I’d be lying if I said I didn’t eat protein bars everyday. Around 3 pm I grab one of my favorites – Built Bar, Kirkland cookies & cream, Pure Protein or a Perfect Bar. But sometimes this habit can get expensive. Perfect Bars are usually sold separately and cost anywhere from $2-4 EACH. So I woke up one day and thought, what if I make my own…
But this protein bar recipe is different than the ones you’ve seen from other bloggers all over Instagram. These actually are high protein (22g!!!) and have less than 300 calories, contain only clean ingredients, are no bake with have impeccable flavor. Anytime I’ve considered making a homemade protein bar, I’m disappointed by the lack of protein and their high caloric value. I’m here for a snack, not a meal people!
Whether you track your macros or are just are looking for the healthiest protein bars, I’ve got you covered.
Ingredients & Alternatives for these protein bars
Oats or oat flour: You’ll want oat flour for this protein bar recipe which will be lighter than traditional whole wheat or all purpose flour. I imagine you could use other flours, almond flour might be a good alternative, although I have NOT tested this recipe with other kinds. You can either make your own oat flour (see instructions below) or get store-bought.
Quest Cinnamon Toast Crunch Protein Powder: I love this protein powder for this recipe for a few reasons. 1) The flavor is incredible and never tastes chalky at all and there are little crumbs in it that taste like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 2) It mixes really well in these homemade protein bars, baked goods, oatmeal and yogurt. But you could likely use a different brand or flavor of protein powder for this recipe, just know the protein bars are going to take on whatever flavor you choose.
Almond butter: If you don’t have or like almond butter, you can opt for peanut, cashew or sunflower butter. Any nut butter will work here.
Maple syrup: The standard maple syrup but you could likely swap this for agave or honey.
Egg whites: I prefer egg whites straight from the carton but you could use egg whites from normal eggs if you’d like. If you do it this way, crack the egg over a bowl and pour the yolk back and forth between the two shell halves until all of the egg whites have dropped into the bowl.
How to make the best protein bars
First thing’s first: You need oat flour. Add your oats into a food processor or blender and blend for a few minutes, or until a fine powder forms. If you bought oat flour, you can skip this step. A food processor works better for this recipe, if you have it.
Add in the protein powder, almond butter and maple syrup to the food processor and blend until well combined. Slowly add the egg whites and blend until a dough forms.
You’ll want to grab your bread pan at this point and line it with parchment paper. This makes for easy clean up and will ensure your protein bars won’t stick to the pan. Add dough to the parchment paper and use a spatula or your hands to press the dough flat and spread to all of the corners. You’ll have to work at it for a minute, but all good things take time.
Once the dough is evenly distributed to the bottom of the bread pan, place it in the freezer for 2 hours. This allows the protein bars to really set in and hold their shape. Then you can cut into 5 individual bars. Once the time has passed, it’s time for a snack break to enjoy these copycat Perfect Bars, homemade protein bars!
For storage, I like to wrap them in individual sheets of plastic wrap for easy on-the-go snacks, but you could also store them in a Tupperware instead. Store in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for a few months.
You could easily make a double or triple batch of these and store extras in the freezer so you have plenty of your favorite protein bars on hand all the time.
This homemade protein bar recipe really couldn’t be easier. You could probably whip these bars up faster than it would take you to run to the grocery store and pick up a few Perfect Bars. And you’ll save money this way over time, for sure!
MORE PROTEIN PACKED SNACKS TO TRY:
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No Bake Cinnamon Toast Crunch Homemade Protein Bars (Copycat Perfect Bars)
Equipment
- Bread pan
- Parchment paper
- Food processor (preferred)
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups old fashioned oats or oat flour 120g
- 3 scoops Quest Cinnamon Toast Crunch protein powder* 90 g
- 1/4 cup almond butter 64g
- 1 tbsp maple syrup 30g
- 5 tbsp egg whites 75g
Instructions
- If using old fashioned oats, add oats to food processor and blend for 1-2 minutes, until a fine powder is formed. Omit this step if you are using purchased oat flour. If you don't have a food processor, you could use a blender for this step.
- Add oat flour and protein powder to food processor and blend quickly to combine completely. If you don't have a food processor, you can add ingredients into a large bowl and mix by hand.
- Scoop almond butter and maple syrup into food processor and blend until well combined.
- Slowly add egg whites, dispersing the liquid evenly around the food processor. Blend until a dough starts to form. If the dough still seems dry, slowly add a tbsp of water at a time until it forms a sticky dough (if this happens, it's likely because there was more grams of protein powder in the kind you used).
- Line a bread pan in parchment paper. Scoop dough from the blender on the parchment paper and use a spatula or hands to press the dough evenly tho all of the edges.
- Place bread pan in freezer for 2 hours. Afterwards, you can cut the dough in 5 even bars. Enjoy the protein bars and store them in a Tupperware or wrap individually in plastic wrap or parchemnt paper.