By Marc Sexton
Traditional energy gels may be convenient to purchase, but the cost can add up pretty quickly. Plus they’re often a pain to deal with while riding, creating sticky hands and pockets and producing a lot of garbage. For rides lasting longer an hour or two, I prefer to fill a small, reusable, semi-rigid gel flask (I created this one called Energy Flask) with homemade energy fuel.
I find gel flasks really convenient to use while on the bike and easy to put into and out of my back jersey pocket or a top tube bag. They also allow me to consume as much or as little as I want. Plus they’re easy to clean and reduce waste – a lot of wins all around.
For easy preparation, I prefer to stick to three core ingredients that provide most of the fuel (i.e., carbohydrate in the form of sugar) for my homemade gels: raw local honey, real maple syrup and/or agave syrup. Then I sometimes add in a little fat and protein and balance out the sweetness a little with other ingredients like molasses, Nutella (for a cocoa flavor), peanut or almond butter, and coffee. The great thing about these homemade recipes is you can tweak the ingredients to suit your own taste buds, and they mostly involve all natural ingredients that are easy to pronounce.
Below are 5 easy to make, homemade energy gel recipes (or perhaps more like “energy syrup” recipes) that I find easy to consume and digest, taste delicious, and will surely energize your next ride. All recipes below make approximately 3 oz. of gel (equivalent to 3 standard 1oz. gels).
Honey-Based Gel Recipes
1. Honey and Molasses
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
- 1.5 tablespoons water
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well with fork or small whisk. For a coffee flavor, substitute water with your favorite morning brew. For added sodium, add a pinch of sea salt.
Nutrition: 280 calories. 73g carbs (71g sugar), 0g fat, 0g protein, 5mg sodium.
2. Honey, Agave Syrup, Nutella and Peanut Butter
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons agave syrup
- 1 teaspoon Nutella
- 1 teaspoon peanut butter
- 1.5 tablespoons water
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well with fork or small whisk. For a coffee flavor, substitute water with your favorite morning brew. For added sodium, add a pinch of sea salt.
Nutrition: 315 calories. 71g carbs (70g sugar), 4.5g fat, 1.5g protein, 25mg sodium.
Maple Syrup-Based Gel Recipes
I really enjoy the taste of pure maple syrup and find myself gravitating toward that in my gel flasks more and more these days. Maple syrup is easy to digest, is a relatively low glycemic carbohydrate (providing for a more sustained energy boost vs. a quick boost and crash) and contains numerous essential minerals (calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium) and antioxidants. It also makes clean-up of my gel flasks a snap (unlike some of the much thicker, stickier gel products out there). Here are a few of my favorite maple-syrup-based recipes:
3. Maple Syrup and Nutella
- 4 tablespoons real maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons Nutella
- 1 tablespoon water
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well with fork or small whisk. For a coffee flavor, substitute water with your favorite morning brew. For added sodium, add a pinch of sea salt.
Nutrition: 270 calories. 60g carbs (60g sugar), 4g fat, 1g protein, 10mg sodium.
4. Maple Syrup and Coffee or Cocoa Untapped
- 3.5 tablespoons real maple syrup
- 1 packet of Coffee or Salted Cocoa Untapped gel (1oz)
- 0.5 tablespoons water
Fill your gel flask with all ingredients and shake until mixed.
Nutrition: 275 calories. 72g carbs (72g sugar), 0g fat, 0g protein, 15mg/65mg sodium (Coffee/Salted Cocoa Untapped).
5. Maple Syrup and Coffee
- 4 tablespoons real maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons coffee (your favorite morning brew)
Fill gel flask with all ingredients and shake until mixed. Can modify ratio depending on desired thickness or coffee flavor. Add pinch of sea salt for added sodium.
Nutrition: 200 calories. 53g carbs (53g sugar), 0g fat, 0g protein, 5mg sodium.
Do you have your own favorite DIY energy gel recipe? I’d be curious to hear it in the comments.
Love the fact that I can customize my nutrition based on my caloric needs. Love the Coffee\Syrup concoction. I’ve also recently tried it with Maple Syrup and Espresso when I really want that caffeine kick to power through my workout.
I’ve found it better to first place the colder ingredients into the flask prior to pouring hot coffee\espresso in which naturally cools the hot liquid without effecting the flask.
Hey Larry, great idea with the espresso! And thanks for the tip, very smart to add the colder ingredients first.
Could I use strawberry jam instead of Nutella, peanut butter or coffee? I hate coffee and am not a fan of chocolate or peanut butter flavored gels while running or biking.
Hi Gayle, I like strawberry jam too and it sounds like an interesting ingredient to experiment with. I imagine you could mix a little water with the jam (to thin it out and make it into more of a syrup consistency) and that would be consumable. You could also add some maltodextrin (a glucose polymer) to the jam (fructose) and that will help you get energy from two carb sources (some suggest that a 2:1 glucose:fructose ratio is ideal). And you could also try mixing jam with maple syrup (I’ve heard the strawberry maple jam is a thing, so it’d be worth a shot!).
I assume you simply scale up the volumes in the same proportions to produce the desired quantity of gel – yes? And, any thoughts on adding maltodextrine (?) powder to increase carbs?
Thanks for the recipes, I need to give them a try.
Hi Michael – yes, you can simply scale up the volumes in the same proportions. And also feel free to play around with the ratios to match your own personal taste and consistency preferences. I personally like my “gel” to be more of a “syrup” (so thinner than a gel….something slightly thinner than real maple syrup). I find that consistency is much easier for me to consume and digest vs thick, sticky gels. As far as malto, that is definitely on my list of ingredients to experiment with. I’d also like to try adding BCAAs too, especially for my longer endurance rides. Let me know if you experiment with malto, I’d be curious to hear how it goes (you can reach me anytime at [email protected])
I have a favorite gel flask. It has a curved spout which I find easier for retrieving from my pocket, etc. I have only found them on eBay. Here is the link:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Pack-of-Curved-Gel-Flask-Bottles-w-Cap-4-oz-Fits-Fuelbelt-TNi-Others/333480554545?hash=item4da4fd7031:g:KXAAAMXQl99Q6TWT
Hi Bob – sorry as I meant to reply directly to your post. Please see my post below that starts with “Hi Bob….”
Hi Bob – thanks for the suggestion. I’ve tried the curved spout flasks, but find them a bit too bulky for rear cycling jersey pockets, small seat bags, and top tube bags (where I often place some flasks on longer endurance rides). Plus I enjoy having the molded finger holds, which makes retrieval easy in addition to having a nice secure fit in my hand while cycling.
I found a good way to carry my flash. I fashioned an holder out of a cut up water bottle that I zip tied to my front brake cable. Can I take pic? I’ll send it over to you Marc
Thanks for emailing the pic John, that looks like a handy way – and convenient location – to carry your flask. As I mentioned in my email response to you, I often find myself storing my flasks in my top tube bag. That’s another handy place to store them for easy access.
The downside of these compared to commercial gels is the very high levels of fructose.
Good quality commercial energy gels contain glucose and glucose polymers, not fructose. Fructose cannot be used directly by cells and is processed by the liver into triglyceride lipids, much the same as alcohol.
Not quite, the flasks are a blank canvas you can put anything you want in them. Not sure where you are getting the fructose concept here. You basically get what you put in them. So if you put garbage in you get garbage out otherwise you get what you really need.
Thanks for your comment Larry and you’re exactly right about the flasks being a blank canvas. I mostly use homemade gel recipes in my flasks, but sometimes I’ll just use them to thin out commercial gel packets and make consumption super easy, fast and clean. I’ve even used my flasks to store hydration powder on really long outings (I just buy water at the store and add my preferred hydration powder from my flask – way better than buying Gatorade!), and I also use them when I’m racing cyclocross – a quick 4oz shot of concentrated hydration mix and I’m ready to race!
Hi Ian, thanks for your comments. From personal experience, I’ve found a mixture of sugar types (glucose and fructose that are found in both maple syrup and honey) works fine for me and is easy on my stomach. These lower glycemic mixtures work well for me for sustained energy during longer outings. Some also believe a mixture is good for optimizing adsorption depending on the duration and intensity of the ride. Here’s a good article on the subject: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/how-to-optimize-carbohydrate-absorption/. During some shorter race events – when quick absorption is what I prefer – I’ll just stick with the commercial gels like you mentioned that are mostly glucose (I just add the gels and a little water to my flasks to make consumption fast, easy and clean, which I find especially helpful in races).
what are your thoughts about using maltodextrin (complex carb) vs honey, maple syrup, etc..which are simple carbs and slower to digest
We’ve covered DIY maltodextrin before, but in the form of a drink. If you could figure out how to make it thick enough, why not? https://www.roadbikerider.com/diy-maltodextrin-nutrition-energy-drink/
For the Ultra Runners out there you can get a baby-food pouch and use it as a gel pack. Sprout 3.5oz organic baby food packs are good. The tops have to be trimmed down as they are too big for putting in your vest. Other than than that they will hold the equivalent of 2 standard sized gels and you won’t be engaged in this single-use plastic malarkey that the gel companies are causing. One of these recipes fits perfectly in 3.5oz pouches.