Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line a 9"x13" pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (oats through salt).
In a medium bowl, stir together the wet ingredients (honey, oil and vanilla) until combined. Pour over the dry ingredient mix. Mix until totally combined.
Press the mixture very firmly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 23 minutes or until the top has lightly browned.
Remove from oven and use a glass, bowl, or something with a flat bottom to press down the granola bars and to compact them more.
The chips stick better if you add them now before cutting. The bars will have chocolate on their edges from using a chocolate-smeared knife but unless you're serving these to company or taking photos of them, I don't see why that'd matter. If you want them to be super neat, like in the photos, you need to add the chips after cutting. See below.
Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
Remove the bars from the pan (using the parchment paper) and cut them into bars. Add your chocolate chips if you haven't already. I let them melt a tiny bit on the bottom of the chips and press down lightly on the chips. That helps them stick better. If your chips aren't melting at all, stick the bars back in the oven quickly until they're a little warm so the chips will stick.
Let cool completely. Once the chocolate has hardened, store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.