Ever since we interviewed the founder of Keto Bars we knew we had to try to replicate these amazingly tasty bars at home. If we're being honest, the homemade version isn't quite as tasty or as portable as the real thing, but it comes close! If you want to learn more about Keto Bars check out this interview and head on over to their website if you want to give the bars a try for yourself!
Delicious Low Carb Bars
We are huge fans of the age old combo of coconut and chocolate. Usually we find ourselves using shredded coconut in our recipes, but for this one we went all out and got an actual coconut! Yes, you're going to have to go through the trouble of cracking it open and extracting all of the delicious meat, but it's worth it for these keto bars. Using real coconut gives this keto bar recipe the added moisture and freshness it needs. Everything works together harmoniously in these high fat, low carb bars!
Our Keto Bars Recipe - Lets Do This
We tested this recipe a few ways before finally settling on this method. We tried melting everything together over a double boiler, and while they came out pretty good, the "chop and bake" method is simpler and overall tastier. Basically, once you've got your coconut opened you just have to throw the rest of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until everything is roughly chopped and combined. After that you just bake it and allow to cool. Voila, you've got keto bars for the week!
The Problem with Keto Protein Bars
The problem with "keto protein bars" is that they are so high in protein and relatively low in fat. That's a one way ticket out of ketosis! These keto bars pack in a modest amount of protein while delivering a bounty of healthy fats. They are relatively easy to make and in just 30 minutes you can have a weeks worth of keto bars ready to go. Definitely give these a try and be sure to watch the video included in this post for more in depth instructions. If you're looking for some other keto friendly travel options be sure to try these Cocoa Roasted Almonds or our Homemade Quest Bars!
Recipe can be quickly added to MyFitnessPal - Search "KetoConnect - Keto Bars"
Homemade Keto Bars
Ingredients:
- 150 grams raw coconut meat
- 130 grams Unsweetened Bakers Chocolate
- 23 grams Unflavored Protein Powder
- 2.25 tbsp Butter
- 1.5 tbsp Water
- 3/4 tbsp Heavy Whipping Cream
- 18 grams Low Carb Sugar Substitute
- 35 drops Liquid Stevia
Instructions:
- Combine all the above ingredients into a food processor and combine.
- Stop, and push al the ingredients down off the sides with a spatula and process again until all the ingredients are fully immersed.
- Form into six bars on parchment paper or into bar molds. Bake in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes.
- Allow to cool prior to eating. Sore in fridge put to 3 weeks. Enjoy!
Notes
Written by
Megha Barot
Megha has always been a passionate cook, but she took this to a new level after starting her keo journey in 2015. She loves creating new recipes and producing educational content for KetoConnect, which she co-founded in 2016 with Matt. Her passion for healthy eating and personal development continues to thrive. She's the proud mom of two awesome kids.
I could only use what I had on hand.
80 g dried unsweetened coconut flakes
4 oz (113 g) unsweetened bakers chocolate (100%)
1 TBS heavy whipping cream
2.5 TBS salted butter
1/4 cup powdered eryithritol
30 g (1 scoop) Isopure no carb vanilla creme protein powder
2 TBS water
The batter tastes awesome. Can’t wait for the oven to heat up. I made 12 servings by using silicon cupcake molds (they are about 30 grams each) I am really hoping they are heat stable and hold together. They would be great fuel for a marathon. My version came out with 1.8 net carbs, 4 g protein, 12.1 g fat. That is 5%, 12%, 83%.
Ok…so I couldn’t wait for them to cool. Still don’t know if they will hold together for a run, but they are definitely good….and I think I could double the protein powder without ruining the texture….
Can i use young coconut meat?
Hmmm what’s that like? If it’s much like fresh coconut then yes!
How did they turn out when you baked them with egg´s ? Would that make them more heat stable?
Can i just use Sugar Free drops and not use Erithritol at all? Is there a particular reason to use a bit of both?
No, you can just use stevia if you want!
Can I use Shredded coconut directly instead of coconut pieces. I only found frozen Shredded coconut
Using real coconut gives this keto bar recipe the added moisture and freshness it needs. You could try shredded coconut I had on hand, but drop the amount down to 80g to keep the calories comparable, and add in an extra Tbsp of water to get the texture right. Hope that works for you!
It would be helpful if you used standard measurements as well. I can’t wait to try them as soon as I convert the recipe.
Do you know approximately how much sugar equivalent 35 drops of your stevia is? I use liquid sucralose and 1 drop is 1tsp, which I suspect is more potent than your stevia, because that would be almost 1.5 cups of sweetener, but I guess I could be wrong
Sucralose is 600x sweeter than sugar, and stevia is 300x sweeter. We used 3/4 teaspoon of stevia, so sucralose would be half that for the recipe.
Made these tonight and they are fantastic! Thanks for the recipe!
I made these!!! As with lots of the other recipes! So I put to much chocolate not know the true amount of grams. Basically I put 1 and a half bars! I used unsweetened coconut flake and use 150 grams! I doubled the cream! I used the swerve confectioners 12 tsp. Well they are awesome lol. But I like chocolate chocolate!! Thanks guys
Do these have to be refrigerated? I am looking for stuff i can take backpacking
Thanks
These are good for backpacking!
Second time making the keto bars and this time I made them in silicon mini muffin tins. I never ate a whole bar when I made them the first time, so these bite size keto bar bombs are the perfect size!! Thanks for the recipe!!
Do the chocolate and butter need to be melted/softened before putting in the food processor?
Thank you for figuring out a recipe for making keto bars.
I love them and have bought them a number of times, but they are a bit spendy.
Looking forward to making them today!
Just wondering if coconut manna would work the same. Also, could collagen be used instead of whey protein?
Hey Jessica! We haven’t tried Coconut Manna yet, nor have we tried collagen instead of protein. We’d say no on the protein though, considering the gram-for-gram protein content. Best of luck, and let us know if it works!
Also, are the macros the same with these differences and would it be unsweetened or sweetened coconut flakes?
So if using coconut flakes-it’s 80g plus 1 tbsp water. Also, if not using liquid Stevia (which I’m not) then, it’s 1/4 c total Erythritol?
My local Trader Joe’s started carrying frozen coconut meat near the frozen berries. I’m in California btw, so your mileage may vary if it’s not in your TJ’s.
If you don’t have stevia, can you add more erythritol instead? If so, would you have any idea how much?
Yes you can, it would probably be about 1/4c of erythritol
Awesome, thanks!
I don’t know how to measure in grams so how much is the coconut and chocolate?
There really is no other way to measure coconut other than in grams. You can watch the video and try to eye ball the correct amount. It’s 4.6 oz of chocolate.
jbmw007@hotmail.com
Go buy a scale I’ve seen him for his cheap as $15 and they’re amazing.
Instead of coconut meat, can you substitute with coconut flakes?
I’ve got a batch in the oven right now with some shredded coconut I had on hand. Had to drop the amount down to 80g to keep the calories comparable, and hand to add in an extra Tbsp of water to get the texture right. I’ll put how they turn out once they’re out and chilled!
Just tried one. They came out really good! Might not be as close to the original as using fresh coconut but I’ve found my new fave snack.
Can I xylitol sweetener? And if so how much
Thank you
I would not recommend Xylitol. At least not without accounting for it’s hidden carb count.
Not all sugar alcohols are the same. My reading has uncovered that of the sugar alcohols, most still have roughly 50% of the caloric count and glycemic/carb effects of pure sucrose (cane sugar)! This includes Xylitol, mannitol, maltitol, and many others. This is actually the basis of the “diabetes carb count” for diabetics counting their carbs, but would logically effect anyone on a Keto diet (not just diabetics). So I’m unsure why most Keto dieters routinely ignore most sugar alcohols completely when they should be only discounting about half of the sugar alcohol carbs.
The only sugar alcohol I’ve found that does NOT have this significant carb content is Erythritol. For all intents and purposes, it goes through humans pretty much undigested. It has something like only 5% of the caloric density and carb count of cane sugar… which is trivial to Keto dieters in the small amounts consumed in snacks and recipes.
Keto sweetners I personally consider OK to consume are Liquid Stevia Extract, Sucralose, Erythritol, saccharin and aspartame. All should be truly zero carb or very nearly zero.
Everything else is suspect to me.
Thanks, Joe, for your info on sugar alcohols.
I just needed to comment on recommended Keto sweeteners. Saccharin, Sucralose, and aspartame are all toxic and should never be used. Aspartame is a neurotoxin and is suspect in causing birth defects. Saccharin has been proven to be a carcinogen. Sucralose is made by chlorinating sucrose. And we all know the dangers of chlorine.
Keto diet can be done healthfully. We don’t want to work hard to do ket successfully yet poison ourselves doing it!