No-Bake Protein Snack Bars Recipe (2024)

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By: Oriana Romero/Published: March 24, 2023/4 Comments

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These No-Bake Protein Snack Bars are easy to make at home, super tasty, and much more affordable than store-bought—aquick and delicious little snack, neatly wrapped and ready to go.

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Table of Contents hide

1.No-Bake Snack Bars for Kids Recipe Highlights

2.Ingredients You’ll Need

3.Process Overview: How to make allergy-friendly protein bars

4.Recipe Tips

5.Adapt These Snack Bars To Other Food Allergies

7.Frequently Asked Questions

8.More Recipes You’ll Love!

No-Bake Snack Bars for Kids Recipe Highlights

For food allergy families like us, planning school lunches/snacks is very important because we must ensure that all the food our child eats while in school is safe.

Of course, I can buy many allergy-friendly snacks, but I prefer to make everything from scratch. That way, I can be 100% in control of what is in it. One of my go-to snacks is protein/energy bars. They areincredibly delicious and filling. Win-Win.

When it comes to protein/energy bars, I love to try different combinations, flavors, and textures. Also, they are super easy and quick to make. These allergy-friendly protein bars are convenient, a quick little snack that is neatly wrapped and ready to go. No baking is needed!

I added some M&M’s chocolate candies to make the bars fun and visually appealing for my kids. The kiddos found them irresistible and gave them plenty to ooh and aah over.

They’re easy to make at home, super tasty, and much more affordable than store-bought. For on-the-go convenience, use parchment paper pieces to wrap individual bars.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Amounts are included in the printable recipe below (scroll down).You’ll need:

Old-fashioned rolled oats: Do not use steel-cut oats since they are too chewy for this recipe.
Rice puff cereal or quinoa puff
Nuts: I added pistachios because they’re safe for my daughter, but if you cannot eat nuts, just omit them or replace them with roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or sunflower seeds.
Dry Fruit: I use Cranberries, but feel to use raisins, apricots, mangos, or other dry fruit of your liking.
Hemp seeds: For an extra boost of protein!
Unsweetened coconut flakes
M&M’s chocolate candies: You can substitute them for regular chocolate chips.
Honey
Brown rice syrup: You can substitute it for maple syrup.
Salt: I prefer kosher or sea salt. If you only have table salt handy, I recommend reducing the amount to half.
Vanilla extract: Reach for pure vanilla instead of imitation for optimal flavor. Even better, tryhomemade vanilla extract! If you are looking for non-alcoholic vanilla flavoring, I recommend Simply Organic Vanilla Flavoring.

Process Overview: How to make allergy-friendly protein bars

Detailed instructions are included in the printable recipe below (scroll down).

Prepare The Pan
Line an 8 x 8 baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
Mix Together The Dry Ingredients
Add rolled oats, puffed rice, pistachios, cranberries, hemp seeds, coconut flakes, and Mu0026M’s in a large mixing bowl. Toss to combine. Set aside.
Combine Wet Ingredients
Stir brown rice syrup, honey, salt, and vanilla together in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until boiling, stirring occasionally. Let the syrup boil until about 260º F, about 4-5 minutes.
Mix Dry u0026 Wet
Pour syrup evenly over the oat mixture and quickly stir it until it is evenly coated with the syrup.
Quickly transfer the mixture to the lined baking dish. Using the bottom of greased/sprayed drinking glass or a measuring cup, tap and compact the mixture into a pan in an even layer. Place the pan in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.
Cut Into Bars
When firm, carefully lift the parchment paper from the baking dish and transfer it to a cutting board. Cut the bars into your desired sizes.

Recipe Tips

Feel free to change things around. Try using dried mangoes, apricot, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and more! This way, your kids won’t get bored!

Want to make this extra decadent? Drizzle some melted chocolate overtop before chilling the no-bake bars.

Brown rice syrup is a sweetener derived from brown rice that is gluten-free and vegan. If you cannot find it at your local stores, I have linked it in my recipe card to buy online!

Don’t let the mixture sit too long after stirring together, or it might start setting, making it hard to press into the pan.

Adapt These Snack Bars To Other Food Allergies

GLUTEN-FREE: Use gluten-free rolled oats.

NUT-FREE: Substitute nuts for roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or sunflower seeds.

DAIRY-FREE: Substitute chocolate candies/chips for a dairy-free alternative. My fave are these.

Storing & Freezing Instructions

Here’s how to store these no-bake protein bars so your kids can have them all week!

Storage

To store, transfer the bars to an airtight storage container with parchment paper between them. For on-the-go convenience, use parchment paper pieces to wrap individual bars. The bars will last up to 7 days. May refrigerate to extend storage. If you like less sticky bars, I recommend that you keep them in the refrigerator.

Freeze

Place bars in an airtight freezer-safe storage container and freeze them for up to 3 months. Then, wrap them individually or place parchment between each piece so you can pull them out as needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I double this recipe?

Absolutely! In that case, you can use a 13×9 pan, or an 8×8 pan for thicker bars.

How can I increase the protein in these bars?

You can add 1/4 cup more of your favorite protein powder. In that case, reduce the oats to 3/4 cup.

How long can I store homemade protein bars?

The bars will last up to 7 days. May refrigerate to extend storage. And up to 3 months in the freezer.

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Recipe Card 📖

No-Bake Protein Bars {kid-friendly}

Oriana Romero

These No-Bake Protein Bars are easy to make at home, super tasty, and much more affordable than store-bought. Aquick little "merienda" or snack, neatly wrapped and ready to go.

5 from 8 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Chilling Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Servings 9 bars

Equipment

▢
Square Baking Pan

Ingredients

▢ 1 cup old fashioned whole rolled oats
▢ 1 cup rice puff cereal or quinoa puff
▢ 1/4 cup protein powder (plain, unflavored recommended)
▢ 1/2 cup pistachios, chopped (see notes)
▢ 1/2 cup dried cranberries
▢ 1/4 cup hemp seeds
▢ 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
▢ 1/2 cup M&M's chocolate candies of your preference (see notes)
▢ 1/2 cup honey
▢ 1/3 cup brown rice syrup
▢ 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Line an 8 x 8 baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
Add rolled oats, puffed rice, protein powder, pistachios, cranberries, hemp seeds, coconut flakes, and M&M's in a large mixing bowl. Toss to combine. Set aside.
Stir brown rice syrup, honey, salt, and vanilla together in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until boiling, stirring occasionally. Let the syrup boil until it reaches about 260º F, occasionally stirring for about 4-5 minutes.
Pour syrup evenly over the oat mixture and quickly stir it until it is evenly coated with the syrup.
Quickly transfer the mixture to the lined baking dish. Then, tap and compact the mixture into the pan in an even layer using the bottom of greased/sprayed drinking glass or a measuring cup. Place the pan in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.
When firm, carefully lift the parchment paper from the baking dish and transfer it to a cutting board. Cut the bars into your desired sizes.
To store transfer bars to an airtight storage container with parchment paper between layers. For on-the-go convenience, use parchment paper pieces to wrap individual bars.

Oriana’s Notes

PROTEIN POWDER: You can use vanilla or chocolate protein powder, but we recommend using unflavored,pure 100% whey protein powder, made without fake/artificial sugars and with no funny aftertaste.

NUTS:I added pistachios because they’re safe for my daughter, but if you cannot eat nuts, just omit them or replace them with roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or sunflower seeds.

M&M:You can substitute for regular chocolate chips.

STORAGE: I recommend that you keep them in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.To store, transfer bars to an airtight storage container with parchment paper between them. For on-the-go convenience, use parchment paper pieces to wrap individual bars.

FREEZER: Place bars in an airtight freezer-safe storage container and freeze them for up to 3 months. Wrap them individually or place parchment between each piece so you can pull them out as needed.

QUICK TIPS:

Feel free to change things around. Try using dried mangoes, apricot, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and more! This way, your kids won’t get bored!
Want to make this extra decadent? Drizzle some melted chocolate overtop before chilling the no-bake bars.
Brown rice syrup is a sweetener derived from brown rice that is gluten-free and vegan. If you cannot find it at your local stores, I have linked it to my recipe card to buy online!
Don’t let the mixture sit too long after stirring together, or it might start setting, making it hard to press into the pan.

ADAPT THESE SNACK BARS TO OTHER ALLERGIES

DAIRY-FREE: Substitute chocolate candies/chips for a dairy-free alternative. My fave are these.
NUT-FREE: Substitute nuts for roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or sunflower seeds.
GLUTEN-FREE: Use gluten-free rolled oats.

★Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!

Please note that nutritional information is a rough estimate, and it can vary depending on the products used.

Nutrition

Calories: 315kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 8gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.02gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 90mgPotassium: 143mgFiber: 3gSugar: 37gVitamin A: 92IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 55mgIron: 2mg

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Course Snack

Cuisine American

Calories 315

Keyword bars easy protein recipe snack

Eggless Baking Frequently Asked Questions

You’ve asked, and I’ve answered! Read on for a handful of answers to the most frequently asked questions abouteggless baking.

FAQs

This recipe was originally published in August 2015. The recipe remains the same, but more notes, tips, photos, and information were added to the post in March 2023 to make it as helpful as possible!

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