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No-Bake Peanut Butter & Chocolate Protein Bars

Chewy no-bake bars of oats, chocolate protein and peanut butter under a thin dark-chocolate top — a real post-workout snack you can make in ten minutes and keep in the fridge.

No-Bake Peanut Butter & Chocolate Protein Bars
Prep10 min
Total10 min
DifficultyEasy
Base yield10 bars

Best for high-protein · no-bake post-workout snack

Snacks bars v1

These are the bars you make so you stop buying the wrapped ones: oats and chocolate protein powder bound with peanut butter and just enough honey to hold everything together, set firm in the fridge and finished with a thin crackly layer of dark chocolate. There's no baking and no strange gums — the peanut butter does the binding and brings staying power, the protein powder pushes each bar past nine grams of protein, and the honey is dialled back so they read as a snack, not a sweet. Cut them small; they're rich.

Ingredients

Servings
bars
Scaling note. For a bigger batch use a larger tin and keep the layer about 2 cm deep so the bars set firm.
  • 90 g rolled oats
  • 60 g chocolate protein powder , whey or plant
  • 1 g fine sea salt
  • 100 g peanut butter , smooth, unsweetened
  • 60 g honey , or agave syrup
  • 30 ml unsweetened almond milk , plus a splash more if needed
  • 50 g dark chocolate , chopped, for the top

Instructions

  1. 1

    Line a small loaf tin or container with baking paper, leaving an overhang so you can lift the slab out later.

  2. 2

    In a bowl, stir together the oats, protein powder and salt so the powder is evenly distributed with no clumps.

  3. 3

    Add the peanut butter and honey and work them in with a sturdy spoon, then add the almond milk and mix to a thick, stiff dough that just holds together when pressed. If it stays crumbly, add a little more almond milk a splash at a time — you want it firm, not wet.

  4. 4

    Tip the dough into the lined tin and press it down hard and level with the back of the spoon or damp fingers, packing it into an even slab about 2 cm deep.

  5. 5

    Melt the dark chocolate gently (short bursts in the microwave or over a pan of just-simmered water), pour it over the slab and tilt to coat the top in a thin even layer.

  6. 6

    Chill until fully firm, at least 30 minutes. Lift out by the paper and cut into bars with a warm knife.

    ⏱ 30 min
  7. 7

    Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

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