These healthy and delicious sugar-free flapjacks are made with a fruity raspberry filling and perfect oat crumble topping. Sweet, soft and chewy, they are lovely portable treats and convenient vegan snacks that the whole family can enjoy!
Sugar-free flapjacks (or oat bars, depending on where you live) have been a staple in our home for a while now. Ever since we’ve gotten such positive feedback on our easy vegan oat bar recipe, we knew we had to share a fruity version with you!
Naturally gluten-free, our vegan flapjacks are easily customizable and made with wholesome foods like rolled oats, coconut milk and dates (hence refined sugar-free).
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They are melt-in-your-mouth delicious without any butter, eggs or dairy! Perfect for a quick breakfast or to give your kids for school, our sugar-free flapjacks are undetectably nutritious and totally moreish.
Similar to our sugar-free banana bread, these vegan flapjacks are made with a simple raspberry chia jam for a delightful fruity filling!
You definitely need to make them — here are all the reasons why.
Overview & recipe features
- Taste like raspberry pie bars
- Budget-friendly and customizable
- Gluten-free, vegan & sugar-free
- Undetectably nutrient-packed
- Meal prep-friendly breakfast idea
- Easy to make in 45 minutes
- Delicious afternoon snack
- Kid-friendly and portable
These gluten-free vegan flapjacks have serious potential to become your new favorite treat for spring and summer!
In terms of kitchen tools, you will need a large bowl, blender, spoon and one parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Let’s check out what goes into these sugar-free flapjacks!
Ingredients needed
- Rolled oats — for the chewy texture; some of them can be blended into flour if you don’t have any oat flour on hand.
- Oat flour — store-bought or homemade for the gluten-free batter; feel free to swap for any flour of your choice.
- Dates — our favorite whole food sweetener for all baked goods.
- Coconut milk — this adds some plant-based buttery flavor to your vegan flapjacks!
- Raspberry chia jam — can be quickly made at home or swapped for any jam you have on hand.
- Vanilla extract — emphasizes the naturally sweet flavor of the other ingredients and brings them together beautifully.
You can find the exact amounts in the recipe card below. We’ll share some replacement ideas and answer questions around this sugar-free flapjack recipe in just a bit!
Here’s how easy it is to make this healthy treat.
How to make sugar-free flapjacks
Before you start, preheat your oven to 345° F (175° C) and line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper.
Mix the dry ingredients
Get a large bowl and put the rolled oats, oat flour, desiccated coconut, baking powder and salt inside. Mix with a spoon to combine.
If you don’t have any oat flour on hand, use any other flour of your choice or blend the same amount of rolled oats in weight in your blender until you are left with oat flour.
Mix the wet ingredients
Get your blender and place the pitted dates, coconut milk and vanilla extract inside. Blend to obtain a silky puree, stopping and scraping down the sides if needed.
Make the batter
Pour the wet ingredients on top of the dry oat flour mixture. Mix and combine with a spoon until a homogeneous flapjack mixture is formed. It should be slightly sticky and crumbly.
Assemble the flapjacks
Place around ⅔ of your gluten-free oat batter in the lined baking pan. Spread it evenly with the back of a spoon, then use your fingers to press it down to create an even layer.
Add raspberry chia jam (or any jam of your choice) on top of your bottom layer. Again, spread it evenly with a spoon or spatula.
Take the leftover coconut oat batter and break it into smaller pieces to create the crumb topping. Using your hands, distribute the crumbles over the chia jam layer without pressing them down.
Bake & enjoy
Place the baking dish in your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Be sure to check after 20 minutes to see if the crumble topping starts to get brown — if necessary, cover your baking pan with some tin foil to avoid burning.
Once the vegan flapjacks have been in the oven for 25-30 minutes, the base should be baked all the way through and you can remove the baking pan from the oven.
Let your homemade treat cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing into squares or bars. Even better, place it in the fridge for an hour to let it set until you slice it!
Storage & prepping
The baked vegan flapjacks can be stored at room temperature for at least 3 days and covered in the fridge for 5 days or longer.
Using a freezer-safe container or bag, store them already sliced in the freezer for up to 3 months. We recommend adding a piece of parchment paper between each square to prevent them from sticking to each other!
You can create the sugar-free oat batter a few hours in advance and put it covered in the fridge before assembling and baking your vegan flapjacks.
Serving suggestions
Needless to say, these fruity vegan flapjacks taste fantastic on their own or with a cup of almond milk latte!
Serve them to your kids with some dairy-free yogurt, drizzle with vegan caramel sauce, chocolate syrup or lemon glaze!
Kid-Friendly Vegan Recipes →FAQs for this recipe
Are these gluten-free flapjacks?
Yes, you can use certified gluten-free oats to make sure that not even a hint of gluten will be in these flapjacks.
How to make your own oat flour
Simply place rolled oats into a blender and pulse or blend until they are smooth and resemble a fine flour. Be sure to use weight measurements instead of cups for accurate results!
How to make protein flapjacks
Use peanut butter and soy milk instead of coconut milk, add some nuts or seeds to the batter or use 2 tablespoons of vegan protein powder to replace some of the desiccated coconut.
The raspberry chia jam also adds to the protein part of our vegan flapjacks.
Are flapjacks usually vegan-friendly?
No, they often contain ingredients like butter or honey alongside rolled oats. However, they are so easy to make vegan at home!
What are replacements for Chia jam?
You can add fresh or frozen raspberries (or blueberries) straight into the flapjack batter instead of using jam.
Gently fold them in with a spoon, then put everything into your baking dish and press down carefully. Bake for around 30 minutes.
Add-ins & flavors
- Chocolate chips
- Pumpkin seeds
- Cashews
- Almonds
- Raisings
- Dried cranberries
- Chopped apple
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Cocoa powder
How to replace the dates
We like to naturally sweeten our vegan baked goods with dates. However, not everyone has access to them — you can use 3 tablespoons of syrup or sugar instead or blend a really ripe banana with the rest of your wet ingredients!
More healthy vegan treats
If you like our healthy vegan flapjack recipe, be sure to check out these delicious whole food plant-based treats next!
- Sugar-Free Apple Crumble
- Coconut Oat Bars
- Sugar-Free Banana Bread
- Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins
- Vegan Cookie Cake
Did you make our vegan and sugar-free flapjacks? We’d love to read about it, so be sure to leave a review and tell us more in the comments below. You can also Pin this recipe here!
Ingredients
- 1½ cup rolled oats 122 g
- 1 cup oat flour 120 g
- ½ cup desiccated coconut 45 g
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup full-fat coconut milk 80 g
- ½ cup dates pitted (75 g)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup berry chia jam 300 g
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 345° F (175° C) and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
Make the batter
- Add the rolled oats, oat flour, desiccated coconut, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl and mix to combine.
- In a blender, blend the coconut milk, pitted dates, and vanilla extract to obtain a silky puree.
- Pour the wet mixture on top of the dry ingredients. Mix with a spoon until a homogenous batter is formed — it should be slightly sticky and crumbly.
Assemble the flapjacks
- Pour ⅔ of your batter into the lined baking pan and spread it evenly with the back of a spoon. Use your fingers to press it down to create an even layer.
- Add raspberry chia jam on top, spreading it evenly with a spoon or spatula.
- Finally, break the leftover oat batter into smaller pieces to create the crumb topping. Using your hands, distribute the crumbles over the chia jam layer without pressing them down.
Bake and enjoy
- Place your finished vegan flapjacks in your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Check after 20 minutes to see if the crumble topping starts to get brown — if necessary, cover your baking pan with some tin foil to avoid burning.
- Once the flapjacks have been in the oven for 25-30 minutes, the base should be baked all the way through and you can remove the baking pan from the oven.
- Set aside to let the flapjacks cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
- They can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
- The coconut milk can be replaced with 3 tbsp almond butter plus some water for a higher fat version or with ⅓ cup plant-based milk (soy, almond, oat) for a lower fat version.
- You can either use store-bought or homemade jam for the flapjacks.
- If you don’t have any parchment paper, you can just grease your baking pan or use a silicone one.
- Make the sugar-free flapjacks super fruity by doubling the amount of jam filling!
Alena Schowalter is a Certified Vegan Nutritionist who has been a vegetarian since childhood and vegan since 2012. Together with her husband, she founded nutriciously in 2015 and has been guiding thousands of people through different transition stages towards a healthy plant-based diet. She’s received training in the fields of nutrition, music therapy and social work. Alena enjoys discussions around vegan ethics, walks through nature and creating new recipes.
I have all the ingredients with the exception of coconut milk. Do you have a suggestion on how to substitute flax or oat milk that I do have?
Hi Cassandra,
I shared this exact substitution tip in my recipe card notes: “The coconut milk can be replaced with 3 tbsp almond butter plus some water for a higher fat version or with ⅓ cup plant-based milk (soy, almond, oat) for a lower fat version.” I hope this helps! Sure, you can add some flax if you like. Let us know how they turn out!
Best wishes
I made them and me and my family are really enjoying them! Thank you for the recipe! Unfortunately my batch is very crumbly. How did you get you batch to maintain its shape?
Thanks!
Mine crumbled everywhere and didn’t hold together at all. Where am I going wrong? I followed the recipe exactly.
Hi! Just wanted to leave a thank you for your recipe. I very rarely repeat recipes, even if I adore them but these flapjacks have become a staple in my house! They’re delicious and super tasty; they’re perfect for on the go or at work. So, thank you so much for the lovely recipe!
thank you so much, Lou! This really means a lot — they are also a staple in our home :)
I thought that these were good but they didn’t hold well together. It could be that I only had coconut flour and not oat flour. Nonetheless, they were delicious! I will definitely make them again and double my homemade jam. Thank you!
Would it still work if I soaked the oats overnight?
I haven’t tried it but I image that you’d just have to bake them for a bit longer perhaps
Do I use Old fashioned rolled oats or quick rolled oats?
both work! Choose the type you like better in terms of texture.