Best Tasting Homemade Protein Bar
Protein is a big part of a bodybuilding diet. Sometimes it can be difficult to get all the necessary protein (1 - 1.5 grams per pound of body weight) throughout our busy days. I know it’s difficult for me at least.
That’s why I like to use my homemade protein bars when I’m on the go and don’t have time to cook (did that sound like an endorsement line?).
It’s far better than eating a semi-healthy restaurant meal and way better than fast food.
The problem is that most store bought protein bars are typically what I call “sugar-filled, over-processed, soy-protein filled, over-priced crap.”
What’s the solution?
Make your own!
It’s 10x cheaper and actually taste amazing (especially if you like peanut butter!). Here’s my recipe with pictures.
Ingredients:
- Whey Protein Powder
- Natural Peanut Butter
- Oats
- Milk
Instructions
1. Get Bowl
2. Add 3.5 cups of whole oats
3. Add 5 scoops Whey Protein Powder
4. Add 4 tablespoons of natural peanut butter
5. Add 1 cup milk
6. Mix it all together! It gets a little messy, so don’t be scared to dig in.
7. Important! Spray Pam on a separate plate.
8. Place contents on plate and play with it until it forms a rectangle shape.
9. Cut into 4 equal bars
10. Refrigerate for at least a few hours, and enjoy.
Voila.
Nutritional Information for one protein bar:
Total Calories: 530
Protein: 45 grams
Carbs: 57 grams
Fat: 14.5 grams
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Posted in Diet
February 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
dude yu are the fucking man!!! I almost bought a $40 box of protein bars today so I would have sumthin to eat at work, but then I saw this post and decided to try it… not only did it save me a grip of cash, and I know EXACTLY wut Im putting in my body, but these things are delicious! I like em more than the bars I would’ve bought… thanks bro, keep up the good work
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Step number 3 says “add 5 scoops”………of what? And are the oats cooked beforehand, or just straight out of the container?
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:49 pm
@Steve:
5 scoops of whey protein.
Oats straight out of the container.
No cooking is involved at all for these protein bars, just refrigerate after its all done.
March 25th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
do you have other flavors of this protein bar?
how long will it keep?
do you have the nutritional information (approximately) for the whole batch?
March 25th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Other Flavors:
1) I’ve never tried other flavors. My suggestion would be to mix a different flavor whey protein that would match well with peanut butter. Chocolate would be my first guess to try.
How long will it keep?
2) 4 days or so. They tend to get hard if they’re not wrapped up well and become exposed to air.
Nutritional info
3) Multiply the nutritional info I posted by 4. Each batch makes 4 protein bars.
let me know if you have other questions. They really do taste good
March 30th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Wow, just made some, will try them later. Should save lots of money, and be better for me!
May 7th, 2008 at 8:49 am
You could probably change things up a bit by adding stuff like cranberries, too. Has anyone tried making this recipe with soy milk?
May 7th, 2008 at 8:50 am
I meant dried cranberries, by the way. Raisins would probably work, too.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
@Jai: I haven’t experimented with trying raisins or dried cranberries, but that sounds like it’d be an easy addition and would taste great.
the recipe I have posted is really a “base”… you can add a lot of different ingredients to spice it up.
July 1st, 2008 at 3:57 pm
What is ‘pam spray’…or ’spray pam’?? I’m from the United Kingdom.
thanks
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:05 am
Maaaaan, you are amazing. excellent way of making the protein bar. I will try this today.
Thanks
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:45 am
Is there an alternative to peanut butter? I’m deathly allergic to peanuts! Thanks!
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 am
When you say 3.5 cups of oats, about how much is it in whey scoops?
Because i know 1 cup is about 250ml so 3.5 would be 875ml which seems too much.
1 cup = 16 tablespoons right? So i add 56 tablespoons oats? Can’t be right…
Thanks.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I am also allergic to peanut butter and would love to hear of an alternative. I imagine almond butter would work but that gets pretty expensive.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Instead of peanut butter, use softened (not melted) real butter, or softened cream cheese and butter whipped together.
I would add a little cinnamon.
July 5th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
@Marti: Pam is cooking spray. Any type of cooking spray will work to prevent the bars from sticking to the plate
@Tom: There could be lots of different substitutes for peanut butter, my first one would be almond butter (although expensive). Whatever you choose, you’d want to pick something that is a healthy fat that will help keep the ingridients “stuck” to one another.
@Carpe: I’m not sure I understand your question, but 3.5 cups does equal 56 tablespoons (search: “how many tablespoons in a cup” on google for future reference).
@Roar: I like your thinking on adding butter or cream cheese (not sure how’d it taste) but just remember to be careful of overdoing saturated fat. Saturated fat is great for hormone production but too much can be problematic.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Thats a ton of carbs, calories and fat in those. I just bought a box of Promax All Natural Cookies and Cream bars for $1.29 each from Trader Joes and they taste GREAT.
280 Calories
4.5g Fat
38g Carbs
20g Protein
However, looking at the bar now it does have High Fructose Corn Syrup and a ton of other stuff that probably isn’t good for me. But 500 calories is just way too much in a stick of food.
July 8th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
@Marc: These bars are high calorie on purpose. Great for a meal substitue if your eating 3000+ calories per day. (remember a calorie surplus is what you want when trying to gain muscle/get stronger)
If you want less calories, shave a little off all the amounts and/or make it 8 bars intead of 4.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Thanks man, that’s a great recipe.
Would freezing those bars work? I have a busy shedule that changes frequently, so I can’t always prepare my food in advance. If I could freeze those bars that would be great.
July 9th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
@Josh: Great question. I have no idea. I might test this out for future reference. Try it out and let me know or just double the quantities and make 8 bars 1x per week and just keep in the fridge.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:06 am
I think I got the quantities wrong…I added a bit more oats, and they tasted ok, but really hard to swallow…I had to drink water with them. They didn’t go dry, but were a little stodgy.
Also, if you make too many they don’t keep a long time. They have natural [non preservative] ingredients…thus is the whole point of eating healthy foods that are unrefined.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:23 am
@Marti: It sounds like your bars have too much oats and not enough PB.
If bars are too hard ->> add more peanut butter
If bars are too soft ->> less peanut butter and more oats
July 10th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Actually cooking the oats in the milk first would make it much softer, you could also use Soy milk which is sweeter than cows milk.
July 11th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Thanks, a great recipe!
I used chokolate flavoured whey and skimmed milk, tastes great.
Maybe it could be an idea to process the milk + whey + peanut butter in a shaker/blender first, and then let it soak in oats for a few minutes before putting it into a fridge.. at least I’ll try that.
July 11th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
@Oyvind: Good idea, if you try it out - let me know how it works. I’ll be glad to post additional alternative recipes that readers try and approve.
July 12th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Carl, thanks for the cool recipe! I am trying to eat more naturally, and this will help. No corn syrups or hydrogenated anything. Good stuff.
Here’s what I learned from my first batch (I just put them in the fridge):
>1/2 C. cocoa powder is probably gonna be a tad bit too much.
>I added 4 tbsp. wheat germ, and 4 tbsp. flaxseed meal, and had to add about 2-3 tbsp. more peanut butter.
>It’s easier if you spray your plate BEFORE you get your hands all gooey.
>Hands won’t get SO gooey if you spray them too.
July 13th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Wow I just made a batch and these are really good. These will be great for meal replacement (I’ll have fruit with them of course
), and they’re all natural. Awesome.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Did you heat up the Peanut Butter or what?
July 14th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Ok, so I made these in the end, here is what I did.
Mixed the milk and flax seed meal together first.
Then mixed in the protein powder.
Then mixed in the oats.
Then finally the PB.
Doing it in that order using a wooden spoon so you dont have to use your hands at all. I used Soy milk.
The results…a very sticky bar in the end. This isnt something thats transportable to work. I wrapped them all in foil and I’m freezing them now. If there was someway to give it a semi hard shell that didnt result in a sticky finger mess when eating it would be ideal.
I finally found a use for the abomination that is Optimum Nutrition Nitro Core 24 Caramel Toffe Fudge…OMG! It tastes a little better as a bar vs. a drink. More PB next time and maybe some Flax Seed Oil.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I made a batch for my hubby as well, and cut the cocoa in half. Much better. I also had originally cut the bars in 8 pieces, but ended up cutting those in half. I am an older, cutting woman who’s not-so-big, so I can’t eat all that right now.
These ARE pretty good though! Better-tasting than some bars out there, but with (mostly) clean ingredients I can control.