15 homemade energy bar recipes

It’s easy to bake your own energy bars with these energy bar recipes. Not only can you save money, but if you’re allergic to anything, you can find ways to leave that ingredient out.  There are even a number of no-bake recipes out there for those of you who can’t or won’t bake anything.

Energy Bar Recipes

You may also want to check out some recipes for DIY energy drinks. And if the recipes alone aren’t enough for you, there are entire books of energy bar recipes to check out.

1. Natural No-Bake Peanut Butter Energy Bars – one of my favorite recipes because, hello, no baking! And peanut butter! And honey!
2. Oat bars – this one’s so much more than just an oat bar. It’s got sesame seeds, almonds, apricots, raisins and orange peel for flavor.
3. Cake Batter Energy Bars – no actual cake batter, but they taste like it, with cashew butter, oat flour and Rice Krispies.
4. Orange energy bars – this recipe relies on frozen orange juice concentrate to give it a unique flavor
5. Energy bars from the bear’s den – this one features two dozen figs. Note that it contains egg whites, and should be stored in the refrigerator. Expect its shelf life to be similar to that of cake.
6. Michael Chiarello’s energy bars – for raisin lovers! This recipe features both golden and dark raisins, along with oats, almonds and apricots. One thing I love about this recipe? Brown sugar and molasses instead of white sugar and corn syrup.
7. Jo Ann’s power bars – oat based with Grape Nuts, applesauce, cinnamon, seeds and nuts.
8. Gluten Free almond power bar – this one uses Grapenuts cereal (yum!) with applesauce, cinnamon and mixed fruit, and honey for sweetener. In addition to using it as an energy bar, you could have it in place of a higher calorie and/or more artificial dessert.
9. Vanilla banana oat bars – features protein powder along with fruit and oats. If you want a bar that packs a protein punch along with your quick energy, check this recipe out.
10. Date Nut balls – dates, walnuts, almonds, coconut and more. No artificial sweeteners or refined sugar in this one (just honey and the natural sweetness of the fruits).
11. Whole Grain power bars – uses quinoa and soy protein to make this into somewhat of a protein bar. Also, walnuts, sunflower seeds, cranberries and coconut.
12. Big Sur power bars – to your usual mix of nuts, fruit and cereal (in this case, Rice Crispies), this one adds espresso grounds to really get you going.
13. Peanut energy bars – this is one of the few recipes to use peanuts along with peanut butter. It also features Rice Crispies.
14. Dairy free energy bars – for those who can’t or don’t want to consume dairy, this recipe doesn’t need it (but note that it does contain soy protein, another common allergen). It also contains carob powder, peanut butter, raisins and toasted sunflower seeds.
15. Frosty No-Bake Glo Cakes – the title doesn’t sound like a power bar, but this delicious frozen treat sure has the right ingredients: Rice Crispies, banana, oats, chocolate, peanut butter and maple syrup. And yum!

Poke around the linked sites – most of them contain more homemade energy bar recipes.

And feel free to tinker with these recipes. Don’t like raisins? Substitute another fruit. Get creative and try your own combinations – it’s not that hard, once you get a feel for how these recipes work. The most important thing is to keep the ratio of dry and sticky/wet ingredients the same so they won’t crumble or stay gooey after baking. Enjoy!