Homemade Peanut Butter Protein Bars
This post contains affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
A Homemade No Bake Peanut Butter Protein Bars recipe that is so easy to make! High in protein, delicious and cheaper than buying them! Easily customizable to make gluten/dairy free.
If you’re looking for a quick, easy snack – look no further than these homemade no bake peanut butter protein bars.
Easy to make with only 6 ingredients – these are a copycat Perfect Bar recipe that tastes amazing and is way cheaper to make vs buy! They are so delicious and easy!
These homemade protein bars taste like a peanut butter cup. Perfect for a quick breakfast, snack or even dessert!
Why We Love These Clean Protein Bars:
There are so many things to love about these homemade protein bars (aside from them being delicious!). Here are some of the reasons why we love these bars
- Easy to Make– With only 6 ingredients and a few steps, these are super easy to make. Simply mix together, press into a pan, chill & enjoy
- Cheaper to make vs Buying– The average perfect bar costs between $2.49-$2.99. This recipe costs less than $1 per bar. It’s more than 50% cheaper to make your own protein bars than buy them.
- Customizable– You can easily change up the nut butter, add ins, or other ingredients to customize the flavor of these homemade protein bars.
- Simple Ingredients– Most protein bars have funky ingredients and a laundry list of add ins/preservatives. These bars are made with only 6 ingredients that you probably already have on hand. (next, check out these high protein portable snacks)
Peanut Butter Protein Bars Recipe Ingredients
To make these peanut butter protein bars you’ll need only 6 ingredients:
- maple syrup
- peanut butter
- vanilla extract
- oat flour
- vanilla protein powder
- mini chocolate chips
Substitutions
Gluten Free: To make gluten free make sure you use certified gluten free oats.
Maple Syrup: We have not tried replacing maple syrup with honey. I think it may work but can’t be sure.
Peanut Butter– Do not use regular peanut butter such as Jif/Skippy. This needs to be a natural peanut butter with natural oils. We haven’t tested cashew or almond butter but think it would work.
Vanilla Extract – You can omit vanilla extract from the recipe, it’s not necessary but it does add a nice flavor.
Protein Powder– For best results, measure your protein powder with a scale. If you don’t have a scale just add about ½ cup a little at a time. Different proteins will create different flavor profiles, nutrition info and texture. The protein used here was Gold Standard Vanilla Whey Protein. We haven’t tested this recipe with vegan protein or other plant based protein powders but it may work!
Oat Flour– Oat flour is simply old fashioned oats ground to a fine texture. If you don’t have oat flour, grind your own old fashioned rolled oats with a food processor or blender until very fine. Purchased oat flour will often have a finer texture.
Flaxseed– For more protein, use 1/4 cup oat flour and 1/4 cup flaxseed meal.
Mini Chocolate Chips– Feel free to omit mini chocolate chips, or add more.
Important Tip: It’s important to weigh out/measure your protein powder due to different densities of protein powders. I used Gold Standard Vanilla Whey Protein. It came out to about ½ cup , but measuring is strongly recommended.
How To Make Peanut Butter Protein Bars
- In a bowl -add all of the ingredients except chocolate chips.
- Mix until a dough forms. The texture will be like a dense cookie dough.
- Fold in chocolate chips. Press the mixture into an 8×4 pan lined with parchment paper.
- Freeze for 1 hour so the bars can set. Cut into 8 even slices and serve. (Sprinkle with sea salt – optional)
How To Store Homemade Peanut Butter Protein Bars
Refrigerator: Leftovers can be individually wrapped and stored in the fridge up to a week. You can’t keep these protein bars out of the fridge for more than a few hours, they will get moldy.
Freezer: You can store the protein bars in the freezer for 3 months
Homemade Peanut Butter Protein Bar FAQs
Yes it is cheaper to make your own protein bars. The average perfect bar costs between $2.49-$2.99. This recipe makes 8 bars, and it costs under $8 for all of the ingredients, which means they’re just under $1 per bar. (based on oz used of the ingredients). It’s more than 50% cheaper to make your own protein bars than buy them.
We wouldn’t recommend eating 2 protein bars per day. You can, but it’s better to eat real foods. Protein bars are high calorie and can leave you not feeling as full as lean protein, vegetables and healthy carbs can.
You can mix protein powder in peanut butter but it will get very thick. It’s best to add a little bit of water if you’re going to add protein powder to peanut butter
Trying to eat more protein?
If you’re trying to eat more protein, check out our High Protein Dinners Ebook! It has 24 easy recipes you can make in under an hour with 25g+ protein per serving!
Other healthy snack recipes:
We love easy protein packed snacks. Here are some of our favorites:
Clean Peanut Butter Protein Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter natural with oil – not regular peanut butter or these will be crumbly.
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 60 grams vanilla protein powder* *about ½ cup- see notes
- 1/2 cup oat flour
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
- 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt for topping optional
Instructions
- In a bowl or a stand mixer add all of the ingredients except chocolate chips. Mix by hand or with a mixer until a dough forms. The texture will be like a dense cookie dough.
- Fold in chocolate chips
- Press the mixture into an 8×4 pan lined with parchment paper.
- Freeze for 1 hour so the bars can set. Cut into 8 even slices and serve. (Sprinkle with sea salt – optional)
- Leftovers can be individually wrapped and stored in the fridge up to a week or freezer for 3 months.
Just learning how to eat clean and healthy. I have some coconut flour and almond on hand, could I use that instead of oat flour? Not sure if any of those are interchangable. Thanks!
No you can’t, I’m sorry! Almond flour and coconut flour are not good to use interchangeably with oat flour. They absorb liquid differently, and while this recipe is no bake – they don’t bake the same as well. You’ll likely end up with a mushy mess if you try to substitute in baked goods. But the good news is that you can easily make oat flour at home with old fashioned oats! Check out this simple tutorial for how to make oat flour!
Love this idea and ingredients! I’d like some advice on the texture, though.
I used Costco’s organic/natural peanut butter (which is separated and oily), and 1/2 c of the Orgain protein powder (no scale), and they came out very crumbly, with a super protein-y flavor. What should I add to improve the texture?
Hi! Did you stir the peanut butter really well before mixing it in? Sometimes I find with that Costco peanut butter if the oil isn’t stirred into it from the very beginning, the peanut butter itself is pretty dry/crumbly, which could cause whatever you’re making to also turn out drier. I also wonder if it was too much protein powder. I’ve never tried that specific protein powder – so I’m not sure what the flavor is like :/ I would maybe try a tiny bit less protein powder, and really make sure your peanut butter has the oil mixed in. You could try adding a little bit of oil to it and remixing, but it might just turn into a greasy mess! Hope this helps!
Nice and easy
do you mean 8x 4 not 8×8? is this a loaf pan?
The recipe says 8×4, yes, it is a loaf pan
So delicious! Tastes like peanut butter fudge 🙂 I only had maybe 2 or so tablespoons of protein poweder but they’re still delicious! Also used almond flour instead of oat flour that I already had on hand.
Can you use the PB Powder to reduce some of the fat and calories?
Definitely not. The fat is essential to the texture of the bars
I used molasses instead of maple syrup. Also substituted almond flour 1/2 c and flax seed flour 1/2 cup. Also used old fashioned oats as is, without using food processor to grind fine. Also added 2 tbs warm water to get the desired dough consistency . Then used maple essence as flavouring as well as coarse pink Himalayan salt after folding in cacao nibs at the end. Makes a super healthy snack.
Hey, I have a question?
The bars are amazing but I do not know the weight of the bar, (I don’t have a scale). May you please add the weight of the bars please. Also, if you get rid of the chocolate chips, these are perfect for braces and are a perfect quick addition to breakfast, you may want to add that. Thankyou for making this recipe.
Sorry, I’m not able to do that. If you need to count calories/macros that strictly – you should get a food scale!
Amazing! Tastes very similar to the perfect bars and I had all the ingredients on hand!
Thanks, Katie! Glad you liked it!
Never mind my question on protein I found it when I looked at the nutrition label! Thank you anyway I can’t wait to make them as I’m tired of store bought protein bars My favorite bars Oatmega went out of business and I haven’t been able to find a decent store bought bar since then
Hope you love them!
So much better than the store bought protein bars!
So happy you liked them!
These are so good and so easy! My new go to for make ahead breakfast!
So glad you liked them, Becca! Thanks!