Name: Low Fat Peanut Butter Protein Cereal Bars
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: ½ cup Instant (or Rolled) Oats (45g); ½ cup Puffed Brown Rice Cereal (9g); ½ cup Cheerios (14g); ½ scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (15g, 2-3 Tbsp); ½ cup Peanut Butter Powder (64g); 6 Tbsp Almond Milk; 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup (Sugar-free recommended)

These Low Fat Peanut Butter Protein Cereal Bars made with powdered peanut butter for all the PB flavor without the fat. Sweetened with protein powder and sugar-free syrup, and made with oats, puffed rice and cheerios cereal, this recipe makes delicious and healthy cereal breakfast bars!

Jump to Recipe

I just got into my peanut butter phase again after all those pumpkin recipes. So these peanut butter cereal bars were born because I just wanted something extremely rich in the pb taste, but not have all the fat.

Peanut Butter Powder really is such a magical creation! Other than the low fat part, it’s also quite high in protein, which adds to the “high protein” part of these cereal bars.

I love the original stuff too and eat it by the spoonful, but I need this good stuff when I want a peanut butter flavored treat as past of my post-workout breakfast.

Types of Cereal

You know the overwhelming size of that cereal aisle at the grocery store?

Well there’s clearly a reason behind that!

We’ve all seen the different shapes, sizes and flavors of this popular breakfast food. And a lot of them so often just repeated across different brands.

So I started looking into the actual “types” of breakfast cereal – like the different cereal categories – that exist.

Here’s a gist of what I found online, all based on the method of cooking:

Simple Flaked cereal like Corn Flakes
Extruded cereal: These are the light (in weight) and puffy shaped ones, because they’re made with an actual cast to shape them. For example, Cheerios!
Gun Puffed Grain where it’s just the cooked whole grain that is puffed up fluffy into a cereal, like puffed rice cereal – in this recipe – or puffed wheat.
Oven Puffed which you’d think is like the normal brown rice puffs cereal, but actually needs higher cooking temperatures and some other fancy stuff. But what comes in this category is Rice Crispies.
The “Shredded” which everyone just associates with the popular Shredded Wheat.
Apparently granola – the mix of oats, nuts, seeds and sweeteners – also classifies as cereal.
And then theres the a some that are a combination of extruded and puffed and what not.

I would recommend going for the sugar free and whole grain cereals for this homemade breakfast cereal bar, since we will sweeten them with protein powder and (sugarfree) maple syrup.

You can do the same even if you’re just buying the cereal for regular consumption.

Ingredients for Low Fat Peanut Butter Protein Cereal Bars

These gluten free cereal protein bars need just simple breakfast cereals and a few other ingredients you probably have lying around, making this a perfect homemade protein bar!

With the variety of cereal options available to choose from, here’s the ones I went for:

Puffed Rice Cereal – I used Brown rice puff for these cereal bars, but you an use normal rice puffs too
Cheerios for peanut butter cheerio bars without peanut butter!

Instant Oats or Quick Oats – you can also use rolled oats here, but shred them up a bit in the food processor.

Feel free to replace them with any others you have lying at home. Try to use the plain cereal with no added sugar because these protein bars get the sweetness with the protein powder and other ingredients.

Peanut Butter Powder – This might also be called Powdered Peanut Butter (PbFit and Pb2). It’s is made by pressing out the oils from peanuts so you get something what will give you peanut butter protein treats that are nearly fat free!
Almond Milk to keep these bars Vegan and Dairy free too

To add sweetness to the breakfast cereal bars but keep them sugarfree – since there’s also no dates and no marshmallows used:

Vanilla Protein Powder – key for the high protein cereal bars. All my protein recipes use Quest protein powder (here’s a link).
For a Vegan protein cereal bar, use one that meets your dietary needs.
Maple Syrup – I would recommend a stevia sweetened or monk fruit sweetened one for a sugar free protein bar.

How to make Healthy Protein Cereal Bars

These homemade protein granola bars are really easy to make since they’re a no bake and no cook recipe; Just mix, chill and slice!

First prep an 8½ x 4½” loaf pan or just a tray by lining it with parchment paper.

Then mix together the cereals and protein powder in a large bowl – instant or quick oats, brown rice puffs, cheerios and vanilla protein powder.

In another bowl, stir the pb2 peanut butter powder and almond milk to make a smooth peanut butter spread.

Add the powdered peanut butter mix and maple syrup into the bowl, and fold it together to make the protein cereal bar mix. This will take some time and be a tough mix, but it will come together.

Spread the mixture into the loaf pan and press it down. You should have a tight mix with smooth surface.

Place the loaf pan in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Slice it into 5 bars.

You can store these Cereal Breakfast Bars too!

Since this is a recipe for homemade cereal bars with milk, they need to be stored in the fridge.

Keep the high protein cereal bars in the fridge for a week in an airtight container.

They make great meal prep freezer friendly protein peanut butter bars too! Place them in an airtight sealed container, or individually wrapped in plastic wrap, and they should be good for 2 or 3 months in the freezer. Be sure to let them thaw on the counter before eating!

Some alternate ingredients for Healthy Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

These peanut butter protein granola bars are extremely customizable and with all the cereal options, they’re great for any diet – even low carb!

For a Low Carb and Keto protein breakfast bar, leave out the oats and use keto friendly cereal. There’s plenty on the market right now.

If you prefer a homemade chocolate peanut butter protein bar recipe, use chocolate protein powder instead of vanilla, and maybe even add some extra cocoa powder. How about more chocolate drizzle?

Not concerned about the sugar part? Use honey in place of maple syrup, but they also won’t be Vegan or a no sugar recipe anymore.

If you’re not concerned about the fat content, use plain unsweetened and unsalted creamy peanut butter instead of the powder, and avoid the almond milk.

Some more Healthy Homemade Protein Bars:

More Low Fat Peanut Butter Desserts and Snacks to try: