s well cooked in an unsweetened liquid (i.e. water or unsweetened plant milk), it’s perfectly safe for infants. In this recipe, the baking process helps cook the oats and I found these oat bars to be soft enough for young little ones. It’s just recommended to use iron-fortified infants cereal as iron needs are much higher for 6 - 12 months infants. So, it’s not so much about the texture as it is about the iron content in each of these items. Here’s a vegan BLW oat muffin recipe that incorporates iron-fortified infant cereal.
Be sure to tag me on social media @nutritiousvida to see your re-creation of these oat bars!
Vegan No Sugar Added Kid-Friendly Baked Oat Bars
Serves: Makes about 12 bars
Total Time: 40 - 45 minutes
Ingredients
1 ripe banana
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 tablespoon of chia seeds
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup frozen wild blueberries*
1 ½ cups of unsweetened plant milk (I used soy)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F
In a medium bowl, use a fork to smash the banana. Then add all the ingredients and mix well. Allow to rest for about 5 minutes so that the oats has some time to soak the liquid.
Pour oat mixture into a medium baking dish and bake for about 30-35 minutes (my baking dish measures 9.25” x 6.5” x 2.2.5”)
Allow to cool before cutting into finger-like shapes or square bites.
Notes
*Wild blueberries are smaller in size than regular blueberries and have more antioxidants
**These oat bars can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for about 3 - 5 days
*** You can also freeze them for up to 3 months (texture may be differ once thawed)