This homemade protein bar recipe is full of toasted coconut flavor, whole grains, and is sweetened with just a touch of honey. You will have a hard time eating the store-bought chalky ones after you’ve tried these healthy protein bars.
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The BEST Homemade Protein Bars
The holidays are near (yay!) — which for many of us means travel! We are getting ready to make the 30+ hour trek back to the United States right before Thanksgiving.
I always pack healthy snacks for our travel, because the only thing worse than being exhausted from travel is also being bloated for eating unhealthy food!
Making homemade protein bars is an easy way to ensure you have grab-and-go snacks that are easy to pack!
These don’t need to be reserved only for travel! They are the perfect post workout snack, or “in-a-hurry” breakfast. I even enjoy them with tea as dessert!
Ingredients for Homemade Protein Granola Bars:
- Oatmeal
- Brown Rice Crisp Cereal
- Shredded Coconut (unsweetened)
- Unsweetened Whey Protein (<–this stuff is seriously the best!)
- Coconut Oil
- Honey (or date syrup)
How to Make Toasted Coconut Protein Bars
Step 1: Mix together the dry ingredients.
In a bowl, add oatmeal, whey protein, coconut, and salt. Mix it together until it’s evenly mixed.
Step 2: Whisk wet ingredients together.
Add melted coconut oil and honey into a bowl, and whisk to combine. It’s difficult to get the two to mix, but warming it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds helps!
Step 3: Pour wet ingredients over the dry, and mix together.
Mix the ingredients together until the no dry mixture. The wet ingredients need to evenly coat the dry ingredients in order for the bars to stick together well.
Step 4: Press into a baking pan
Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment for the best looking bars. They are a bit crumbly, so this helps a lot. Press the mixture into the pan, and use a pastry roller (or side of a straight edged glass) to press the mixture into the pan and to the edges. Press hand to really compress the mixture together.
Step 5: Bake at 350º F for 14 minutes.
Step 6: Allow mixture to fully cool, and then refrigerate.
The bars will cut cleanly if they are first cooled, and then refrigerated at least an hour. Freezing before cutting is not a good idea – they will break when cut.
Step 7: Drizzle with chocolate & top with coconut!
A (semi) optional step is to drizzle these with dark chocolate and garnish with extra coconut flakes! Delicious, but not totally necessary.
Tips for making Toasted Coconut Protein Bars
- These protein bars have 5 grams of protein.
- Make it Gluten Free: Be sure to use certified gluten free oatmeal and brown rice crisp cereal.
- Save time:Â I don’t take the time to top these bars with chocolate and toasted coconut flakes! They are just as delicious without it.
Toasted Coconut Protein Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups oatmeal divided
- 3/4 cup crisp brown rice cereal
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut unsweetened
- 6 tablespoons whey protein powder isolate, unsweetened
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Take 3/4 cup oatmeal, and process using a blender or a food processor until oats form a flour.
- Add oat flour, oatmeal, brown rice crisp, coconut, whey protein, and sea salt to a bowl, and mix together.
- In a microwave safe bowl, add coconut oil and honey. Microwave for 20-30 seconds (or longer, if coconut oil was solid), until mixture is warmed but not too hot.
- Pour liquid, warm coconut oil and honey mixture into the dry mixture, and mix together well.
- Line an 8x8 pan with baking paper or grease with coconut oil.
- Pour protein bar mixture into the pan, and use a pastry roller to press down into an even layer. A pastry roller really helps make a nice looking, compact layer. If I didn't have one, I would use a pint glass or something similar.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the bars are lightly golden brown.
- Cool completely, and then slice into bars. I store these and enjoy them right out of the freezer (they get really crunchy when frozen), but cut them before they freeze. Frozen bars are difficult to cut and will split.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Other Homemade Energy Bar Recipes:
- Oatmeal Raisin Protein Bars, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Homemade Granola Bars, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Gluten Free Date Bars, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Dark Chocolate Cherry Energy Bars, by Sunkissed Kitchen
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O everything about this flavor!!! What a great way to fuel up!
OMG – you have put LITERALLY all of my favorite flavors into these bars. This is a formal invitation for you to buy the house next door to me. Please. I don’t like my neighbors — they’re weird.
Haha, I’d love to bring you some Lisa. I’m going to lunch with a friend today and he saw me post these on FB and asked me to bring some along 🙂 Homemade food is a real gift.
This looks so amazing! I love making homemade granola bars and am always looking for some healthier snacks. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Healthy homemade snacks for the win 🙂
Gah! These bars look amazing! I love that they’re made without refined sugar. Win!
Yes– I like to think of honey as a health food 🙂 They are really amazing. A really happy accident actually.
I love this recipe. Everyone in our house loves these type of bars and I’m sure your take on them will be a hit.
I hope you try them out. They take about 5 minutes to put together and throw in the oven, and are pretty addictive 🙂
These look delicious and perfect to take with me on my flight this weekend! Thanks for sharing!
I have a flight after the weekend, and maybe I need to take some of those Pumpkin Spiced Mixed Nuts- yum!
I’m like you and try to avoid using airplane toilets as much as possible. Half the time I can’t work out how a human can make such a mess!
Being a big fan of honey, I like that this is the only sweetener added, they must have such a wonderful honey smell and taste.
Yes Sara, I love honey too– and because the ingredients in these are so simple the honey flavor does shine through.
These sound so good, but unfortunately we’re not allowed to bring home made food onto our flights in the UK. Has to be airplane food, I’m afraid!
What? Really? That’s crazy. I can’t believe they can place that restriction.
These bars looks amazing and with a healthy twist! Thanks!
I love coconuts. Protein bar or not, I will just eat them up.
I’m a huge coconut fan, too!
I just made these, fast easy and yummy. What healthy ingredience.
They are fast, and so delicious! I usually don’t even add the chocolate drizzle on top.