Turtle Protein Bars – Ooey-Gooey & Extra Healthy!

Ooey-gooey Turtle Protein Bars with layers of a caramel-y base, caramel, pecans and chocolate frosting, but all high protein and low sugar! Healthy chocolate caramel pecan turtle bars to satisfy those cravings.

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The “healthy turtle dessert recipe” was on my list for a very long time, and when American Dream Nut Butter came out with the Turtle Cheesecake Almond Butter, I just had to make something.

Soo many options, but you can’t say no to protein bars with a chocolate and caramel and pecan vibe going on. The flavor and texture combination is just too hard to resist!

Ingredients for Turtle Protein Bars

These turtle protein bars are a great healthy treat made with clean ingredients; No sugar, butter or flour needed, with a gluten-free and Vegan option too.

• Rolled Oats
• Oat Flour
• Vanilla Protein Powder  for low-sugar protein bars. I used Quest Nutrition Vanilla Milkshake here since its a whey-casein blend and bakes well
• Unflavored Protein Powder to replace some of the flour. I use the Multi-purpose mix protein powder from Quest Nutrition.
• Almond Butter Powder, also known as Powdered Almond Butter. I use the one from PB2.
• Turtle Cheesecake flavor Almond Butter from American Dream Nut Butter. It’s lower fat and higher protein than normal, and just amazing (code HAYLSKITCHEN gives you a discount on these).
  ADNB has other amazing flavors that would work well here too.
• Non-fat Plain Greek Yogurt
• Unsweetened Applesauce
• Unsweetened Almond Milk

The Protein Carmel Pecan Layer

• Almond Butter Powder: The same one from PB2.
  Peanut Butter Powder from Lakanto (the code HAYLSKITCHEN gives you a discount) or PbFit works too.
• Turtle Cheesecake flavor Almond Butter from American Dream.
• Vanilla Protein Powder for high protein caramel layer; Quest Nutrition for this recipe here.
• Sugar free Caramel Syrup for a low-sugar recipe.
  I use the sugar free caramel syrup from ChocZero
• Some Water
• Chopped Pecans

The Chocolate Protein Frosting Layer

• Non-fat Plain Greek Yogurt
• Chocolate Protein Powder – I used whey-casein from Quest.
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

How to make perfect Chocolate Caramel Pecan Protein Bars at Home

These healthy chocolate caramel pecan protein bars are extremely easy to make, with just making one layer at a time. Here’s some pointers to make the perfect caramel pecan bars every time!

• Use rolled oats for the base; Instant oats will get too soggy.

• Use whey-caesin protein powder, not whey (unless you make subs). It works well with the ratio of ingredients here.
  Whey-caesin absorbs more liquid, and whey absorbs less, so you need to adjust the liquid accordingly.

• Let the baked layer cool before adding the protein caramel layer on these caramel turtle protein bars, or it will melt away.

• Add milk or water little at a time when making caramel; Even a little extra will make it too runny.

• Don’t add too much yogurt in the topping; It will come together; Just continue to mix, and you’ll get the perfect topping for these turtle snack bars.

To store High Protein Chocolate Caramel Nut Bars

These high protein chocolate caramel nut bars need to be stored in the fridge since they have Greek yogurt in the chocolate frosting.

Store homemade caramel turtle bars in the fridge for up to a 1 week or in the freezer for 2-3 months using an airtight container or freezer-safe zipper bag.
That frozen chocolate caramel pecan bars on the counter before eating!

Alternatives for Healthy Turtle Bars!

For the perfect healthy Turtle bars, I would recommend using the ingredient list (and brands) recommended, but here’s some healthy options to choose from:

For the base:

• Oat Flour: Almond Flour
• Unflavored protein powder:  Almond flour or Oat flour (also reduce milk to 2 Tbsp)
• Almond Butter Powder: Peanut Butter Powder (Lakanto for a sugar free version; the code HAYLSKITCHEN gives you a discount)
  or ¼ cup Almond Butter (also reduce milk to 1-2 Tbsp)
• Greek Yogurt: Coconut Yogurt
• Applesauce: Mashed Banana or Pumpkin Puree
• Almond Milk: Regular milk or other non dairy milk

For the Protein Caramel: 

• Almond Butter Powder: Peanut Butter Powder or 2 tablespoon + 2 teaspoon regular almond butterbutter (add water 1 teaspoon at a time if needed)
• Sugar free Caramel Syrup: Regular caramel syrup, Maple syrup or Honey (but this won’t be Vegan or a no sugar recipe anymore)

Chocolate Frosting Options:

• Greek Yogurt: Coconut Yogurt

More Homemade Caramel Protein Bars to try!

• Caramel Almond Protein Bars
• Caramel Cashew Protein Bars
• Caramel Fudge Protein Bars
• Triple Protein Caramel Apple Protein Bars
• Caramel Popcorn Protein Fudge