Healthy Protein Snack Bars
on Sep 29, 2021, Updated Jul 14, 2024
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You’ll love these super easy no bake healthy snack bars made with peanut butter, oats, coconut, flax seed and more! They are packed with healthy fiber, fat, and protein and you won’t believe that they taste like a treat.
Need more easy and healthy snacks in your life? These are just what you’ve been looking for. Today I’m working with Bob’s Red Mill! If you didn’t know, I’ve been working with them on bringing you recipes for 3 years now: pumpkin biscuits, gingerbread cake, gluten free pizza and more. I buy their products regularly; I love this company and all that they do and sell. Thanks for enjoying a recipe they help make possible.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Healthy Ingredients: They are made with all kinds of wholesome whole food ingredients like nut butter, oatmeal, chia seeds, flax seed meal, and coconut.
- Quick and Easy: They are no bake and come together in just a few minutes.
- Healthy Treat: They store great and make the best simple and easy snack or dessert for when you need a little something sweet and filling.
- Customizable: They are easy to adjust to your tastes, preferences, and what you have on hand.
Ingredients
- Peanut Butter
- Honey
- Protein Powder: lots of options here, Bob’s Red Mill has a new almond protein powder that I’m excited to try. I’ve also used their pea protein for this as well as collagen peptides. You can use vanilla or unsweetened, or feel free to try anything else you like or have.
- Flax Seed Meal
- Chia Seeds
- Quick Cooking Oats
- Shredded Coconut
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
Popular Substitutions and Variations
- If peanut butter is an issue feel free to sub it for any other nut or seed butter as long as it’s a natural drippy nut butter that has a similar texture as peanut butter. Sun butter would also work well here.
- You can sub maple syrup, agave, or brown rice syrup for the honey if you’d like. If using one of these consider adding 1/4 cup more oats to help absorb some of the liquid from the thinner sweeteners.
- You can use whatever protein powder you like or have on hand. Bob’s Red Mill has some good ones if you are looking for them. I generally go for unsweetened and unflavored, but I bet a vanilla protein powder would be amazing here.
- You can change around the chia seeds and flax meal if you like, but they both help this recipe stick together. You can replace them with something like hemp seed hearts but add more oats to help things stick together.
- Don’t want to add the oats? You can leave them out and replace them with coconut.
- Don’t love coconut flakes? Replace them with more oats.
How to Make Healthy Protein Snack Bars
Step #1. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the honey, peanut butter, and coconut oil. Add the protein powder, flax meal, chia seeds, shredded coconut, and oat. Stir well.
Step #3. Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil together and spread over peanut butter layer. Sprinkle with sea salt, if desired.
Step #2. Spoon the mixture into the pan. Press into the bottom.
Step #4. Place the bars in the fridge for 1 hour. Remove and cut into 16 bars. Store in the fridge.
Recipe FAQs
I think it’s the ones that you’ll eat! LOL, if you don’t like them, they don’t taste good, or you can’t read the ingredients, why buy them? That’s the perk of making your own, you can pick what you like, adjust the flavors to your preferences, and make them with things you love!
For this recipe, yes! These aren’t traditional “protein bars” and it’s A-OK to eat what your body says is a good amount in a day. My kids love these and I love these for a little snack in the afternoon or when I get the munchies in the evening. The serving size for this recipe is actually to “bars” or small squares, so by all means, eat two!
This feels like choosing a favorite child! BUT there are some that I use a ton and here’s my quick list. I buy their organic all purpose flour in 25 pound bags (it’s the best for sourdough bread!). I love all of their oats, they have a great medium grind cornmeal, their unsweetened coconut (flakes and shredded) are so good, and their oatmeal cups are my favorite breakfast to throw in my bag while traveling. I basically love everything they do though 🙂
Expert Tips
- Use a high-quality protein powder that you enjoy the taste of, since it will impact the flavor of the bars and how much you enjoy them.
- Store nuts and seeds in the freezer to keep them from going rancid, especially if you don’t use them all that frequently. And make sure that your nuts and seeds are still good before using them in a recipe like this one.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the bars and wipe it clean in between each cut to get the cleanest cuts.
- If the mixture seems too dry, add some more peanut butter or honey and mix it in before pressing it into the pan.
More Healthy Snack Recipes to Consider
Healthy Snacks
Medjool Date Protein Bites: No-Bake Sweet Treat
Healthy Snacks
Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Balls
Healthy Snacks
Almond Butter Protein Balls
Healthy Snacks
No-Bake Coconut Protein Balls
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Healthy Protein Snack Bars
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup natural drippy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 cup protein powder, or collagen peptides
- 1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill ground flaxseed meal
- 1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill chia seeds
- 1/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill quick cooking oats
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips + 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- a sprinkle of coarse sea salt, optional
Instructions
- Line an 8×8 inch baking dish with parchment or waxed paper. Leave some over hang with the paper on each side of the pan so that it’s easy to pull the bars out of the pan later. Set the pan aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl add the honey, peanut butter, and coconut oil and stir to combine.
- Add the protein powder, flax meal, chia seeds, shredded coconut, and oats.
- Stir to combine.
- Place the peanut butter mixture into the prepared pan and press it into the bottom of the pan.
- Melt the chocolate chips and the coconut oil together (microwave and stove top both work for this) and then spread the melted chocolate over the peanut butter layer
- Sprinkle the melted chocolate with a little coarse sea salt if you’d like (optional).
- Place the bars in the fridge until they are firm, about 1 hour.
- Remove from the pan and place on a cutting board. Cut into 16 snack bars. Store bars in the fridge.
Notes
- If you are leaving out the oats, reduce the coconut oil to 1 tablespoon.
- These have a better texture and store the best if kept in the fridge.
- See post for details on substitutions for this recipes. It’s very flexible!
- You can make these bars in a 9×5 bread pan if you’d like the bars to be thicker, it works great.
Delish! I didn’t have the flax meal so I used almond flour per the internet. My husband likes them too. Bonus: easy to
Make!
Great tip! Thank you for taking the time to let us know what worked!
Just made this today for an outdoor snack and it was a hit with the kids and adults!!! Definitely saving this recipe for future use. I didn’t have any coconut flakes on hand (not a hug coconut fan) and the recipe still tasted great without!
I like this smaller size batch. It’s so delicious that I have a hard time controlling myself.