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As I got these high-calorie bars out of the baking pan I left in the fridge, I asked myself "where have you been all along?"
I asked that because eating can be time-consuming for people like me who need a lot of calories to bulk up. You can find other handy snacks, but almost nothing beats these bars. For example, making high-calorie smoothies is fast, but you lose time blending them.
With these bars, all you need is some free time on the weekend to follow our easy visual recipe. Make them and you'll have one of the most delicious high-calorie snacks for a whole week.
Being some of the bars with the most calories, these granola bars are a game-changer if you're bulking up.
To make these granola bars, one of our muscle-building granola recipes, I tested my nutritionist skills by tweaking the ingredients in our High-Calorie Protein Granola recipe. This way, I increased the stickiness of the recipe to obtain bars that don't crumble. Also, I made sure the bars meet the characteristics below:
Ready to bless your diet with granola bars? Let's explore the recipe.
For this granola recipe, you'll need the following kitchen equipment:
To make the granola bars, you'll need the following ingredients:
These bars have the same types of ingredients as our granola recipe. Yet, they contain fewer dry ingredients and more wet ingredients. Specifically, we reduced the oats and increased the amount of peanut butter and honey.
This change increased the granola's stickiness and prevented the bars from breaking apart.
Below are the step-by-step instructions for making our high-calorie granola bars recipe.
While chopping the almonds, keep the first third from the tip of the knife's blade on the cutting board. This way, you'll prevent your almonds from jumping all over. Target each large piece of almond you spot. Once you're done cutting, inspect the almonds to see if you find any larger pieces.
Take the baking sheet and line it with parchment paper. First, spread the oats as evenly as possible to toast properly. Then, you can add the almonds and the sunflower seeds.
Put the baking sheet in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes at 350 F or 180 °C.
Add the toasted oats, almonds, and sunflower seeds into a large bowl. Then, add these other dry ingredients:
Mix everything well using a spoon.
Grab your saucepan and put it on the stove on low heat. Pour the honey in and wait until it boils. Then, add olive oil and vanilla extract. Stir the resulting mixture well and get the saucepan off the stove.
Pour the wet mixture in the saucepan over the dry ingredients you added in the bowl. Using a wooden spoon, mix everything well until the composition feels sticky. Don't rush. We want that wet mixture to coat those dry ingredients, acting like a thin glue.
Grab your small baking pan and line it with parchment paper. Spread the granola in your bowl inside the baking pan. Then, place your hands over the parchment paper to press the granola into the pan.
If you use a larger baking pan, which is too wide for the granola to cover, make a big rectangle bar in a part of the pan. You can use a cutting board that fits inside the baking pan to press the bar from the side.
Yet, we found that using a small baking pan keeps the composition harder.
Once you pressed the granola into the pan, add the remaining raisins and press hard again.
Put the baking pan with the big granola bar in the fridge to harden. Leave it there for at least 2 hours. It's also handy to leave them overnight.
Take 3.5 oz (100 g) worth of granola bars and eat while dipping them in 10.6 oz (300 g) of nonfat Greek yogurt. Add one medium-to-large strawberry to the meal. You can use a food thermos to take the bars, the yogurt, and the strawberries with you.
In terms of taste, the granola bars have a sweeter and more peanut-buttery taste than our granola.
Store the granola bars in an airtight container in the fridge. For a softer consistency, leave them at room temperature.
Our high-calorie granola recipe yields 6 servings. One serving contains:
Below are the nutrition facts for one serving.
| Serving size | 415 g |
| Calories | 604 |
| Proteins | 43 g |
| Carbohydrates | 67 g |
| Fiber | 9 g |
| Added sugars | 13 g |
| Fats | 21 g |
| Saturated fats | 3.6 g |
| Unsaturated fats | 17 g |
Vitamins: A, E, C, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, B12.
Minerals: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine, selenium, copper, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, boron.
Other compounds: choline and flavonoids.
Our high-calorie granola bars can bring many health benefits. Let's explore some of them.
Here are the reasons why our granola bars recipe helps you gain muscle:
Let's delve deeper into each of the characteristics above.
Since our granola bars are high-calorie, they will help you keep a caloric surplus.
After all, the recipe delivers 604 calories/serving, about a third of a 2000-calorie diet. This is because our granola bars are made with many good sources of calories.
For example, almonds and peanut butter count among the high-calorie nuts and nut butters. Also, sunflower seeds, oats, raisins, and olive oil count among the list of high-calorie foods. Moreover, raisins are one of the fruits with the most calories.
If you don't know what caloric surplus means, know it's eating more calories than you consume. And it's essential for building muscle.
The International Society of Sports Nutrition has the same position. In 2017, after reviewing over 140 scientific articles, they concluded that people who want to build muscle efficiently should follow diets that get them into a "sustained caloric surplus."
You can eat high-calorie granola bars when cutting as well. In this case, you'll need to make sure you stay on a caloric deficit.
Besides boosting calories, these granola bars count among the best pre-workout meals for muscle gain. Since one serving has 43 g of protein, it will also help you maximize your muscle-building efforts.
Wondering how do you maximize the rate you're gaining muscle?
Trying to find out how much protein can the body use in a single meal for muscle-building, researchers came to the following conclusion.
"To maximize anabolism one should consume protein at a target intake of 0.4 g/kg/meal across a minimum of four meals in order to reach a minimum of 1.6 g/kg/day. Using the upper daily intake of 2.2 g/kg/day reported in the literature spread out over the same four meals would necessitate a maximum of 0.55 g/kg/meal," Brad Schoenfeld and Alan Aragon concluded in 2018.
For example, to maximize muscle-building, a 176 lbs (80 kg) individual needs 32-44 g of protein from one meal. Do you remember how much protein our granola bars recipe has? 43 g.
Spot on.
One of the vitamins in our granola bars that impacts muscle growth is vitamin B12. Thanks for your B12, nonfat Greek yogurt.
Don't take our word for it. Here is scientific proof published in the Advances in Nutrition journal. Researcher Lindsay Allen states that one of B12's roles is to restore methionine, an amino acid used in protein synthesis.
Besides B12, another compound that improves muscle growth is choline. It's present in our granola bars because of the oats and the nonfat Greek yogurt.
The researchers behind a 2020 review of scientific studies that examined choline highlighted the compound's contribution to muscle growth and physical performance.
Our granola bars recipe fights muscle cramps and reduces muscle damage during exercise. Thus, performance increases. The bars do this because they contain peanut butter and olive oil, which have vitamin E.
A 2013 Nephro-Urology Monthly study of 20 patients with renal disease showed Vitamin E significantly reduces muscle cramps.
Moreover, a 2009 study of 21 participants published in The Journal of Physiological Sciences reached interesting results. The researchers concluded that vitamin E supplementation protects against oxidative stress and muscle damage.
More recently, a 2022 review published in Nutrients showed that even a low dose of vitamin E could prevent "exercise-induced muscle damage."
Another mineral you get from consuming our granola bars is zinc. And guess what? Oats, the core ingredient of our recipe, are a good source of zinc.
According to a 2020 Redox Biology review, zinc helps form new muscular cells and regenerate depleted muscle tissues.
No matter when you eat them, our high-calorie granola bars energize you for many hours. They're rich in complex carbs, low in added sugars, and abundant in vitamins and minerals that help your body produce energy.
The American Heart Association backs this up. Complex carbohydrates will give you energy for a longer period than simple carbs, like the ones found in white bread or candies.
Fortunately, our granola bars are full of ingredients that contain complex carbs:
The only added sugar in our granola bars comes from honey. Since the sugar in honey makes up only 8.6% of the recipe's total calories, it respects the recommendation of the 2020-2025 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
According to the DGA, the calories we get from the added sugar in our diet should not exceed 10% of our daily calories.
Besides carbohydrates, our granola bars have compounds that help the body get and use the energy found in foods:
Let's look at some proof regarding the above micronutrients' roles.
A 2020 scientific review of B vitamins, vitamin C, iron, magnesium, and zinc is titled "vitamins and minerals for energy, fatigue, and cognition."
Sources of B vitamins in our granola bars:
The only ingredient that is a good source of vitamin C in our recipe is the strawberries.
As for magnesium, oats and peanut butter contain plenty of it.
Some ingredients rich in iron found in our bars are peanut butter and cocoa powder.
When it comes to phosphorus, the National Institutes of Health describes it as a component of "the body's key energy source, adenosine triphosphate (ATP)."
The best source of phosphorus in our granola bars recipe is the nonfat Greek yogurt.
The same NIH states that copper is involved in energy production. In our recipe, sunflower seeds, peanut butter, and cocoa powder bring most of it.
As for manganese, a 2015 article reviewed manganese's effects on health. The research states that the mineral plays a role in significant physiological processes, including energy metabolism. Most of the manganese in our bars comes from oats.
Our granola bars also contain chromium, which "might play a role in carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism," according to the NIH. In our granola bars, chromium comes from peanut butter.
Besides, a 2022 study on 138 soccer players states from its beginning that molybdenum plays an important role in adapting our bodies to physical training. Oats and peanut butter bring molybdenum to our granola bars.
Our high-calorie granola bars recipe strengthens your bones and connective tissues because it contains calcium, copper, manganese, boron, and vitamin C.
A 2012 review of the essential nutrients for bone health agrees. It found that calcium, copper, manganese, boron, and vitamin C are commonly used to improve bone health.
You can make the granola bars on a Sunday and have servings for a week.
What's even cooler?
You can eat one serving of our high-calorie granola bars recipe in about 5 minutes, even if you're on the go.
To follow our high-calorie granola bars recipe in a compressed format, use the summary below.
Unfold Today has rigorous sourcing principles adhering to the top journalistic standards, so our writers always look for official, experienced, and first-hand sources. Read more about how we keep our content trustworthy and updated by reading our editorial process.
