High-Protein Blueberry Oat Bars (No Protein Powder)

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High-Protein Blueberry Oat Bars are tasty, super easy to make, and full of protein without the need for protein powder. And, as if all that isn’t enough, they freeze well and are great for travel snacks.

Healthy Blueberry Oat Bars with No Sugar

As with all our recipes, we try to avoid refined sugars in this healthy blueberry oat bars recipe too…which means that these bars are sweetened with absolutely no refined sugar.

And in this case, we decided to expand the sugar restrictions and sweeten them without even the typical natural sweeteners.

That’s right: No honey. No maple syrup. Nada.

Just ripe, naturally sweet bananas.

And it works! These bars are not overly sweet, for sure. But they can please pretty much anyone, even the littlest of picky eaters. 😉

Gluten-Free Blueberry Oat Bars

Another ingredient we cut from this recipe: refined flour. Since refined flour is devoid of any significant nutritional value, it only seems fitting to eliminate it whenever possible (which is what we do almost 100% of the time in our healthy homemade snack recipes).

But what is so bad about refined flour?

In basic terms, it is used as a sugar within the body. As the website Levels (a metabolic health site) notes,

“White flour—which includes all-purpose, bread, and cake flours—is made with only this soft middle endosperm layer, so it doesn’t contain the same fiber, vitamins, and minerals that whole-grain wheat does. And without fiber to slow digestion, your body rapidly turns the refined carbs in white flour into blood sugar.”

So eliminating as much refined sugar from this recipe for healthy blueberry oat bars means that we also need to eliminate refined flour.

In the process of eliminating this flour, we get the happy result of also making these blueberry oat bars gluten-free.

And it is so easy to do: We simply replace the refined flour with oats.

In contrast with refined flour, oats actually do add nutritional value to these healthy breakfast bars. “Oatmeal is nutritionally rich. It has more protein than most grains and also contains numerous vitamins and minerals” (WebMD).

Blueberry Oat Protein Bars

But, of course, why stop there with our healthy adjustments to this recipe?

This recipe emphasizes protein. And adding lots of protein to the mix means that these healthy blueberry oat bars help your body function even better.

Protein Bars Recipe Without Protein Powder

But we don’t add protein in this recipe by mixing in protein powder. While we do use protein powder in many of our protein snacks and often recommend our favorite brand, this recipe gains its protein levels from natural sources that also provide a host of other benefits.

The natural protein sources in this recipe are:

• eggs
• chia seeds
• oats
• Greek yogurt
• almond flour

Tools Needed for This Recipe

Are you ready to fuel up? Gather these tools that you likely already have in your kitchen:

• a mixing bowl
• a reusable silicone baking mat or parchment paper (optional, but recommended)
• a spoon and/or spatula
• a glass baking dish (9″x9″ or 7″x11″ both work for this recipe)

Ingredients for Blueberry Oat Bars

• 2 ripe bananas
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup Greek yogurt (unsweetened, unflavored)
• 1/4 cup soaked chia seeds (not dry)
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup organic quick oats
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• Dash of sea salt
• 1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

How to Make Blueberry Oat Bars

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Line a 9″x9″ glass baking dish with a reusable silicone baking mat. (If you don’t have one, you can use parchment paper or grease your pan, though this may still allow the bars to stick. We highly recommend using the silicone baking mat.) Set aside.
3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix together the oats, almond flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and dash of sea salt.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, mash the bananas until a puree. Add the eggs, Greek yogurt, soaked chia seeds, and vanilla extract. Mix well until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
5. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until no pockets of dry ingredients remain.
6. Stir 1/4 cup blueberries into the batter.
7. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining blueberries evenly over the top.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, or until cooked through.

Storage Instructions

Keep in an airtight glass container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can also freeze these healthy blueberry oat bars. Just store them in an airtight glass container or a Ziplock bag.

Blueberry Oat Bars Recipe Variations

Switch up this recipe by trying a variation:

• Add lemon zest.
• Mix in orange zest.
• Chop nuts and add to the batter.
• Add dark chocolate chunks.
• Mix in seeds–especially pumpkin seeds, which will add more protein. If you don’t want to add chunks to the texture, then pulse the seeds in a food processor for a minute or so to make them finer.
• Use dried blueberries instead of fresh or frozen.
• Substitute dried cranberries, cherries, or raisins for the blueberries.
• Drizzle softened cream cheese over the top. (You can also try a simple cream cheese glaze with honey, like in our recipe for Healthier Starbucks Lemon Bliss Bars (Gluten-Free))

Other Homemade Protein Bar Recipes to Try

Protein bars are a great go-to snack for early mornings and long afternoons or just as a basic travel snack. For another version, try Gluten-Free No-Bake Apple Pie Protein Bars (one of our absolute favorites!).

Blueberry Oat Bars Recipe Card

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