The Pioneer Woman Tasty Kitchen
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Homemade Protein Bars

5.00 Mitt(s) 5 Rating(s)5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 55 votes, average: 5.00 out of 55 votes, average: 5.00 out of 55 votes, average: 5.00 out of 55 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5

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Level: Easy

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Description

These are so tasty—and much better for you than many of the brands you can buy in the store. They only take 10 minutes to make and are perfect for any meal on-the-go.

Ingredients

  • ¾ cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
  • ½ cups Oat Flour
  • ½ teaspoons Table Salt
  • 1-½ teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 2 Scoops Vanilla Protein Powder
  • ½ cups Non-fat Dry Milk
  • 2 Tablespoons Flaxseeds
  • 2 Tablespoons Sunflower Seeds
  • ⅓ cups Peanut Butter (natural Peanut Butter Works Great!)
  • 2 teaspoons Vanilla
  • ¼ cups Water
  • ¼ cups Honey
  • ½ cups Nuts
  • ½ cups Dried Fruit

Preparation

Line an 8×8″ dish with foil, leaving a few inches of extra foil extending over the edges of the dish. You will use this extra foil to grab on to when you remove the bars from the dish later on. Very lightly spray the foil with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the oats, oat flour, salt, cinnamon, protein powder, dry milk powder, and seeds. In a small bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, vanilla, water, and honey. Microwave for about 45 seconds. Whisk, then combine the liquid ingredients with the dry ingredients and stir to combine. The mixture will be quite thick. Add the nuts and dried fruit and stir to combine.

Roughly spread the mixture into the foil-lined dish. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the “dough” and compress the mixture evenly in the dish. Leave the plastic wrap on and place in the fridge for an hour or until firm. After an hour, remove and discard the plastic wrap. Use the foil to lift the mixture out of the dish. Slide the mixture off of the foil and cut the block into 8 bars. Place the bars in a sealable container. Since this mixture contains no preservatives, I recommend keeping them refrigerated.

Notes:
1. I have never used instant oats with this recipe, so I do not know if they will work as well.
2. These bars can be made gluten-free if you buy the right brand of oats and protein powder.
3. Do you have teenage sons participating in sports? Consider increasing the protein powder by another scoop.
4. On a low-salt diet? Reduce or eliminate the salt.
5. Watching your blood sugar or carbs? Reduce the amount of honey (or substitute sugar-free maple syrup for the honey) and reduce the amount of dried fruit.
6. Watching your fat intake? Reduce the amount of peanut butter and/or nuts.
7. Watching your salt, carbs, AND fat intake? Skip this recipe and eat the wrapper off a ding dong.

For an accompanying story, check out the related blog post.

7 Comments

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tracyvanlone on 10.14.2010

Bravo! 5-Stars from me!

I made this recipe exactly as written, except one thing: after chilling the bars in the refrigerator, I painted the tops of the bars with 2 oz. of melted semi-sweet chocolate.

Here’s some great data about the 3-scoops of unsweetened protein powder version of the bars:

PER BAR:
18 g protein
8 g sugars, including lactose (if you paint them with semi-sweet chocolate)
6 g sugars, including lactose (if you don’t paint them with semi-sweet chocolate)

My husband LOVES these bars even more than store-bought protein bars – even better than the new badly-named “Think Thin” bars.*

I have not tried this recipe yet with no honey. But, when I do, I will comment again!

*Note: People – don’t use artificial sweeteners! They are killers and/or frauds.

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brookebee on 8.17.2010

I’m addicted to these! So good!

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DallasDuo on 6.21.2010

How much are two scoops or protein powder? I made these and I think the protein scoop I had was too big because the bars were very crumbly. They were still delicious though…I just want to know how many tablespoons or cups the protein powder is. Thanks!

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vitafamiliae on 5.17.2010

I didn’t have any oats, so I used some leftover cooked quinoa that I had in the fridge. I should have cut back on the water, because the bars didn’t set up as well. But the texture that the quinoa gave the bars was like a rice krispie treat. Plus, they are higher in protein than oats. I also used whole wheat flour instead of oat flour, because it was what I had. Husband loves these, will definitely make again but with my modifications. Thanks for this!

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ashleynashville3 on 5.11.2010

these are awesome! I made them for a runner friend’s birthday, she loved them! so healthy! two thumbs up.

5 Reviews

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Linda Lou on 9.30.2017

Outstanding! My active teenage boys are always asking me to make more. I recommend double batch in 9×13 pan. Yes, easy to customize.

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austyn on 9.11.2011

Really good. My husband loved these and it saves a lot of money since he works outside and eats a protein bar everyday. I like that you can customize these.

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hhalleck on 1.30.2011

These are wonderful! Thank you for sharing!

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letmecook on 6.26.2010

These are so good! My husband has been buying protein bars and wow are those things pricey! I tried these and the first time it was more of a mix (a little dry and crumbly)– however, it tasted great and we sprinkled it in our oatmeal. After being a little more careful with my measurements (esp. the moisture) they turned out perfectly! My hubby took them to the gym with him and they were quickly devoured and recipe requested. They are quick and easy and even my kids (ages 6, 4, and 1) love them!

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t2nashville on 5.19.2010

Thank you for this recipe. I am a weight loss surgery patient, so protein bars are important for my life. I made these last night, and they are so wonderful. It’s nice knowing exactly what’s in my protein bars, without hidden sugars or unrecognizable ingredients. These are easy and delicious, and I love how “tweakable” the recipe is. I used unflavored protein powder with some Splenda, as well as sugar free honey. I think I’ll try sugar free maple syrup next time for added flavor. Everything else I followed exactly. Great job on these! I have shared the recipe at many of my favorite bariatric blogs.

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