I’m typically a very organized person.
When it comes to recipes and blogging, however, I become a bit scatterbrained.
I literally have hundreds of recipes strewn around my kitchen and in multiple cupboards, all in various stages of completion. It seems I become a bit mental when food is involved.
Take these lemon bars, for example. A couple of months ago, I began googling recipes for ‘the best lemon bars’ when I came across Ina Garten’s version. I truly do like Ina Garten and watching The Barefoot Contessa on Food Network, and while many of her entrees and sides are relatively healthy, her desserts tend to be heavy in both butter and sugar.
Her lemon bar recipe, for instance, called for three cups of sugar! I was quite interested to read the comments to see if anyone found the treats too sweet. I was not surprised to see some people writing just that, but some commenters described them as not sweet enough! It really made me wonder what the diets of the ‘not sweet enough’ group look like.
While I think this citrus-y dessert is pretty terrific, I’ve found others can be particular about how they like their lemon bars, so let me tell you a bit about these:
- The crust to filling ratio is about 1/3 to 2/3, meaning the delicious, creamy filling dominates!
- These have a light lemon flavor (not tart).
- The filling is creamy and modestly sweet.
Paired with a lightly sweetened oat crust, these are the perfect combination of healthy dessert meets childhood indulgence.
A healthy lemon bar made without refined sugar!
- BASE:
- 1 1/4 c. oat flour
- 1 T. coconut sugar or another natural granulated sugar
- 1/4 t. sea salt
- 2 T. olive or coconut oil melted, if using coconut oil
- 4-5 T. cold water
- FILLING:
- 4 eggs
- 1 T. lemon zest
- 6 T. lemon juice
- 5 T. raw honey
- pinch sea salt
- 1/2 c. oats measured then ground into flour
- scant 1/4 t. powdered stevia extract
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Whisk together the ground oats, coconut sugar, and salt.
Stir the oil into the dry mix (it should look 'pebbly').
- Mix in enough water to make a non-sticky dough.
- In a WELL-OILED 8 x 8 baking dish, press the dough into the bottom of the dish (I like to break up the dough into smaller pieces and scatter them around the dish and then press them down).
- Bake the base for 12 minutes.
- Cool while you make the filling.
- Beat the eggs with the rest of the ingredients until a smooth batter is formed (it will be very runny, but don't fret!).
- Pour the batter atop the cooled crust.
Bake for 16-20 minutes.
- Cool completely, cut, and serve!
Nutrition facts are based on using olive oil. Weight Watchers points (new system): 3
Adapted from this recipe
I love how ‘clean’ this recipe is (it seems anything with a citrus flavor is fresh and clean), and my husband loves that he gets almost four grams of protein per bar!
For those of you allergic to eggs, these Thick Raw Lemon Bars may be more your speed. 🙂 They’re a delicious alternative!
Do you enjoy lemon bars or citrus-y desserts? What’s your favorite?
Maria says
These looks great! I love lemon bars and have been looking for a gluten free dairy free option. Question, for the 1 and 1/4 cup oat flour, can I measure out that amount of rolled oats and then grind them into flour? Also, any chance maple syrup can be used instead of honey? Thanks!
Lauren says
Hi there,
The maple should work, though I haven’t tried it. For the oat flour, you can grind oats first, but it may take a bit more than 1 1/4 cup to make the needed amount of flour here.
Lorena says
Hi,
I made this recipe and absolutely LOVED the flavour. The only thing is that the crust was too crumbly and didn’t stay on the bars. Do you have any advice about why this might have been? Or any other flour suggestion? Almond? Coconut flour? I wonder if I ground my oats very fine or if my crust needed longer baking time? Thanks a lot in advance 😉
Lorena says
Hi,
I made this recipe and baolutely LOVED the flavour. The only thing is that the crust was too crumbly and didn’t stay on the bars. Do you have any advice about why this might be? Or any other flour suggestion? Almond? Coconut flour? I wonder if I ground my oats very fine. Thanks a lot in advance 😉
Lauren says
Hi Lorena,
It will be a bit crumbly, given that there is neither gluten nor eggs to bind it, but it shouldn’t fall completely apart. I would suggest a bit longer bake time, and then let the base cool to room temperature before topping.
Noelle says
Yum yum yum! I can’t tell you how happy I am with how these turned out. I’m always hesitant about “cleaning up” certain recipes that rely on a lot of sugar or butter (usually I just skip the traditional recipe altogether and miss out on all those yummy treats!). This was such a pleasant surprise. The crust is soft and flavorful, but hardy enough to hold up to all that creamy, tangy, sweet filling. I added a squirter of agave in place of the Stevia too and it worked perfectly 🙂 Thank you!
Lauren says
That’s great Noelle, thanks for your comment!
Joyce Estillore says
Hello,
Was yyour rrecipe of T. Equivalent to a teaspoon or tablespoon?
I looked it up and T. Is interchangeable with tea and tablespoon.
Also, have you used agave nectar instead of honey? I did not have enough honey so I used agave nectar instead. I hope they don’t come out Soggy.
Lauren says
Hi Joyce,
T is for tablespoon, and I’ve not tried these with agave, so I don’t know, sorry! 🙂
Megan says
Just made these, and they are good! I put a little zest in the base, and used coconut oil (also, I used around 2T raw sugar instead of stevia). The taste is really nice, I’ll definitely make these again!
Lauren says
Thanks Megan, glad you liked them!
Nicky says
Made with almond flour instead of oats. Misread t for tablespoon. Taste was amazing! But base is soggy because of too much lemon juice! . Will def do again with correct quantities!
NAN says
I am allergic to sugar and miss desserts with lemon flavoring. I can’t wait to give your recipe a try. Can I use old-fashioned oatmeal for the oats? What can I use instead of coconut sugar (I have honey & maple syrup that I can use
Lauren says
Yes, the old-fashioned oats will be fine, that’s actually the same thing I believe. 🙂 Honey or maple syrup should work well also, though I haven’t tried it that way myself. Hope you like these!
Rachel says
We are pretty healthy eaters and don’t use much sugar. Still, these tasted like ‘health food bars’. Big thumbs down from my family. If you add ‘something’ more that’s sweet to them I think they would have a fighting chance. Will try some added maple syrup or honey next time.
Ellie says
So this recipe looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it out, there aren’t a lot of really tasty desserts available for us poor gluten free souls. I was just wondering if gluten free flour would work just as well is ground oats?
Thanks xx
Lauren says
Hi Ellie,
I haven’t tried it any other way, so I can’t say for sure, but my gut is that it would work!
Kayla Kalchbrenner says
I want to make these TONIGHT buuut….. all I have is organic honey….not raw honey. Will the recipe still work?
.
Lauren says
Yes, that should work fine! 🙂
Michele says
Hi!
First of all…these look amazing and I can’t wait to make them. I was just wondering, what are your thoughts on using just egg whites? Also, how do you go about making the oats into flour?
Thank you in advance!! -m
Lauren says
Thanks Michele! I’m not sure on just using the whites, as that would cut down on fat and ultimately flavor. To make the oats into flour, I just grind them in a coffee grinder until they are fine, but I bet a food processor would work as well. 🙂
Christianne says
Thanks for the quick reply!! I am going to try these this weekend and will let you know how they turn out.
Christianne says
I’m so excited to try your recipe! I recently started cutting out most refined sugar and this recipe looks so yummy without using a lot of weird ingredients 🙂 I do have a question. I’m not worried about gluten and I was wondering if you know if I can substitute all purpose or whole wheat flour instead of the oats? Or even use whole oats instead of making into a flour? Just curious 🙂 thanks!
Lauren says
Hi Christianne,
I would think WW or AP flour would work here, but I’m less convinced of using whole oats, as that might make the crust too crumbly. 🙂
Laura says
I made the thick raw lemon bars too and they were also super good. These are my fave though ::-))
Laura says
I’ve made these twice now. Once I only had three eggs and forgot to ground the oats for filling before adding the rest of the ingredients. Turned out delicious. The other I used a little less honey and coconut sugar and used coconut oil and they were outrageous. This is adaptable and so friggin good. Can’t stop eating ’em. Thank you so much. Satisfied my sweet tooth and guilt free. Winning!!
Love all your recipes.
Melissa Barto says
WOW! Lauren, you did a fantastic job on this recipe. A lot of the other ones I looked at involved way too many ingredients that I don’t normally use. I just blogged about your site & this recipe too!!
Lauren says
Thanks so much Melissa! 🙂
Tui says
How do you store these?
Lauren says
In an air-tight container, in the fridge. 🙂
Tonya Wasielewski says
I grew my own stevia and dehydrated it for the first time this year. The “storage and processing” directions I have read tell me to store it in whole leaf dehydrated form then grind it fine before use. Would this fine grinding be the same as your powdered form? Thanks.
Lauren says
Hi Tonya,
I can’t say for sure, but my guess is that the amount you’d have to use would be greater. Sorry I can’t be of more help!
Ailsa says
I made a batch of these last night and they came out great. We’ve already eaten half the pan. Thanks so much for the recipe. I didn’t have stevia so I added an extra T of honey as suggested and it was perfect. I love how these bars are not very sweet and are so filling.
Lauren says
That’s great, Alisa! We just made a batch of these the other night as well, and I couldn’t get my husband to stop eating them! So glad you enjoyed them too! 🙂
Abbie says
Thank you for such a quick reply! I’ve just made this and it is perfection! A great recipe! Well done xxx
Abbie says
Is t. One tablespoon or teaspoon and how big is one cup? Haha I only usually work in grams
Lauren says
Hi Abbie,
t is teaspoon, and one cup of a dry mixture is equal to about 128 grams (according to an online source). I don’t work with grams though, so I can’t be sure!
Judy says
Don’t know if this always happens, but my crust came up to the top when lemon filling baked. I had already put on the powdered sugar before I noticed…so we ate upside-down GF honey lemon bars! 😉 So creamy, so tasty (didn’t even tell my friends they were GF)…upside-down, right-side up, side ways, no matter how you eat them…delish!
Lauren says
HI Judy,
I’m not sure what happened…did you pre-bake the crust? In any case, I’m happy you ultimately enjoyed them! 🙂
Cristal says
I’ve made these twice and my whole family loves them! I used orange almond coconut oil in the crust. I will also use this crust when making other desserts, such great flavor and texture! The texture of the lemon filling was perfectly sweet And perfectly creamy. Added bonus..they freeze well! Seriously a great treat when you’re craving something cold and sweet. Thanks for sharing:)
Lauren says
That’s great Cristal, thanks for letting me know! You’ve made me want to go make a batch. 🙂
Bethany says
Good to know! I’ll remember that next time. I also realized that I used “extra thick rolled oats,” which probably made a difference. I shared them with my sister and she LOVED them and ate up the whole batch! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Bethany says
Just made these! Super yummy! I love that you can really taste the lemon and honey. I’d call these more of a “honey lemon oat bar” recipe, though, because there’s a definite oatmeal taste and texture. But maybe I just didn’t grind the oats up finely enough. I personally like oatmeal, but the texture is definitely different from regular lemon bars, at least in my batch. I also added powdered sugar to the top of mine for a little extra sweetness. Still a tasty recipe and much healthier than the regular version. 🙂
Lauren says
Hi Bethany,
The oats should be really fine, like flour. I’m happy you enjoyed them! This is one of my favorite recipes on the blog. 🙂
Courtney says
I was wondering if you know what the measurements would be after grinding the oats into flour. My food processor capable of grinding anything that fine, but I do have oat flour. So if you know the approximate measurements I would really appreciate it. If not, no worries its not a big deal. Thank you.
Lauren says
Hi Courtney,
It ends up being about one cup of oat flour. 🙂
Courtney says
Thank you so much! I plan on making these for the weekend. So excited!
Audrey says
Hi Lauren!
I tried your recipe today and my filling turned out to be really egg-y and not creamy at all! Any suggestions as to how to improve upon it? Love your website and recipes btw, bookmarked so many recipes to try out! Thank you!
Lauren says
Hi Audrey,
I’m sorry they didn’t turn out for you! They are going to be different than the average lemon bar, because you don’t have the excessive sugar content, but mine still turned out pretty creamy. This may be ridiculous, but did you let them cool? Also, make sure the ingredients for the filling are well-mixed. Did yours look like the pictures?
Melissa says
Got some of these in the oven right now. I added some coconut to the base. Can’t wait for them cool so I can dig in. Thanks for the feat recipe.
Lauren says
Awesome Melissa, I hope you are enjoying them! 🙂
k. harringtob says
Am not trying to be rude… but these are not dairy free. Eggs are in the dairy category. My allergist confirmed this when my son almost died eating them. Dairy includes egg egg is dairy
Lauren says
The definition of dairy is ‘food produced from the milk of mammals’, so I respectfully disagree with your comment.
Christine says
wow wow thank you so much! just made this and it is DELICIOUS! I made into a circular tart rather than cutting them out as bars! so yum 🙂
Lauren says
That’s so great Christine, thanks for letting me know! 🙂
Laura O | Petite Allergy Treats says
Hi Lauren,
Sounds like we have the same style with blogging recipe development. I think I still have about 20 post I need to finish or redo. 🙂
Love the lemon bars!
Laura O| Petite Allergy Treats
Zana@GreenGlobalTravel says
These look like a nice refreshing snack for spring! Love that they’re a vegan friendly option as well. Thanks for the share!
Melissa @ Nourish By Melissa says
These look great! I have all the ingredients yay! 🙂
Jessica says
My mom brought me lots of lemons yesterday. I’m looking for lemon bars recipe and so far this is one of the best recipes I found.
Isadora says
I love Ina too, but I agree with you, she is always using a ton of sugar and butter in her recipes. I’ve been craving lemon bars for a while now and your dairy free, gluten free version looks really good!
Emma says
Yum YUM! I always get an immense feeling of satisfaction when I can give treats a “clean makeover”. These gems look divine, I am pinning them for later 🙂
amber says
Hey Girl,
Too funny. My son had lemon bars at his school (the kind filled with junk) so as usual, I made him his own healthy version! Lemon bars on the mind baby. I will share mine when I return. Yipes, so many recipes building up.
Your recipe looks incredible, Lauren, as usual!!
I think you should write a cookbook!!!! Pleeeease! You’re recipes are always so amazing…and easy!
Hugs,
–Amber
Lauren says
How about you and I write one together? 😉 ‘The Food Allergy Duo’!
Erica {Coffee & Quinoa} says
These look unnnnbelievable, and I’m not even a lemon bar person! And I’m quite glad they have a few tablespoons of honey rather than 3 cups of sugar 🙂 Not sure whether I should make these or the raw lemon bars first! Yummm.
Lauren says
Thank you so much Erica! I love raw desserts as well (as you can tell). 😀
Mike @TheIronYou says
I truly, deeply love Lemon Bars, it’s one of those guilty pleasures I’ll never renounce to; no matter the sugar and butter content.
There’s actually a bakery in NYC called Two Little Red Hens that makes, hands down, the best lemon bars in the world. But they are sweet and buttery, and I feel super guilty every time I eat one.
So this recipe you’ve created is groundbreaking; I can finally have Lemon bars everyday, I mean, HELLO! 😉
Lauren says
Lololol, ahhhh bless you sweet Mike. 😀
Mary Frances says
Lauren, these look amazing! I LOVE lemon; it is so bright and refreshing! And I want the filling to “dominate” like you said. Pinning these! Huh, that is really interesting (about the sugar) I think it is very easy to reduce the amount of sugar in recipes without people noticing. It is too bad so much of our country thrives (or thinks they thrive) on it!
Karen @ Kama Fitness says
WOW that other recipe used 3 cups of sugar…obviously NOT needed because look how clean your recipe is! These bars look delish & I also love the 4 grams of protein! A girl can never have enough protein !!
Sharon says
These look amazing Lauren! Nothing says spring is coming like lemons!
I’m with you on the less sweet front. When I was a kid I would have cups of tea with my grandmother and would never have sugar in my tea. She would say I was sweet enough. 😉 I loved that.
Have a great week!
Kath says
This recipe sounds lovely and I will certainly try it this week but can I skip stevia?
Lauren says
Hi Kath,
You can definitely leave out the stevia, but the bars may be a bit more tart. Perhaps add in another tablespoon of honey to compensate?
Kath says
Thank you for replying 🙂 I’ll try with some more honey then.