Easy Gluten Free Flapjack

My easy gluten free flapjack recipe is exactly what it says on the tin – simple, tasty, and perfectly adaptable to suit whatever ingredients you have! Gluten free flapjacks are my favourite lunchbox snack and perfect for meal prepping.

This gluten free flapjacks recipe is one of my absolute favourites and packed with seeds and dried fruit.

But you can choose to jazz this recipe up with anything you like, either keeping it plain or adding extra dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips and more.

Flapjack is something we always made as a child and was a staple lunchbox snack growing up. It’s easily transportable so great for a packed lunch.

Gluten free flapjacks ingredients

All you need to make this easy gluten free flapjack recipe are the following ingredients:

• Unsalted butter – if you want a dairy free flapjack you can replace this with something like Stork baking block.
• Golden Syrup – this is key to making the perfect, chewy flapjack! In the US you may have to look for ‘light treacle’ instead.
• Brown Sugar – I often interchange light brown and dark brown sugar in this recipe and both work equally well.
• Gluten Free Oats – Always ensure you are using ‘gluten free oats’ as in the UK, oats are not considered coeliac-safe otherwise. More on gluten free oats here.
• Raisins – Any dried fruit will work but for me raisins are a classic. I love the Jumbo Raisin mixes with different coloured ones!
• Mixed Seeds – You can add any type of seed to your flapjack recipe but I like to pick up a general mixed pack. Poppyseeds, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds all work well.

And if you don’t have all of these ingredients to hand, don’t worry.

There are some very simple swaps you can make to ensure you still have a delicious gluten free flapjack at the end!

Swaps and substitutions

Don’t worry if you don’t have all the ingredients for this gluten free flapjack recipe, as there are plenty of simple swaps you can make.

If you want to make this recipe dairy free, or you don’t have butter, you can always use margarine or something like Stork baking block instead.

If you don’t have brown sugar, any sugar will do really. The darker the sugar, the more syrupy and rich the flapjacks will be. But caster or even granulated sugar will work just fine.

The syrup is key to the texture of the bake – you could use honey or even maple syrup instead, but might find your flapjack doesn’t hold together quite as well. It’ll still be delicious though!

And if you can’t tolerate – or don’t have – gluten free oats, you could use rice flakes or even quinoa flakes instead. I’ve even made a similar recipe with crushed gluten free cereal flakes before which was yummy!

Instead of raisins, try adding some chocolate chips to the mixture instead. You could also add dried fruits like apricot, or pineapple and coconut for a tropical twist. Freeze-dried berries also work really well.

If you’ve got any gluten free granola kicking around the house, you can switch out some of the oats for granola to vary up the tastes and textures in your flapjacks.

How to make flapjacks

Making gluten free flapjack is SERIOUSLY easy – there’s a printable recipe card below but here I’ll go through the step-by-step process:

1. Preheat the oven to 180‘C / Gas 4/ 160’C Fan. Line an 8-inch/20cm square baking tin with baking paper and set aside.
2. To a large saucepan, add the butter, sugar and syrup. Heat over a low heat, stirring constantly, until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat.
3. Add the oats, seeds and raisins and mix well with a wooden spoon until fully combined.
4. Pour the mixture into the lined baking tray and use a spoon to press the mixture down as compact as possible, and right into the corners and edges of the pan.
5. Bake for 20 minutes. Once baked, remove from the oven and onto a cooling rack.
6. Use a knife to gently score the flapjack into 16 squares. Then leave to cool completely before cutting into squares and tucking in!

Frequently Asked Questions

Before we get stuck into this recipe, here are some answers to frequently asked questions about my gluten free flapjack recipe…

This gluten free flapjack recipe makes eight bars (or 16 squares) and they’ll keep in an airtight container for around a week.

If you make this recipe and love it, please do let me know by tagging me on my Instagram or using #theglutenfreeblogger. You can also share your creations in my Facebook group!

Need some more gluten free baking inspiration?

If you want to have a go at some of the other gluten free baking recipes on the blog, why not give some of these a try? They’re perfect to satisfy any sweet cravings!

• Gluten free chocolate orange mini egg cookies
• Gluten free lemon drizzle cake recipe
• The BEST gluten free millionaire’s shortbread recipe
• Gluten free Jammy Dodgers recipe

If you do make this recipe please let me know! I’d love to see your photos using #theglutenfreeblogger, share them in my Facebook group or tag me on Instagram. 

And if you have any recipe suggestions, please let me know in the comments what you’d like to see next!