Easy Vegan Recipe: No Bake Gluten Free Protein Bars

vegan cacao nibs

These healthy vegan bars have a chewy brownie crust, a thick peanut butter layer and a chocolate drizzle and hemp seed topping.  They are an easy vegan recipe to make, and at 16 grams of protein per bar they are power packed and delicious!  For those of you with nut allergies the peanut butter could easily be swapped out for almond butter.  Recipe adapted from thefitchen.com.

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Crust:
1 1/2 C GF oat flour
12 dried apricots chopped
1/4 cocoa powder
1/4 brown rice syrup
1 Tbsp coconut oil melted

Peanut Butter Layer:
1 C GF oat flour
1/2 C GF rolled oats
1/2 C vegan protein powder (chocolate or unflavoured)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp chia seeds
1 1/2 Tbsp hemp seeds
1/2 C peanut or almond butter
1 flax egg (1 Tbsp flax mixed with 3 Tbsp water)
1/4 C agave
1/2 C almond or coconut milk (I used unsweetened chocolate almond milk)
2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

Topping:
1/4 C vegan chocolate chips, melted
hemp seeds

Grease an 8×8 baking dish with coconut oil.
Combine flax and water in a small bowl and set aside.
Add all the ingredients for the crust into a food processor and process until a crumbly dough is formed.  Transfer into the baking dish and press downs firmly until you have an even layer.
In a large bowl combine oat flour, rolled oats, protein powder, salt, chia seeds and hemp seeds.  Add agave, peanut butter, milk, flax egg and coconut oil.  Mix until just combined and then transfer to the food processor.  Process until well combined, adding a splash of milk if necessary.  Mixture will be thick and sticky.
Spread peanut butter layer over crust until even and smooth. Refrigerate for 1 hour then drizzle with melted chocolate and hemp seeds. Return to the fridge for another hour. Enjoy!
Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or they freeze really well too.

Check out the original recipe HERE

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Kirsten Mitchell

Kirsten is a mom, runner, lifter, yogi and animal lover from Vancouver, BC. Passionate about the vegan lifestyle her goal is share her fitness tips and protein forward recipes so we can all fuel the athlete inside of us.

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8 comments

  1. Christy, The Simple Homemaker

    Man oh man! These sound delicious! There’s nothing like hemp to boost the protein and health of a snack. And chia too! These bars pack a nutrition punch and my kids will l-o-v-e love it!

    Do these travel well? We’re heading to Disney for a day, and I’m planning on packing healthy snacks that will keep everybody energized, but not sugared up.

    Thanks again for a great recipe.

    • Kirsten Mitchell

      Thanks! I added coconut oil to the recipe to help firm up the bars a bit and make them more portable, but that being said they still are a soft bar. I think they would do fine in a container but I don’t know if they would handle being tossed in a backpack. I would recommend freezing them first…they freeze solid…and that way they would soften up throughout the day. Enjoy Disney!

  2. Ann Abbitz

    Definitely will be giving these a try this coming weekend! (No time during the week, what with school and work….and my girls love to help out in the kitchen!) I’ve started making our own protein bars at home a few months back, and they taste just as good, if not better, than the store bought ones. AND, most importantly, we KNOW what’s going into them! Thanks for sharing this recipe!

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