The majority of protein bars found in any grocery store are extremely high in sugar, meaning that they’re going to do the opposite of filling you up and keeping you satiated. When blood sugar spikes and crashes, you’ll be tired again shortly afterwards, and you’ll reach for another bar because you’ll be hungry again. #proteinbarconspiracy 😜
John and I love Epic bars, but at anywhere from $2-3 a pop―not to mention the plastic packaging that comes with each individually wrapped bar―I wanted a cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative.
If you’re not familiar with Epic bars, they taste like jerky. They’re basically a bar made of ground meat mixed with spices and fruit, and they’re a super convenient protein-and-fat snack when you’re on the go.
In the spirit of creating my own convenience, I decided to create these homemade low sugar protein bars that taste (in my humble opinion) even better than Epic bars. These are made with beef, but you could also probably do venison or bison. They are both keto and paleo friendly, and they’re excellent for anyone who eats low carb.
It’s easiest to make these bars with a food dehydrator―I use the Chefman Food Dehydrator set to its default temperature of 158℉ (70℃)―but you could also make them in an oven set to its lowest temperature with the door cracked open with a wooden spoon.
Even though they are dehydrated, because they don’t have any curing ingredients, I wouldn’t leave them out of refrigeration for more than one day. I like to triple or quadruple the recipe, batch prep a bunch of them and store them in the freezer, then just take out whatever I need for that day. I wrap them in a beeswax food wrap or place them in a silicon zip-lock Stasher bag, and then bring them with me in my purse or bag. Voila! No plastic packaging!
I haven’t tried it with chicken or turkey yet (that will be next!), but if you wished to make this with poultry, I would suggest cooking the chicken or turkey first. I suspect a dehydrator might not get the temperature high enough to fully cook it through. I would probably then pulse the cooked meat with the rest of the ingredients in a food processor with some sort of binder, like an egg, to make everything stick together, and then shape the bars.
You can switch out the almonds for other nuts, or, if you’re avoiding nuts, sunflower seed kernels would be a good alternative. Soaking the nuts overnight reduces anti-nutrients like phytic acid, an enzyme inhibitor (meaning it blocks nutrient absorption). It also makes them easier to digest.
Luckily, the process to make your own Epic bars at home is pretty simple. They are just ground meat made magical with spices, coconut aminos, dried fruit, and nuts.
All you do is throw all of the ingredients (except the meat) into a food processor:
And pulse a few times until it’s very finely chopped.
In a large bowl, add the almond mixture to the ground beef and mix it all together with your hands until it’s fully incorporated.
Form the meat into bars that are about 4-5 inches long, two inches wide, and a half inch thick. Don’t worry about getting it perfect.
Once the bars are shaped, place them onto the tray for dehydrating. Make sure you leave enough space for air to circulate around the bars.
I recommend using a silicone mat for shaping because you can lift the bars easily off the mat and it will save you a lot of time. You can also use parchment paper, waxed paper, a cutting board, or just your hands.
Dehydrate the bars for about six hours, or until no longer pink in the middle. They will darken, but will still be moist in the middle.
And there you go! You have your own Epic Bars!
Enjoy the (dried) fruit of your labor!
Ingredients
- 1 pound raw grass-fed ground sirloin or other lean meat
- ¼ cup coconut aminos (or if you tolerate soy, Bragg’s liquid aminos)
- 1 cup almonds, soaked overnight
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground sage
- 1 ½ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ cup dried cranberries or blueberries (omit for lower sugar)
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients except the meat into a food processor and blend until it becomes finely ground. If you don’t have a food processor, you can chop the nuts up very finely and then mix it with the remaining spices and coconut aminos.
- Mix the mixture with the meat by hand until it’s all combined. Form the meat into bars that are about 4-5 inches long, two inches wide, and a half inch thick.
- On the dehydrator tray, place the bars side by side, but not touching, so that air can flow around them.
- Dehydrate the bars for 6 hours. They will darken but still be moist in the middle.
- Store in the fridge or freezer. These will keep outside of the fridge for a few hours.
This post originally appeared July 2015 and has been updated for December 2019.
These are so yummy! I’ve made 3 batches already! I used dates instead of cranberries or blueberries bc I couldn’t find any without added sugars.
Question: do you have any other recipes for homemade epic bars? I wanna try with different spices and maybe ground chicken? Just wanted to change it up but not sure what flavors would go well. These are awesome!
Thanks!
I’m so glad you love them!! These are one of my favorite ever things to make. I don’t really have any other recipes, but you could keep the same ratios of some sort of nut to some sort of protein, plus whatever spices you want, and any dried fruit for some sweetness and a kick of energy! If you look at a health food store, you might be able to find dried cranberries or blueberries without sugar. Even if it does have added sugar, it’s just a bit of fruit, so I would think it would be okay for sugar content. I know the Epic brand has a chicken sriracha bar. If you were to do chicken, I would cook the chicken first by baking or slow cooking, then pulsing with a food processor with the other ingredients until it’s fine and all mixed together. I bet some sort of Moroccan/African chicken would be awesome, like chicken + Za’atar or chicken + Ras el Hanout or chicken + Berbere seasoning. (You can easily Google recipes to make your own of those spice blends). I’ll have to keep playing with it, too. It sounds like a rabbit trail I could easily (and gladly) go down! Good luck!
So uncooked ground sirloin? Just making sure.
I wonder if you could dehydrate your own berries to add?
I haven’t personally tried it, but I bet it would totally work! Yum! Great idea!
I’d love to make the Chicken Sriracha Epic Bar. Could I swap the ingredients the package calls for and just follow your cooking instructions? How is the texture compared to the real thing? Thanks. I’m glad someone decided to give these bars a try!
Great idea! With the chicken, I would cook it first and then grind it up by pulsing it in a food processor until it is rice-sized. You might need a sort of binder to hold it all together – perhaps pulsing it with a raw egg or with a tablespoon of freshly ground flax seed + 2 tablespoons water, plus a squirt of sriracha plus whatever spice mixes you want to do? I am not sure what they use to to hold it all together. The texture was pretty close to regular Epic bars for the beef ones! If you make them, let me know how they turned out! 🙂
Epic uses Chia, that would bind it all together for sure.
Great idea!
Hi! I noticed you recommend cooking the chicken first. Do you recommend the same for the beef or pork or turkey. In short should the meats be cooked befor mixing and dehydrating?
Thanks!
That’s a good question! For beef, I just let it dehydrate, no cooking. My thought is that chicken is kinda watery and so it might be easier to shape into bars if it is cooked first. To be honest, I am not sure about the pork and turkey as I haven’t made them before. Of course, you want to make sure you are getting the meat from a source you trust: pastured and organic, with the animals allowed to eat their natural food and roam in their natural environment. If you wanted to make sure it’s completely cooked through, you could dehydrate in the oven on its lowest setting (around 170) for a couple hours instead of 6 hours in the dehydrator. If you try it, let me know! I would be curious to know how it turns out! 🙂
What temperature do you cook it at to dehydrate it?
My dehydrator didn’t have a temperature setting, so if yours does, I would just recommend medium.
This looks very interesting. How many bars does the repie make?
It sort of depends! I would say maybe about 10-15, depending on how big you make the bars, and whether you decide to add dried fruit.
Hey, can we store these outside the refrigerator for a few days?
To be honest, I’m not sure. I usually keep them in the fridge or freezer. My thought is that yes, that it would be like jerky, but I’ve never really wanted to risk it!
I took these backpacking in 90 degree heat for 9 days. I had no problem with mold or spoilage.
That’s great to hear that! I’m glad these could help you nourish your body on your trip! 🙂
I love this! How long would I leave these in the oven though?
I haven’t tried it in an oven, but you would want to do it on its lowest setting, around 170, and maybe leave for 3 or so hours? You could break one open to check and see that it’s not still pink inside. Let me know what you find out! 🙂
This looks really good. I’m going to try this with some venison.
Ooh, I bet venison would be delicious! Let me know how it turns out!
Do you think these would work well without the nuts? Or are they sort of a binder?
You could definitely do it without the nuts! If it’s a nut allergy, you could also do sunflower seeds, which I have done in the past. 🙂
Thank you for the reply!! Not a nut allergy – I just try not to overdo the nuts . I made these the other day with walnuts (what was on sale) and they are so good! Better than epic bars. Thanks for the recipe. I will be remaking these again and again.
Sure, that’s fine! You could adjust it to have less of the nuts. Glad you are loving them! 🙂
My dehydrator goes up to 155 degrees… what temp do you recommend for the 6 hr dehydration?
Hey Rosemary! Nice name! 😉 My dehydrator only had one setting: “on”, so I’m not quite sure about different temps. However, if I were you, I would perhaps do a medium temperature and then check the bars at 5 hours in and see if they need more time. I generally break one apart to make sure there is no pink left in the middle. It’s not really an exact science, so you could try longer or shorter to see what you like!
How many grams of protein is each bar? How many calories and such as well are in these
I’m not sure, but you could roughly calculate by finding out how much protein is in ~4 oz ground beef. I also don’t know about the calories, but I count nutrients, not calories. 😉 And these are nutrient-dense!
Currently following AIP so can’t do nuts but I did substitute sliced tigernuts for the pecans and used bison. I’m happy with my new portable protein snack.
Bobbi, what a great idea! I wouldn’t have thought of using tiger nuts; I think that’s genius! I’m glad you’re happy with it. Happy cooking!
Quick question, are you mixing lean raw ground beef with fruit and nuts mixture, because it’s not listed on your recipe sheet. I just want to make sure that I do it right, and that this doesn’t end up in an epic fail.
Yes, that is correct! I’ll update the recipe to make it more clear. Also, “EPIC fail”… good pun!
What tempurature do you dry them in the oven for 6 hours at?
The lowest setting your oven can go to, and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. It will likely still go faster than a dehydrator, so I would check for doneness around 3 hours, and every hour after that until you get to your desired texture/doneness.
So two weeks ago I made your recipe, the only change I made was I added some unsalted sunflower kernels to the mix.
When finished it kinda reminded me of breakfast sausage, while not bad, not my favorite. So I started toying with the idea of something more to my taste, I make them to help when my blood sugar is low and I need a boost. So I used some of the original ingredients, lean ground beef, pecans, cranberry, coconut aminos, ground ginger, but added, toasted coconut, and dehydrated pineapple, dash of nutmeg, white pepper, sunflower kernels, and just a tablespoon of real maple syrup.
Baked for 2ish hours @ 170° F
I am very pleased with the results.
Thanks for giving me a jumping off point!
DEW
I love that you took the recipe and made it your own! The recipe sounds excellent, and I’m glad you loved it!
I fully planned on making a copycat Epic bar, and stumbled on yours while researching vegetable bars, the new darling of the snack bar world. I truly appreciate your advance work here. Regarding dehydrating meat, however, commercial jerky requires a cure, as does any home made you plan on storing outside of refrigeration. Natural bacon uses celery powder cure, which can be purchased. It’s a natural nitrate or nitrite, I can’t remember which. The Epic bar uses celery powder as a cure. Without some form of cure to protect from nasty bacterias, it’s best to store these in the fridge. Example, jerkyholic.com’s ground meat jerky recipe indicates 1/4 tsp cure #1 product (quick cure, as in jerky), or double regular salt. It is also required to heat the product to 160° to start with, for safety’s sake, and leave it there for awhile, reducing to medium later. This can be done in the oven,cir in dehydrator with a thermometer if you don’t have a temperature gauge. This is all ESPECIALLY true with pre-ground meat, which has had any bacteria spread throughout, as opposed to a hunk of meat which only has bacteria on the surface. This is all per USDA. I’ve been grinding raw chicken and red meats for cat food for two years; a little research is called for here, folks!
All good points; I thought I mentioned in the post that I keep them in the freezer and then take out one when I’m taking it with me for the day and it defrosts by the time I’m ready to eat it, but I realized now I didn’t. I would recommend doing that to make sure it doesn’t go bad.
Like the EPIC bar….very expensive though….think I’ll try with Costco chicken breast and go from there….thanks for the recipe!
That’s a great idea! I decided to make my own for the same reason – cost! Enjoy!
Made a double batch today… Used 90/10 ground sirloin I found on sale at Kroger for $2.50#! With the other ingredients factored in, I made 18 larger epic bars for roughly $8!! Normal price for an Epic bar at Kroger is $2.99 apiece… And I swear they have gotten smaller each passing year. I did however use Morton tender Quick at 1.5 tsp per # of meat just because it is ground meat… I don’t like using nitrites but I can’t find celery powder anywhere and I added crushed red pepper to heat them us just a tad… Great recipe.. Thank you for sharing cause there isn’t much out there when it comes to knock off Epic bar recipes….
Yes, I agree that they get so expensive so quickly! I am a huge proponent of frugal living and so making these makes me feel like I outsmarted the system. 😉 Enjoy!
The bison cranberry bar lists bacon as one of their main ingredients. Have you tried that? I’m wondering what the bacon/beef or bison ratio would be.
Ooh, yeah, I’ve seen that! If I were to do that, I would probably cook the bacon first until it’s crispy, then process with the rest of the ingredients with a ratio of 1:4 of bacon to beef/bison. That’s just my intuitive guess, but you could probably do more or less depending on what you like with flavor and texture/consistency! If you do it, let me know how it turns out! 🙂
So happy to find your article! i have been searching for a long time for a recipe like this. However, there is no longer a recipe attached to the article. It would be awesome if you could fix this!
Good catch, M! I think it’s problem with the plug-in, so let me connect with my IT guy (my husband, haha) and see if I can fix it! Thank you for letting me know!
All fixed! You can pay me in…homemade beef bars!
Call me weird, gang, but I’d like to make protein bars out of fish, like tuna or salmon, either canned or fresh. Am I crazy? Anybody tried it?
I would love to know what you think.
I bet you totally could! I know Epic has a salmon bar, so I’m sure it would work. Just get some spices that work well with fish, like dill, lemon peel, tarragon, whatever you feel like! If it were me, I would try doing something like mashed sweet potato instead of the fruit, which I think might be a little weird with fish. Let me know how it turns out if you do it!
I’m addicted to epic bars.I do make my own beef jerky but never had to refrigerate it.I’m curious why do these bars need refrigeration as I never put my epic bars in the fridge.
Thank you.
It’s really just a better safe than sorry thing! The Epic bars are vacuum sealed so I think those are a little more travel-friendly for many days away from refrigeration. I just keep my bars in the fridge but I’ll take them with me for the day I’m eating them, so they are only out of refrigeration for one day rather than multiple days. I’m sure they would be fine lasting longer than that if you needed them to be though!