Spirulina is one of those things that I’d been a bit scared to try for a while now. I have no idea really how to use it, and well it’s green and things that are green are known for being healthy and therefore not as tasty as things which aren’t green.
I have tried the Tom and Lukes Trinity bars before and really enjoyed them, so this recipe is my take on their spirulina protein bars. I purchased some spirulina powder from Food Compass and to be honest these Spirulina Protein Bars are the only thing I could think of trying to use it for, other than mixing in to smoothies.
Spirulina is a blue-green algae (I know I’m really selling it here! But stick with me!), which has an incredibly high concentration of protein. Spirulina is also rich in Omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acids which are great all round for your health.
Our mothers always told us to eat all our greens yet often we don’t eat enough of them. Adding a greens powder such as spirulina powder into your diet can bump up the nutrients you are getting from greens and have great health benefits.
These spirulina protein bars are a lovely shade of green and have the added bonus of a bit of added dark chocolate on the top to make them all the more decadent.
- 1 Cup Sunflower Seeds (or 1 cup sunflower butter)
- 4 Serves Protein Powder (Vanilla)
- 16 Squares Dark Chocolate (I used Whittakers 72% dark ghana)
- 35g Almonds
- 1/2 Cup Coconut Chips (or shredded coconut)
- 1 Teaspoon Spirulina Powder
- Water (as required)
- Process the sunflower seeds until they turn into sunflower butter (this will take 10-15 minutes unless you have a super quick food processor).
- Add all of the other ingredients (excluding the chocolate) and pulse until combined.
- Add a little water (a teaspoon at a time) if the mixture is not becoming slightly sticky when pressed between your fingers.
- Chop half the chocolate into quarters (roughly) and add to the food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine.
- Press the mixture into a tray lined with baking paper and pop in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- While waiting for the mixture to harden in the freezer, melt the remaining chocolate.
- Drizzle over the top of the base and pop in the freezer for another 10 minutes to harden.
- Cut & Eat!
As an added bonus these Spirulina protein bars are naturally gluten free, can easily be nut free (omit the almonds) and can also be vegan by ensuring you use a vegan chocolate and protein powder. There is also no cooking required and all you really need to do is throw all the ingredients in the food processor and then press into a pan, melt the chocolate over the top and then your done.
Have you ever used Spirulina? What for??
I’ve only had it in a smoothie 🙂 Great idea to use it in these bars. Mum had one of the Tom and Luke’s bars and she said they were awesome. What’s your favourite protein powder?
They are seriously good and the green ones are the best! My fave protein powder for taste/price is definitely nutratech, it’s NZ made 🙂
Do you know approximately how much protein you get per bar?
I did a rough calc and it came out at about 12grams per bar, depending on the brand of protein etc that you use 🙂