These healthy homemade low carb protein bars are so easy to make, delicious, and portable. With only 5 grams of net carbs, they’ll keep you satiated during travel or in between meals!
I made these low carb protein bars on a whim 2 weeks ago before leaving for our babymoon to Europe, because I needed low carb travel snacks for our 12+ hour flight. I don’t do well with high sugar foods on airplanes and they really mess up my digestion. I was in search of paleo, high protein low carb bars for this reason, and nothing fit the bill perfectly, and the ones that did took too long to ship because I was, of course, scrambling at the last minute to get everything packed.
The Best Low Carb Protein Bars Recipe
So I decided to make my own! I actually had all these ingredients on hand the day before our departure date, and I honestly didn’t measure any of the ingredients before whipping these up.
I was actually so pleasantly surprised at how well these low carb protein bars turned out. They were crunchy and chewy at the same time, they held up well, and were so easily portable and perfect as low carb travel snacks. I enjoyed them so much during my flights, as well as during the trip when we were on-the-go in between sites and activities, them I recreated them to share with you after I came back home!
Adding Collagen For Protein
It’s not easy to find a keto granola bar recipe with a good amount of protein in it. While nuts and seeds to do contain protein, our body absorbs them way better when we get it from an animal source. Other low carb protein bars I found with a good source of protein that you can purchase is this one, and while they are delicious, they are not the cheapest on the market.
For these high protein low carb bars, I used egg whites and Perfect Supplements grass-fed collagen (Use code GREATGRANDMA10 for 10% off your entire order) to boost the protein level and it really helps with keeping you satiated longer without being able to taste these ingredients at all. I was able to last for hours in between meals on my very long flights with these low carb protein bars and I loved that I didn’t get a sugar rush during all the traveling.
Not Keto or Don’t Use Zero Carb Sweeteners?
While this is a keto granola bar recipe, I totally get it if you are just looking for grain free or paleo snacks and are not necessarily on a low carb diet. You can just omit the erythritol used in the recipe, and replace it with coconut sugar or regular sugar. The color of these low carb protein bars will be darker when you use coconut sugar, but the recipe will still yield delicious snack bars without much difference in taste or texture!
Low Carb Protein Bars (Paleo Option, Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/3 cup your favorite nut or seed butter
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 3 scoops grass fed collagen Use code GREATGRANDMA10 for 10% off your entire order
- 1/3 cup erythritol or coconut sugar for paleo
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 egg whites
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, stir together for almonds, sunflower seeds, coconut flakes, and pumpkin seeds.
- In small saucepan, stir together your choice of nut butter, coconut oil, collagen, and erythritol, and heat for 2-3 minutes over low heat until everything is smooth and combined.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract, cinnamon, and sea salt.
- Pour over the nut and seed mixture and stir.
- Add egg whites and stir together well until all the dry ingredients are coated well with wet ingredients.
- Transfer to the prepared baking pan and use a spatula to press down firmly into a flat, even layer.
- Bake for 20 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.
- Let it cool completely. Use the parchment paper to remove from the pan, and use a sharp knife to slice into 12 even bars.
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Great idea. I can appreciate your need and love that you made and packed these for yourself. Love the collagen in there. Pinning to make too, thank you!! 🙂
These look fantastic! I love that they are low carb!
Hi! Is there a way to make these without the egg whites? My son is allergic to eggs. Thanks!
These would great to take hiking. I love the pumpkin seeds & the addition of collagen and egg whites.
These look so delicious for happy snacking — love the collagen in there for a general health and protein boost.
I’m always on the lookout for lower carb-higher protein snacks. I don’t do well on sugary snacks – I can’t wait to try these!
They are the perfect workout snack bars! So easy to make and delicious!
Yum these look so good, way better than store bought and just in time for hiking season!
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it. Question: I have all the ingredients except the collagen. Is there a way to make these without the collagen?
Yes, just omit it and it’ll still turn out delicious. 🙂
how much collagen? It says 3 scoops. I have a different brand, so need to know the measurements.
1 scoop is about 1.5 tbsps, so about 4.5 tbsps for 3 scoops!
Hi Jean,
I appreciate you sharing your recipe! When you made these, what kind of nut or seed butter did you use?
Thanks!
I use either almond butter or sunflower seed butter and they both turn out really well!
Thank you! I’ll try both and compare 🙂
They are soooo good!!! It’s a lot of ingredients but it works great together! I’ve made them twice and fixing to make another batch!!! Thanks for the recipe!!
Thank you!!
These look so good! How long do they keep? And do they need to go in the fridge or is counter top ok?
I suggest keeping in the fridge to make them last longer – up to 7 days. You can freeze them if you want them to last longer!
Okay great thank you so much! Please ignore my duplicate question below.
How long do they keep? And do they need to be stored on the fridge or is the counter top okay?
Just found this recipe, can’t find unsweetened coconut flakes, local stores sold out. Any alternative that you recommend or just omit?
You can use sweetened coconut flakes if that’s all you can find, just reduce the sweetener by half in the recipe.
This recipe looks great except there is no information regarding how much a scoop of collagen is. My collagen (Vital Proteins) doesn’t have a scoop it just says to use a couple tablespoons.
A scoop is about 11 grams!