Sugar-Free Bounty-Style Protein Bars
A coconut bar dipped in sugar-free dark chocolate, built on desiccated coconut and vanilla protein powder instead of condensed milk. Eight bars, no oven, no added sugar, and around 11 g of protein each — five times what the shop bar carries.
- Servings
- 8
- Total time
- 1 h 50 min
- Hands-on
- 20 min
What you need
- Loaf tin, about 20 × 10 cm
- Baking parchment
- Two forks for dipping
Ingredients
- 150 gdesiccated coconut— fine and unsweetened
- 90 gvanilla whey or casein protein powder— casein sets firmer
- 60 gcoconut cream— the thick part from a tin of coconut milk
- 25 gcoconut oil, melted
- 30 gpowdered erythritol or allulose— to taste
- 75 mlunsweetened coconut drink— for binding — add it gradually, up to 90 ml if the mixture stays crumbly
- 1 pinchfine salt
- 120 gsugar-free dark chocolate
- 1 tspcoconut oil— for the coating
How to make it
Line the loaf tin with baking parchment, leaving an overhang on the long sides so you can lift the whole slab out later.
Stir the desiccated coconut, protein powder, sweetener and salt together, then work in the coconut cream and the melted coconut oil with a spatula until the mixture looks like wet sand.
Add the coconut drink a tablespoon at a time until a squeezed handful holds its shape. Protein powders absorb wildly different amounts of liquid, so go by feel rather than by the number — too wet and the bars will not slice cleanly.
Press the mixture into the tin hard, and then press it harder: a loosely packed slab crumbles the moment you cut it. Level the top and freeze for 60 minutes, until it is firm all the way through.
Lift the slab out by the parchment and cut it into 8 bars, then put them back in the freezer while you melt the chocolate with the teaspoon of coconut oil.
Dip each cold bar into the chocolate using two forks, let the excess drip off, and set it on parchment. Chill for 30 minutes, until the shell snaps when you bite it.
Per serving, roughly
- Energy
- ~285 kcal
- Protein
- ~11 g
- Carbs
- ~6 g
- Fat
- ~24 g
These are estimates calculated from standard ingredient values. Your numbers will shift with the exact products you buy and with how generously you fill the plate — oil, sauces and cheese move them the most.
Variations
More protein per bar
Replace 40 g of the desiccated coconut with 25 g more protein powder and 15 g coconut flour. That takes each bar to roughly 13 g of protein for about 15 calories less, at the cost of a drier, more crumbly bite — you will need the top end of the coconut drink to bring it back together.
Vegan
Use a vanilla pea-and-rice protein blend instead of the whey or casein, and check that the chocolate is dairy-free. Plant blends drink up noticeably more liquid, so start at 90 ml of coconut drink and expect the bars to stay softer — keep them in the freezer rather than the fridge.
Coach's tip
Be honest about what this is: a very good sweet with real protein in it, not a protein serving. Eleven grams is a useful top-up, not the 30–40 g that actually drives recovery — so eat one after your evening meal because you want something sweet, not instead of the shake you were going to have. Used that way it is one of the easiest swaps in a cut: same calories as the shop bar, no sugar, and it takes twice as long to eat straight from the freezer.
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General information only, not medical or nutritional advice. If you have a health condition, an allergy, or specific dietary needs, talk to a qualified professional.
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