Healthy Granola Bars for Kids from the Grocery Store
November 30, 2023
Learn how to pick a healthy granola bar for your child from the grocery store, and see which snack bars qualify as “good enough.”
Granola bars are one of the most popular snacks for kids. And they can be an easy snack for kids, especially in a pinch.
They’re easy to stick in backpacks and lunch boxes, don’t require refrigeration, stay fresh for a long time, and come in individual packages with countless flavors to choose from.
What’s not to like?
But when you consider the perfect healthy snack for kids, snack bars don’t always make the list.
While they can be a great snack – both nutritious and taste-friendly – they also can be a fat and sugar trap.
So how do you find a healthy granola bar?
Let this pediatric dietitian show you what you should look for when choosing store-bought bars for kids!
Are Commercial Granola Bars Healthy?
Not all granola bars are created equally. If you’re like most parents, you want to make the best choice for your child.
The variety and breadth of snack bars might feel overwhelming when you walk through the cereal aisle. It’s quite a market!
There are different bars for kids: crunchy, soft, chocolate- or peanut butter-dipped, high protein, high fiber, nut-free options, and more. There are different flavors, too.
Picking a healthy snack bar can be daunting. Claims on the front of package such as “healthy”, “nature”, “fiber”, “TLC”, and “organic” make it more difficult to choose a good brand for your child.
How are you to know which claims are correct?
[Related]: Healthy Cereal for Kids [My Top 27]
Choosing Healthy Bars for Kids
The first step is to look past the health claims on the package and turn it over to view the back side – the ingredients and the Nutrition Facts Panel. These help guide your decisions.
Scour the nutrition facts label to check for the amount of sugar, fat, sodium, and fiber; then look at the sources of these nutrients on the ingredient list.
Low Sugar
Did you know some granola bars have almost as much sugar as candy or a donut?
It’s easy to tell that granola bars covered in chocolate might be high in sugar. But sometimes hidden added sugar exists.
Thankfully, nutrition labels list the amount of added sugar separately so that you can see how much was added during processing compared to how much natural sugar occurs in the food (like fruit or lactose).
The 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends kids get no more than 10% of their daily calories from added sugars. That means an 8-year-old who eats about 1,800 calories a day should aim for less than 45g of added sugar.
One granola bar we reviewed had 9g of sugar… compare that to 12g of sugar found in a donut!
Health Tip: Keep added sugar content in check by picking a granola bar with less than 10 grams of sugar per serving.
Calories
For the most part, families use granola bars as a snack, so the calories need to reflect the level of calories suitable for a child’s snack: about 100-200 calories.
Some granola bars have as many calories as a small meal or a dessert.
Ideally, you don’t want to rely on granola bars as a substitute for a meal. They don’t contain the variety of nutrients a growing child needs.
Health Tip: Keep calories in check by choosing a type of snack bar with less than 180 calories.
Fat
If you’ve ever made homemade granola bars, you know a considerable amount of fat—oil or butter—goes into these gooey treats to help bind the ingredients together.
Fat is a high-calorie nutrient (9 calories per gram versus 4 calories per gram for protein and carbohydrate), so higher fat granola bars will be higher in calories.
Granola bars made with nuts or almond butter will also be higher in fat, even though these ingredients contain healthy fats (good for the heart).
That’s why it’s also important to compare the different types of fat listed on nutrition labels. Saturated fats and trans-fats are two types of unhealthy fats to watch. Trans-fats are solid fats shown to contribute to heart disease and other chronic diseases.
Health Tip: Choose low-fat granola bars with 5 grams of fat or less per serving.
Fiber
Granola bars may have lots of fiber, especially when they are made with whole old-fashioned oats, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, or sunflower seeds. The health benefits of a high fiber diet are numerous. Since many kids are lacking fiber in their diet, these can be good options for fiber in a child’s diet.
Here’s a guide to children’s estimated fiber needs.
Fiber recommendations vary by age and gender:
Age and Gender | Fiber grams/day |
1- 3 years old | 19g |
4 – 8 years old | 25g |
Boys 9 – 13 years old | 31g |
Girls 9 – 13 years old | 26g |
Boys 14 – 19 years old | 38g |
Girls 14 – 19 years old | 26g |
Health Tip: Select a granola bar with more than 3 grams of fiber per serving (5 gm per serving is considered a high fiber item).
Protein Bars
You can find granola bars with a good source of protein (including nuts, peanuts or natural peanut butter as a main ingredient). Some have up to 5 or 6 grams of protein per serving.
Health Tip: Look for bars with a short list of quality ingredients.
A Checklist for Healthy Granola Bars
To summarize what to look for in a snack bar for kids, follow these nutrition guidelines:
Nutrition Facts | Healthy Guide for Granola Bars |
Sugar | <10 gm per serving |
Calories | <180 calories per bar |
Fat | 5 gm or less per serving |
Fiber | >3 gm per serving |
Comparison of Two Popular Store-Bought Granola Bars
Whether you send a granola bar as a mid-morning snack or offer them for sports practice, when you focus on a single nutrient such as sugar or fiber it’s easy to see how one granola bar compares to a competitor.
Let’s look at two granola bars, one I consider nutritious, and the other, not so much, for comparison:
Brand | Calories | Total Fat | Sat. Fat | Sugar | Sodium | Fiber | Calcium |
Kashi TLC: Chewy Trail Mix | 140 | 5 g | 0.5 g | 5 g | 105 mg | 4 g | 0 mg |
Hershey’s: Reese’s Sweet & Salty with Peanuts | 170 | 9 g | 2.5 g | 9 g | 180 mg | 2 g | 0 mg |
*Nutrition information obtained from www.calorieking.com.
Kashi TLC Chewy Trail Mix is low in saturated fat, has less sugar, and has a good amount of fiber.
Although its calorie content is on the higher side compared to other granola bars, it’s still a reasonable amount for a snack.
You could add protein and calcium for a more nutritious, satisfying and filling snack, by pairing this with a 1/2 cup of milk.
Hershey’s Reece’s Sweet & Salty with Peanuts is high in calories, fat, and saturated fat content, along with moderate to high levels of sugar.
Healthy Granola Bars for Kids, According to a Pediatric Dietitian
I selected six of the most popular granola bars. When you consider overall nutrition and wholesome ingredients, these snack bars stand out!
Granola Bar | Key Nutrients | Watch Out! | ||
Clif Z Bar Protein: Peanut Butter Chocolate | Calories: 140 Protein: 5 g Fat: 4 g Saturated Fat: 1.5 g Trans Fat: 0 g Carbohydrate: 22 g | Sugar: 8 g Fiber: 3 g Sodium: 95 mg | ||
Cascadian Farms Organic: Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bars | Calories: 70 Protein: 1g Fat: 2g Saturated Fat: 0g Trans Fat: 0g Carbohydrate: 17g | Sugar: 7g Fiber: 3g Sodium: 65mg | ||
Nature’s Path Organic: Trail Mixer Chewy Granola Bar | Calories: 140 Protein: 3g Fat: 4g Saturated Fat: 1g Trans Fat: 0g Carbohydrate: 23g | Sugar: 9g Fiber: 3g Sodium: 90mg | ||
Plum Organics: Go Bar Snickerdoodle | Calories: 120 Protein 2g Fat: 3g Saturated Fat: 0.5g Trans Fat: 0g Carbohydrate: 23g | Sugar: 9g Fiber: 3g Sodium: 105mg | ||
Kashi: Berry Lemonade Chewy Granola Bars | Calories: 130 Protein: 6g Fat: 1.5g Saturated Fat: 0g Trans Fat: 0g Carbohydrate: 23g | Sugar: 7g Fiber: 4g Sodium: 100mg | ||
KIND Healthy Grains Bars: Oats and Honey with Toasted Coconut | Calories: 150 Protein: 3g Fat: 4g Trans Fat: 0g Saturated Fat: 1.5g Carbohydrate: 25g | Sugar: 7g Fiber: 3g Sodium: 95mg |
Does Your Child Have Food Allergies?
A big challenge for parents of kids with food allergies is worrying that their child will eat a packaged food without realizing what’s in it.
Cooking with all fresh ingredients in meals and snacks may be ideal, but it’s not always possible.
Sometimes your child needs to grab on-the-go snack options when they’re out with friends, at school, on the field, or looking for a quick snack at home.
Nut-Free Granola Bars
- Cascadian Farms Organic Oatmeal Raisin granola bar
- Made Good Granola Bars (Mixed Berry, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Banana, Apple Cinnamon, Strawberry)
- This Saves Lives Kids Chewy Granola Bars
- Don’t Go Nuts snack bars
- 88 Acres Seed Bars
- Enjoy Life Foods Chewy Bars
Dairy-Free Granola Bars
- Cascadian Farms Organic Oatmeal Raisin granola bar (some flavors contain dairy)
- MadeGood Organic Granola Minis
- 88 Acres Seed Bars
- Bobo’s Oat Bars Original
- Kind Bars (most of the classic nut bars are dairy-free but not all Kind Bars are dairy free)
- Nature Valley Crunchy Bars (Oats ‘N Honey)
- Enjoy Life Foods Chewy Bars
Soy-Free Granola Bars
- Made Good Granola Bars
- 88 Acres Seed Bars
- Enjoy Life Foods Chewy Bars
*Nutrient content may be different for different flavor options within each brand. Ingredient information was obtained from the brand’s nutrition information online. Always double-check ingredients before offering a new food to your child if they have food allergies.for different flavor options within each brand. Ingredient information was obtained from the brand’s nutrition information online. Always double-check ingredients before offering a new food to your child if they have food allergies.
Choosing a Healthy Granola Bar for Kids
Granola bars are a convenience food that may have a “health halo.” While some granola bars are a great option, others pay homage to the candy bar, with an ingredients list that packs a hefty dose of sugar and fat.
No matter what the health claims say, it’s a good idea when choosing the best granola bars to take a closer look at the nutrition information on the package.
Consider the fat, calories, fiber, and sugar compared to other commercial brands available. And don’t forget the taste!
The food industry has come a long way from granola that tastes like cardboard to granola that tastes like candy.
Finding healthy snacks isn’t always easy, because kids do care about how food tastes and you care about the quality of nutrition they’re eating.
The goal is to find the balance between granola bars that taste good and contribute to a child’s overall health.
More Resources
- Be sure to check out The Smart Mom’s Guide to Healthy Snacking book and our other articles about snacking!
- 51 Filling Snacks for Kids
- Toddler Snacks for Brain Development
- Late Night Snacks for Teens
Disclaimer: This is just a small representation from popular brands on the market, not of all bars available. Nutrient content may change with different flavor options within each brand. The purpose of this chart is Nutrition Facts label education and not specific brand recommendations.
Jill Castle, MS, RD
I like empowering parents to help their children and teens thrive at every size with realistic advice centered on healthful habits around food, feeding, nutrition and health behaviors. As a pediatric dietitian and author, my goal is to share strategies and realistic advice to help you raise a healthy and happy child through my articles and podcast.