Peach Protein Bars (Copy-cat RX Bars)

Chewy, fruity, and protein-packed with just FOUR main ingredients! It couldn’t be easier to make your own homemade protein bars.

Have you ever tried an RX bar? I had noticed them in grocery stores over a year ago, but didn’t try one until last fall when I was at a national nutrition conference for dietitians (FNCE in Chicago for all my fellow RDs!). Basically, FNCE is a huge (and I mean HUGE) annual conference for dietitians with seminars on tons of various nutrition topics for continuing education. There’s something there for everyone: from clinical practice, to community dietetics, school food service, technology, and more. However, besides all of the seminars there is a massive Expo hall filled with hundreds of vendors with a huge array of food (often new) products and companies. There’s tons of free samples to try while you’re there, as well as take home. Confession: the Expo may or not be the highlight and most exciting part of FNCE for me. What’s not to love about free food and samples?!

Anyways, all that to say RX bar company was at the Expo this past fall and I had my first experience trying an RX bar. I was instantly hooked. They are very similar to Larabars or energy balls you may have seen on Pinterest (if you’ve tried those, also delicious), but have the added benefit of protein from egg white protein powder. It makes for the perfect, filling combination of protein (from egg whites), heart-healthy fats (from nuts), and carbohydrates (from the dates and dried fruit)!

I’ve been making homemade energy balls/bites for years now with a base of dates and nuts, but wanted to try recreating RX bars with the egg white protein powder. I happened to find some egg white protein powder at Trader Joe’s while in Chicago (you can also easily buy on Amazon if you can’t find at a local grocery store).

Egg white protein powder is very high in protein (16 grams per 1/4 cup serving size), and is a great option for anyone with a dairy or lactose sensitivity as egg white protein is lactose free (unlike whey or casein protein powders). It is also has all of the essential amino acids, which makes it a complete protein source.

If you don’t have egg white protein powder and don’t want to buy it, you could likely substitute in a plant-based protein powder. I’ve observed that whey-based protein powders can often change the texture of things so that might not be the best option. Just make sure you like the taste of the protein powder you’re using, as another benefit of the egg white protein powder is that it’s completely tasteless (at least in these bars), which really allows the peach flavor to shine through. Or, to make this recipe even more simple you could also completely omit the protein powder completely.

I do not count calories/track macros or anything like that, but I was curious about the protein content of these bars as my challenge/goal was to make them as close to RX bars as possible. The chocolate sea salt (and pretty much all other varieties) RX bars have 210 calories, 9 grams of fat, 24 grams of carbohydrates, and 12 grams of protein. These homemade peach protein copy-cat bars have 201 calories, 9 grams of fat, 22 grams of carbohydrates, and 11 grams protein! Pretty darn close if I do say so myself. 🙂

While RX bars have a ton of different flavor varieties, I wanted to try something a big different. Actually, to be honest, I was attempting to be resourceful with the ingredients I had on hand at home. I had a bag (two bags, actually) of dried peaches on hand that needed to be used up. And literally just 10 minutes or so later, these peach protein copy-cat RX bars were born! These homemade bars are also much cheaper than buying store bought.

Gather your cashews, dried peaches and dates, protein powder, and high-speed blender or food processor and have these delicious protein bars on hand when hunger strikes!