No need to buy expensive protein bars made with fillers and preservatives. This low carb protein bars recipe is so easy to make at home and can be customized however you like!
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Protein bars have been popular as a “healthy” snack for a long time.
Before I started eating low carb, I used to eat protein bars all the time! They were great to satisfy my hunger on the go and tasted like I was eating a candy bar.
Now I know why.
Many brands of protein bars aren’t very healthy at all. Instead, they’re packed with sugar! They’re basically candy bars with some added protein.
But I missed having these tasty bars when I needed a quick snack. That’s why I decided to create my own low carb protein bars recipe that is actually good for you.
These days, you can find much healthier protein bar options at the store. However, many still use fillers and preservatives. Plus, they can be expensive.
These homemade low carb protein bars are gluten-free, don’t use any fillers, and are made with inexpensive ingredients. You can also customize them however you want!
You don’t even need to bake them. You simply combine the ingredients in a food processor, stir in the chocolate chips, then allow the bars to harden in the fridge for an hour or so. That’s it!
If you want a snack that’s convenient, tasty, and good for you, give this low carb protein bar recipe a try.
How to make homemade low carb protein bars
This recipe is so easy to make, you may never buy protein bars from the store again.
First, we combine most the ingredients in the food processor:
- Add the whey protein, sweeteners, shredded coconut, and almond butter to your food processor.
- Melt the coconut oil, then stir in the sea salt and vanilla.
- Pour the coconut oil mixture into the food processor.
- Process the ingredients until they start to form a ball of dough.
Then, we stir in the final ingredients and let the protein bars set:
- With a rubber spatula, stir in the sunflower seeds and chocolate chips (or whichever add-in ingredients you want to include).
- Line a 7×11 pan with parchment paper. This will make it much easier to transfer the bars out of the pan and slice them later.
- Transfer the dough into the pan. Using a rubber spatula, spread the dough into an even layer.
- Place the pan in the refrigerator for at least an hour to set.
After an hour, your low carb protein bars will be ready!
I recommend lifting the mixture out of the pan and then cutting the bars on the parchment paper. That way, they won’t stick to the cutting board. I cut mine into 15 squares.
What to put in your protein bars
Feel free to customize your high protein, low carb bars recipe however you want!
- Something sweet: I like adding sugar free chocolate chips. You could also experiment with white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or even dried cranberries.
- Adding some crunch: Any nuts or seeds will work if you don’t want to use sunflower seeds. Pecans, almonds, or even pumpkin seeds will be delicious! Just make sure to chop any larger ingredients.
- Texture: Ingredients like chia seeds or flax are a fun way to play around with the texture while adding a nice health boost.
- Protein: I use whey protein in my recipe for texture and protein. However, you could use another flavorless powder like collagen peptides. You could also make these with a flavored protein powder. Just make sure to reduce the amount of sweetener you use since most flavored protein powders are sweetened.
- Nut or seed butter: You can substitute the almond butter for any nut or seed butter you prefer. There are plenty of options at the store! Or, make your own by throwing the nuts or seeds in the food processor and processing until a butter forms.
How do you like to make your low carb protein bars? Let us know in the comments below!
Other recipes to try
Looking for more snacks that will satisfy your sweet tooth and hold you over between meals? Check out a few of these favorites:
- Matcha Keto Protein Balls are made with matcha collagen for a delicious, healthy snack!
- My Quest Bar Recipe in coconut cashew flavor is easy to make and will save money over buying them at the store.
- Keto Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars taste just like a peanut butter cup for a decadent snack!
- Almond Butter Keto Energy Balls with coconut and chocolate chips are tasty no-bake protein bites for a boost of energy.
- Strawberry Coconut Milk Smoothie is a delicious dairy-free treat that only requires 4 ingredients to make!
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📖 Recipe
Low Carb Gluten Free Protein Bars
Ingredients
- 4 scoops unflavored whey protein
- ½ teaspoon stevia concentrated powder
- ¼ cup low carb sugar substitute powdered or Swerve confectioners
- ⅓ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup almond butter or nut/seed butter of choice
- ½ cup coconut oil liquified
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ⅓ cup sugar free chocolate chips 2 oz
Instructions
- Place whey protein, stevia extract powder, sweetener, coconut, and cashew butter into food processor.
- Melt coconut oil if necessary then stir in sea salt and vanilla.
- Add coconut oil mixture into food processor then process until ingredients start to form a ball on one side.
- Stir in sunflower seeds and chocolate chips.
- Line a 7×11 pan with parchment paper and spread the mixture out in the pan.
- Place pan in the refrigerator for at least an hour to harden.
Notes
Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart
Nutrition
Additional Info
Video
Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Unauthorized use of this material without written permission from Lisa MarcAurele is strictly prohibited unless for personal offline purposes.
Single photos may be used, provided that full credit is given to LowCarbYum.com along with a link back to the original content.
First Published: January 21, 2015… Last Updated: May 19, 2020
Judy
I needed to make these “portable” so my husband could bring them to work in his lunchbox. I tried different approaches, but the hands down winner was replacing the coconut oil with cocoa butter. It does change the flavor some, but they are still good, and cocoa butter has essentially the same calorie/fat/carb profile as coconut oil. Less saturated fat though.
Lisa MarcAurele
I’ll have to give that a try! Thanks for sharing the modification!
Judy
I also used a small cookie dough dishes and put each scoop in a mini muffin pan with liners. This made 30 “cookies” rather than 15 bars, but I didn’t need to cut them 🙂
Stacie
I don’t like coconut flakes. What can I substitute? Can I use butter instead of coconut oil?
Lisa MarcAurele
Butter should be fine to use. The coconut isn’t essential to the recipe. You could replace it with some nuts or seeds if you’d like.
Emily Kemp
I’m always looking for healthy breakfasts when I’m on the go, these look great!
Alexandra
How do you make pumpkin seed butter or any other sort of nut butter
Lisa
You process the nuts/seeds in a food processor until the oils are released and a butter is formed.
Sharon
Hi Alexandra,
I make nut/seed butters in my food processor all the time. Use the chopping blade, and pulse until nuts are coarsely chopped if you want chunky nut butter. Than on continuous until it starts getting oily ball & proceed with recipe. If you want smooth nut butter – start with continuous until it starts forming an oily ball, than proceed with recipe.
Hope this helps!
Claudette
Do you by chance know how many teaspoons, tablespoons a scoop equals? Many thanks.
Lisa
A scoop is equal to about 1/3 cup which is 5 1/3 tablespoons.
Danielle
These were surprisingly delicious! Never used whey powder before to bake with. I omitted the seeds and stevia, and used creamy peanut butter because that’s what I had. The mixture was a bit wet for my liking. But using the coconut oil and then refrigerating really set them up nicely. Thanks so much for this!
Kelsey
This was fantastic! I did change a few things depending on what I had on hand… I used organic chocolate whey protein mix that is grass fed and sugar free and I used pumpkin seed butter after comparing the carbs in sunflower vs pumpkin seed butter. Pumpkin seed butter has 1 carb per tablespoon where sunflower butter has 7 carbs per 2 tablespoons. I will make again…it’s a nice sweet little treat after my workout 🙂 thanks for sharing
Lisa
I had no idea there was pumpkin seed butter. I’m going to use that from now on. Love that there’s only 1 carb per tablespoon. Thanks for the tip!
Kelsey
Of course! I am totally obsessed with pumpkin seed butter. I made these again today and added chia seeds and flax seed meal, your recipe is so awesome. So glad I found it. Our neighbor raved about these too, he is on a keto diet and I gave him a batch, he was loving it!
Sharon
I made mine with lightly salted & roasted pumpkin seeds – I love the the toasty, mildly salty flavor in with the sweet. I had to wrap individual bars & freeze… because I “May have” finished off 4 bars in one day. So darned good! Thank you!
Andrea
This sounds like a great after-school snack for my kids that they can help prepare on the weekend. I will try it with almond butter since one child is allergic to cashews.
Really enjoy your site. I have been reading you for years and consider myself a low carber for life.
Lisa
Hi Andrea! This is definitely a kid friendly recipe. My two year old insisted on having some so I hope your children like it as much as she did. Thanks for visiting the blog over the years. I really enjoy sharing the recipes and being a part of the great low carb community.