Protein bars at home: 12 recipes

Homemade protein bar is designed for snacking before training and replenishing energy after training. It falls under the category of sports nutrition and is a nutritional supplement designed to replenish energy. You can easily make your own protein bar, even without baking. Athletes and lovers of a healthy lifestyle know a large number of homemade recipes for their preparation. Below we will tell you how to make a homemade protein bar at home and which recipe is best to use.

Homemade protein bar recipes are very simple and do not require heat treatment.

Types of Protein Bars

Protein bars are actively used by professional athletes, athletes, bodybuilders and bodybuilders. Not a single workout is complete without this nutritional supplement. Protein bars are intended for the main purpose:

• to replenish energy before and recover after exercise
• to build muscle mass, use bars with a large amount of proteins and carbohydrates;
• for weight loss, these bars contain protein and vitamins that help you quickly feel full.

Different types of homemade protein bars have their own recipes, which differ from each other in calorie content and ingredients used.

How to use

There are simple rules for eating protein bars:

• When gaining muscle mass, use it an hour before training.
• Before or after fitness, consume at least 20 grams of protein.
• Women need to consume at least 46 grams of protein per day, and men - 56 grams. The amount of protein for athletes should be higher.
• During a busy day, it can be used as a snack with unsweetened tea.

With moderate consumption of the bars there will be no side effects.

Features of the composition

The main component of a homemade bar is protein powder, which is supplemented with coconut, almond or grain flour, almond, vegetable or cow's milk, and nut butter. After mixing all the ingredients together, a homogeneous dough-like mass is formed, from which bars are made, which is a prerequisite. He doesn't need baking. All ingredients used, including the protein and what is added to it, can be consumed raw to preserve the beneficial elements. On the practical side, making your own protein bars is an opportunity to add natural probiotics, fiber and other beneficial supplements that athletes commonly use to improve their diet.

My clear favorites

I'll share with you some of my favorite recipes. Remember, after you get your hands full, you can start experimenting with ingredients. Unleash the creative person within you who loves to eat delicious food!

Try adding nuts, natural flavors, seasonings, seeds or dried fruits to the dough before shaping the bars. In addition, you can replace milk with cream and add exotic types of nut butters and a variety of vegetable oils to the mixture. This will not only improve the taste, but also enrich the bars with essential nutrients. Bon appetit!

Coconut bars

Orange and Goji Bars

Unique red biscuits with pumpkin butter

Benefits of protein bar

Homemade protein bars, which athletes make at home using simple recipes, have a number of strengths, which include:

• activation of metabolism;
• accelerated synthesis of hormones and enzymes;
• increased production of red blood cells in the blood;
• rapid restoration of damaged tissues;
• replenishment of essential amino acids;
• maintaining muscle volume.

Whichever of the suggested home recipes you choose, the benefits of eating a product that you prepared yourself will be significant, provided that you use high-quality ingredients that you mix. Protein supplements are much healthier for an athlete than any baked goods, especially since they can be prepared with your own hands.

The homemade protein bar recipe is based on protein, coconut or almond flour, milk and nut butter.

What do they contain?

To prepare such a universal source of supplies, ready for use in any conditions, it is not necessary to have special skills; it is enough to have on hand the ingredients necessary for the preparation process:

1. The source of “correct carbohydrates” are cereals, which are slowly consumed by the body.
2. Nuts are a source of fatty acids and proteins.
3. Berries and fruits provide fiber and vitamins, which, in addition, improve the taste of the finished product. Dry fruits promote satiety and provide the necessary energy.
4. Honey is a storehouse of vitamins and minerals, known for its beneficial qualities and properties.
5. Suppliers of vigor, tonic effect and carbohydrates are cocoa and chocolate.

An important condition for preparing a high-quality carbohydrate bar is sufficient moisture in the ingredients to prevent increased looseness of the finished product.

Making your own protein bar

Before you make a nutritional supplement yourself at home, you need to choose a recipe, deciding for what purpose it is intended:

• For muscle fiber growth with plenty of protein. Take 2 tbsp. gainer or protein, you need to add 100 g of coconut flour, 200 g. peanut butter, 50 grams of maple syrup and mix, then add chocolate chips. Place the resulting mass in a baking dish, level it and refrigerate to harden.
• A simple protein-free recipe requires mixing 100 g of crushed cashew nuts with 160 g of hemp and 35 g of flaxseeds, 80 g of maple syrup, adding 60 g of chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon of vanilla, mix everything, put it in a mold and smooth it out . It also requires no baking.
• Another successful home recipe is to use 450 grams of cottage cheese, to which 3 tablespoons are added. protein, 4 tbsp peanut butter and 200 g oatmeal. All components are mixed, the resulting mixture is placed in plastic cups and eaten directly from there.

You can add any ingredients related to a healthy diet that can be eaten without heat treatment to homemade protein bars - nuts, raisins, muesli, propolis, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, honey, aloe, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, milk powder, chocolate, flaxseeds seeds, bran, etc.

Recipe No. 2. Nut

Homemade protein bars prepared using this recipe will be quite nutritious: about 300 kcal per piece. At the same time, they will be fortified. It’s better to take a mixture of nuts, this will give you a more varied composition.

Compound:

• 0.5 tbsp. rolled oats and wheat flour. Instead of the latter, you can take oat bran - they will be healthier.
• 10 spoons of protein powder, it is better to pour it in a heap, then the protein content will increase,
• 4 tsp. cocoa,
• 1 tbsp. milk powder, it is best to use a low-fat product. This recommendation is not accidental. This will significantly reduce the amount of fat in the bars.
• 2 tablespoons flax seeds,
• 2 tablespoons peeled sunflower seeds,
• 1/4 tbsp. nuts to taste: hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, you can take a mixture,
• 1/4 tbsp. dried fruits, 1/3 tbsp. peanut butter,
• a little vanilla
• water, approximately 0.5 tbsp.

Preparation:

1. In a bowl you need to mix all the ingredients.
2. The consistency of the mixture will resemble a thick dough. You can pour it into molds or put it into something flat for easy cutting later.
3. Within an hour, the mass hardens and can be divided into parts.

For weight loss

Low-calorie protein bars, which you can also make yourself, will provide a long-lasting feeling of fullness. You can take them with you to work and school, and use them to satisfy your hunger throughout the day. The most popular recipes for these nutritional supplements are:

• A DIY protein bar for weight loss that does not contain carbohydrates. For it, it is enough to mix 100 g. protein isolate with 400 grams of low-fat grain cottage cheese to the consistency of plasticine, roll out into a sausage and put in the cold to harden.
• The low-carb recipe involves using 200 grams of dried figs, which need to be soaked in water, heated in the microwave and crushed in a blender, and then added 45 grams of protein powder, 1 cup of oatmeal, 80 grams. cocoa and 20 gr. dark chocolate, as well as nuts or peeled seeds. This bar can be prepared ahead of time.

They will allow you not to go hungry between workouts, provide athletes with a healthy snack that will have a beneficial effect on your health, add strength, energy and physical endurance, and will not contribute to excessive weight gain. Homemade protein bars are in demand and popular among both professional athletes and amateur bodybuilders.

Dried fruit candies

Recipe by Masha Sokolova, fitness blogger and author of the book “Easy to Cook. Healthy breakfasts, lunches and dinners for every day"

Ingredients. For banana sweets: 1 banana, 60 g cashews, 20 g walnuts, 15-20 g cocoa powder. For dried fruit candies: 30 g prunes, 30 g dried apricots, 30 g dried strawberries, 30 g dried cranberries, 20 g walnuts, 10 ml lemon juice.

Instructions . Prepare banana sweets: mince banana, cashew and walnut. Roll into about 10 balls and roll each one in cocoa powder.

Prepare dried fruit candies: mince all the ingredients, add lemon juice to taste and roll into about 10 balls. Store finished candies in the refrigerator.

Cook at home

Despite all the usefulness of ready-made sports nutrition produced in production, it is impossible to predict its exact components, and even more so there is no need to talk about an individual approach to the consumer. All this is possible when making such a sought-after product at home, where it is easy to determine the most important and necessary ingredients, taking into account the personal requirements and preferences of the end consumer. It is advisable for people who play sports to take note of this fact.

Previously, energy bars were considered exclusively food for athletes

Required Ingredients

First, you should understand that it is better not to heat the bars, especially long-term, as it destroys protein and other beneficial substances. Therefore, for protein bars, they take only flour that can be used in its raw form - from coconut or almonds. Store-bought protein powder is mixed with it and milk is added.

It can also be anything, not just cow, but for example, nut or coconut, which is important for vegetarians

DIY protein bars

You can improve the taste of the finished product by adding nut butter to it. The consistency of the resulting mass should be thick enough so that you can form it into a bar with your own hands.

Next, they mold the bar, giving it the desired shape. The required proportion for mixing ingredients can be taken from numerous recipes on the Internet or derived as a result of your own experience, trial and error.

Any chocolate can be selected, depending on the athlete’s preferences. Although you need to remember that dark dark chocolate usually contains fewer calories, carbohydrates and sugar, which means it will bring more benefits. But if you focus on the taste of the product, then milk chocolate will undoubtedly be the favorite.

Once the bar is covered in chocolate, it should be placed in the refrigerator to harden. 30 minutes is enough for this.

Healthy chocolate energy bars

The benefits of home cooking

Unfortunately, not all bars on supermarket shelves or even in sports nutrition stores can be called healthy. They often contain sugar, which makes the product higher in calories. Unscrupulous manufacturers add dyes and flavors instead of natural ingredients - fruits, nuts, honey.

Homemade bars

Homemade energy bars are the solution. You can see for yourself the quality of the products and the benefits of the finished sweets. This is also convenient when calculating the daily norm of KBJU. Typically, homemade bars are lower in calories compared to store-bought ones.

You can stock up on them for future use. They are easy to store. And this is also a significant budget savings: it is no secret that the cost of many products is inflated due to their popularity at the same time, like oatmeal used in homemade bars, costs a penny.