Blueberry Bars Recipe – with sprinkles

This recipe for soft homemade blueberry bars is bursting with sweet blueberries. Serve them up as a healthy summer dessert and watch them disappear.

Easy Blueberry Crumble Bars

With a buttery shortcrust pastry crust, a thick blueberry filling, and a delicious streusel topping, it’s almost impossible to resist these classic blueberry pie bars.

Every time I serve them at a party or event, people ask for the recipe.

If you’re looking for a dessert for blueberry season, you can’t go wrong with these bars. They are hands down the best blueberry bar recipe I’ve ever tried.

Also try these healthy chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients for the blueberry bar recipe

You will need flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, sweetener, butter or coconut oil, cornstarch or arrowroot, and blueberries.

Suitable types of flour include white all-purpose flour, spelled flour or oat flour. I have not tried whole wheat flour and do not recommend coconut flour or almond flour.

If you want to make your own oatmeal at home, simply chop up uncooked rolled oats in a food processor or blender. Measure the oatmeal after pureeing.

The bars can be refined sugar free if you use coconut blossom sugar, date sugar or granulated erythritol or xylitol for no added sugar bars.

Any neutral granulated or liquid sweetener will work for the filling, including pure maple syrup, honey, agave syrup, white sugar, unrefined sugar, or stevia cake mix.

Watch the step-by-step blueberry bars recipe video above

Fresh or frozen blueberries

Use whatever you have on hand or have for sale at the grocery store, as either fresh blueberries or frozen fruit will work.

If you choose to use frozen berries, thaw the berries and blot away any excess water or ice with paper towels before beginning to avoid soaking the finished bars.

Or for an even quicker and easier option in the recipe, substitute a canned blueberry pie filling for the blueberries, sweetener, and thickener.

You can also substitute fresh or frozen raspberries, blackberries, pitted cherries, chopped peaches, mangoes, or strawberries for some or all of the blueberries to change up the flavor.

Here is a variant with apples: Apple Crumble Bars

Lemon Blueberry Crumble Bars

For a fun twist, you can stir the zest of a lemon or two into the blueberry filling.

Or you stir the lemon zest directly into the shortcrust pastry base and sprinkle the topping on top. Add a tablespoon of lemon juice to the filling.

Garnish the old-fashioned blueberry and lemon bars with thinly sliced ​​and crimped lemon zest or freshly sliced ​​lemons and powdered sugar if desired.

How to make blueberry bars

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 20cm square baking tin with baking paper and set the tin aside.

*For a large family or to feed a large crowd, double the recipe and bake the bars for the same amount of time in a 9″ x 14″ rectangular baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, sugar, salt, and baking powder.

Using a cookie cutter, fork, or whisk, cut in the chilled butter, almond butter, or coconut oil. Keep breaking up the dough until you get small, even crumbles that resemble crumbles. You can also do this quickly and easily in a food processor if you prefer.

Press about half of the batter very firmly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. To do this, use a sheet of wax paper or a second sheet of parchment to press the dough more firmly. (Dispose of this second sheet of parchment paper after use.)

In a new bowl, toss the fresh or frozen thawed blueberries with your choice of cornstarch or arrowroot and 2 tablespoons of sweetener until uniform.

Spread the blueberry mixture over the batter in the pan. Then sprinkle the remaining crumble topping evenly over everything. Press firmly.

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for fifty minutes. The filling should look thick and bubbly, with a golden crust and topping.

Allow the blueberry bars to cool completely before slicing, as the fruit filling will firm up and continue to set as it cools.

Is the recipe vegan or gluten free?

For dairy-free and vegan blueberry bars, use plant-based butter (or coconut oil or almond butter) and your favorite non-dairy milk. No eggs are required.

The bars can also be gluten-free if you use gluten-free oatmeal. Some brands of gluten-free all-purpose flour might also work. Be sure to check back in if you try.

Although I haven’t made a keto version of the recipe yet, you can make amazing keto blueberry bars if you use blueberry yogurt in these keto lemon bars.

Baking tips for blueberry pie bars

For cleaner slices, I recommend chilling the bars in the fridge before slicing. Once cool, they should slice easily.

If you prefer to measure ingredients with a food scale instead of measuring cups and spoons, here are the grams to use:

200 grams flour, 2 grams cinnamon, 130 grams sugar, 150 grams butter or coconut oil, 45 grams milk of your choice or extra butter, 360 grams blueberries, 6 grams cornstarch and 30 grams sweetener of your choice. Also add salt and baking soda.

The coconut oil version will be a bit crumblier. Using almond butter or the low-fat milk option (instead of plain butter) will result in slightly more rubbery crumbles before baking. The end results are equally delicious for each option.

My best baking tip is to follow the instructions the first time you prepare the recipe. Once you know how you want it to end, you can have fun experimenting with substitutions or limiting certain ingredients.

Next on my back to do list is to add cream cheese to the filling to turn the recipe into Blueberry Cheesecake Bars!

The recipe was adapted from my Peach Crisp and these Strawberry Oatmeal Bars.

Healthier Blueberry Desserts

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

Or these keto blueberry muffins

Vegan blueberry pie

Blueberry Crisp

chia pudding

Blueberry Donuts

Keto Blueberry Bread

Healthy Banana Bread

Or this protein banana bread

(Add 1/2 cup of blueberries to make banana blueberry bread.)