These Homemade Protein Bars are no bake, easy to make, and so good! Skip the overpriced store bought bars, and make these instead for a healthy breakfast, snack, or treat on the go or anytime!
I'm always on the lookout for healthy snacks for my family, especially easy recipes since I am pretty busy. We love my recipes for healthy chocolate truffles, no-bake cookies, and kale chips, but this recipe for homemade protein bars is one of our all time favorites.
It's a great grab and go snack and is full of yumminess that you and your family will love.
If you've been buying protein bars in the store, here is your chance to make them at home for much less money and likely with much healthier ingredients.
I like to make these Homemade Protein Bars in bulk (I make just about EVERYTHING in bulk) and then place in the fridge or freezer for a fast healthy snack for the family. Sadly, however, the freezer party typically doesn't happen. Most of my recipes make it to the fridge and that's it. They get eaten faster than I can get them there....but I'm working on it!
I know that a lot of people still purchase ready-made protein bars in the stores for convenience purposes, but it really is great if you can carve out a little bit of time and make a big batch of something like this and have it on hand.
You'll save a ton of money, have total control over the ingredients and well, they taste great too.
Try it and once you find a mix of ingredients you like, make a bunch of batches, freeze them, then grab them and go when you are on the run.
This homemade protein bar recipe is a lot healthier for you and for your wallet, plus who doesn't love some chocolate now and then, especially when it's this healthy?
Place nuts, flax, nut butter, and salt into blender.
How are these Homemade Protein Bars healthier?
- Seeds and nuts give a great dose of healthy fats that are good for you and great for leveling out your blood sugar levels.
- The optional organic protein powder provides a nice dose of protein. (Yes, I know this is not necessarily considered a "real food", but for those of us dealing with food allergies, sometimes this is the best we can do)
- Coconut oil is a great healthy fat as well
- No preservatives
- No questionable "natural flavors"
- No highly processed protein powders (depending on what you choose if adding a protein powder.)
- No extruder-processed puffed grains and such that have been cited for questionable effects on health
- Low carb - there's a low-carb option for those who need it
- Allergy free - make these bars however you need to in order to avoid allergens or sensitivities
Carbs in These Bars vs. Store Bought
I learned the hard way how the store-bought bars can be a real problem.
Recently, I bought a bunch of "healthy" bars on clearance for my kids. I thought I was doing a good thing for my family as they were heavily discounted, and some of them had more protein that most other bars in the store.
However, the addiction factor kicked in pretty quickly.
See, we don't have many processed foods in our home. I don't typically realize how "odd" this is, but when visitors look in our cabinets and fridge, they comment something like "Wow, you guys really do eat healthy!"
And the carbs have had a bad effect on one of the members of our family, who shall remain nameless.
My experience is that we are passing down weakened guts and immune systems to subsequent generations, and as such, more and more people can't handle carbs. Well, these bars have more carbs (in the form of nice sounding "organic cane syrup", etc.) than I would typically let my kids eat, and though I figured that the protein and fats would balance it out, the fact is that they don't.
My kids do better on my homemade stuff and there is just not much of a way around it. So even though I thought I was giving them something "healthy", I learned my lesson. Organic cane syrup is sugar. And we don't do well on it.
With these bars, you can control your carbs, which can be a very important thing.
Back to the Protein Bars.....
These originated as a recipe for Almond Power Bars on Elana's Pantry. I tweaked the recipe a bit, made it more suited to variation, and gave nutrient boosting and sugar-free alternatives.
Other Processed Food Replacements you might like
- Powdered Sugar Substitute
- Homemade Chocolate / Carob Chips
- DIY Vanilla Liquid Stevia
- Homemade Marshmallows (SF option)
Warm Weather Tips
The only problem with these homemade protein bars is that they don't travel well in warm weather. So take a cooler bag along with you if you plan to eat them on the road when it's not cool.
One warm weather tip - making these homemade vegan protein bars and the topping with cocoa butter instead of coconut oil will make them more stable.
Recipe Notes and Substitutions
- Sweeteners: Use vegetable glycerine, xylitol, or erythritol (add in about 1/3 more) as the sweetener for a low-carb version. If you don't need low-carb, use Sucanat or honey or even maple syrup for more natural options. 1/32 tsp stevia extract is also a good choice.
- More Protein: Substitute up to the total amount of the flax meal with the same amount of rice protein for an extra punch of protein. Nutribiotic makes a great brand from non-GMO brown rice. You could also use some of this great grass-fed gelatin to firm up the bars and give more protein.
- Be Careful Processing! Please note - the recipe says to process the nuts to a coarse meal. If you over-process, you will have a nut butter, which will still taste great, but will make the bars more dense and not solid unless you freeze them. Still yummy, though!
- Nut Options: For nuts, almonds and organic macadamias are good options. Mixing several kinds works well too. You can also sub 1 1/3 cups coconut butter or seeds for nut free. If using seeds, organic sunflower and organic pumpkin seeds work well.
- Flax Meal: Here is a good brand of organic flax seeds to purchase to make flax meal. You can also use rice bran or organic protein powder instead of flax meal.
- Coconut Butter: You can also substitute coconut butter for the nut or seed butter.
- Coconut Oil: You can substitute an alternative solid fat for the coconut oil. Use organic cocoa butter or butter for a more warm weather-stable bar.
- Stevia: You can use 1/32 tsp (1 scoop) of stevia extract (see How to Use Stevia) instead of xylitol.
- Chocolate Chips: If you would prefer to make your own chocolate chips, here are my Homemade Chocolate / Carob Chips. My Homemade Chocolate / Carob Bar (1 cup of chips per bar recipe) is another option.
- THM: This recipe qualifies as an "S" for those on the Trim Healthy Mama plan.
Grain-Free No-Bake Homemade Protein Bars
Ingredients
Base:
- 2 cups nuts (preferably soaked)
- 1/2 cup flax meal (flax seeds ground in a blender or spice grinder)
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened and organic if possible)
- 1/2 cup seed or nut butter (made from soaked and dried nuts or seeds is preferable)
- 3/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 2 Tbsp low carb sweetener (or other granulated or liquid sweetener--see Recipe Notes)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Topping:
- 1 cup sugar-free chocolate chips (melted; or try these Homemade Chocolate Chips or this Homemade Chocolate Bar for a DIY option)
Instructions
- Place nuts or seeds, flax meal, coconut, seed or nut butter and salt in the bowl of a food processor.
- Process until the nuts or seeds are ground into a coarse meal.
- Melt coconut oil over low heat. If the temperature of your home is around 76 degrees, you can skip this step and add the oil directly to the food processor as it will be soft enough to process easily.
- Add coconut oil, sweeteners and vanilla to processor bowl and process until well combined to form a thick, yet crunchy paste.
- Press the mixture into an 8x8 square pan (you can be quite flexible here. A 9x9 will work just fine. A larger pan will produce thin bars, while a smaller pan will yield thicker ones)
- Place in refrigerator to chill.
- If you are making your own chocolate/carob chips or chocolate/carob bar, prepare while the protein bars are chilling, but do not harden the chocolate chips or bar.
- Top bars with the chocolate chips or bar. Top either before the bars chill, or melt the chocolate topping and top with it.
- Press the topping onto the chilled bottom layer.
- Place back in refrigerator to chill (if you can wait that long :-)!)
- Cut into squares and serve.
- Store in refrigerator.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Hope you enjoy the taste and the healthy boost that these Homemade Vegan Protein Bars bring to your wallet!
Would you eat these Homemade Vegan Protein Bars for--breakfast, snack, on the go?
Are these gluten free? and can you use real sugar?
Yes, they are gluten-free since there are no grains in them. You can use regular sugar if you'd like. Hope you like them!
Thank you so much, I am excited to try them for my brother. Do you know how much sugar I should use?
You're welcome. I'm going to be changing up how the recipe is written - you should be fine w/ 2 Tbsp in the base. You can just melt chocolate chips for the topping unless you would like to make my chips. Let me know!
Any idea how many grams of protein this would be?
Hi Kara. We are working on getting nutritional data up for our recipes but it's taking awhile. Thanks for your patience. In the meantime, you can add the ingredients into an online calculator.
Made them yesterday! I did not have macadamia nuts and pumpkin seeds so I had to change the recipe a bit, used organic plant protein instead of flax, but still, they are delicious!! I don't know why I was always buying protein snack bars from the shop when these homemade bars are so easy to make (once you soaked the nuts and seeds :D) and much tastier which I did not want to believe at first 🙂 I took a bunch of them to my dorm and keep them in a fridge so I have a healthy snack when I am busy with Uni.
Thank you, keep doing this!
So great to hear - thank you! If you are so inclined and would be interested in giving the recipe a high star rating, that would be much appreciated. I am working on changing things around w/ the way they are handled, but as you can see a reader gave me a not so great rating due to her stating that coconut is a nut (I will be addressing that in great detail in a post today) so it would be nice to have her negative rating balanced out if at all possible.
Thanks again - I also was planning on working on a higher protein option so you beat me to it! :).....
Why do you have to refrigerate?
You don't absolutely have to, but depending on the temp in your house and how much you blended them, they might get soft (and the topping can get soft as well) and they are chopped nuts so if you don't eat them quickly they can go rancid. AND they taste great cold.
Best recipe ever, these bars are so good. I don't add the salt or the sweetener and I only add the vanilla if I have it. I use vegan chocolate (3 ingredients) for the topping or melt 100% chocolate with real maple syrup to taste. For my 2 cups of nuts etc I use: sliced almonds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds & sunflower seeds.
We eat these regularly and use a freezer pack to take with us on the road. Wonderful for diabetics.
So glad you enjoy them as much as we do! Thanks for making my day!
These are delicious! I only had flax seed and almond meal, so searched conversions and made the recipe with gram measurements (weighing ingredients seems so much easier anyway...maybe you can provide weights with future recipes? Please?!). I used half the flax seed and replaced half with gelatin. Next time I will use half the chocolate topping (it's amazing, by the way!) as they would be just as good, but decrease the calories from 359 to 297 (for 1/16th of the version I made). My numbers worked out to 12 grams of protein. You could boost that if you wanted to use protein powder, but I prefer gelatin. My bars were a little fragile, but totally worth it! I might put them in mini muffin cups next time and drizzle chocolate over them, they'd be easier to hang onto (plus the cup would catch any crumbles!) and would make more servings (and then I could have 2!).
Hi there! Glad you liked them. I am working on something w/ more protein. Not sure how I can do the weights but maybe! I'm already scrambling here to keep on top of everything. I think the fragility has to do w/ how much you blend. Your muffin cup idea sounds great!
I made them again with all gelatin instead of flax (I was out of flax) and skipped the shredded coconut (not a fan of shredded coconut and again, I was out). I rolled them into balls and drizzled the chocolate over the top. I wound up with 28 protein balls and they were awesome! Just like the peanut butter bars I used to love so much! My drizzled chocolate was pretty ugly (I've never been good at "pretty" food), and dipping them probably would have been easier, but they taste amazing and the macros on them are pretty much where I wanted them (165 cal, 4 net carbs, 13.5 g fat and 6.5 g protein for each ball). Now to not eat them all at once...
Oh wow that sounds amazing!!! I think I'm going to have to try this b/c I have been meaning to add more protein to the recipe - thank you and sooooo glad you enjoyed them!!! (p.s. I'm not great about pretty food either........it's one of my biggest challenges and the reason that I started farming out photography :).........Thanks again!
Coconut is a Tree Nut; Subbing coconut butter for whole nuts does not make it "nut free"
Hello Nova, here is the information from the ACAAI:
"*The American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) states: “Coconut is not a botanical nut; it is classified as a fruit, even though the Food and Drug Administration recognizes coconut as a tree nut. While allergic reactions to coconut have been documented, most people who are allergic to tree nuts can safely eat coconut. If you are allergic to tree nuts, talk to your allergist before adding coconut to your diet."
So, although the FDA recognizes coconut as a tree nut, it is not. I appreciate your reading my blog but I would appreciate your changing your rating of my recipe b/c it's a fabulous recipe and your interpretation isn't accurate according to one of the, if not the expert on food allergies in the US. Thank you in advance.
Thank you for your response, but as a parent of someone who has an allergic reaction to every type of nut including Coconuts this could be a problem.. What if someone makes a batch for a group of people and then states they are "nut free" and it ends in anaphylaxis shock for someone in the group? You have to consider the consequences of your wording when creating recipes. My rating will remain unless this is changed.
Hi there. I'm so sorry about your problem but my son is allergic to all tree nuts except for almonds and macadamias so I know your concerns.
However, the FDA has this stance and that is for food labeling--not for allergists and not for recipes on the internet. The FAAN (Food Allergy and Anaphylactic Network) has the stance that coconut is NOT a tree nut and that if you are concerned about an allergy to coconut you should just talk w/ your doctor.
I just talked w/ our allergist's office--they are a very prominent office. They agree w/ the ACAAI's stance.
I'm sorry to do this, but if you don't change your rating I will have to just delete your comment b/c it's totally unfair given the nature of your concern. I have proven that I am right on this issue and this is a great recipe.
Thank you,
Adrienne
You are absolutely correct it is for food labeling; labeling of ingredients.
They label it as so to warn of possible allergic reactions. Why are you ranting about vaccines and other unrelated information about the FDA that I am already very of; And then threatening to delete my raiting if I don't change it? I rated it on how I viewed the contents of the recipe and believe it is a good recipe but could have the potential to cause unintentional harm to someone. My rating is a fair opinion. Go ahead and delete it if you wish but screenshots will be taken as a precaution now and will be reported accordingly.
Is it even ethical to delete a rating? Most websites forbid deletation of ratings because it means you get to pick and choose which ratings you like and don't like. Just like you are now.
Hello again, Nova.
I have been talking about this with other blog owners and they all agree, as does my allergist's office, and they are experts.
This is the policy of the group that puts out the ratings, so I don't know whom you are going to report it to, but I am totally within my rights.
So yes, it is totally ethical for me to delete this if I want to.
So here is the problem. You are telling me that you will not change your rating unless I put something on my blog that is incorrect. Isn't that right?
I will not allow someone to threaten me to put inaccurate information on my site.
Recipe stars are for people to review a recipe that they have made--not to make statements like this.
Should someone give me a 1 star b/c I didn't write that xylitol could hurt a dog, or that a piece of a nut could get stuck in someone's throat...or that raisins or chocolate could hurt a dog?
I hope you can see my point. I am following what the food allergy experts say and that is what you are concerned about. You have coconut allergies in your home and that is not b/c you have tree nut allergies.
I am sorry that this conversation even happened. It's sad. I spend hours and hours making recipes and giving out tons of well researched information for my readers. I researched your concern and showed you that you are inaccurate and yet you still come back here and attempt to bully me. I hope you will respond to this but it's totally inappropriate behavior.
Hi again, Nova.
I just wanted to make it clear that I specifically asked the allergist's office about coconut allergy and this was their response (not totally verbatim but the message is completely 100% accurate).
I am not at all trying to be contentious but I can't allow people to negatively impact all of the hard work that I put into my blog just b/c of faulty information. My heart goes out to you w/ your allergy issues but this is not a food labeling company. It's a food blog by a food allergy mom. Thanks for your understanding.
Hi again, Ellen. Could you check it out for me again, please? It should be fixed for you. And again, I would greatly appreciate it if you would adjust your rating. Thanks! 🙂
Yikes! I don't know what is going on. I'm working on it and will get back when it's done ---would you be so kind as to not rate my recipe as bad b/c of this? It's a great recipe!! My recipe card maker folks are working on it - thanks!!!
Would be helpful if you discussed over blending in the recipe... wasted $15 worth of materials to discover over blending is a problem. Had to come to the comments to read about it...
Hello there.
Thanks for reading. I just added a note to the recipe. I do have explicit information in the post stating to process to a coarse meal, however, so I would appreciate it if you would consider changing your rating of my recipe. I did give proper instructions. And, the bars are still yummy the way you made them. They are not ruined and your ingredients are not wasted. You could add some other nuts and sweetener if you haven't topped them yet and you can pop them in the freezer for a delicious treat. Hope that helps :)!
Fair enough, but for a person who is trying out recipes for the first time and doesn’t understand the importance of keeping it a corse meal, it’s easy to over blend...
What could be added in order to harden it up, ie make it fool proof against over blending? Gelatin?
Hi again. Thanks so much for changing the rating - much appreciated. I can't think of anything to prevent it. It's just the way it goes. You just have to keep an eye on it. I've had it become like nut butter before myself....we eat it regardless b/c I can't stand wasting things. I am working on an update to the recipe to add more protein, however :).
I have to convert all the weights from US to EU and doing so works very well. I've made them 3 times now and everytime I change the nuts and seeds I use and they're always delicious. I suffer from a lot of food intolerance and so it was a great treat to find this recipe. Thanks a lot 🙂
So great - thank you!!! Glad you like them!!
Hi!! I just made these today — mine came out very liquidy and after being in the fridge for about two and a half hours they were still very soft so in the freezer now 🙂
I’m guessing I left everything in the food processor too long?
Very delicious regardless.
Hi there. I'm thinking they did turn to nut butter...is that what it seems like to you?
Adrienne,
Do you have a particular brand of soaked nut / seed butter that you use or do you make your own?
Regards,
Adam
I almost always make my own - about 2 cups at a time.
Hi, I am new here and this looks delicious, but do you have the nutritional information for these bars anywhere? Thanks!
Sorry but I don't have that feature yet. We're working on it to hopefully have it soon. There are some decent online calculators that you can use in the meantime.
I know it takes time but i entered in my own meal on MyFitnessPal app and then for every serving i just measured a fraction of the original recipe based on the pieces i cut.
I need to make these nut-free for school so am going to use sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (not coconut butter). I'm wondering if it would work to cut them I to individual bars first and then dip/encase them in the chocolate?
...cut them *into* individual bars...
Yes, should work! Sounds great!
Just make sure you aren't calling them vegan I'd you're using gelatin or honey...
There aren't either of those in this recipe.
I am the only one eating these. How long will these last in the refrigerator? Would you recommend freezing them to have them at the ready?
Hi there. Not sure about the shelf life - but yes the fridge or freezer should work great!
The nut portion of my bars were very liquidy. I had to put them in the freezer for them to set. What did I do wrong?
I think you blended them too much - they still should taste great.
Did you drain the nuts after soaking?
Hello, there! These are so delicious, but I seem to have trouble with consistency. Mine crumble very badly, and don't look nice and pretty like yours. Any ideas?
Hi there. I have to work on that - actually mine typically are messy but the photo was done by someone else. Sometimes my don't crumble as much -hope to remedy it in the future. Thanks for reading!
For the sweetener: I have Swerve (both powered and granular) and stevia glycerite. Which would be better, and how much?
Oh my - I haven't done conversions with those. I would recommend looking at their conversion charts and making a good guess and going by taste. I think you will do OK :).