Making your own protein bars at home is a really good idea. It is much cheaper than buying them, you know exactly what is going in to them and they taste better. Here are the best protein bar recipes for making them at home.
Protein bars are great after a workout to help build muscle, but they are also great for keeping hunger at bay. A protein bar mid morning, can stop the hanger from consuming you until lunchtime.
Cinnamon Roll Flavoured Protein Bars
There are a couple of reasons why we put this from www.sweetpeasandsaffron.com as one of the best protein bar recipes. The first reason is that they are ridiculously easy to make and the second reason is, that they taste fantastic.
Ingredients
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 96g rolled oats
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 118g natural almond butter
- 74g honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon water *if needed
- sea salt for sprinkling over the top
Method
- Blend all the dry ingredients in a blender
- Add the wet ingredients and blend again
- Line a shallow baking tray with parchment paper, tip the blended ingredients in and smooth it down so it is level.
- Sprinkle some sea salt over the top for extra flavour
- Let the mixture set in the fridge.
- Cut in to protein bars
This recipe is very versatile, allowing you to change the ingredients to mix things up a bit.
For example, you can use chocolate protein powder, or add some chocolate chips to make it more interesting.
Instead of using almond butter, you can add peanut butter instead. You can even use peanut butter flavoured protein powder too.
DIY Protein Bars
The above method of making protein bars at home is just one way of doing it. Below is a method we found at www.bodybuilding.com.
This method is designed for those that stand in the protein bar aisle scratching their heads reading the labels. Usually, the shop bought protein bars are full of sugar, hydrogenated oil and preservatives. They also have lots of ingredients that have no benefit at all.
Step 1
Select your protein powder and add edible flour to it. Use something like coconut flour, almond flour, or a grain-based flour like oat flour or quinoa flour as these can be eaten raw.
Step 2
Mix the the powder and flour with milk so it binds together. Cow’s milk, coconut milk or a nut milk like almond milk work great. For extra flavour, you can add nut butter. You need the mixture to have a dough like consistency, so you can shape it in to bars.
Step 3
Shape your mixture into bars. If the mixture is too moist or sticky to mold, add a tiny bit of coconut flour or casein powder until you get the correct consistency. If it is too dry add a little bit of milk, but don’t go silly, or you will have to add more flour.
Step 4
Melt some chocolate and either dunk the bars in it or pour it over them. Then place the bars in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
Two Recipes with Endless Options
The best protein bar recipes are easy to make, taste nice and are versatile. These two we found at www.glutenfreeonashoestring.com tick all those boxes.
One recipe is made with super soft, packed-with-fiber, deliciously sticky Medjool dates. These hold the bars together while sweetening them. The other version uses nut butter.
For the version with dates
Ingredients
- 250 g rolled oats
- 36 g protein powder
- 10 pitted soft Medjool dates
- 84 g pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 fluid ounces milk (any kind), plus more as necessary
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped and melted (optional)
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped and melted (optional, for coating)
Method
Place the oats in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until ground into a flour.
Add the protein powder, dates, maple syrup, vanilla, salt, 1/4 cup milk and (optional) melted unsweetened chocolate.
Blend until the mixture is well-combined and is tacky to the touch. Add more milk by the teaspoonful and process, if needed to make the mixture in to the proper consistency. If you opt not to use the melted unsweetened chocolate, you will have to add more milk, and the bars will not hold together as firmly when shaped.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and press firmly into an even layer, smoothing the top as much as possible. Cover with parchment and place in the fridge or freezer to chill until firm (about 1 hour in the refrigerator, or 20 minutes in the freezer). Remove the bars from the pan and slice into 10 or 12 equal-sized rectangular bars.
Dip in the optional melted bittersweet chocolate to coat and allow to sit at room temperature until set. Store the bars in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
For the Nut Butter Version
Ingredients
- 250 g rolled oats
- 54 g protein powder
- 40 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 192 g smooth natural nut butter (peanut butter, almond butter and cashew butter—all work well)
- 84 g) pure maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 fluid ounces milk
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped and melted (can replace with 2 tablespoons more nut butter + 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup)
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped and melted (optional, for coating)
Method
Place the oats in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until ground into a flour.
Add the protein powder, cocoa powder (or more protein powder), nut butter, maple syrup, salt, 1/4 cup milk and melted unsweetened chocolate (or more nut butter and maple syrup).
Blend until the mixture is well-combined and is tacky (but not sticky) to the touch. Add more milk by the teaspoonful and process, only as necessary for the mixture to reach the proper consistency.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and press firmly into an even layer, smoothing the top as much as possible. Cover with parchment and place in the refrigerator or freezer to chill until firm (about 1 hour in the refrigerator, or 20 minutes in the freezer). Remove the bars from the pan and slice into 10 or 12 equal-sized rectangular bars.
- Dip in the optional melted bittersweet chocolate to coat or simply drizzle some melted chocolate over the top, and allow to sit at room temperature until set. Wrap the bars individually in waxed paper, and store in the refrigerator.
Which ones are you going to try? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
