These No-Bake Vegan Cherry Vanilla Protein Bars are the perfect easy snack! Not only are they packed with protein, but they also have zero refined sugar, flour, or oil and are easily gluten-free!
I’m just gonna go ahead and tell you that these bars taste like COOOOOKIES and rainbows and butterflies.
Like are they a healthy snackity or are they an indulgent treat? Nobody knows.
Before we get into it, I should tell you that I wholeheartedly believe these taste like cake mostly because of this vanilla protein powder. It’s organic, super tasty, and downright perfect in the texture department. I use it in smoothies all the time, too!
I was super excited to partner up with California Almonds and create a delish and nutrish snack because 99.978% of my snacks involve almonds anyway! If I’m not slurping a smoothie made with almond milk, I’m chowing down on an apple with almond butter or even just almonds straight up. Did you know that almonds have the most plant-powered protein (6g), fiber (4g), calcium, riboflavin, vitamin E, and niacin of any tree nut? Good things come in teeny packages, my frands.
Loaded with oodles of healthy goodies like oats, flax, coconut, and almond butter, these bars really are the perfect energizing snack. You all know very well that I’m a busy bee so having homemade bars in the freezer is my saving grace for maintaining my health and my sanity.
Lots of no-bake bars are made entirely of nuts and dates, so I decided to use whole-grain oats as the base instead. This not only helps lighten up the bars a bit, but it also makes them a bit easier to mix together. I like the texture that blending all the dry ingredients lends to these bars, but if you want to just throw everything in a bowl, that’s fine too!
I froze mine in a loaf pan to achieve the trendy bar look, but you could totally roll them into balls if you’re feeling lazy. Or if you’re feeling like a baller.
Being busy doesn’t mean sacrificing flavor! Say NO to that boring snack-time routine by preparing a couple snacks ahead of time and storing them in the freezer. Snack smarter, not harder. Your taste buds and waistline will thank you!
And then they’ll thank all the almonds of the world for being so gosh darn tasty and healthy and cute.
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- ⅓ cup ground flaxseed
- ⅓ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 3 scoops (81g) vanilla plant-based protein powder (whey will not work),
- ½ cup almond butter
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp almond milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup dried cherries or cranberries
- Line a loaf pan with parchment paper (unless you want to roll them into balls instead). Set aside.
- Place oats, ground flax, coconut and protein powder in a blender or food processor (I used my nutribullet). Blend until the mixture resembles a powder.
- Dump dry mixture into a medium mixing bowl. Add in almond butter, maple syrup, almond milk and vanilla, stirring until well combined (I used my hands). Fold in dried cherries.
- Dump mixture into lined loaf pan. Press down firmly using your fingers until it's completely flat and smooth. Freeze for at least 30 minutes before slicing into 9-11 bars.
- Store in the fridge or freezer.
[Tweet “Snack smarter with these No-Bake Cherry Vanilla Protein Bars via @thehummusapien #CrunchOn #ad”]
Disclosure: I participated in the Almond Board’s #CrunchOn campaign as a member of the Healthy Aperture Blogger Network. I was compensated for my time and provided samples. All opinions are my own.
Om nom nom. These look so good! I’ve been looking for something to do with all this protein powder I bought lol
Colleen Welsch recently posted…APRIL FAVORITES
Delicious! I love the cherry vanilla flavor!
Holly @ EatGreatBEGreat recently posted…A New Endeavor
Love the ingredient combination in these bars!
YESS. Silly bars based off dates.
Pictures = ON. POINT. like a ballerina’s toe.
Arman @ thebigmansworld recently posted…First days of American living
I love those snacks that can double as dessert/breakfast/all the purposes! These bars look perfecto!! My first attempt at a granola bar was a fail, so I’ll have to follow your recipe to get these maaaahvelous bars. Bring on those almonds!
Julia recently posted…Ginger Margaritas (Naturally Sweetened)
I love using oats as a base too! Alexis – I am replacing my bowl of oats with these bars – they are simply PHENOMENAL!
Shashi at RunninSrilankan recently posted…Quick & Easy Mango Chicken
Well don’t these just look absolutely AMAZING! XOXO
She Rocks Fitness recently posted…My Happy Place…
In LUST! Both with the cherry vanilla combo, and the ground up oats. Kind of a texture freak over here, and I LOVE how soft and doughy bars become with ground oats.
Amanda @ .running with spoons. recently posted…. my favourite healthy baking substitutions .
Cookies Rainbows AND Butterflies??? I’m in!
Yum!! Almonds are definitely a huge obsession of mine, so I am totally on board with these. I also LOVE that you added dried cherries. I bet they would be awesome with dried cranberries too!
Also.. I am now wondering what rainbows and butterflies taste like 😉
Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl recently posted…Tomato, Onion, and Artichoke Chickpea Salad {Vegan, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free}
Yum! Everyone is going crazy with cherries all of the sudden. I don’t ever eat cherries, but that definitely needs to change !
Shannon recently posted…Mother’s Day Gift Ideas
These look so great lady. I am a little tired of all the bars with dates in them too and very weirdly, too many dates give me really bad heartburn. It is so strange.
The texture of these look awesome – they look like they would give you a really filling snack to tide you over until dinner!
Looks like we were both had homemade protein bars on the brain this week! I’m loving your version with cherries and vanilla. And they really do look like cookies and rainbows and butterflies! 🙂
Sarah @ Making Thyme for Health recently posted…5 Ingredient No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars
I tried this with another kind of protein (Vega Sport) and failed miserably. Maybe you can add more detail to the amount of protein powder or whether or not another type of protein powder can be used.
Me too! These did not solidify for me at all and just crumbled – I used Garden of Life plant based protein powder. Rather than throw them away, I’m going to try adding some coconut oil or maybe dates for the stick factor! Or do you have suggestions?!
Copying my reply from above– Bummer! I haven’t heard that feedback before. I provided the scoop quantity and grams for protein in the recipe. Was your almond butter drippy? Protein powders can vary. No worries–just add more maple syrup or almond milk until it sticks together. Hope that helps!
Bummer! I haven’t heard that feedback before. I provided the scoop quantity and grams for protein in the recipe. Was your almond butter drippy? Protein powders can vary. No worries–just add more maple syrup or almond milk until it sticks together. Hope that helps!
Love the easy ingredient breakdown on these! I’ll have to try!
Dani @ DaniCaliforniaCooks recently posted…Sesame Vegetable Soba Noodle Salad
Thanks, Dani! I love how quickly they come together.
I was wondering that too! Are all “scoops” the same? Is there a way to get a standardized unit of measure for the protein powder?
27-30 grams 🙂
What would be a good sub for the almond butter for someone with a nut allergy and still tast good?
Sunbutter!
Delicious! Used cacao nibs and raisins since I didn’t have anything else on hand but they turned out great!
Mmmm I’ll have to add nibs sometime!
This sounds so so good I need to make it asap!
Sofie @ sofiecharlotte.com recently posted…The Dream I’m Working On
I’d like to make these, can I omit the protein powder or is it necessary? Thank you!
Same question, can you omit the protein powder? Is it acting as a binding ingredient or just a protein boost?
It adds sweetness. If you take it out, I’d add an equivalent amount of dry ingredients like oats/flax/coconut to replace it. Hope that helps!
It adds sweetness. If you take it out, I’d add an equivalent amount of dry ingredients like oats/flax/coconut to replace it. Hope that helps!
Changed these up a bit to make them Paleo. I used raw almonds (because I was out of almond butter) and a little extra almond milk. I also used almond flour instead of oatmeal
I attempted to make these tonight, but failed miserably. Perhaps the whey protein powder was the culprit? They were very dry and crumbly to the point where cutting them was impossible. I ended up with what looked like a bowlful of granola. I tried adding more almond butter and even honey for moisture, but that didn’t work either. I ended up sort of rolling them into balls…crumbly balls. The TASTE however, was fantastic!! I’d love to figure out how to make these function better since they tasted so good!! Any thoughts??
Oh dear, sorry to hear that Allison! Whey protein can’t be substituted unfortunately. I’ll add that to the notes. Glad it still tasted good!
Thanks!! I’m looking forward to trying again!!
Why won’t whey work? You made the note but didn’t explain.
It changes the texture.
What is the calorie, protein and fat content? Thanks!
Hi there! You can import the recipe into MyFitnessPal for nutrition information.
Thank you!
I’m looking the import option…not seeing it. Could you please tell me where that is?
Bobbie Carbonell recently posted…Healthy Vegetarian Meal Plan: Week of 3-11-2017
myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
It’s going to be ending of mine day, but before finish I am reading this impressive piece of writing to improve my experience.
fastfoodhoodies.com recently posted…fastfoodhoodies.com
Good morning,
These look delicious and I would like to try them but can’t seem to locate the nutritional values. Would it be possible to share those please?
Thanks very much and have a healthy, happy day!
Bobbie
Hi there! I don’t calculate nutrition info for my recipes but feel free to enter it into a nutrition calculator online like My Fitness Pal.
How much is a scoop? Don’t know if my scoop is the same size as your scoop. 🙂
A scoop is around 27-30 grams 🙂 Hope this helps!