
Loaded Protein Granola Bars
I love granola bars, but I do not need yet another snack option that just offers me pure carbs.
So I decided to try and make protein granola bars, basing my recipe off of my favourite granola, my Healthy Peanut Butter Honey Granola.
The rules were strict:
- As with my protein muffins, keep it around 100 cals a bar
- Have at least 7g of protein
- And under 15g of carbs
- Use whole grains
- Allow for yummy add-ins (chocolate chips, I’m talking to you!)
And so these granola bars were born. If you’re not fussed about the protein content, just add more oats and skip the protein powder.
(For comparison’s sake, 1 scoop of my protein powder is 5 tbsp, so if you replace all of the protein powder, you’ll want 10 tbsp of oats – I would suggest grinding at least half of these into flour).
You’ll want to leave the egg whites in though, as they really act as a great binder to keep the bars together.
Also, add in whatever you want! I wanted a variety of add-ins but wanted to keep the cals low so I only put in a small amount of each add-in. But you can go to town on this! The nutritional information provided is based on the quantity of each add-in I put in the recipe.
And final note – this time about the cereal. Again, if you’re not picky about protein, you don’t need to use Kashi’s high-protein cereal. Use high-fiber, if that’s more your focus, or just regular cereal. If you’re gluten-free, try using gluten-free brown rice krispies and gluten-free oats. Delish!
Now get creative and go make yourself some bars :).
INGREDIENTS (makes 12 bars):
Bars:
1 cup oats
2 scoops vanilla protein powder (each scoop of my protein powder is 115 cals and 24g of protein)
1/2 cup Kashi GoLean Original cereal (or cereal of your choice)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 egg whites
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp peanut butter
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
Add-ins that I used:
2 tbsp walnuts
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp chocolate chips
1 tbsp raisins
Other optional add-ins:
Cranberries or other dried fruit
Chia or flax seeds
Any kind of nut
Other chips like butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips
Optional peanut butter drizzle:
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp almond milk
Optional chocolate-dipped granola bars:
1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted
2 tsp coconut oil, melted
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 325 F. In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, protein powder, cereal and cinnamon with a spatula.
2. In a small bowl, combine peanut butter and brown rice syrup. Microwave for 30 seconds, until runny, and mix well together. Add to large mixing bowl with dry ingredients.
3. Add applesauce and egg whites to large mixing bowl. Combine well, then throw in your add-ins!
4. Line two loaf tins with foil and spray with cooking oil. Spoon half the mixture into each tin and flatten with the back of the spatula, until you get a thin layer.
5. Place in oven to bake for 20-30 minutes, according to your oven. Remove when the edges are golden brown.
6. Let cool, then lift foil out of each tin and cut each batch into 6 bar.
7. For optional peanut butter drizzle, combine peanut butter and almond milk in a small bowl and microwave for 20 seconds. Drizzle over bars and then place in the fridge to cool.
8. For optional chocolate-dipped bars, combine chocolate chips and coconut oil in a small bowl and microwave until melted. Pour mixture onto a large square plate and dip each granola bar in the chocolate mix. Place dry side down on a plate and refrigerate to set.
Chocolate-coated:
Nutritional information per bar if recipe makes 12 (includes my add-ins but not optional toppings or drizzle):
108 kcals
3.4g fat
(0.8g sat)
14.5g carbs
(1.6g fibre)
(6.9g sugar)
7.4g protein
I’m linking this post up to Katie’s Marvelous in my Monday party!
June 25, 2012
Sara @my less serious life
girl. you know i’m making these this weekend and i’m super excited about it! thanks for the great recipes as always!
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Yay! I can’t wait to hear if you like these :)!
June 25, 2012
Emily Butler
Look great! I think its great you keep track of the stats, I’m so bad with that I just throw things together and roughly guess they aren’t over board on the calories or carbs!
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Thanks girl! I post the stats for readers’ sake but yes, it can help to keep track of it yourself too. I definitely, for example, try NOT to overdo the carbs because that’s so easy to do as a vegetarian!
June 25, 2012
Emily Butler
I know what you mean! I’m not vegetarian but I find it’s hard to do as well, especially when I just want a snack!
June 26, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Exactly! I am on a mission to ‘snack’ better :).
June 25, 2012
Katie Gagliano (@HealthyDiva31)
WHOA! Those look awesome, love the chocolate topping addition too!
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Thanks girl! I love the peanut butter drizzle topping – that one is my favvvourite!
June 25, 2012
Tessa@AmazingAsset (@Tessa8m)
Ahh thank you for the wonderful recipe as always Anna, love the stats on these bad boys!
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Thanks Tessa!
June 25, 2012
Janice Hernandez
What kind of protein powder do you use? Do you know where I can find some protein powder that is more natural?
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
I use Kaizen Naturals whey isolate in vanilla ice cream flavour. It’s a whey isolate so it’s lactose free pretty much (I’m not great with lactose and this one doesn’t bother me at all), it’s just over 100 cals a scoop with 25g of protein. Plus it is sweetened with stevia and has all-natural ingredients. I love it but I’m based in Canada – I’m sure it is available in the US but not sure where.
If you don’t want whey protein, try Vega’s Vanilla flavour Performance Sport protein. Its stats are pretty high up there – it’s a bit sweet to me but tons of people in the blog world love it. Another blog favourite I’ve heard of, but I can’t get in Canada so haven’t tried personally, is SunWarrior protein. I’ve heard it’s phenomenal – everyone raves about it – and it’s raw and vegan. 🙂
June 25, 2012
paulinechandler
Wow, these look fabulous! Move over, Delia! Will check out Holland & Barrett for protein powder, here in UK. Thing is, can you manage to eat only one? If you make 12, that’s 11 waiting to be eaten! Not sure I could manage that level of self -control!
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Haha well even if you eat 2 or 3 the good thing about them being just 100 cals each is that it only adds up to 200 or 300 calories in total! I deliberately made 12 in two loaf pans because I wanted a good-size granola bar. I can’t stand it when a recipe is ‘low cal’ but only because the recipe maker made the portion sizes minuscule!
As for protein powders, you can omit and just put more oats in, but if you want to include some protein powder go for it! I would try a whey vanilla type because that’s best on the tastebuds. I looked on Holland & Barrett’s site but that’s all hardcore protein supplements for weight lifters etc! Just get one from your local supermarket – I wasn’t keen on the brands I found on sainsburys.co.uk, but Tesco’s website says it sells Whey to Go Vanilla which sounds great, nothing artificial and great nutritional stats. Click on the link to see what it looks like! xx
June 25, 2012
paulinechandler
Thanks for doing the research for me! I’ll be making these this weekend. xx
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Aw awesome! And if you end up with a thing of protein powder you don’t know what to do with, you know to just ask me and I will send you a whole bunch more recipes haha!
June 26, 2012
paulinechandler
Cool! Why don’t you do a book?
June 26, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Hehe I’m pondering that, but not sure I’m quite there yet! x
June 25, 2012
Amber with Slim Pickin's Kitchen
Yum! These look super tasty. Especially the chocolate covered one!
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Haha chocolate covered everything is great, right! Surprisingly though the peanut butter drizzled ones are my favourites!
June 25, 2012
Kammie
These look awesome. I’ve never made my own granola bars yet but this recipe might be one to start with. Once I’m done (almost) with all my energy bars that I already have haha.
Happy Marvelous Monday to you! 🙂
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Thanks Kammie, I hope you like these!
June 25, 2012
andrea drugay
Ooh, yum! These look great, Anna. I love the chocolate-coated one ~ that looks delish!
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Thanks Andrea! Chocolate covered everything is great, right?
June 25, 2012
Averie @ Averie Cooks
these look fabulous! I was on the hunt for a granola bar recipe a few weeks ago to change up my usual and kept seeing recipes with egg whites and protein powder. I still didn’t try those but yours look fabulous!
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Thank you Averie! I hope you love ’em!
June 25, 2012
Meghan Doll
What a great bar Anna! Definitely a marvelous one 😉 Stats are fab!
June 25, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Thanks love!
June 26, 2012
Chelsea @ Naturally Sweet Recipes
Oh man these look awesome!!! I love this idea, especially for being out and about, at work or now for me, college life! THey look delicious!
June 26, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Yay! I hope you like ’em!
June 26, 2012
Katy
Is there a substitute for 1/4 cup brown rice syrup? What about honey?
June 26, 2012
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
Honey would be great, it’s what I used in the original granola recipe. It is a bit sweeter than brown rice syrup, and has more of a distinct flavour, but if you like both those then you’ll be fine!
You could even use agave or maple syrup but both of those are less sticky than brown rice syrup so I would go for honey first if you can!
June 27, 2012
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