Copycat Perfect Protein Bars
This post contains links to affiliate websites, such as Amazon, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you using these links. We appreciate your support!
Simple, protein rich, gluten free, and refined sugar free homemade copycat Perfect protein bars! In dark chocolate peanut butter, sea salted caramel, and fudge brownie!
If you’re looking for a clean ingredient vegan vanilla protein powder check out Ora Organic and save 30% off with code COLLEEN.
Otherwise, I love the french vanilla and chocolate flavors flavor from Just Ingredients! Grass fed whey with no added gums, fillers, or artificial flavors. Save site wide with code colleenF10.
Why You’ll Love These Copycat Perfect Protein Bars
- They’re completely no bake
- Each flavor takes just minutes to make
- They have that melt-in-your-mouth cookie dough texture
- They’re gluten free, refined sugar free, and can be made completely dairy free, too!
Serves: 18
Ingredients
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter
- 1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
- 6 Tbsp Vanilla Protein Powder
- 3 Tbsp Almond Flour
- 3 Tbsp Pure Maple Syrup
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1/3 cup Mini Chocolate Chips, Semi-Sweet
- 1 pinch Kosher Flake Salt – Primal Palate
Fudge Brownie
- 1/2 cup Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, *
- 6 Tbsp Chocolate Protein Powder
- 3 Tbsp Almond Flour
- 1 Tbsp Cacao Powder, Raw
- 3 Tbsp Medjool Date Syrup
- 1/3 cup Mini Chocolate Chips, Semi-Sweet
Sea Salt Caramel
- 1/2 cup Cashew Butter
- 6 Tbsp Vanilla Protein Powder
- 3 Tbsp Almond Flour
- 3 Tbsp Honey
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 whole Medjool Dates
Caramel drizzle
Process
- For peanut butter chocolate chip & fudge brownie flavors, combine dough ingredients together until smooth (if your nut butter is NOT drippy like a fresh jar then omit the coconut flour)
- Fold in mini dark chocolate chips, reserving some for topping, and sprinkle with flakey sea salt
- Press into a loaf tin lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate an hour, then slice and enjoy
- For the caramel flavor- combine dough ingredients together
- Finely chop a few Medjool dates and fold into the dough
- Press into loaf tin lined with parchment paper and refrigerate an hour
- Make caramel by whisking ingredients together until thick but still drippy (depends on the consistency of your nut butter, add more as needed)
- Slice caramel bars, then drizzle with caramel sauce. Referigate another 10 minutes until caramel is firm
Variations for Dietary Preferences
- Can sub peanut butter for almond butter for an almond butter chocolate chip flavor
- To make fully vegan use a plant based protein powder and pure maple syrup in place of honey. Also be sure to use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate
- Can use sunbutter or vanilla oat butter in place of cashew butter
- If you don’t have hazelnut butter on hand you can use almond butter
Notes
Each flavor yields ~6 bars. Feel free to slice smaller
If you give them a try be sure to leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts! Or tag me on social medias so I can see your version!
Ingredients
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter
- 1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
- 6 Tbsp Vanilla Protein Powder
- 3 Tbsp Almond Flour
- 3 Tbsp Pure Maple Syrup
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1/3 cup Mini Chocolate Chips Semi-Sweet
- 1 pinch Kosher Flake Salt – Primal Palate
Fudge Brownie
- 1/2 cup Chocolate Hazelnut Spread *
- 6 Tbsp Chocolate Protein Powder
- 3 Tbsp Almond Flour
- 1 Tbsp Cacao Powder Raw
- 3 Tbsp Medjool Date Syrup
- 1/3 cup Mini Chocolate Chips Semi-Sweet
Sea Salt Caramel
- 1/2 cup Cashew Butter
- 6 Tbsp Vanilla Protein Powder
- 3 Tbsp Almond Flour
- 3 Tbsp Honey
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 whole Medjool Dates
Caramel Drizzle
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil Melted
- 1 Tbsp Pure Maple Syrup
- 2 – 3 Tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter
Instructions
- For peanut butter chocolate chip & fudge brownie flavors, combine dough ingredients together until smooth (if your nut butter is NOT drippy like a fresh jar then omit the coconut flour)
- Fold in mini dark chocolate chips, reserving some for topping, and sprinkle with flakey sea salt
- Press into a loaf tin lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate an hour, then slice and enjoy
- For the caramel flavor- combine dough ingredients together
- Finely chop a few Medjool dates and fold into the dough
- Press into loaf tin lined with parchment paper and refrigerate an hour
- Make caramel by whisking ingredients together until thick but still drippy (depends on the consistency of your nut butter, add more as needed)
- Slice caramel bars, then drizzle with caramel sauce. Referigate another 10 minutes until caramel is firm
Video
Notes
Each flavor yields ~6 bars. Feel free to slice smaller.
Hi,
What can I add instead of protein powder to make a regular bar?
You can use oat flour as it has a very similar texture!
My son is obsessed with perfect bars,they can be pricey to buy as often as he wants them so I’ve started making them weekly with this recipe and we all love them!
They definitely do add up quickly! So glad to hear you guys have been liking this homemade version!
What are the macros for these bars?
Approximately 12f / 28c / 18p when I plug it into my fitness pal
How many calories?
Approx 240 calories. 15f/15c/18p
Hi! what can I use instead of protein powder? and I don’t have oat flour either just almond flour
More almond flour should work fine here since it’s no bake!
Any alternatives for all the nut butter? Allergies over here!
You could try granola butter like Oat Haus brand. They have a vanilla granola butter and a chocolate. Sunbutter would also work here
Hi Colleen,
Just found your site and recipes today…so much good stuff!
On the protein bars, can I use allulose instead of other sweeteners? Trying to cut added sugars!
You list a range on the macros: 12-15 g fiber, 15-28 g carb and 18 g protein. Can you explain the variation in the carb range….maybe it’s the sugars?
I’ve been looking for something like this to make and love you have flavor variations…can’t wait to make! Will come back to rate!
Thanks,
Cary
Is the allulose a liquid sweetener? If so it should be fine (or use sugar free maple syrup like Lakanto brand). Yes the hazelnut cacao butter for example has a few more grams of sugars than peanut butter, and the medjool dates in the salted caramel bars and caramel drizzle leave for a different carb count than the others.
You can always copy and paste the ingredients for the 1 flavor you’re making into my fitness pal and it will give you an exact breakdown. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the info. My allulose is a powder but I do have liquid stevia so will use that. I don’t have my fitness pal but can probably put it in mynetdiary and get the macros. One more question…can cocoa powder be used instead of the chocolate chips?
I made the recipe with almond butter and dates…left out the chocolate chips. They tasted great but didn’t turn out as bars….more like a thin layer of cookie dough! 🙁 My almond butter was runny so maybe that caused the problem??? Please advise as I would like to try making again. Thanks!
It could definitely have been the runny almond butter! In that case I would just add 1-2 tbsp coconut flour to absorb the excess moisture. Since these are no bake you can add that now and re-roll the dough to absorb it, and press back into the loaf tin if you want to revive them for bars!
I can do that…thanks. Is it better to use coconut flour in the first place instead of almond flour? I can also try using a less runny almond butter for the next full batch.
No I wouldn’t try all coconut flour. It’s VERY drying. Just the 1 tbsp, maybe 2, should be all you need to absorb any extra runnyness from the almond butter!
Thanks…I will try a new full batch with 2 TBLSP almond flour and 1 coconut flour. Even though my first batch did not “jell” as bars, the mixture was yummy so I will experiment until I get it right. It’s great too because you can customize a little bit if need be. 🙂