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Any Fruit Oat and Pretzel Bars
These sweet and salty bars are made with layers of fresh berries and fruit jam, sandwiched between a buttery oatmeal shortbread and a crunchy salted pretzel topping. They’re packed with oats, a little brown sugar, plenty of vanilla, and just the right amount of jam. Use whatever you have on hand—any fruit jam or preserve works, and mixing a few together makes them even more fun! These are perfect for breakfast, afternoon snacks, or even a light dessert.
I always have at least a couple of open jars of jam in the fridge—I guess I’m a jam girl at heart! Growing up, I’d watch my grandpa start his mornings with bread spread with salted butter and jam, always topped with a little extra pinch of salt (he loves salt).
When I started cooking and baking, I naturally found myself buying the same jams my Nonnie used to get for him. I don’t usually add jam to toast myself—although, now that I think about it, that sounds pretty great—but I do love baking with it, especially in the summer.
Jam is one of my favorite shortcut ingredients. It cuts out the need for chopping fruit or simmering sauces—no fuss at all. It’s just open, spread, and go.
So when I find myself with a few half-used jars in the fridge, I make these bars. They’re the perfect way to use up leftover jam, and you can mix and match flavors depending on what you have. Super simple, super delicious—and always a hit!
These are the details
Ingredients
- mini salted pretzel twist
- old-fashioned oats
- all-purpose or whole wheat flour
- brown sugar, preferably dark brown and organic – I don’t use a lot
- baking powder
- salted butter
- vanilla extract
- jam – etc, strawberry/raspberry/blackberry/blueberry/peach
- fresh berries
Special Tools
To make these bars, you need a food processor or blender, a mixing bowl, and a rectangular baking dish. Plus, parchment paper.
Steps
Step 1: Grind the pretzels
Using a food processor or blender, pulse the pretzels into a coarse flour. They don’t need to be completely ground—a few small pieces are just fine!
Step 2: Make the dough
Transfer the pretzel flour to a bowl. Add the oats, all-purpose flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt, and brown sugar. The recipe calls for 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar, but I usually go with just 1/4 cup for a less sweet bar—feel free to adjust based on your preference!
Add in the butter and vanilla, then beat everything together until a soft dough forms.
Step 3: Add the jam
Press about a 1/3 of the dough into a baking dish. Top with a layer of fresh berries or sliced peaches, then spread your favorite jam (or a mix!). Just make sure to use a thicker jam so it doesn’t get too runny while baking.
Crumble the remaining dough evenly over the top.
Step 4: Bake
Bake the bars for 30–40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and your kitchen smells like summer.
Let the bars cool completely before slicing into squares—then enjoy!
How Best to Enjoy These
These bars are perfect for breakfast (especially if you go light on the sugar), as an afternoon snack, or even for dessert—maybe with a scoop of ice cream?
Technically, you’re supposed to let them cool before slicing… but eating them warm, straight from the pan, is so good. Add a little vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, and you’ve got something extra delicious.
Looking for other summer desserts? Here are some favorites:
Jammy Raspberry Cream Pretzel Hand Pies
Skillet Strawberry Bourbon Cobbler
5 ingredient Raspberry Peach Sherbet
Nonnie’s 5 Ingredient Peach Dump
Cinnamon Maple Brown Butter Blackberry Peach Crisp
Lastly, if you make these Any Fruit Oat and Pretzel Bars, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love hearing from you and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Any Fruit Oat and Pretzel Bars
Servings: 24 bars
Calories Per Serving: 372 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 4 cups salted mini pretzels
- 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup all-purpose or whole wheat flour
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks salted butter, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 10-12 ounces jam - strawberry, blackberry, or blueberry
- 1/2 cup fresh berries, chopped strawberries, raspberries, etc.
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13 inch baking dish with parchment paper.2. Using a food processor or blender, grind the pretzels into a fine powder or flour. Measure out 1 cup of pretzel flour and add it to a big bowl. Add the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and vanilla. Beat the butter into the flour until combined.3. Press 1/3 of the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Spread the jam evenly over the dough, then top with berries. Sprinkle the remaining dough over the jam. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown4. Let cool completely before cutting into bars. Keep stored in a sealed container for up to 1 week.
This post was originally published on June 17, 2025
Prior to the comment getting deleted, there were several questions asking if they could omit the oats and if they needed to be replaced with something else. These comments have now been deleted, and you are responding saying that you don’t know where people got the idea. This feels really disingenuous, can you please clarify? 🙁
Hi Wren,
I can assure you, no comments regarding oats and this recipe have been deleted. I haven’t had a single person ask about omitting oats from this recipe. Are you sure you aren’t thinking of a different recipe? Happy to help, but this recipe needs the oats:) xx
SO good! I’m so excited to try it with different kinds of fruits/berries 🤤😋
Thanks so much, Inna! So glad to hear this recipe turned out nicely for you, thanks a lot for making it!
Unfortunately this did not turn out with omitting the oats as you suggested. Did you add anything to replace the oats when you tested the recipe without them? Just trying to problem solve what happened.
Hi Claire,
Very sorry to hear this. I am not sure where you saw that suggestions, but I definitely would not recommend omitting the oats for this recipe. The oats are a huge part of the success of these bars. Please let me know if I can help in any other way! x
This is so frustrating. It appears you deleted the comment where people were asking if the oats could be omitted, and are now saying the total opposite. It makes it really hard to trust your recipes when things are constantly changing.
Hi Claire,
I can promise you no comments regarding oats have been deleted from this recipe. Are you referring to a different recipe? This recipe needs the oats for it to work. Please let me know if I can help in any other way.
Family and neighbors loved these so much!! I use the high-quality blueberry jam and fresh cut up strawberries. My neighbors said this was so good. It was possibly taking the number one rank away from your lemon blueberry coffee cake lol I will make a cat definitely and try with other fruits as well!
Hey Sarah,
Happy Monday!! Thanks a bunch for your comment and making this recipe, love to hear it was a hit!☀️
Made them with some rhubarb preserves I had made and cut up strawberries!! Mega summer hit in this house.
Hey Jenna,
Happy Sunday!! Thanks a bunch for trying this recipe and your comment, love to hear it was enjoyed! Happy Summer!
Step by step calls for half the pretzel mix in the bottom and (half on top). Recipe card says ⅓ on bottom, (⅔ on top.)
I halved the recipe in an 8×8 pan. Used unsalted butter. Tastes good with some adjustment.
Hi Lynn,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try! You are going to follow the recipe card, using 1/3 on the bottom and the remaining on the top:) I hope you’ll make them again! xT
This is my second time making them in 3 days! My husband is obsessed with them and my pregnant self appreciates all the fruit intake I can get! My father is visiting tomorrow and I’ll send some home with him to share with my mom (who is the one that introduced me to your recipes years back). These will be new a staple in our household!
Hey Emily,
Happy Friday!! I appreciate you trying this recipe and your comment, love to hear it was a winner!
I’m still confused by these directions that don’t match. This:
Press half of the dough into a baking dish. Top with a layer of fresh berries or sliced peaches, then spread your favorite jam (or a mix!). Just make sure to use a thicker jam so it doesn’t get too runny while baking.
versus this:
Press 1/3 of the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Spread the jam evenly over the dough, then top with berries.
help!! can you edit to be consistent pls pls 🙂
Hi Sammie,
So sorry for any confusion! You are going to follow the recipe card as written:
Press 1/3 of the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Spread the jam evenly over the dough, then top with berries.
I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! T
I’m still hoping to get an answer about how much sugar to use for the recipe. I would like to make these to bring to a soccer game but I’m hesitant because of the 3 different brown sugar amounts suggested. Can someone PLEASE advise? It has been well over 24 hours so not sure what needs to happen for my question to be approved.
Hi Harper,
You can use anywhere between 1/4-1/2 cup of brown sugar depending on how sweet you would like them to be. The difference in measurement will not affect the outcome of the bars. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
So so good!! I did omit the extra salt and used unsalted butter (I sometimes have a reaction to salt so wanted to make sure I could eat them). I had to hide them from my husband he couldn’t stop eating them!
Thanks so much, Lyn!! So glad to hear this recipe turned out well for you, thanks a bunch for making it!
Good afternoon, Tieghan! I decided to make this recipe because the bars looked so good with all the red coloring from jam preserves and fresh raspberries!
The changes I made were to press 2/3 of the batter into the 9 x 13 inch pan for the base and sprinkle the last 1/3 of the batter on top of the jam/preserve layer instead of vice-versa per the recipe. 1/3 of the batter simply wasn’t enough to cover the bottom of a 9×13-inch pan.
I caught on that the metric grams posted were not correct for every ingredient listed in this recipe. For example, 1-1/2 cups of oats weighs in close to 150 grams in actuality, not the 354.88 grams shown.
Also, I weighed out and blitzed 320 grams of salted mini pretzels and ended up with about 3-1/2 cups of pretzel flour altogether…about 2-1/2 cups too much! I will have to figure out what to do with all that extra pretzel flour!!
Bottom line, it pays to double-check cup measurements with gram amounts in recipes! Some bakers and cooks swear by grams over measuring cups. I often check with King Arthur’s ingredient weight chart. But I didn’t do that for mini pretzels, unfortunately.
I’m sure our Raspberry Oat Pretzel Bars will be good to sell for tomorrow’s Deli case! I do work in a commercial kitchen, after all. Thank you!!
Hi there,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try! I appreciate you sharing your detailed notes on what worked best for you. So sorry you had issues with the metric measurements. I’m glad to hear these turned out nicely for you, thanks again for your feedback! xx
Felt like this recipe wasn’t ready to be published. I think I’ll probably give it a tune up before sharing with anyone.
Hi Willow,
Sorry to hear this recipe did not turn out for you. If there is anything that I can help with, please let me know! xx
I found this recipe confusing, which is not the norm for Half Baked Harvest!
First of all, I ground up the 4c of pretzels and then measured out a cup as directed…and was left with a whole lot left over that felt like a waste. Now looking back at other comments, it appears I should have added all of it in the dough?
I also found it to be quite salty and that was without using even unsalted butter. So whatever you do, don’t use salted butter!
It turned out more as a crumble for me than a bar, but they are good overall, so I will try to make some changes and try again another time!
Hi Allie,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, so sorry you had issues!! Sorry you had so much leftover pretzel crumbs, next time just do 2 or 3 cups. Again, sorry about the saltiness, definitely skip the salt and use unsalted butter next time. Let me know how that works for you! Happy Friday!! xx
Could you tell me what was updated with the recipe? I want to make sure it’s finished being revised before I attempt it!
Hi Abigail,
The amount of brown sugar was adjusted, you can follow the recipe as written using 1/4-1/2 cup depending on how sweet you want your bars to be. I hope you love this recipe! xx
The recipe states 2 sticks of butter, but on Instagram you showed yourself using one block of 8.8oz butter. Could you clarify why you used a different amount? Would it be ok for me to use 8.8?
Hi Rachel,
You’ll want to follow the recipe as written and use 2 sticks of butter. I hope you love this recipe! xx
These were so incredibly salty. It is also hard when a recipe says to use anywhere from 2 tbsp to 1/2 cup of sugar. That is quite a range to tell someone to essentially just guess. Additionally, the written instructions in the blog portion say to press half the dough, while the recipe portion says 1/3 of the dough. Can this be clarified, as well as updated to whichever version is correct?
Hi Rita,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback. So very sorry to hear these were so salty. I edited the sugar to be 1/4-1/2 cup depending on how sweet you like your bars. You are pressing 1/3 of the dough into the pan. Again, sorry these didn’t turn out for you. xx