Which Protein Powder is Best for Baking?

Find out which protein powder is BEST for baking Protein Banana Bread – plus tips and tricks for baking with whey protein powder, soy protein powder, and pea protein powder.

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Now…onto today’s featured Healthy Kitchen Hack:

Which Protein Powder is Best for Baking?

I’ve been hearing how you can replace some of the flour in baked goods with protein powder. This sounded like a good idea for my family – to replace some of the carbohydrates with muscle-building protein. I bake muffins almost weekly – and banana bread for lunches/snacks fairly often.

But I’ve also read that whey protein powder turns baked goods into tough hockey pucks.

And apparently, pea protein powder has a stronger flavor that may not be suited to baking.

So I tested my favorite banana bread recipe with three different protein powders to discover the differences in baking with:

• Whey protein concentrate powder
• Soy protein powder – isolated soy protein
• Pea protein powder – unflavored

I measured the ingredients using a kitchen scale to make sure my ingredient amounts were exactly the same. The soy and pea protein banana breads were baked in a metal bread pan and the whey protein bread was baked in a stoneware pan. I added peanut butter to each bread to help boost the moisture  – as I’d read protein powders (especially whey) need extra fat when used in baking. My recipe is low in sugar for a banana bread recipe. But it has A LOT of banana as a natural sweetener. If your family is not used to this lower-sugar bread, add another 1/4 cup sugar.

Honestly, I would use any of these protein powders again. Soy protein powder was a surprise winner in most categories, but the cake-like texture of the warm whey protein banana bread was a hands-down winner. And pea protein powder could be almost as good with the addition of chocolate chips.

Tips for baking with protein powders:

• Whey protein powder:
  • Cover the pan with aluminum foil for the first half of baking time. I did this and my whey protein banana bread came out a lovely light golden color. (I read that one of the reasons that food companies use whey in baked products is because it helps food brown faster – but I didn’t want my bread to brown too soon.)
  • If you don’t have a stoneware/ceramic bread pan, lower the oven temperature 25-degrees when baking with whey and bake longer to get a moister final result. Stoneware takes longer to heat up and bakes slower so my bread didn’t become a ‘hockey puck’ which occurs when whey protein powder baked goods cook too fast at a hotter temperature.
  • Mix batter just until moistened
• Pea protein powder:
  • Add strong flavors like peanut butter, chocolate, or banana to cover the earthy, nutty flavor of the pea powder.
  • Bake in stoneware/ceramic pan for a moister result.
• Soy protein powder:
  • You may be able to replace even more flour with soy in some recipes. I replaced 1/3 cup of the original 2 cups of flour with soy protein powder. I would not go higher than this replacement ratio for pea or whey, but you might substitute up to 1/2 cup soy flour for regular flour.
  • Bake in stoneware/ceramic for a moister result.  Which protein powder is BEST for baking? #HealthyKitchenHacks to bake with protein powders via @TspCurry Click To Tweet

Disclosure: None! I purchased all of the protein powders myself and have no affiliation with Bob’s Red Mill – who makes all the powders I used. I bought Bob’s Red Mill Whey Protein Powder, Bob’s Red Mill Soy Protein Powder, Bob’s Red Mill Unflavored Pea Protein Powder – as I believe these powders are the easiest to find in supermarkets or online – and they are available in pure forms without additional ingredients.

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