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    Vanilla Chai Spice Protein Bars

    November 9, 2016 By Meagan Fikes 2 Comments

    Two images of protein bars stitched together vertically with the words "Vanilla Chai Spice Protein Bars - paleo | dairy free | 12g protein" between the two images.

    A stack of three thin, light brown protein bars with a bite out of the top bar.


    Some links on this site are affiliate links which means that if you make a purchase at one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Additionally, I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. I only link to products and services I personally recommend and believe will benefit my readers. These links help to cover some of my blogging expenses. I appreciate your support!


    We all have our weird issues when it comes to food, right? I once saw a teenager at Fazoli's absolutely lose her mind because her breadstick was touching the rest of her food. I've also seen grown adults brought to tears and/or dry heaving because somebody used the word "moist" to describe a food. While I may not understand these reactions, I am entitled to my own food "pet peeves". I have two that I'm aware of:

    1. Armpit soup (Sometimes referred to as "chili")
    2. Food floss

    Since I've already expressed how I feel about cumin and how it does not belong in chili (and most other foods), I need to explain the "food floss" and why I let it into my blog.

    Food floss (official definition that I just made up) is the vertical lines left in a food indicating the area between the consumer's teeth where the food has just been dragged through. Just like floss. Don't get me wrong, I can share a drink with somebody no problem but once they leave teeth marks in my brownie, I'm pretty much done. Hence, why brownies were not created to be shared. I think gum is the worst. If you ever see me chewing gum, know to take a few steps back because I really need a toothbrush when I get to that point.

    Why did I include it in my photo of these delicious protein bars? Because I'm assuming I'm the only person that it bothers... and one of the bars broke when I was cutting them so I had to make it look like I intentionally bit into it. At least that missing piece held me over until I could eat these after taking photos!

    A thin protein bar with a bite missing in the focus of the shot surrounded by more bars, whole dates, a cinnamon stick, and a vanilla bean.

    I'm seriously wonder how many people are still reading right now. Thanks for sticking around - you're my fave.

    I used to make protein bars like this all the time using various flavors of protein. PureWOD (edit: now Equip Foods) just released BUILD in vanilla flavor (edit: now called Prime Protein) and it made me want to try a vanilla chai spice flavor of my bars. I used their chocolate flavor back in January to make "Peanut" Butter Cup Protein Chia Pudding and I had also used it to try a recipe for "Fudgy Protein Mug Cakes" which I would link to but unfortunately, the website no longer exists. I love that even though it's not whey, it's still very versatile and can be used in a lot of recipes.

    I've been noticing a lot of people on my site looking for vegan recipes, probably because most everything here is dairy free. Although the protein I used is dairy free, it is made with beef so I asked my friend Edith if she had a good vegan protein she could recommend for my vegan readers and she recommended vanilla PlantFusion (Amazon Associate link). Note that the recipe has not been tested with any other protein but I see no reason why it wouldn't work with that or even vanilla whey if that's what you use.

    Print

    Recipe

    A thin protein bar with a bite missing in the focus of the shot surrounded by more bars, whole dates, a cinnamon stick, and a vanilla bean.

    Vanilla Chai Spice Protein Bars

    5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review
    • Author: Meagan Fikes
    • Prep Time: 15 mins
    • Total Time: 15 mins
    • Yield: 4 bars 1x
    • Method: No bake
    • Diet: Gluten Free
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    Description

    Sweet and spicy vanilla chai spice protein bars require no baking, are paleo-friendly, dairy free, and contain 12g of protein each. Vegan option included.


    Ingredients

    Protein bars

    • 12 dates, pitted and roughly chopped
    • 1 Tbsp nut butter (use cashew butter for best flavor)
    • 2 Tbsp coconut oil
    • 60g vanilla protein powder, dairy free (I used Equip Foods Prime Protein) *see notes for vegan option*

    Chai spice blend

    • ½ tsp cinnamon
    • ¼ tsp ginger
    • ⅛ tsp cardamom
    • ⅛ tsp black pepper
    • ⅛ tsp cloves

    Instructions

    1. In a food processor, blend together the dates, nut butter, and coconut oil until you get a paste. Transfer this to a medium mixing bowl.
    2. Mix the spices together for the chai spice blend and set aside.
    3. Add vanilla protein to the mixing bowl with just a little bit of the spice blend and knead by hand. Continue adding the spice blend as you knead, tasting as you go until it reaches your spice preference. I like mine pretty spicy and ended up using all of it.
    4. Once everything is fully mixed, you'll need to pack it into a 4x8 rectangle. The easiest way to do this is to transfer it to an 8x8 baking dish and pack the mixture into half of it. It takes a little bit of muscle but keep packing it in there until it's solid and not crumbly.
    5. Refrigerate until chilled. It might take about 4 hours or you can leave it overnight. Once chilled, cut into 4 2x4 inch bars.

    Notes

    *I have a friend who recommends PlantFusion vanilla protein (Amazon Affiliate link) as a good vegan option. It does contain gluten-free, sprouted grains but may be a good option for you depending on your needs and preferences. Note that this recipe has only been tested with Equip Foods Prime Protein.

    If you have leftover chai spice blend, add a little to some black tea to make your own chai.

    Each bar contains approximately 12g protein.

    Did you make this recipe?

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Rachel

      November 09, 2016 at 8:52 pm

      Wow! These sound delicious. <3

      Reply
      • Meagan Fikes

        November 09, 2016 at 10:11 pm

        Thanks Rachel! I loved your mug cakes :)

        Reply

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    About Meagan

    About Meagan

    I started out with a passion for creating unique recipes and decorating cakes. In June of 2012, I discovered I was not only severely gluten intolerant but also, many of the foods I was eating I simply couldn't include in my diet anymore. Fortunately, my love for trying new recipes, ingredients, and cooking methods made re-learning how to cook seem more like a fun challenge than an unfortunate circumstance. I'm so happy to say that my dietary restrictions haven't stopped me from doing what I love. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do.

    Some links on this site are affiliate links which means that if you make a purchase at one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only link to products and services I personally recommend and believe will benefit my readers. These links help to cover some of my blogging expenses. I appreciate your support!

    I'm a member of Food Blogger Pro. Learn how to start and grow your food blog.

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    I was going to write some jokes about logging but I was going to write some jokes about logging but you wooden get them. Because they’re super dumb. Ok, I’ll share anyway.
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How do lumberjacks find a missing exponent?
By using LOGarithms
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What did the lumberjack wear to work on casual Friday?
His favorite Tree-shirt
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When is the most stressful time of year for a tree?
Sept-timber
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I told you they were bad, right? 😅 Cut me some slack, they were for a kids birthday party. Oh, and I have more…
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Why did the logger get a gym membership?
He wanted to get lumber jacked 💪
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Why couldn’t the tree answer the riddle?
He was stumped
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What kind of beer do lumberjacks drink?
Loggers 🍻
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Why did the logger have back pain?
He didn’t have enough lumber support
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Embarrassingly enough, I have a bunch more but I’ll save them for a project in a later blog post. For now, I just have the cake.
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This is a 2 part, absolutely massive blog post on making this logging scene cake from start to finish. The cake is chocolate and vanilla layers with cookies & cream filling. And as always, gluten free and dairy free.
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The recipe is at the link in my profile
👉@eatsomethingdelicious
Thanks for chopping by 👋
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#glutenfree #dairyfree #dessert #foodallergies #celiac #glutenintolerant #eatsomethingdelicious #cakedecorating #foodbloggerpro #cake
    Big news: I cleaned my house the other day 😅 Bu Big news: I cleaned my house the other day 😅 But seriously, it’s amazing how much having a clean space can help. My energy levels are completely uncalled for considering we’re well beyond a month of Erika barely sleeping at night and at least one family member dealing with a cold. I’m so tired of snot 😩 And being responsible for 3 peoples noses. We’re trying to graduate one nose to self-care but apparently the art of nose blowing takes a lot more boxes of tissues to master. We’ll get there.
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Ok enough gross stuff. My finally clean again space has made me so much more focused and motivated to get things done. I’ve burned through most of my work to-do list and made it to the fun stuff that I don’t have to do but just want to. And since I was at that point, I decided to do something for myself by working on my blog. And I went a little overboard by working on 5 blog posts at once. I probably won’t get through them all but I have 3 ready so far.
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This first post is a 30 minute ground beef stroganoff that I made almost 3 years ago. I didn’t do a great job writing down the recipe so I wasn’t able to post it until I figured out what I forgot to write down. Figured it out the other day and it was so good!
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You can get the recipe at the link in my profile
👉@eatsomethingdelicious
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#glutenfree #dairyfree #celiac #eatsomethingdelicious #30minutemeals #foodallergies #foodbloggerpro #glutenintolerant
    Not really a new recipe but I shared my sons 4th b Not really a new recipe but I shared my sons 4th birthday cake on the blog today. Also wrote a recap on everything that’s been going on for the past year since I would normally write about it in my blog posts but haven’t written anything! I don’t know when I’ll be back on there. I’ve only had time for site maintenance and I really miss blogging but I’ll be back on once things slow down. The link to the new post is in my profile!
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#glutenfree #dairyfree #cakedecorating #foodallergies #celiacdisease
    I almost didn’t make this into a casserole becau I almost didn’t make this into a casserole because the sauce and pasta combined made a delicious side dish on their own! @beldolcefood #sponsored my most recent blog post and provided me with their new gluten free fusilli and penne to try out. I used the fusilli in this recipe and the sauce is a creamy, cheesy enchilada sauce made from just 3 ingredients.
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I ended up adding taco meat, fire roasted tomatoes, corn, black beans, and dairy free cheese to make a taco noodle casserole. Then we ate it all and I made it again! This is one of those recipes that will be going in our regular meal rotation.
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This is a pretty versatile recipe. It can be made vegan just by leaving out the meat and it’s just as good. And as I said earlier, the pasta with just the sauce makes a really good side dish. You can also top it with whatever you like such as cilantro, jalapeños, sour cream, scallions, or salsa.
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The recipe and details on @beldolcefood new gluten free pasta is linked in my profile:
@eatsomethingdelicious
Let me know if you try it!
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#glutenfree #dairyfree #glutenfreefacility #pasta #casserole #beldolce #foodallergies #f52grams #foodbloggerpro #celiac #glutenintolerant #eatsomethingdelicious
    I’ll just say it - I’m one of those bloggers t I’ll just say it - I’m one of those bloggers that makes cakes for their blogs “birthdays”. Or uses the blog birthdays as an excuse to make yet another cake recipe....yeah, that’s probably more accurate.
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Definitely felt like I needed a good excuse for this one because it’s my fifth variation of gooey butter cake! However, my site is seven years old so maybe I should have had seven gooey butter cakes ready to go? Guess I’d better get caught up before year eight 😉
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Anyways, I really enjoyed this carrot cake variation of gooey butter cake. The cake layer/crust swaps out the yellow cake mix with spice cake mix and I added in some shredded carrots and raisins. I kept the “gooey” top layer the same except that I topped it with a sprinkle of cinnamon and additional raisins before baking.
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If you want to try the recipe, the link is in my profile: @eatsomethingdelicious
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#gooeybuttercake #foodallergies #glutenfree #dairyfree #foodbloggerpro #baking #celiac #f52grams #f52sweets #glutenintolerant #carrotcake
#glutenfreelife #eatsomethingdelicious
    Here are a few last minute treat ideas! The carame Here are a few last minute treat ideas! The caramel stuffed crispy rice treats recipe is written below. The other recipes (gooey butter cookies, salted caramel turtles, and pumpkin snickerdoodles) can be found at the link in my bio!
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CARAMEL STUFFED CRISPY RICE TREATS
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INGREDIENTS
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• ¼ C dairy free butter, divided
• 4 C mini marshmallows (regular and vegan both work), divided
• 6 C gluten free rice cereal *see notes*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, divided
• 10-11 oz dairy free chewy caramels
• 11.25 oz can sweetened condensed coconut milk
.
DIRECTIONS
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1. Melt 2 tablespoons of the dairy free butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add 2 cups of marshmallows and stir until they are melted with no lumps.
2. Remove from heat and stir in ½ tsp of vanilla then gently fold in 3 cups of cereal until it is well-combined with the marshmallows.
3. Using wet hands, press this mixture evenly into the bottom of a 7x11 inch casserole dish and set aside.
4. Unwrap the caramels and add them along with the sweetened condensed coconut milk to a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir often to avoid burning. Once this has turned to a completely smooth sauce, pour over the cereal layer.
5. Make your top cereal layer by repeating steps 1 and 2. Distribute this evenly over the caramel layer and pat down with wet hands.
6. Once the treats have cooled down, they will firm up and hold their shape when cut. Cut into squares and serve.
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NOTES
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• Potential allergens contained in this recipe may vary due to brands of ingredients used, product reformulations, etc. Please verify that all your ingredients are safe for you to consume and always be mindful of allergen cross contamination while cooking.
• Double check that the cereal you use is gluten free. At least one brand carries 2 different versions of rice cereal and only one is GF.
• Don't make both cereal layers in one large batch then divide it up. The top layer will cool and firm up before you can layer it on which will make the caramel seep out when you press it down.
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