I make homemade protein bars- photos and recipe inside!

HoldTheDoor13

Hi all.

I regularly make homemade protein bars, the recipe I use is pretty adaptable for different flavours and I think it tastes good and keeps well. One average the bars/cookies are ~220 cals and 20g protein each. They work out much cheaper than store bought and are easy to make in bulk. I'm going to share the base recipe below and show some of the different varieties I've made by using different add ins.


Makes 9-

130g peanut butter
160g brown rice or other plant protein (don't use whey for this, it doesn't work)
3-4 tbsp stevia or sweetener of choice
1 cup of almond milk or other milk of choice
Generous pinch of salt
80g oat flour (you can just blend up regular oats)
Mix ins/flavourings of choice

Whisk or blend the peanut butter, milk, and stevia together in a large bowl.

Slowly add the protein powder, salt and oat flour, stirring well as you go.

The end result should be similar to cookie dough. At this point you can add your mix ins. I find it easier to combine by hand at this point.

Form the mixture into bars or cookies and place on a flat tray to refrigerate overnight. Once they are set they are ready to go, but I find they taste best if you take the out of the fridge and eat at room temp. This makes them great for throwing in your bag to eat after the gym.

These are some of the flavour variations ive done recently


Dark chocolate chunks, espresso and roasted walnut



Dehydrated strawberry, white chocolate and vanilla



Salted caramel, biscuit pieces, dark chocolate



Peanut, milk chocolate and pretzel

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wendyron3

So it's brown rice protein powder?

HoldTheDoor13

TeinyWinehouse wrote: »

OMG these look amazing!

Thank you!

wendyron3 wrote: »

So it's brown rice protein powder?

Yup. I use the unflavoured sunwarrior one, but brand doesn't matter

JohnnyPenso

Looks great and the macros look good too. I was looking for something like this to eat on the fly and this might fit the bill. I will give it a spin. I assume they can be frozen for longer storage. Have you tried freezing them and, if so, were they still the same texture after freezing? Now that I think about it, I wonder what would happen if you baked them like a cookie.

HoldTheDoor13

I bet they would bake up pretty well, but I haven't frozen them before- I can tell you that because most of the ingredients are pretty stable, they keep pretty well in an airtight container in the fridge. I'm not sure how long exactly but I've eaten them when they are 8-9 days old and they've been fine

JohnnyPenso

Made them last night and tried a thin slice this morning. Very soft and a good peanut butter taste. I made a half batch and I'll cut it into 8 I think, which gives me 130 calories and 10g of protein. I used quinoa flour and a combination of pea and hemp protein and had to add some more cashew milk to get it the right consistency but it was no problem. I also added some chopped up dates for a little sweetness and next time I think I'll throw in some nuts as well. I think I'll throw one or two into my lunch bag today. Sometimes when I'm stuck working (self employed and in the service business - aka never know when I'm going to be done for sure) and can't get to the gym I'm looking for a snack to tide me over because I don't like going to the gym hungry or with the fuel tank empty and this should do the trick. At $2-3 a bar, store bought protein bars start to add up if I use them for emergency fuel

Thanks!

AnnaBanana5010

Thank you can't wait to look this over later

JohnnyPenso

Update on my post above ^^^. I was late getting to my workout today as usual on Monday and the two bars I had stashed in my lunchbox really came in handy

rebecca_beckerz

This is super awesome, thank you so much for posting this information @HoldTheDoor13

Christine_72

What happens if you use whey? I have an 11lb bag here, not keen on buying a separate protein powder for these. But i will if i positively have too!

APO_Katie

These sound amazing.

mcfish618

Wondering the same thing why whey won't work?

Christine_72

mcfish618 wrote: »

Wondering the same thing why whey won't work?

I've been waiting for nearly a year for a reply on that question @mcfish618 , I don't think we're going to get an answer..

goatg

I’ve been wanting to make my own bars for a while! The peanut, milk chocolate, and pretzel looks delish

goatg

Oops

WilmaValley

These look great, thanks!!!!!

rainbow198

Looks great! I enjoy making my own protein bars etc. too. It's great to be able to control the ingredients I use, plus they are easy to make. Thanks for sharing!

cijns50

Looks good. I must try. Thanks

cijns50

I have been trying so hard to do high protein low carbs, but it is just not working. I've tried different meals but it seems as though the carbs are still higher than the protein out of the quantity is higher I've still been trying to do more protein. Any suggestions?

BattyKnitter

Those look so good! Do you think Pea Protein would work?

EDIT: I just realized this is super old and the OP hasn't answered anyone else. I think I'll just have to experiment!

rainbow198

These are yummy! I've made two batches so far.

I like the texture, how simple it is to make and it stores well in the fridge. The only adjustments I made were doubling the peanut butter (I need the calories), I used a bit more almond milk and I used regular table sugar.

With the first batch I drizzled melted dark chocolate on top and in the second batch I added butterscotch chips.

BattyKnitter wrote: »

Those look so good! Do you think Pea Protein would work?

EDIT: I just realized this is super old and the OP hasn't answered anyone else. I think I'll just have to experiment!

I used pea protein powder and it mixes in great.

iowalinda

For anyone who has made these: is the almond milk sweetened or unsweetened? Anybody tried with whey protein powder?

Christine_72

Ok, I've got all of the ingredients, and I'll be making these today. I can't bring myself to use/buy vegan protein powder :sick: So I'll be using optimum nutrition casein that I have at home, I still can't figure why whey wouldn't work... unless OP is a staunch vegan, hence the recommendation??

I'll report back and let you all know how they turned out.

Christine_72

They turned out well. I baked mine for 30 minutes on 180C (350F), because i don't like the sticky texture of 'raw" protein bars. So, used the whey with no problems at all