No Bake Vegan Protein Bars [Recipe]

Check out this quick and easy recipe for no bake vegan protein bars! These bars are primarily plant-based and super macro-friendly. You won’t want to go back to store-bought bars after you give these a try! 🙂

[Photo courtesy of Oh She Glows]

Finding ways to meet our protein needs for the day is a challenge we all face. Unless you truly enjoy scoffing several hundred grams of grilled chicken, protein is just not as yummy as the other two macronutrients! As Jason and I have also found during our time on the road, it’s simply not as easy to carry protein around with you because it typically needs to be kept refrigerated. We find we often have to resort to packs of jerky or protein bars with a long list of unpronounceable ingredients in them! We try to be mindful about being 80/20 with our diet (i.e. getting 80% of our diet from nutritious foods) balancing out our need for nutrition with our need for satisfaction! So, I thought I’d have a go at creating our own protein bars with minimal scary sounding ingredients and maximum taste!

Check out our video and thoughts on being 80/20 with your diet if you’d like to get a better understanding of this.

We don’t keep a strict track of being 80/20 – we’re not counting the number of meals we eat and calculating how much 80% amounts to although you certainly could if you wanted to – we simply do our best most days to get a few servings of fruits and vegetables during the day and some good quality lean sources of protein too. We’re excite to make much or a concerted effort to do this when we’re back home after our 3 month seminar tour and plan to have much more of a focus on a plant-based diet to see what impact that has on our overall health, fitness and energy.

If you’re on the go a lot or simply need ways to satisfy that sweet tooth and sneak in some protein then give this recipe a go! Feel free to make any tweaks to suit your dietary needs. I made some adjustments to this recipe that I found on Oh She Glows to make it more macro friendly and get Jason and I that little extra protein we need!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup rice crisp cereal (I used Trader Joe’s)
• 0.25 tsp fine grain salt
• 3 tbsp Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
• 3/4 cup gluten free rolled oats (ground into a flour) or gluten free oat flour
• 1.5 cups (about 180g) Protein Powder (I used Garden of Life Raw organic Vanilla Protein Powder macros per scoop of this protein are 22P, 2C, 2.5F. You could also use a flavorless protein powder.)
• 8 tbsp PB Peanut Butter powder (I used Chike)

METHOD

1. Line an 8″ square pan with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl combine your oat flour, protein powder, rice crisp cereal and salt all together.
2. In a small separate bowl, mix your PB2 powder with the required amount of water (for 8tbsp of powder you will need 4 tbsp of water. I usually slowly add water until I get the desired consistency)
3. Now add the Peanut Butter mix, maple syrup and vanilla extract to the large mixing bowl with your dry ingredients. If the mixture is a little dry you can add a little more water until the mixture holds well (you don’t want it too wet!)
4. Press the mixture into your baking pan and roll out until smooth. You can use a small hand roller or lightly smooth it out with a spatula. Place the dish in the freezer to chill.
5. While the bars are chilling, make your chocolate glaze by melting the chocolate chips with the coconut oil. You can do this slowly (30-45 seconds at time) in the microwave or in a small pot over low heat. When half of the chips are melted remove from the heat or microwave and stir until smooth.
6. After 10 to 15 minutes, remove the dish from the freezer and slice your mixture into 12 even-sized bars (or whatever serving size you prefer, remember to adjust your serving size accordingly in MFP).
7. Drizzle the melted chocolate evenly over the bars and then place the dish back in the freezer to allow the bars to set. Once set you can store the bars in the freezer in a ziplock or air-tight container.
8. Wrap a bar in tin-foil and take it with you as a delicious snack on the go! Depending on your climate, try to consume within 2 hours of removing from the freezer.