Raspberry Oatmeal Bars have sweet raspberry jam and topped with a delicious oatmeal crumb topping. Easy to make with simple ingredients and homemade or store-bought jam. Ready in 45-minutes.
Raspberry Bars are one of the easiest dessert bars to make. They are a must-have for holiday cookie boxes.
Raspberry bars are the perfect easy dessert recipe for barbecues, picnics, and potlucks.
Why this recipe works
- Ease – Made with simple ingredients, crust and crumb topping made from the same batter.
- Store-bought or homemade filling – Uses store-bought or homemade raspberry jam.
- Crowd-pleaser – Cut into squares, this dessert bar is perfect for holiday cookie platters or an easy handheld dessert.
- Nostalgic recipe – Raspberry bars are a nostalgic dessert.
What you’ll need
- All-purpose flour – Use a high-quality, unbleached all-purpose flour. Favorites brands are Bob’s Red Mill, King Arthur Flour and Lindley Mills.
- Brown sugar – Adds a depth of molasses flavor and softens the oatmeal topping.
- Rolled oats – Old-fashioned rolled oats work best in this recipe.
- Butter – Using unsalted helps control the amount of salt in baking recipes.
- Baking powder – This leavening agent helps the crust rise.
- Salt – Salt is added to baked goods to enhance and balance flavors.
- Vanilla – Adds incredible flavor to the crust.
- Raspberry jam – Use your favorite brand of raspberry jam or preserves.
This crumb bar recipe works well with homemade or store-bought jam too. Try one of our jam recipes – mixed berry jam, raspberry peach jam or raspberry rhubarb jam.
How to make raspberry crumb bars
- Prepare baking pan – Line a 9×13-inch pan parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- Preheat the oven – Preheat to 350-degrees F.
- Make the crumb mixture – In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract,, flour, salt, and baking powder and stir to combine.
- Assemble – Press ¾ of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread raspberry jam over top. Use your fingers to evenly distribute the crumb mixture.
- Bake – Bake for 45-minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool & enjoy – Cool completely, remove from the pan and cut into bars and serve.
Raspberry crumb bars are a must-have for holiday baking. We always include them in our holiday cookie trays along with homemade brownies, peanut butter blossoms, peanut butter cookies and lemon crinkle cookies.
More easy dessert ideas
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Raspberry Oatmeal Crumb Bars
Ingredients
Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
- 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups packed brown sugar
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 (18-ounce) jar raspberry jam Smucker’s or your favorite brand
Instructions
Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray well with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth.
- Add the vanilla extract, rolled oats, flour, salt, and baking powder and stir to combine. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula.
- Press ¾ of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Spread the jam over the bottom layer.
- Crumble the remaining oatmeal mixture over the raspberry jam layer.
- Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until lightly golden brown and the jam is bubbling. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
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Seanna Borrows says
The very best tasting raspberry bars. So delish!
Jessica Robinson says
Thank you so very much!
Sherri says
How could I incorporate fresh raspberries to the recipe?
Jessica Robinson says
You can add fresh raspberries to the jam/preserves. OR I’ve seen people make a filling with fresh or frozen raspberries, rather than using jam. You’d add your raspberries to a small saucepan with a few inches of water (so they don’t burn) and thicken with cornstarch slurry. Cool before adding to your raspberry bars.
Debbie says
Your hubby brought some of the raspberry bars to RATS today and we all thought they were fantastic! I can’t wait to make them for my family.
Thanks for sharing!
Jessica Robinson says
Thanks Debbie. This was one of my mom’s recipes. They are so easy to make and really yummy!
Janine says
Holy Mackeroli! Thee best raspberry dessert that ever graced my taste buds. It’s so hard to share this dessert because I can’t get enough. The whole fam loves it as well (if they can beat me to it) 😀 thank you ☺️
Jessica Robinson says
Janine,
Glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Our family has enjoyed it for many years!
Jeannette Shields says
First, thank you for a delicious recipe. Second, I changed it. I kept all your ingredients and directions, but I had bought my diabetic daughter sugar free Smucker’s grape jelly because she said she liked it. Unfortunately, she never touched it after I bought it . It worked as a great substitute in this recipe though. The other way I changed it was to pat a little bit of the “crust” into muffin tins, adding a dollop of the jelly, then patting more “crust” on top and baking for 20 minutes.
As an aside, Smucker’s sugar free raspberry preserves are very good and I’m using those next time. 😊
Also, the way I “soften” the jelly so it’s spreadable is to either leave it on the counter for a while or to microwave it for about 30 seconds or less.
Again, thank you.
Jessica Robinson says
Glad to hear you enjoyed them!
Margaret says
Very good. Easy to make and not super sweet. Had some jam that was a little too tart for my taste – this was perfect recipe to use it up! Definitely making again.
Jessica Robinson says
Thank you! Happy to hear you loved the raspberry bars!
Ashley says
Whole Foods makes something VERY similar to this and me and my step dad love them but not the price that the store sells them for so I have been searching for a recipe. If you know the bars I’m talking about- these are a dead on replica and SOOOOO good AND for a fraction of the cost!
Jessica Robinson says
Thanks Ashley!! My mom developed this recipe years ago after my dad ate 6 raspberry bars on the way home from Maine!! My husband was so mad! LOL
Joe Fred Perez says
I tried these, very good, but…
The jam was hard to spread, advice?
The cooking time left the crumble sink into the jam! Advice?
Jessica Robinson says
Joe,
Thanks for reaching out!
We use the back of a tablespoon to spread the jam easily. We try and keep the jam away slightly from the edges of the pan, as it will spread when it cooks and can potentially stick too much to the side of the baking pan. I also run a butter knife around the edges of the pan after it’s out of the oven and cooled for 15 minutes or so. 45 minutes should be just right for the baking time, depending on your oven.
Susie says
We’ve had a bunch of opened jars of jam in the fridge – my daughter found this recipe online today and made them and we LOVE them. Printing recipe now. Thanks Jessica!
Jessica Robinson says
Hello Susie,
Thrilled to hear you loved the raspberry oatmeal bars!
Alice Heightom says
Love these. Could eat these everyday of the week so have taught myself that they are a special treat made only for holidays. These are also the treats that I leave for the mailman and delivery people. Everyone hopes it will be a yearly tradition.
Jessica Robinson says
So happy to hear that Alice!!
Melissa says
Hi there,
Would I be able to use quick oats as opposed to the rolled oats?
Jessica Robinson says
Hello Melissa,
While we typically do not use quick oats for baking (except for the oatmeal cream cookies) and prefer rolled oats, you could certainly use instant oats in this one if that’s what you have on hand.
Donna says
I forgot to add flour! I’m curious to see how they will turn out haha
Jessica Robinson says
Donna,
We’ve all forgotten an ingredient at one point or another! Hoping they were still good.
M says
Hi Jessica, I’m in Australia. Wondering if our Aussie ‘plain flour’ is the same as your ‘all purpose flour’ ? Ta
Jessica Robinson says
Yes. All-purpose flour in the USA is just plain flour. But I’ve come accustomed to writing ingredients like this for our USA audience because we also offer self-rising flour here that includes leavening agents too (baking soda and baking powder.)
Squirrel says
This is now on my favorites list!
Jessica Robinson says
Glad to hear you enjoyed them!
April says
Could these be made with fresh or frozen raspberries?
Jessica Robinson says
April,
Yes, you could use fresh or frozen raspberries. However you would need to add maybe 1 tablespoon lemon juice, about 3/4 cup to 1 cup sugar and cornstarch (or instant tapioca) to thicken.
Sparki says
This is now my “go to” recipe for fruit bars….
Teresa says
Easy to make and great flavor. Will definitely make again!
Jessica Robinson says
So happy to hear that!