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You have to really read labels to find protein, nutrition, snack and granola bars without palm oil. In addition to palm oil and palm kernel oil, many of them contain palm oil derivatives.
Choose bars without Glycerin, Glycerine, Tocopherols, and Vitamin E (to maintain freshness) on labels. They are usually made from palm oil.
Palm oil enables bars to be “Chewy.”
Avoid these types of bars as well:
- Filled
- Coated
- Soft-Baked
- Layered
Note “Natural Flavors” can contain palm oil.
Remember, the less ingredients something has, the less likely it contains palm oil. Don’t be swayed by packaging.
Pay particular attention to companies who come out with new flavors. These bars often contain palm oil ingredients.
After cross-referencing their ingredients against hundreds of names of palm oil derivatives, we believe these nutrition bars and granola bars do not have palm oil ingredients.
However, we do not warrant that the ingredient, sourcing, allergen, and product information is accurate or complete. Our information comes from product manufacturers. Choose products that are certified Palm Oil Free from the International Palm Oil Free Certification Trademark Programme or the Orangutan Alliance.
We continue to contact the companies to confirm and update when we hear back from them.
Granola bars without palm oil
Enjoy Life Foods Crispy Grain & Seed Bars:
- Chocolate Marshmallow
- Banana Caramel
- Cranberry Orange
- Maple Sweet Potato
Enjoy Life Foods Protein Bites:
Dark Raspberry- Dipped Banana
- Sunseed Butter
- Cinnamon Spice
What’s great about Enjoy Life Foods: They are the first company in the United States in the “Free From” category to earn Palm Oil Free Certification from the International Palm Oil Free Certification Accreditation Programme (POFCAP) for all four flavors of their Grain & Seed Bars.
Enjoy Life Foods also earned this important Palm Oil Free certification trademark for four flavors of their Protein Bites.
RXBAR:
- Apple Cinnamon
- Blueberry
- Chocolate Chip
- Chocolate Sea Salt
- Coconut Chocolate
- Coffee Chocolate
- Mango Pineapple
- Maple Sea Salt
- Mint Chocolate
- Mixed Berry
- Peanut Butter
- Peanut Butter Chocolate
- Pumpkin Spice (seasonal)
- Chocolate Hazelnut
- Peanut Butter & Berries
RXBAR KIDS:
- Chocolate Chip
- Berry Blast
- Apple Cinnamon Raisin
- Double Chocolate
- Peanut Butter Chocolate
- PB&J
What’s great about RXBAR: They use dates to bind their ingredients instead of palm oil like other companies do. They list their ingredients on the front of each package.
RXBAR confirms these bars are made without palm oil.
In this day and age when most companies use palm oil and palm oil derivatives, it is amazing RXBAR does not. All of their products are palm oil-free, including all of their new flavors.
We hope they will promote this on their packaging and on their website.
Van’s Foods:
- Gluten Free Cranberry Almond Snack Bars
Purely Elizabeth:
- Blueberry Hemp Ancient Grain Granola Bar
- Original: Salty, Sweet, Crunchy
Please note, their Probiotics bars contain palm.
However, we love their Blueberry Hemp Granola and are thrilled to see they now make a new product without palm oil in a bar.
Larabar Kid:
- Chocolate Brownie
Honey Bunchies Gourmet Honey Bar
What’s great about Honey Bunchies: Their bar is made with honey, peanuts, pecans and sunflower kernels.
Honey Bunchies confirmed they don’t use palm oil or palm oil derivatives.
KIND Snacks KIND Bars:
- Maple Glazed Pecan & Sea Salt
- Honey Roasted Nuts & Sea Salt
- Madagascar Vanilla Almond
- Raspberry Cashew & Chia
- Almond & Apricot
- Apple Cinnamon & Pecan
- Fruit & Nut
- Peanut Butter & Strawberries
KIND Sweet & Spicy bars:
- Roasted Jalapeno
Pressed by KIND Fruit Bars:
- Cherry Apple Chia
- Mango Apple Chia
- Pineapple Banana Kale Spinach
- Strawberry Apple Cherry Chia
KIND Fruit Bites:
- Strawberry Cherry Apple
- Cherry Apple
- Mango Pineapple Apple
What’s great about KIND: They have many palm oil free options in a variety of flavors and types/textures.
Their products above do not contain palm oil, palm kernel oil, glycerine, glycerol, tocopherols, vitamin E, or any ingredients derived from palm.
Be sure to read the ingredients to confirm you are buying KIND’s palm-free bars. It seems many of their new bars contain palm oil derivatives. Read labels!
(Despite many emails over several months to follow up, we are waiting for confirmation from our KIND contact to confirm the source of many of their ingredients.)
Clif Kid Organic Z Bar:
- Caramel Chocolate
- Chocolate Brownie
- Chocolate Chip
- Iced Oatmeal Cookie
- Iced Lemon Cookie
- S’mores
What’s great about Clif Kid Zbar: Clif Kid Zbar continues to make these bars with other ingredients besides palm oil.
My kids love them and have been eating them for over seven years. We buy boxes of them every month.
It was great to see Clif made their new Clif Kid ZBar Caramel Chocolate bar without palm oil.
Anymore, it seems when companies make new products, they are resorting to using palm oil. Instead, this bar include organic fig paste and organic high oleic sunflower oil.
A Consumer Care Representative from Clif Bar & Company confirmed their bars above are free from palm oil.
Please note, their new “filled” bars and their kid’s line of “protein” bars DO contain palm oil as do most of this companies’ other products and bars.
To the best of our knowledge, the bars above are the only ones Clif makes without palm oil. We are awaiting comment from Clif Bar & Company.
Purely Elizabeth:
Also certified gluten-free and vegan, Purely Elizabeth offers Grain-Free SuperBar in these flavors:
- Chocolate Sea Salt
- Coconut Cashew
- Peanut Butter
- Banana Nut Butter (Purely Elizabeth has confirmed the Citric Acid is not from palm oil.)
What’s great about Purely Elizabeth: They have confirmed they make these products and an extensive line of additional products without palm ingredients.
See them highlighted in our list of granola cereals without palm oil.
Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars:
- Oats ‘n Dark Chocolate
- Oats ‘n Honey
- Maple Brown Sugar
We are reaching out to Nature Valley to find out if their other Crunchy granola bars are made without palm oil ingredients.
(My son, who gets sick from palm oil, has tried and regularly enjoys the Dark Chocolate and Oats ‘n Honey. This is a list of what he eats.)
Simply Balanced Chewy Granola Bars:
- Apple Berry Flavored (Organic)
We have not yet heard back from Simply Balanced (Target brand) to confirm this flavor of granola bar is free from palm oil.
We have checked the ingredients, and it seems these bars are made without palm oil.
(Note, my son has been able to eat these bars. However, read the label at the point of purchase — companies often change ingredients — to be sure the ingredients are palm free.)
Finding granola bars without palm oil
Palm oil ingredients go by hundreds of names which often makes them difficult to avoid and eliminate.
However, there are the easy ingredients to spot, those with the word “palm” in it, including:
- Palm oil
- Palm kernel oil
- Vegetable oil (palm)
- Vitamin A Palmitate
However, there are derivatives which are often made with palm oil which are more difficult to know to look for.
Unless the company lists the source, you won’t know unless you contact them.
In granola and other bars, these ingredients most often contain palm oil.
- Glycerin
- Glycerine
- Glycerol: This ingredient is usually made with palm, sometimes soybean
- Tocopherols: This ingredient can be used as a synthetic Vitamin E supplement or to preserve freshness in foods like granola or fruit bars, cereals, ice cream, and baked goods.
- Vegetable oil: Sometimes it will be listed as “Vegetable oil (palm)” and sometimes it will be just listed as generic “Vegetable oil.”
- Vitamin E: Sometimes companies will add: To Maintain Freshness. Regardless, Vitamin E often equals palm oil.
Watch for Natural Flavors in snack bars
One major snack bar company told us the Natural Flavors in their Brownie bar contains Glycerin and that the Glycerin is sourced from palm oil.
Most of their other bars contain Glycerin spelled out separately as an ingredient (also made from palm oil).
Homemade granola bars without palm oil
If you want to ensure you are not using palm oil ingredients, you can make bars yourself. There are many recipes online. It’s easy to mix in dried fruit, like raisins and cranberries. If you enjoy nuts, you can add these in along with palm-free chocolate chips, etc.
However, sometimes, we need a fast and easy, grab-and-go snack, which is why it’s great when we can buy snack bars without palm oil.
Granola bars are an easy go-to snack
Granola bars aren’t perishable so they are the perfect snack to put in a lunch bag or to send as a snack to school. They are great for road trips and for outings, really anywhere you need to send a snack. Many consumers enjoy them for breakfast.
Granola, nutrition, fruit and protein bars without palm oil ingredients
Always read labels. Know there are hundreds of alternate names for palm oil ingredients. Please do your best to support these companies and products so they can remain palm-free.
Learn ways to use less palm oil each week to decrease overall demand.
If you get sick from palm oil or you are avoiding palm oil for environmental reasons, you know how difficult it is to find granola bars without palm oil.
Nutrition and granola bars without palm oil ingredients
It’s difficult to find palm-free foods in the dessert and processed foods categories. That’s why we really consider it a big win when we find packaged foods without palm ingredients that we know we can eat safely.
We’ve found some items along the way which make it easier to avoid palm oil.
Here’s how to find products without palm oil.
See our lists of snacks without palm oil; cookies without palm oil; and candy without palm oil. You can learn how to have breakfast without palm oil.
As always, please support companies and brands who don’t use any palm oil ingredients and the hundreds of names they go by.
You know how difficult it is to find protein bars and other bars without palm oil and related palm ingredients.
Please, if you know of other nutrition bars and granola bars without palm oil, help us all by listing them in the Comments. We’ll add them to this list. Thank you!
We are not medical professionals. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your physician. The information is based on our own Internet research and reading labels to compare ingredients against the hundreds of names for palm oil derivatives.
Use this list as a starting point; it is not guaranteed unless the bars are certified Palm Oil Free.
We reached out to each of these companies, specifically asking them about each product and asking questions to confirm ingredients. Read labels.
Thank you for being proactive and for read labels. By choosing palm oil-free bars, we will be making a difference.
Kind Bars ingredient list still includes palm nut oil.
Hello Leslie,
Thank you for your comment and for being an informed consumer!
Yes, many of KIND’s products do contain palm oil, including the ingredient you referenced.
In this post, we included only the specific products we have confirmed to be 100% free from palm oil, palm kernel oil, and palm oil derivatives.
Right now we have included 20 of their products and hope to be able to include more once we hear back from them.
We are waiting to hear back from KIND to identify the sources for some of their other ingredients which may or may not be from palm oil.
In the meantime, keep checking ingredients and reading labels. It’s great you are so informed and digging deeper. As consumers, we have options!
Hello again, Leslie. We wanted you to know we’ve written to follow up with KIND many times and have yet to hear back from them about specific ingredients which may be derived from palm oil. Please read all labels before buying granola and snack bars.