Total Time1 hour 15 minutesPrep Time5 minutesCook Time10 minutes, plus at least 1 hour chilling

Rating4(18)CommentsRead comments

Making your own protein bars may sound like a project, but this recipe comes together quickly and doesn’t require turning on the oven. Its greatest appeal, though, is how it combines the crackle of nuts and the creaminess of nut butter with earthy maple syrup. A fat pinch of salt and a touch of pepper bring out the nuts’ toasty bittersweetness. The black pepper sharpens the syrup’s caramel roundness, but try ground chipotle or other dried chiles for a smoky heat. There’s plenty of salt, but if you want even more, sprinkle flakes on top before chilling. Feel free to customize the nuts and seasoning: Just be sure to keep the ratios the same.

Featured in: The Best Protein Bars Are the Ones You Make at Home

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Yield:12 bars

• ½cup/167 grams pure maple syrup
• ½teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ¾cup/217 grams almond butter or ½ cup/145 grams peanut butter (see FAQs)
• 1¼cups/122 grams quick-cooking oats
• 1¼cups/150 grams finely chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, cashews or peanuts or a combination (see FAQs)
• ½cup/74 grams pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

308 calories; 23 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 12 grams monounsaturated fat; 7 grams polyunsaturated fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 10 grams sugars; 9 grams protein; 101 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Step 1

Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper. 1. Step 2

Bring the syrup, salt and pepper to a boil over medium-high in a large saucepan, stirring occasionally. Boil until thickened to the consistency of honey, about 2 minutes. Turn the heat down to low, add the almond butter, and stir until smooth and bubbles just start to pop, about 1 minute longer. Turn off the heat. 1. Step 3

Add the oats, nuts and seeds, and stir until everything is very evenly coated. Smash and scrape the mixture as needed to get everything coated; the mixture will be quite stiff. 1. Step 4

Scrape the mixture into the parchment-lined pan and press firmly into an even layer. Refrigerate until stiff, at least 1 hour and up to overnight. 1. Step 5

Use the parchment to slide the slab out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Cut into 12 even bars. Wrap individually, if you’d like. The bars will keep in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Peanut butter binds ingredients best, but almond butter works as well. You just need more of it to glue the bars together. Sunflower seed butter can be used, but the bars may crumble. Tahini isn’t quite sticky enough to do the job. All-natural varieties, in which the only ingredients are the nuts or seeds and salt (and, sometimes, oil), deliver the nuttiest flavor. 1.

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I tested these with regular rolled oats and they’re very tasty, but because they’re larger and thicker than quick-cooking oats, the bars don’t hold together easily. If you’re ok with the bars crumbling a bit, you definitely can use rolled oats!

Could you use honey in the first place (or better yet, Lyle’s syrup) rather than boiling maple syrup until it has the consistency of honey?

308 calories/9 g of protein in a tiny serving is not a “protein bar.” Delicious, but let’s call is what it is: a cookie bar!

23 grams of fat, 10 grams of sugar, only 9 grams of protein and 22 grams of carbs. These are not the best protein bars. There are much healthier ones out there. Maybe instead of a candy bar, this is better.

Can this recipe be made using powdered almond butter?

308 calories/9 g of protein in a tiny serving is not a “protein bar.” Delicious, but let’s call is what it is: a cookie bar!

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