Are you ready to save money and make your own protein bar recipe at home? Not only will this recipe help your wallet out but it’s easy to make with just a few simple ingredients and has unlimited variations for every craving! If you’re looking for The Best Homemade Protein Bars you’ll ever have then you’ve come to the right spot!
For this recipe all you’re going to need is a stovetop pan and something to put your protein bars in like a cake pan or dish.
Start by adding into your stovetop pan 1/2 cup of unsweetened milk substitute or fat free milk, 1 cup or 16 tablespoons of peanut butter, 3 tablespoons of honey, and 2 cups of rolled oats.
Turn your burner on low heat (between 2-3) and as it heats up you’ll want to stir until everything is well incorporated. This should take, at the most, 5 minutes.
Remember to keep your mix moving to that it doesn’t burn while your pan is over the heat!
Protein Bar Flavors
Once you have your base mixed together you can optionally add in 10-15 drops of a liquid sweetener, 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, and 1 small box of seedless raisins. Whatever ingredients you choose to add in at this step will be the “flavor” of your homemade protein bars.
Mix whatever ingredients you’re using in.
Don’t have liquid sweetener? Use your preferred powdered sweetener (start with 1/4 cup).
After choosing those ingredients you’ll want to slowly mix in 4 1/2 scoops of your choice flavor protein powder on low heat until combined. Make sure to choose a flavor protein powder that compliments the rest of the flavors in your homemade protein bars.
Recipe tip? If your mix appears to be too dry you can add in a little bit more milk substitute/milk until it thins out. You want it thick but not thick enough that your mix easily falls apart.
Take out something to put your mix in and evenly press that mix into it. Remember that whatever you use will end up being the shape of your bars.
Top your homemade protein bars with some chocolate chips or anything else you want and let your bars sit in your pan or dish for 10-15 minutes to cool down before you cut them.
Homemade Protein Bars
Looking to change your recipe up? Use some of these ideas or let us know your favorite ways to make these no bake bars in the comments below!
- Fresh or dried fruit pieces (we used seedless raisins today)
- Crushed up nuts
- Other chips (white chocolate or peanut butter)
- Sugar free syrups
- Sprinkles (red velvet!)
- Granola
- High Protein Frosting topping
- Cocoa powder instead of ground cinnamon
- Other extracts
You could also speed up the cool down and put your covered pan or dish into the fridge for a bit to harden up (my preference).
Once your bars have cooled your ready to cut and eat the best homemade protein bars ever! I cut 10 bars today.
Ready for another protein powder dessert!? Try our Protein Cheesecake recipe next!
The Best Homemade Protein Bars
What We Used
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Ingredients
- 2 Cups Rolled Oats
- 4 Ounces Milk Substitute - or Milk
- 2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons Honey
- 1 Cup Peanut Butter - 16 Tablespoons
- 4 ½ Scoops Protein Powder
- 15 Drops Liquid Sweetener - or Regular Sweetener
- 2 Servings Chocolate Chips
- 1 Box Raisins - 1.5 Ounces Seedless
Instructions
- Add your Milk, Honey, and Peanut Butter into a stovetop pan
- Turn your burner on Low Heat
- Stir until those are mixed together
- Add in the rest of the ingredients (more Milk if your recipe appears to be too dry)
- Mix everything together
- Evenly distribute and press your mix into a pan or dish
- Top it with whatever you want
- Let it cool in the fridge for 2-3 hours
- Cut them
Video
Notes
- Calories: 3160
- Fat: 140g
- Saturated Fat: 31g
- Sodium: 2351mg
- Carbs: 293g
- Fiber: 36g
- Sugar: 130g
- Protein: 182g
Would PB2 work in this recipe to reduce the calories? If so, how much and what liquid would you add to make the PB2?
It could but I’m not sure that the texture would hold…
Do these bars come out sticky?
As long as you throw them in the fridge you should be good. I would say 2.5/10 on the sticky scale!
A few changes to make these work:
1.) Spray that pan with some non-stick spray!
2.) Don’t ever use a knife on a non-stick pan!
3.) Put an identical pan on top of the original pan (with the bars in there) and weight the top pan down with a few cans of tomatoes. They will harden with the pressing.
I traditionally cook/bake things for Christmas, and I know my family (as with most people) want to watch their weight so what good is it giving them cookies?
I made these, and everyone absolutely LOVED them! Very tasty, great job Derek!
I’m allergic to milk (therefore, do not use whey protein). I’m trying to find some good recipes for making snacks and protein shakes with soy protein. You say to use milk or milk substitute. You think almond milk would be okay? Also, how do you think these would do with soy protein instead of whey? Just wondering. Thanks for the awesome recipes.
P.S. Nice tattoos!
Almond milk is definitely fine (I’ve done it) and soy protein is fine too. Thanks for the kind words and support my friend!
Can I use a packet (or however many) of Stevia instead of the liquid drops? Would it make a difference? Thanks!
Absolutely!
These are so delicious …. Added a few almonds …. Will definately make these again and again!!!! The best!!!
Wowwwwwwwww these are fantastic! I used mostly almond butter because I only had about 1/4C of peanut butter but the exchange seems fine, they turned out super tasty. Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you Sarah! Glad you liked them 🙂
I just made my second batch of these, this one just as delicious as the first. I made both batches with some toasted slivered almonds (thanks, Liz!), but otherwise as written, and they’re fantastic. Thanks for the recipe!
One thing for me is that both times I ended up using about 3/4c to 1c of milk.
The bars still come out relatively stiff and chewy, so I don’t think they’re over moistened. My guess is that it’s just the different protein powder (ON Gold Whey, in my case). So if you make these and find them dry, don’t be afraid to add as much extra milk as needed.
Thanks Aron! Feedback is much appreciated!
Just made a batch of these, added some chopped almonds as well and they turned out great. thank you for the post.:)
Thanks for the feedback Liz! Much appreciated
I made this exactly according to the recipe (except without the liquid sweetener, because I don’t have any), and my protein bars never really harden. There always super soft and gooey, which makes eating them with my hands a nightmare. I tried putting them in the fridge, but that only helps for a little bit. Any ideas?