These coconut chai quinoa breakfast bars are vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, filled with plant-based protein make a great grab-and-go vegan breakfast.
When I was in school or working a regular 9-5, I would prep my meals on the weekend. But now that I spend my days at home, I have a habit of just cooking whenever I get hungry.
There’s nothing really wrong with that but cooking three meals a day takes up a lot of time. And I could be using that time to work on different projects.
So one of my goals for this year was to get back into the habit of prepping meals in advance. And these coconut chai quinoa breakfast bars are my current make-ahead vegan breakfast obsession.
The base of the breakfast bars is pretty similar to these quinoa oat bars I shared a few years ago. However, this version is a little more suitable for breakfast than the original chocolate-filled one.
The recipe is fairly simple and calls for 10 ingredients you probably already have on hand, plus a few optional mix-ins, like shredded coconut and chocolate chips. I also drizzled mine with coconut butter since I can’t breathe without a good drizzle. But that part’s up to you.
I like to make these quinoa breakfast bars on the weekend then store them in the fridge. Sometimes I have them cold and other times I’ll pop them in the microwave for a few seconds. Either way, they’re really, really good.
The combination of coconut and chai is to die for and I really love the texture – fluffy, with a hint of chewiness. Plus, I like that they satisfy my sweet tooth without being overly sweet since I cut down on the maple syrup and used applesauce as the main sweetener.
These breakfast bars are also gluten-free, refined sugar-free, filled with plant-based protein and can be made nut-free depending on the mix-ins you use. Can you say vegan breakfast of champions?
If you make these breakfast bars, I’d love to hear what you think. Leave a comment and rate the recipe or take a pic and tag it @ExSloth on Instagram!
More grab-and-go vegan breakfasts:
- 1½ cups quick cooking oats
- 1½ cups cooked quinoa
- 2 tsp ground flax
- 2 - 3 tsp chai spice, more or less to taste
- a pinch of salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup coconut butter, melted
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup apple sauce
- ⅓ cup almond milk
- ½ cup mix ins of choice (e.g. shredded coconut, chocolate chips, nuts, seeds etc.)
- Preheat oven to 350F, line an 8x8 cake tin with parchment paper and set aside
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients
- Add the coconut butter, maple syrup and applesauce and mix until well combined
- Pour in the almond milk and continue to mix
- Fold in the mix ins
- Pour the batter into prepared baking dish and top with extra mix ins, if desired
- Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the edges are beginning to brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean
- Allow to cool 5 minutes in the baking dish, then remove and transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before slicing
- Drizzle with extra coconut butter, if desired
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week
Want more quinoa? Try this quinoa porridge:
Amazing recipe looking great.Coconut chocolate very tasty. it’s breakfast for good.It’s making very simple.This is my biggest problem with these recipe. it’s making very log time lost.Then i will try it.
Giselle, literally these look so perfect that I can not believe my eyes. They are beautiful, and they sound ABSOLUTELY amazing.
Emily recently posted…Triple Chocolate Nutella Brownie Thumbprints
Coconut and chai is SUCH a good combo – definitely need to try these!
I don’t always do as much food prep as I’d like either. But when I do it makes my weeks SO much easier!
Chelsea’s Healthy Kitchen recently posted…2016 in Review
I’m all about the make-ahead! Makes mornings (and nights) so much easier and relaxing.
annie recently posted…Rainbow Baked Potatoes
Where does the chai spice come from?
Hi Jenny, Thanks for pointing out that error in the recipe! I also added in 2 tsp chai spice with the dry ingredients. I’ve updated the recipe with that as well as suggestions if you don’t have ready made chai spice on hand.
Where do I find coconut butter? Is it by the nut butters in the grocery store?
It looks incredible. I must give it a go.
Could you let me know, what program do you use to create your ding pins. Best
Ania
Thanks Ania! Let me know what you think if you give them a try. Oh, and I use photoshop for the long pins 😊
OMG these look amazing! I love to find recipes that contain great sources of plant based protein and I love quinoa. I can’t wait to try them.
Do you know the nutrition information of these?
Those look amazing! I’m going to make them today.
Thanks!
I made but altered according to what i had on hand and i love the variation. I substituted pumpkin puree for the apple sauce, used pumpkin pie spice in place of chai spice and used coconut/almond butter in place of coconut butter also used 1/3 cup of brown sugar in place of the maple syrup and my add in’s were sugar free chocolate chips, shredded unsweetened coconut and pumpkin seeds. I can hardly wait till breakfast to have one. This turned out very good 🙂
I love the idea of quinoa for breakfast! I’ll have to give this a try! I normally am obsessed with oatmeal in the morning but this is so unique!
These were so good and filling! Any tips on how to make them less crumbly?
I’ve made these 4x already because they are amazing! You have so many delicious, healthy recipes. Thanks for posting, Giselle!
What combo of mix ins do you recommend?