Cranberry Orange Oat Bars

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These Cranberry Orange Oat Bars have two layers of a sweet and buttery oat mixture with a bright and tart cranberry orange filling. They are perfect for a holiday dessert or to use up leftover cranberry sauce. 

This recipe was inspired by my Blueberry Lemon Crisp Bars, but instead of the summer blueberry flavor, I swapped out the filling with a homemade cranberry orange sauce. These bars are the perfect fall and holiday-inspired treat, and the red filling makes them a stunning addition to the table! The cranberry sauce filling can be made from scratch, or you can use leftover cranberry sauce from your holiday meal.

More Thanksgiving recipes

This Cranberry Orange Oat Bar recipe is perfect for using up Thanksgiving cranberry sauce leftovers, or it can also be made fresh! The instructions include how to make my Cranberry Orange Sauce from scratch. It is super simple to make and only has a few simple ingredients. These bars would be a delicious addition to your Thanksgiving or even Christmas dessert lineup. Find all my homemade Thanksgiving recipes in one place here! 

Helpful tools to make fresh cranberry sauce

Zester – Adding orange zest to the oat mixture adds a beautiful pop of flavor to the mixture that pairs perfectly with the orange flavor in the cranberry sauce. This is one of my favorite tools in the kitchen because it is good not just for zesting but also for grating parmesan cheese or finely grating garlic to easily blend into sauces or dressings. 

Square baking pan- I used an 8×8 glass baking pan. If your square pan is slightly bigger, that’s okay! You will just have thinner bars. 

Parchment paper- This is necessary to use in order to easily lift the bars out of the pan. 

How to use leftover cranberry sauce

In this recipe, I include ingredients and instructions to make an easy cranberry sauce from scratch. The cranberry sauce has orange juice and orange zest in it the brings a brightness that pairs so well with the sweet oat mixture. If you want to use leftover cranberry sauce, you can use whatever type you have on hand, but it may alter the flavor of the bars. If you use canned sauce that is sweet, it will not have the bright citrus flavor and tartness the homemade version has, but that is totally okay! I recommend using the type of cranberry sauce that has the whole berries, rather than the jelly textured one. 

Ingredients for Cranberry Orange Sauce

For the cranberry sauce: (Or you can use about 1.5 cups of leftover cranberry sauce)

• Raw Cranberries – one 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries 
• Fresh orange zest – Zest from one orange, which will be about 1 teaspoon. 
• Fresh orange juice- 1/4 cup of orange juice from one average-sized orange. You can sub for store-bought if you’d like, but nothing beats the flavor of freshly squeezed. 
• Water – You will also need ¼ cup water to get the right amount of liquid. 
• Honey – The sweetener used for this homemade cranberry sauce is honey. You can substitute for regular if you would like but I would reduce it to 1/3 cup and adjust if needed. (Honey is sweeter than regular sugar) The sauce will be on the tart side but it pairs really well with the sweet oat filling.

For the crust of bars

• Flour – all-purpose flour, I always prefer unbleached flour because it is less processed. 
• Oats- Old Fashion Rolled Oats. This type of oats gives the best texture.
• Butter – Melted unsalted butter, if you only have salted butter you can substitute for that but reduce the added salt. Melting the butter first helps it mix into the ingredients more easily. 
• Salt – Redmond Real Salt is my favorite 
• Cinnamon- the warmth of the cinnamon balances out the tartness from the filling beautifully. 
• Orange zest – of one orange
• White sugar – I like to use cane sugar rather than granulated white sugar
• Brown sugar – this adds some moisture and a deeper flavor. 

Tips to make the Cranberry Orange Oat Bars

1. It is important to let the bars completely cool before removing the parchment paper from the pan or cutting into them. If you cut into them when they are still warm, they will not hold the bar shape. 
2. Add them to the fridge for at least one hour to ensure they are 100% cooled. Plus chilling in the fridge will solidify the butter and ensure they will hold their shape. 
3. If you are using leftover cranberry sauce, you will need about 1.5 cups, but it is okay if there is a little more or little less!

Instructions on how to make Cranberry Orange Oat Bars

First, make the cranberry sauce. You can make a fresh batch, or use leftover cranberry sauce. You will need about 1.5 cups (it’s okay if it is a little over or under.) If you have canned cranberry sauce you can use that, but I recommend using the one with whole berries and not just the jelly texture. 

To make the fresh cranberry sauce, add all the ingredients to a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 15 mins. You will know it is ready when all of the cranberries have burst and the mixture starts to have a jelly-like texture and thicken up. Set aside to cool. 

Add all of the oat mixture ingredients to a medium bowl and mix to combine. 

Line an 8×8 square baking pan with parchment paper. (The parchment paper is needed to easily lift the bars out of the pan.)

Add about ⅔ of the oat mixture to the bottom of the pan and using your fingers or a spatula, press the mixture down into the pan firmly to create an even layer. Next, add the cranberry sauce and spread it out evenly. Finally, add the reaming oat mixture on top in an even layer. It’s okay if there are a few holes here and there on top. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden brown. 

Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before cutting. After it is almost completely cooled, add the bars to the fridge for an hour or two to ensure it is cool enough to cut. 

When it is completely cool, lift the bars out of the pan with the parchment paper. Remove the parchment paper and cut into 9 squares. Enjoy!

How to store the Cranberry Orange Oat Bars

Store the bars in an airtight container in the fridge. They will stay fresh for about 5 days. I like to eat them cold, or you leave them on the counter to come to room temp or even pop them in the microwave for a few seconds and serve warm.