Superfood sesame and chia seeds, hemp hearts, and sunflower seeds are combined with creamy sesame paste, salty-sweet peanut butter, and rich honey in these wholesome, easy to prepare chewy sesame seed bars. What’s not to love about these? They take under 10 minutes to prepare. They’re packed with healthy ingredients. And they’re absolutely delicious!
I’m constantly on the lookout for the perfect energy bar, and coincidentally constantly in the kitchen whipping up new and improved recipes of my favourite homemade bars. It’s a highly impossible mission trying to find the perfect combination of salty-sweet, crunchy-chewy, and crumbly-yet-not-fall-apart bar.
Oh, and did I mention, tasty too? That’s a lot of pressure for one bar.
Having said that, these chewy sesame bars might just be close to perfection, in terms of flavour. Not too sweet, not too salty. They’re rich and creamy and literally melt in your mouth. I love the crunch that the seeds and hemp hearts give to these bars, yet they don’t take away from the chewy bite. On a side note, the quality of ingredients you use to make these bars will make or break this recipe and will greatly determine the overall flavour of the bars. Choose fresh ingredients, particularly a good quality all-natural nut butter and raw, local honey, if possible.
If you’re looking for that bar that holds up well out of the fridge or freezer, this may not be the one for you. They have very few binding ingredients, like oats or nuts, which means they tend to soften easily when at room temperature. I can overlook this fault, however. Their deliciousness makes up for it!
I store these in the freezer and remove them about 5 minutes before eating. Albeit, I’ve forgotten them on the counter a few times, returning after a while to enjoy them, and actually didn’t mind the sticky mess they made of my fingers! Maybe not the best portable snack, but definitely the tastiest bar I’ve made to date!
If you try this recipe (and love it!) be sure to snap a pic and tag me on Instagram with #bitesforfoodies so I can see your creation!
I tried these out and the family liked the first couple of batches, but then I think I overdid it and the third batch is moving out of the cupboard a lot slower. I might have to change up a few things to keep them interested!
This is great news! 😉 Although I understand that it’s best to switch options to keep interest. You could possibly add different nuts (chopped almonds, cashews) or dried fruit (cranberries)
This recipe sounds wonderful, but I’m not sure I’m following the freezer/fridge directions. You say: “Set in the fridge for 1-2 hours or until fully cooled and firm.” Then you say “Remove from the freezer and cut into desired portions.” When do they go from the fridge to the freezer?
An alternative to peanut butter? (My son is allergic to peanuts).
Hi Lara, is he allergic to almonds? Cashews? You could use any other type of nut butter!
Can’t wait to try and make these. Is there an alternative to sesame paste? That’s not something I have bought before.
You could use another nut butter but it would change the flavour. You can find Tahini in most grocery stores!
Can I add pistachio?
Definitely! You can substitute for any nut you prefer!
Delicious I make them all the time. Just finished my last bar making another tomorrow morning. Thanks for this fantastic recipe
So glad to hear!
These look delicious and I love the ingredients, except for the honey. Have you ever tried maple syrup or date paste or any other sticky sweetener?
I think the best option would be to use brown rice syrup! As far as I know it has the closest consistency to honey! If you try it I’d love to hear your feedback on the results!
these look amazing! i make a similar version that’s raw but they have to be kept in the freezer. would these hold up for backpacking in hot weather or do they need to stay cool to keep their shape?
I wish I could say yes, but unfortunately the answer is no! If you have a cooler they would be fine…I would store them in the freezer until the last minute then wrap them in plastic wrap so they keep their shape in the cooler. You could try playing with the recipe, maybe adding some puffed rice so they stick together better? These are perfect from the freezer, or the fridge however, if you want them to last a bit longer out of both I also suggest making them into balls as opposed to bars since they hold together better!
I wonder if you baked them for a little bit if they would harden up a little and hold shape in hot weather. I will try this for my next backpacking trip.
That’s possible…but I wonder if they honey would just get runny??
Baking them worked perfectly!
I pressed the mixture into a baking sheet, about 1/2″ thick. Baked it at 325 for 20 minutes. Let it cool and then cut it into 10 bars.
You did?! You did the work for me lol!! I’m always looking for no-bake recipes, including this one, but I’m happy to hear that with a little more effort then can turn out even better. Thanks for trying it out, and thanks for getting back to me on it! I will definitely try baking them!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made these yesterday with a few minor changes (used whole flax seed, added black sesame seeds, almond meal, chopped salted peanuts, and cashew butter). Super delicious! A new fave! 🙂
Thanks for the feedback! I love the additions too…especially the salted peanuts!
What can I use instead of Flax? I don’t have any.
You can omit the flax or simply substitute with more chia seeds, or hemp seeds or another nut!
These look so good. I’m love snacks like this.
Oh, I am making this asap! My iron levels are always on the floor so I’m hoping this will give me the boost I need! Thanks!!!
Supposedly black sesame seeds are higher in iron…I’m going to substitute half of the seeds with black ones next time to increase the iron!
Yum! These look amazing!! I need to whip ’em up asap!
These look tasty and I have low iron issues pretty often, I may try these. I wonder if you could add pumpkin seeds, they’re a lot bigger but the flavor is amazing.
I did add pumpkin and sunflower seeds, along with chia seeds and flax…they add great texture!
I used to buy these in the store but they were always too hard and had corn syrup in them. These look delicious and I love that I control what goes into them.
I know! Maybe that’s why I didn’t care for them too much…besides the fact that they are so overpriced and probably ONLY have sesame seeds and corn syrup in them!
I love the combination of ingredients you use for this recipe! I haven’t made anything like this before but I think I might give it a try after seeing your recipe! 🙂
You have to try these…they are SO easy to make!!
These bars look delicious. I will definitely be making these this weekend.
I love sesame seeds and eat them all the time. I bet I would love these, too.
I haven’t tried sesame seed bars. They sound interesting. 🙂
If you like energy bars these are a great alternative. I make nut and date based bars very often and sometimes I crave a change.
Those taste heavenly. But I bet yours taste even better… Perfect snack.
I’m hoping they do…but I guess you won’t know until you try them 😉
Ahhhh I’m definitely a sesame seed fan so I will have to give these a try!
I love sesame seeds. Definitely going to give these a try.
I am a big fan of sesame seeds, these bars are something I’d love to try!
If you love sesame seeds I think you’ll love these!
That’s a good looking bar. I have a thing for seeds so I’d love it, I already know!
Me too! I usually make nut and date based bars but these have quickly become one of my faves!
What a great bar. I never tried chia seeds in my bars. This must be delicious
I throw them into any recipe I can 😉
Why didn’t I think of this before? I’ll try this later.
Always loved sesame seeds!
I was never a huge fan of sesame seeds…I usually just add them to salads, etc. I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed these 😉
Really? Pumpkin seeds worked in this? I love it 🙂
Any seed could work in these actually! Next time I make them I’m going to add chocolate chips and goji berries!
Sesame seeds are great. I would love to munch on this!
These look amazing! I’m trying very hard to eat clean, and this will definitely help me with that.
I bet you get a nice burst of energy by eating these during the day. I really want to try this out!
I just ate two of them…one obviously didn’t satisfy my craving, lol!
These sound super tasty. I love making bars like this to take as a snack on the go!
Grab and Go is the way to go in this house! This looks like something we would could actually make!!
Diane Sullivan
It’s SO easy to make!!
I love this so much! The hardest thing about eating healthy for me is that it always seems to be something horrible tasting or just plain weird. Thanks!
Those sound really good. I am a big fan of anything like this that I can just grab and go!
Me too! It’s a great high energy, on-the-go snack!