Make these simple peanut butter protein bars with oats, honey, and your fave protein powder and prepare to be forever changed! Truly the best tasting and best texture protein bar (and I’ve tried a lot). Tested with collagen peptides, whey protein powder, and plant protein powder. Amazing right out of the freezer and ideal for meal prep!
Finally a homemade protein bar that checks all the flavor and texture boxes!! My hubby loves them made with whey, I love them made with collagen (it’s so undetectable which is fab), and my planty pals love them with vegan protein!
They’re super customizable with whatever add-ins and nut or seed butter you’re digging, too. The soft, almost chewy texture is beyond and honestly really reminds me of a Perfect Bar!
Can you EVEN with that texture?!
Just 7 ingredients, yippee!
- Oat flour: I usually make a bunch at a time by whizzing old fashioned oats in the Nutribullet (since I use it to make my cookie dough protein bars too), but you can totally buy it. Don’t swap in any other flours, since the oat flour has the perfect mildly sweet, cake-like flavor! Bonus points that it’s whole grain.
- Protein powder: You can use whatever protein powder you love (even chocolate would be yummy!), you just need to taste the dough at the end to make sure it isn’t too dry since some proteins have more fat than others. I like to add melted coconut oil when needed. If you use unflavored proteins, they’ll be less sweet.
- Ground flaxseed: I use this in so many of my recipes for added nutrition (hello, brain boosting omega-3’s) and binding power, but you can omit it if you don’t have it.
- Peanut butter: I love the flavor peanut butter adds. Ue the natural kind with just peanuts and salt as the ingredients. It should be more drippy versus solid (not refrigerated) to nail the texture.
- Honey: I’ve been loving Kirkland’s raw organic honey from Costco. The ultra sticky texture helps keep the bars together.
- Vanilla: For extra flavor.
- Salt: To balance the sweetness.
Let’s make ’em.
Whisk oat flour, flax, protein powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.
Add pb honey, and vanilla.
Mix until fully combined.
Dump mixture into pan and press down very firmly until smooth. Freeze, slice and devour!
I hope you’re as obsessed with these bars as I am!
I’d be super grateful if you’d take a moment to leave a quick star rating and review below. Comments mean the world to me and your honest feedback helps me to continue to share recipes you’ll crave!
No-Bake Protein Bars with Peanut Butter and Oats
-
Prep Time:
10 minutes -
Cook Time:
0 minutes -
Total Time:
10 minutes -
Yield:
8 bars 1x -
Category:
Snacks -
Method:
No Bake -
Cuisine:
American -
Diet:
Gluten Free
Description
Make these simple peanut butter protein bars with oats, honey, and your fave protein powder and prepare to be forever changed! Truly the best tasting and best texture protein bar (and I’ve tried a lot). Tested with collagen peptides, whey protein powder, and plant protein powder. Amazing right out of the freezer and ideal for meal prep!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Instructions
- Line a standard 9x5in loaf pan with parchment paper. Place oat flour, flax, protein powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk until combine.
- Add peanut butter, honey, and vanilla (and 1 tbsp coconut oil if using vegan protein per note below). Use a spoon (I like to use my hands here!) to mix until fully combined. Taste and make sure the texture is right (you can also add a splash of milk if needed).
- Dump mixture into pan and press down very firmly until it’s smooth and flat. Sprinkle with flaky salt and press in a handful of chocolate chips if desired.
- Freeze for at least 30 minutes before cutting into 8 bars. I like eating these right out of the freezer! You can store them there (I use this silicone bag) or in the fridge.
Notes
*I tested this recipe with Rootz vanilla collagen, Vega Vanilla (vegan pea protein), and Ascent vanilla whey protein and it works well with all of them, but the collagen had my favorite texture. If using vegan protein, add 1 tbsp melted coconut oil to the mixture for moisture and use maple syrup instead of honey. If using unflavored protein, add an extra tsp vanilla (2 tsp total).
Nutrition info is using Ascent whey protein.
