I don’t do desserts too often, and when I do they’re usually made with simple pantry staples that I know I’m already going to have on hand. These super easy Raspberry Oatmeal Bars are the perfect example. They’re just flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, butter, and whatever jam you happen to have (in this case raspberry). This is the perfect fun weekend baking project for when you don’t want to go out to get more ingredients and you don’t want to make anything that is too difficult, but you definitely want something sweet. 😉
What Do They Taste Like?
These raspberry oatmeal bars are basically made out of the same mix that you’d use as a crumb topping for a pie. It’s rich, buttery, and has a good amount of texture, thanks to the rolled oats. When you compress this mix into a baking dish it becomes more solid and provides a base layer for the bars, but when you sprinkle it over top, it acts more like a loose crumb topping. And then you can put whatever flavor jam you like in the center!
Do Raspberry Oatmeal Bars Need to Be Refrigerated?
While you don’t need to store the baked oatmeal bars in a refrigerator, they hold their shape better when chilled, so I do prefer to keep mine refrigerated. Make sure they’re in an air-tight container to prevent them from absorbing odor and moisture.
Can I Use Quick Oats?
I used old-fashioned rolled oats for this recipe because they provide a lot more texture to the crumble mixture. You can use quick oats, which as smaller, softer pieces, in place of the rolled oats if needed.
Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
Servings 9Ingredients
- 8 Tbsp Butter ($0.88)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour ($0.10)
- 1 cup rolled oats ($0.18)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar ($0.32)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp salt ($0.01)
- 1 cup raspberry jam ($1.35)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Use a ½ tsp of the butter to grease the inside of an 8×8-inch baking dish.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- Cut the remaining butter into chunks, add it to the bowl with the flour and oat mixture, and use your hands to work the butter into the mixture until everything looks sort of crumbly or like damp sand, and no large lumps of butter remain.
- Pour half of the oat mixture into the baking dish and press it down until it forms a solid layer.
- Stir the jam to break up any clumps, then drop the jam in small spoonfuls onto the pressed oat mixture in the baking dish. Try to stay away from adding the jam too close to the edges. It's okay if the jam doesn't form a solid layer. Do not try to spread it with a spoon or knife.
- Once all of the jam has been added on top of the bottom oat layer, sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top, leaving it loose and crumbly.
- Bake the oat bars for about 30 minutes or until the top is nicely golden. Remove the bars from the oven, allow them to cool, then cut into nine squares and serve.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
Nutrition
How to Make Raspberry Oatmeal Bars – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Use about ½ tsp of butter to grease the inside of an 8×8-inch baking dish.
In a large bowl, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup rolled oats, ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ tsp baking soda, and ⅛ tsp salt. Stir until everything is very well combined.
Add 8 Tbsp butter (minus the ½ tsp used to butter the dish) to the bowl with the flour, oats, and sugar.
Work the butter into the flour and oats until the mixture looks a bit crumbly or damp. No large lumps of butter should remain.
Pour half of the oat mixture into the baking dish, spread it out evenly, and then press it down until it is in a solid layer.
Drop 1 cup raspberry jam (or your favorite flavor) onto the oat mixture, avoiding placing the jam right up against the baking dish (this makes it harder to remove the bars after baking). It helps if you stir the jam well first to break up any clumps, then you can drop small dollops onto the oat mixture to create a fairly even layer. Don’t try to spread the jam with a spoon or knife, as it will pull up the oat mixture.
Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over top of the jam. Leave this layer loose, do not try to press it into a solid layer.
Bake the raspberry oat bars in the preheated 350ºF oven for 30 minutes, or until the topping is nicely golden brown. Allow the bars to cool completely before cutting it into nine squares and serving. Running a knife around the edge to loosen any jam that may have baked onto the dish helps when removing the squares from the dish.
Enjoy the buttery, crumbly, oat goodness!
These look really good! What is the purpose of the baking soda?
I feel like this may be a silly question – but am I supposed to use salted or unsalted butter in this recipe?
I use salted butter. :)
Make these often but melt the butter to add to the oat/flour mixture-doesn’t effect the cooking at all. Also nuke the jam to warm it..spreads like a dream. And I always line the pan with parchment paper so I can lift the squares out, cut them, then plop them back in the pan. GREAT RECIPE. Oh, I also use 1/2 raspberries 1/2 jam sometimes.😏
Perfectly simple and delicious – Thank you!
Yes!!! Looking at the photos I thought this would be hard to make and lots of ingredients but just the opposite is true! I’m so excited to try this! I have a bunch of Cranberry apple jam I made This fall that would likely be delicious in this!
I made these with the 4 berry preserves from Costco. They were too sweet for me but my husband loved them. I will make a separate batch with less sugar for myself the next time I make these.
My husband was given some apple butter for Christmas. It was a huge jar, and I didn’t think we would use it all on toast before it spoiled. This recipe seemed like the perfect solution. Only addition I made was some toasted walnuts to the crust. It came out perfect. Thanks so much
I always use my leftover cranberry sauce (also your recipe) to make these after Thanksgiving! So good!
Great idea!
These are INCREDIBLE! They’re lovely as is but they’re so versatile – I only had 1/3 cup of raspberry jam so I added frozen blueberries on top to make up for it (so good!), it turned out perfect! I also added pumpkin and sunflower seeds on top for added nutrition. Next time, I’ll try using half the sugar to make them breakfast friendly.
Been a reader for years, this blog has been to my side ever since I moved out. We have a couple recipes that are in the regular rotation (the bbq tofu buns are absolutely heavenly!). Another amazing recipe! :)
I also used salted churned butter and the sweet and salty mix was so, so good!
These are too crumbly for me. When the recipe says to use half the oat mixture as the base, I took it literally. But that means there’s a pile of loose, sugary oats that falls off when they’re cut. I may make them again, but use 2/3 of the oats for the base so there’s only 1/3 to sprinkle over the top.
These are maybe the most delicious thing I’ve ever made (the snickerdoodles for two are my other favorite dessert on here). So easy and amazing. I used strawberry jelly. Incredible. Thanks Beth!!
These were so easy to pull together and so tasty! I had two almost empty jars of plum jam and strawberry jam and used them up on this and it was fantastic! I wish I had read the comments about reducing the sugar to make these appropriate for breakfast but these were a super tasty mid-day snack. Next time I will cut them all and pre-portion them because I ate way too many straight out of the pan :)
Do you think these will freeze well?
I haven’t actually tried it, but I suspect they would. The only part I’m not certain about is the jam. I don’t know if that holds up or breaks down through freezing and thawing.
I think jam holds up fine, my family freezes and thaws it when the jar is too much to eat at once.
So tasty, so easy! Totally my fault – but the jam makes them much more attractive to ants than other desserts, so make sure to have a very tight sealing cover if bringing them outside. :-(
This is an excellent recipe as is. I have been making variations on it for years: Reduce flour by 25% an increase last by same amount. Add chopped walnuts, coconut, raisins, chocolate chips as one person suggested. I also use fruit spread instead of regular full sugar jam. Trader Joe’s has a reduced sugar jam that is also really good. Other fillings also work such as spiced pumpkin puree with a spoonful of flour mixed in to bind the liquid in the pumpkin and a spoonful of sugar to taste for sweetness. I prefer chopped apples to applesauce, again with some spice and a little flour aded to absorb the extra moisture of the apples. A little sugar (natural or substitute) to counteract the tartness of the apples.
This is a very versatile recipe and I am glad to see it introduced here.