The BEST Protein Bars are healthy, no-bake, and contain nothing artificial! These are chewy, delicious, easy to customize, and are the perfect healthy snack.
Looking for more healthy snacks? Try my Energy Balls, Applesauce, Carrot Muffins, or learn how to make The Perfect Charcuterie Board.
Why I love this recipe:
No Bake – No heating up the house, and only takes 10 minutes to throw the ingredients together and put in the fridge.
Healthy – Nothing artificial here. These bars are filled with normal pantry ingredients and sweetened with honey.
Taste Delicious – I've had one to many unappetizing protein bars in my life, so I'm all about making them from scratch, with ingredients I recognize, and they taste wonderful!
Ingredients in Protein Bars:
- Rolled Oats – quick oats would also work.
- Protein Powder – Add your favorite whey or plant based protein powder including Chocolate, vanilla, or plain flavored.
- Peanut Butter – or substitute any nut butter or sunflower butter.
- Honey – Naturally sweetened and no added sugar. You could substitute agave.
- Ground Flax Seed
- Banana – mashed, for sweetness flavor and binding.
- Salt
- Vanilla Extract
- Mix-Ins – I like to customize my bars with chopped dates, dried fruit (blueberries, cranberries, or raisins), mini chocolate chips, or unsweetened coconut flakes.
How to make Protein Bars:
Combine Ingredients: Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Press firmly into an 8×8 inch pan.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting into bars.
Cut into bars and store in the fridge.
Freezing Instructions:
Layer bars in a freezer safe bag or container, with a piece of parchment paper between layers, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter before eating.
Recipe Variations:
- Mix-Ins: Customize these bars with your favorite mix-ins! Some ideas: chopped dates, dried fruit (blueberries, cranberries, or raisins), mini chocolate chips, unsweetened coconut flakes, crispy rice cereal, chopped nuts, or anything you like!
- Nut Butter: Swap out the peanut butter for almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower butter.
- Protein Powder: Use your favorite kind. Chocolate, vanilla, or plain would all work great for this recipe!
- Vegan Protein Bars Recipe: Use your favorite vegan protein powder.
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Recipe
Protein Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (135 g)
- 3/4 cup peanut butter , or favorite nut butter or sunflower butter (180 g)
- 1 banana , mashed (120 g)
- 1/3 cup honey , agave or real maple syrup (110 g)
- Pinch salt
- ½ cup ground flax seed (55 g)
- 1 cup protein powder* (120 g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (10 ml)
- 3/4 cup Mix in options: chopped dates, dried fruit (blueberries, cranberries, or raisins), mini chocolate chips, unsweetened coconut flakes, nuts (about 90 g)
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients until well combined. Mixture should be fairly soft and not dry or crumbly. Add a splash of water or milk, or an extra drizzle of honey, if needed.
- Press very firmly into an 8×8 inch pan. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting into bars.
- Store bars in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
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How does this work when not cooking the oats or soaking them overnight?
Very easy to make and a good source of
Protein
Making this as a care package for my cousin! First time making protein bars and they are so good! Will definitely be making them again!
This looks like a great recipe, and I love how you can customize it! One question: I have an allergy to bananas. What do you think might make a good substitute? I was thinking maybe dates?
Have you tried this with a substitute yet? My husband cannot stand bananas, and I was wondering what worked for you. I found this site https://americasrestaurant.com/banana-substitutes/
I’m going to try it with applesauce
Very tasty. Mine didn’t bar up very well, but this is perhaps because I omitted the honey/agave. I might try them again and roll into small balls rolled in coconut instead of forming a bar. Excellent as a topping for plain, non fat Greek yogurt such as Fage.
So yummy. Like this recipe. 😊
Love these! It seems we always have a batch on hand. The kids love them and they’re great for snacks, to take on the go, etc.
These are awesome and super easy to make! Bit hit with my whole family!
Lauren, I plan to make these using PB fit peanut butter powder mixed with water. It is 87% less fat than regular peanut butter. Do you ever use baking stevia or monk fruit?
Would love to hear how your bars come out! Lauren doesn’t normally use stevia or monk fruit but it should work great for you. Enjoy the bars!
Did it work with monk fruit?
Honey acts as both a sweetener and a binding agent in this recipe. You can definitely try using monk fruit as a sweetener, but you’ll need to add something to help with binding, adding extra peanut butter is something you could try!
How did they turn out with PB fit? What ratio of powder to water did you use?
This recipe looks delicious & so easy. I plan on trying it! It looks like I have all the ingredients except the protein powder!