This homemade Aussie bites recipe is a copycat of the Costco Aussie bites. They are a lovely snack bite like an oatmeal cookie with superfoods like dried fruit, seeds and more. Moreover, this version is gluten-free, vegan, and dairy-free. The bites are free of wheat, eggs, and peanuts as well, which tend to be common allergens for people.

About These Aussie Bites
These Aussie bites are a delicious compilation of dried fruit, seeds, natural sweetener, coconut oil, and oats, with a chewy texture similar to granola bars. These bites make for wonderful snacks due to the fact they provide plenty of energy and keep you full due to being high in fiber. One Aussie bite contains 5 grams of fat, 3 grams of sugar, 7 grams of carbs, and 3 grams of saturated fat.
How to Make Aussie Bites
Start by preheating the oven to 350° F. Next, you have two options for how you would like to bake these bites. The first is a 24-cup mini muffin tin which you can grease lightly for easy removal of the bites. You can grease the muffin tin with coconut oil if you like or even a little organic unsalted butter.
The other is on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Not everyone has a mini muffin pan, so the baking sheet method makes this recipe extra versatile for those with limited kitchen equipment.

Making the Oatmeal Bites Mix
The first step to making the Aussie bites mix is to pulse 1 cup of the rolled oats in the bowl of a food processor until finely ground into oat flour. Next, you add the remaining oats to the food processor along with the apricots, raisins, coconut sugar, shredded coconut, puffed amaranth, sunflower seeds, flax meal, chia seeds, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda (see below for some ingredient substitution suggestions). If you can't find flax meal you can make your own from flax seed by blending the flax seeds in a food processor or spice grinder until fine. Flax seeds and flax meal are wonderful ingredients to have on hand anyway as they contain fiber, magnesium, thiamine, copper, carbs, and more. Additionally, they include plenty of protein and omega-3s.
You should pulse this mixture until the dried fruit is cut up into small pieces, but it shouldn’t become finely ground. The dried fruit both acts as a binder and gives a fruity, sweet taste to these bites.
Adding the Liquid Ingredients
The final ingredients that go into the mix are coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla. At this point, you can pulse the food processor just until the wet ingredients are combined with the dried fruit, oat, and seed mixture. All of these ingredients combine into a delicious healthy snack that you can take with you on the go. As one of the best express foods, these bites hold up well in a sealed container to have as a snack at work or school. They are without added wheat, canola oil, soy, and sugar, which is particularly great if those are foods you are trying to avoid.
If desired, you can amplify the healthy halo of this recipe too by using items like organic flax seeds, organic shredded coconut, organic chia seeds, organic sunflower seeds, organic raisins, organic quinoa, organic sugar if you don't have coconut sugar, organic vanilla, and sea salt. You could also substitute the maple syrup with organic honey if you would like a slightly different flavour profile in your version of these bites.

Shaping the Aussie Bites
If you chose to use a mini muffin pan, you can simply press even quantities of the oat mixture between the cups. I recommend that you use a tablespoon-sized scoop as you divide them to ensure you get an equal amount into each cup.
Alternatively, if you chose to use the baking sheet for baking the bites, you can divide the oat mixture into 24 even-sized mounds. A 1 tablespoon cookie scoop (or rounded measuring spoon) is an excellent way to do this. See my Instagram pic below
The next step is baking the bites until they become golden and set. The bake time should only be a total of 10 to 12 minutes. Once baked, the best way to ensure that the bites stay intact is to allow them to cool in the pan or on the baking sheet before removing and storing. However, if you think they may have stuck to the tin a little, feel free to run an offset spatula or knife around the edges to gently loosen them.
These will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week. They make wonderful snacks throughout the day but you could even enjoy them as an on-the-go breakfast.

Ingredient Replacements
The wonderful thing about this Aussie bites recipe is that similar to homemade granola or granola bars, there is some versatility in the ingredient list. This adds extra convenience to these wonderful snacks that are easy to take on the go.
- If you don't have dried apricots, you can feel free to replace them with dates, figs, or prunes instead.
- You can replace the raisins with dried cranberries if desired.
- If you don't have coconut oil on hand, you could substitute it with melted butter.
Almost any dried fruit will work in this recipe as long as it is sticky as it helps the bites mixture hold together. This is a great place to use up some leftover dried fruit from holiday baking. Alternatively, feel free to modify your groceries with an array of dried fruit that you can use to switch up this bites recipe.
Replacing the Sweeteners
The sweeteners are replaceable too. For example:
- if you don't bake with coconut sugar often, brown sugar or cane sugar will both work just as well and add a similar caramel finish.
- Additionally, if you aren't concerned about the bites being vegan, feel free to use honey in place of the maple syrup. However, agave nectar will work well here as well.
Replacing the Dry Ingredients
Some of the dry ingredients can be replaced also. I've replaced the quinoa from the original bites with puffed amaranth. Amaranth was a prominent part of the Aztec diet and is commonly used in Mexican snacks. It has become more widely available in recent years due to its health benefits. It is high in protein and fiber, also containing important nutrients like iron, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus.
While amaranth is becoming easier to find, it can sometimes be difficult to purchase in its puffed form at the grocery store. You can find it online or check out my friend Lorena's tutorial for popping amaranth at home.
- Alternatively, you can use puffed, cooked, or raw quinoa instead. Quinoa is similarly high in protein and fiber and is gluten-free.
Finally, if you don't have sunflower seeds or chia seeds, here are some other seed options:
- pumpkin seeds for a pop of green colour and crunch
- hemp hearts
- whole flax
- or sesame seeds.

Other Bites Recipes You'll Love:

Aussie Bites Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1-¾ cups rolled oats *
- ¼ cup dried apricots prunes, figs or dates can be substituted
- ¼ cup raisins or cranberries
- ¼ cup coconut sugar or brown/cane sugar
- ¼ cup shredded coconut unsweetened
- ¼ cup puffed amaranth or puffed, cooked, or raw quinoa
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup flax meal
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- â…“ cup coconut oil melted
- ¼ cup maple syrup honey or agave nectar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 24-count mini muffin pan or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add 1 cup of the rolled oats to your food processor. Let it run until the oats are turned into a fine flour.
- To that add the remaining ¾ cup of rolled oats, ¼ cup dried apricots, ¼ cup raisins, ¼ cup coconut sugar, ¼ cup shredded coconut, ¼ cup puffed amaranth, ¼ cup sunflower seeds, ¼ cup flax meal, 2 tablespoon chia seeds, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon baking soda.
- Close the lid and pulse the food processor repeatedly until the dried fruit is cut up into small bits.
- To the dry mix add ⅓ cup melted coconut oil, ¼ cup maple syrup, and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract. Pulse again until everything is evenly moistened and combined.
- Divide the mixture into the prepared mini muffin cavities and press down to compress the Aussie bites. Alternatively, use a small cookie scoop (1 tablespoon size) and form 24 mounds on a lined baking sheet.
- Bake the Aussie bites for 10-12 minutes until golden. Let them cool in the pan (or on it) before removing and storing.
- Keep the Aussie bites in an airtight container at room temperature for about 1 week.
Sarah B Hurley
I made this recipe three times and they don't stick together. They crumble when I try to take them out of the tin even when completely cooled. I tried pulsing the dried fruits less and it still didn't work. Can I use oat flour instead of pulsing the rolled oats into a flour? I tried greasing the tins more, and then less but still had the crumbling issue. I look forward to your suggestions.
Regina | Leelalicious
Hi Sarah, sorry to hear you've experienced crumbling issues. I think pulsing the fruit more would actually help. It increases the surface area of the sticky fruit, meaning more of the other ingredients can adhere to it. Also try pressing the mixture into the pan more before baking to make everything a bit more compacted. And yes, you can use 80 g (7/8 cup) of oat flour instead of pulsing the oats into flour yourself.
Jb
I don't own a food processor but I do have a blender and spice grinder. Should I try this with the blender or will it just end up stuck in the bottom? Also, I have oat flour so I don't need to use the processor for that. How much oat flour would you suggest using?
Thanks
Regina | Leelalicious
I imagine both a blender and spice grinder having a hard time with he stickiness of dry fruit. Maybe try chopping it as finely as possible by hand?
And if you have oat flour, use about 80 grams or 7/8 cup of that.
JC
Just made this recipe but it tasted bitter, probably from the baking soda. Was an egg supposed to be added to the mix?
I also made a bar rather than a mini muffin shape but can’t imagine that would hold together.
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Hi JC! I'm sorry you found the bites to be bitter. It could have been from the baking soda but the recipe uses such a small amount, it is unlikely to make such a significant impact. I recommend that you check the freshness of your ingredients as grains like oats and seeds like sunflower seeds can go rancid and bitter if they are kept in storage for too long.
The sticky ingredients like the dried fruit help the bites hold together. It is important to press the mixture firmly into muffin cups to ensure they stick together. I hope this helps! 🙂
Ronda G Bradshaw
Hi all,
The quinoa may have been the source of the bitterness. If used raw or not rinsed well enough prior to cooking quinoa can be very bitter. I would recommend using cooked quinoa that has been rinsed really well prior to cooking.
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Hi Ronda! That is a very good point! Thank you for your insight. 🙂
Rosalee Adams
Sounds lovely for breakfast but can I use other than
'amaranth or puffed, cooked, or raw quinoa'
Can't stand either no matter how they are prepared
UGH!!
Thanks so much
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Hi Rosalee! I think you could simply use some extra oats to replace the amaranth and quinoa in the recipe. Puffed rice should work as well. Let us know how it goes. 🙂
Colette Dillman
I made these as my family loves them (Costco), they enjoyed them more than the original. So easy to make and so healthy, my son is a healthy eater and he couldn't get enough. Thank you so much for all your recipes and hard work. We in the communities appreciate it.
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Thanks so much for your lovely review, Colette! 🙂
Tm
Taste fabulous however I couldn’t get mine to bind together. What did I miss?
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Thanks for your review! I'm not sure what may have impacted the mixture form coming together, but could it have been that you used a little more or less of certain ingredients? The combination of oats, dried fruit, and wetter ingredients, along with blending the mixture in the food processor, is important for getting the mixture to hold together. If the dried fruit you used isn't as fresh, and therefore has less moisture in it, it may impact how the mixture comes together, too. Let us know if you have any other questions.
LouAnn
I don’t tolerate any oils. Can applesauce be subbed?
What about date sugar or date paste in place of cane sugar??
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Hi LouAnn! Sure, I think that applesauce should be a good replacement for the oil. You should be able to replace the cane sugar with date sugar at a 1 to 1 ratio, although some people find date sugar sweeter and may find they require less. I'm not certain if date paste would be a good replacement here as it may add too much moisture, which may lead to you needing to reduce the liquid ingredients. Let us know how it goes if you try it!
Ashley Bullock
Amazing recipe! Aussie bites are the main reason I have a Costco membership! Ha. I’ve made these twice and they don’t disappoint!
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
Thank you for your lovely review, Ashley! 🙂
Mary
Loved how this recipe turned out - will definitely be making it again. Thank you!
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
I'm so glad you love this recipe, Mary! Thanks for your stellar review. 🙂