It’s amazing how many fantastic recipes there are out there that I have skipped over in the past because they were “vegan” or “paleo,” and because I am not, I thought I didn’t need to look. However, just because a recipe caters to a specific diet or eating habit, does NOT mean it can’t be a wonderfully delicious solution to your own hunger pangs. This recipe for no-bake vegan protein bars is easy, delicious, and nutritious making them a winner no matter how you label your diet. Try these and get on board the open-minded recipe testing!
No-Bake Vegan Protein Bars
2016-11-06 10:11:58
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Ingredients
- ~1/3 cup (70 g) amaranth (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups popped)
- 3 Tbsp (~25 g) vanilla or unflavored vegan protein powder*
- 1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp (22-30 ml) maple syrup (or sub stevia), more or less to taste
- 1 cup (256 g) creamy salted peanut or almond butter (or sun butter if sensitive to nuts)
- optional: 2-3 Tbsp (15-20 g) melted dark vegan chocolate
Instructions
- Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper (or plastic wrap) and set aside.
- Pop* your amaranth by heating a large pot over medium-high heat. You'll know it's ready to start adding amaranth when a drop of water disperses quickly and balls up.
- Add about 2-3 Tbsp amaranth at a time and immediately cover. Shake the pot back and forth over the heat (wearing oven mitts is helpful) to move the grain around. It should start popping within 1-3 seconds, and be done popping at the 10-second mark. Be sure to pull them off at around 10 seconds or they'll start to burn.
- Not every single grain will pop (that's OK!). Very quickly empty into a mixing bowl. This may take a couple tries to dial in your heat and not burn them - it took me 4 tries! But then you'll hit your stride.
- Continue until you have roughly 1 1/2 cups popped grain. As you go, add your popped grain into a small mixing bowl first to ensure none are burnt. Then transfer to a larger bowl so you don't mix any burnt grain with perfectly popped grain. Set aside.
- Add peanut or almond butter and maple syrup to a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine. Then add protein powder and stir.
- Add popped amaranth a little at a time until you have a loose "dough" texture. Be careful not to add too much or the bars can lose their tackiness and won't stick together. I found roughly 1 1/4 cups to be about right. Stir with a wooden spoon or use hands to disperse mixture evenly.
- Transfer the mixture to the baking dish and press down to form an even layer.
- Lay parchment paper or plastic wrap on top and use a flat-bottom object like a liquid measuring cup to press down and pack the mixture into an even, firmly packed layer.
- Transfer to freezer to set for 10-15 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Then lift out and slice into 9 bars.
- Enjoy as is, or drizzle with a bit of melted dark chocolate (optional).
- These get a little soft at room temperature, so store in the refrigerator (up to 5 days), or in the freezer (up to 1 month).
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