Never waste leftover cranberry sauce again with this easy recipe! These vegan cranberry crumble oatmeal bars are so good and a perfect day after Thanksgiving snack.
The one thing I never know what to do with the day after a Thanksgiving feast is the cranberry sauce. I am not much of a fan as it is, so I usually end up tossing the leftovers. But waste no more! These cranberry crumble bars are my new tradition!
Too much to eat. Too much to drink. Sound like a familiar post Thanksgiving situation? I can barely function let alone try and figure out what to do with all the poor rejects of the night before. And we all know, no one takes the cranberry sauce.
Well this year, grab it up! Then come home and make these. Ten minutes of prep, then the oven takes care of the rest, all while making your house smell amazing. It's pretty much a no brainer, time to stop looking up leftover cranberry sauce recipes because this is it.
Making healthy vegan cranberry crumble bars
You don't need tons of time or unhealthy ingredients to use up that leftover cranberry sauce. All you need is 8 extra ingredients, your leftover sauce and some hungry bellies!
- Mix your cranberry layer and dry ingredients.
- Cut in the wet ingredients (use a fork to get it nice and crumbly).
- Spread it on the bottom of a pan.
- Add the cranberry layer.
- Crumble the rest on top.
- Bake!
Watch for thieves. I had a few, 3 to be exact. Sticky little fingers gave them away. But who can blame them?!
Or try out these other delicious desserts!
- Vegan Caramel Apple Nachos
- Easy Vegan Chocolate Mocha Cannoli
- No Bake Chocolate Peppermint Protein Balls
- Vegan Apple Cinnamon Roses
Healthy Vegan Cranberry Crumble Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups cranberry sauce (perfect way to use leftovers from Thanksgiving)
- 6 tablespoons orange juice (see note)
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 ½ cups oats , gluten free if needed
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ cup apple sauce
- ¼ cup almond butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F/ 175 C
- Mix the cranberry sauce and orange juice until combined. It should be thick and jelly like.
- Put the almond flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Mix well to combine.
- Add in the apple sauce and almond butter. Using a fork, cut them into the dry ingredients until it is nice and crumbly. You don’t want to mix it to make a dough, you want it to be a crumble.
- Put ⅔ of the crumble in a square baking dish. I used 8 x 8 but 9 x 9 would work too, they will just be thinner. Press the crumble down to form a firmer bottom crust.
- Spread the cranberry layer over the top.
- Crumble the leftover crumble over the top. Lightly press into the cranberry layer but don’t flatten. You want it to look like a crumbled topping.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
- When done, allow to cool completely before cutting or they will fall apart.
Notes
- If you are using homemade cranberry sauce, make sure it isn’t too thin. If it is then don’t use the juice. I added it in for a better tasting tang, but you don’t have to have it. Also don’t use it if your sauce already has orange juice in it.
- You can use a store bought cranberry sauce. Or even a jelly of some sort.
- To keep this healthier and refined sugar free make sure you use a cranberry sauce that has no refined sugar.
Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.
Nutrition
Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.
renee
do you store these in the fridge? wonder if you could freeze them and how long...
veggiesdontbite
Hi Renee! You can store them on the counter for a few days. After that put them in the fridge. If you want to freeze them, I'd wrap in plastic then store in an airtight container or plastic freezer bag.
Jennifer
Absolutely delicious! I used homemade chia raspberry jam in place of the cranberry sauce (given that it is July right now, and not November). I also added some shredded coconut and pumpkin seeds to the top before baking. My husband rated this an A+. Thank you for the awesome recipe!
veggiesdontbite
I'm so happy you liked them! And yes, that is a perfect sub! The toppings sound great too!
innerspacegirl
Just made a 1/2 size of these in a loaf pan since I had that amount of cranberry left over. Added some hemp to the dry ingredients and sprinkled the top w/ pumpkin seeds. Came out great!
veggiesdontbite
That sounds amazing! Love the hemp seed addition for a little extra health factor. Thanks so much!!
Eric Guerin
Sounds delish! I'm assuming the almond flour is adding some amount of moisture to the mix, is there a nut free flour you'd recommend as a replacement?
veggiesdontbite
Hi Eric! Thanks so much! I made so many versions of these and really picked this combo because of the ultimate flavor and texture. The almond flour adds moisture and fat with great flavor, I tried using oat flour and oats instead of the almond and wasn't loving the result. You could perhaps try ground up sunflower seeds if you can get them ground finely enough? If you really want to try the oat flour you are welcome too but you'll need more fat so if you aren't oil free (another reason why I used the almond flour was to keep them without adding oil), you could try adding a touch of coconut oil. I'm totally guessing on this though. Let me know what you try!
Sue
" And we all know, no one takes the cranberry sauce."
No need to insult wonderful, homemade traditional food. In my family I have to make extra because everyone wants to take home the leftovers!
BTW, my cranberry sauce is raw, not cooked. I wonder if it would work in this recipe.
veggiesdontbite
Hi Sue! My post was not meant to insult. In our experience, cranberry sauce is always what’s left. To each their own always! And yes, the raw cranberry sauce should work!
Stacey
Date sugar is our "sugar" of choice now after reading Dr Michael Greger's book, "How Not to Die". I am wondering if that will work alright to substitute in this recipe.
veggiesdontbite
Hi Stacey! Yep! Any sugar will work here. You'll have to test out the sweetness but it should not be a much different amount. Hope you like them!
JD
These were so good! I love the added orange juice for tang.