Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars

These Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars are gluten-free, vegan, and made with clean ingredients but taste like dessert! In fact, I have been eating them for dessert all week 😂

Making homemade protein bars has been on my to-do list for MONTHS. Now that I have actually made them, I am so upset I didn’t get to it sooner because they are LIFE changing! They taste much more fresh than store-bought and I love that you can tailor the sweetness, choose which protein you want to use, and even cut them into whichever size you prefer!

What’s the benefit to making your own protein bars when you could buy them at the store?

First of all, I love that you can choose your own ingredients when making your own protein bars. I have a hard time finding bars that meet ALL of my standards— organic, no additives or preservatives (even the natural ones), gluten-free and dairy-free, lower in sugar, higher in protein but still TASTE delicious. So here’s where making your own bars come into handy! That’s not to say I will never buy another protein bar again, but these are perfect for keeping on hand and definitely my preferred bar!

I used organic, natural peanut butter, I used my favorite protein powder (discount code: callascleaneats), organic maple syrup, and organic non-dairy dark chocolate chips aka FINALLY a bar that I feel super good about eating on the regular and that I love taste-wise.

In fact, I loved these bars so much, I already made a PUMPKIN version that I will be sharing on my blog very soon. In the meantime, you can find the recipe on my Instagram.

Here’s what you need:

• peanut butter— feel free to sub in whichever nut butter you prefer or sunflower seed butter for nut-free!

• protein powder— I use Sprout Living Vanilla protein powder (discount code: callascleaneats). I love this protein powder because there are no weird additives or preservatives, it’s organic, and they use vanilla extract instead of “natural vanilla flavor”

• maple syrup— this is totally optional but I love the texture that this creates and I also love the extra bit of sweetness and maple flavor!

• chocolate chips— I always look for a preservative/emulsifer-free brand (🙅‍♀️ soy lecithin). I recently tried the organic brand Good and Gather from Target and they are delicous and a great price for the quality

• sea salt

Yep, that’s it!

Print Recipe

Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars

Course: Dessert, Snack

Keyword: chocolate, dessert, easy, gluten free, grain free, high protein, no bake, peanut butter, plant based, protein, protein powder, snack, snacks, treat, vegan

Servings: 8 larger bars or 16 bites

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup peanut butter (the only ingredients should be peanuts or peanuts and salt)
• 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder (see above for which I used)
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• pinch sea salt

For the chocolate topping

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tsp coconut oil

Instructions

• Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well until you reach a thicker dough consistency.
• Press into a parchment paper lined pan (I used a loaf pan.
• Melt chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave in 30 second intervals— stirring between each.
• Pour melted chocolate over bars and spread evenly.
• Set bars in freezer for 1 hour and then slice! Store in the freezer or refrigerator.