How To Make Your Own Healthy Mass Gainer (Step-By-Step)

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While there are many different brands of mass gainers on the market, it is entirely possible to make your own using simple ingredients at home.

Not only is making your own mass gainer a more cost-effective option (37% cheaper per serving), but it can be simple to do and just as tasty as a store-bought mass gainer. Making your own mass gainer powder is also a better option if you are concerned about ingesting any unwanted ingredients (i.e. unhealthy fillers).

Once you’ve made your own homemade mass gainer powder, you can even use it in a high-calorie smoothie with easy-to-access ingredients. Below, I give you the formula for making your own mass gainer, step-by-step.

Key Takeaways:

• Benefits to making your own mass gainer powder include the ability to control the ingredients and manipulate the macronutrient content, as well as save money.

• A homemade mass gainer powder includes simple and affordable ingredients such as protein powder, oats, and powdered peanut butter, and all you need to make it is a blender or a food processor.

• Mixing homemade mass gainer powder in a smoothie is a great way to increase your calorie intake using whole food ingredients.

Benefits of Making Your Own Mass Gainer

You Have Control Over the Ingredients

If you are wanting to experience the benefits that a mass gainer supplement has to offer but you aren’t a fan of the ingredients found in the majority of store-bought options, then making your own mass gainer at home is the perfect solution.

Many store-bought mass gainer powders can contain high amounts of sugar, cheap fillers, and artificial sweeteners that can have a negative impact on blood sugar levels and digestion.

In addition to this, it is important to remember that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate, or review store-bought mass gainer supplements. 

Therefore, if you are concerned about the quality of ingredients you are putting into your body, homemade mass gainer powder might be a better option.

It Can be More Cost Effective

Making your own mass gainer powder at home is also a great way to save a bit of money. While this will also depend on what store-bought mass gainer you are comparing to, in general making your own mass gainer will be more cost-effective per serving.

For example, this mass gainer supplement costs around $75.99, which works out to about $4.75 per serving.

On the other hand, the homemade mass gainer powder recipe that I share later in the article only costs about $3.00 per serving, which is a 37% saving compared with the store-bought version.

You Can Decide on the Macronutrient Content

Most mass gainers on the market have an extremely high amount of carbs compared with protein and fat. While this can be beneficial in some instances, you might also want the ability to adjust the protein, carb, and fat content in your mass gainer depending on your daily needs.

For example, you might prefer to have a mass gainer that isn’t so high in carbs but contains a good amount of protein.

If this is the case then you have the ability to manipulate the type and amount of ingredients that you are adding to your homemade recipe (e.g. add-in fewer oats, but more protein powder).

• Related Article: How To Use Mass Gainer Effectively (Tips From Nutritionist)

The Most Cost-Effective Homemade Mass Gainer Powder

The below homemade mass gainer powder has the following nutrition information (not including the optional ingredients):

• Calories: 815 calories
• Protein: 73 grams
• Carbohydrates: 101.5grams
• Fat: 16 grams

Making your own homemade mass gainer is incredibly easy, simply combine your ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until you have created a fine powder. 

• 1.5 scoops of Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
• 1.5 cup of Rolled Oats (grinded up in a powder)
• 4 Tbsp powdered peanut butter
• 5g L Glutamine *optional
• 5g Creatine Monohydrate *optional

Ingredients Explained

I wanted to keep the ingredient list super simple while still getting close to the same macros that are found in most store-bought blends. 

I chose a whey protein isolate for the protein, however, if you wanted to use a whey protein concentrate (or even a blend of the two) this would be fine as well. You can use any protein powder that you happen to have on hand.

Additionally, you can switch up the flavor of your mass gainer if you want by choosing a different flavor of protein powder (e.g chocolate, salted caramel, vanilla). 

The next ingredient I chose is rolled oats, which provide the majority of carbohydrates. I chose rolled oats as opposed to maltodextrin (a high-carb ingredient commonly found in store-bought mass gainers) since maltodextrin is a more processed ingredient where some people get negative side effects like bloating and gas.

Rolled oats can be bought in bulk and are inexpensive. In fact, while you could opt for a store bought “oat flour” for this recipe, choosing rolled oats and simply blending them into a flour will give you the same effect at much less cost.

I also chose to include powdered peanut butter in this recipe for a few reasons. The fat content in peanut butter powder combined with the fat content in rolled oats ends up adding up to roughly the amount of fat a mass gainer should have per serving. 

While some store-bought mass gainers utilize ingredients like MCT powder as a fat source, if I were to have included MCT powder it would have resulted in the fat content per serving to be a bit too high (and far more expensive per serving). 

Not only that, but powdered peanut butter adds more protein to the mass gainer than an MCT powder would, and it also adds a delicious flavor that MCT powder would not. This is important, since in this home made recipe I am not including any added sugars or artificial sweeteners.

Lastly, I included both l-glutamine and creatine monohydrate as optional ingredients, since these are commonly found in mass gainer powders.

I chose to leave these as optional, since not everyone will wish to add these ingredients, and they will not result in a significant change to the calorie content of the recipe whether you decide to add them in or leave them out.

It is important to note that if your goal is to keep the cost down on your homemade mass gainer recipe, adding in these two powders will result in your cost per serving increasing.

• Related Article: Does Mass Gainer Make You Fat?

Tools Needed 

The great news about a homemade mass gainer powder is that you really only need a good blender or food processor to make it. 

When blending dry ingredients, I would highly recommend using a high-quality blender such as a Vitamix or Ninja. However, any blender that you have will likely do the trick.

In addition to this, make sure you have some measuring cups and utensils on hand so you can easily measure out the correct quantity of ingredients that you need.

How To Customize

• If you wish to make multiple servings ahead of time, simply increase the measurements of each ingredient you are using.

• You can store extra servings of mass gainer powder that you make in an airtight container in a cool, dry space like a pantry or cupboard to help preserve its freshness.

• If you wanted your mass gainer to have more protein and fewer carbs, you could simply increase the amount of protein powder that you use in the recipe while decreasing the amount of rolled oats that you use.

• While most traditional mass gainers contain lower amounts of fat per serving, you could even increase the fat content of your mass gainer by adding ingredients like MCT powder, which is very calorically dense at 114 calories per 1 Tbsp (it just costs more per serving).

Related Article: Can You Take Mass Gainer & Whey Protein Together?

7 Ingredients for Homemade Mass Gainer Shake

In addition to making your own mass gainer powder, you can also achieve a similar high calorie meal replacement by making a high calorie smoothie or shake at home using specific ingredients.

Here are some common ingredients that you can use in a homemade mass gainer shake:

• Protein Powder

• Greek Yogurt

• Milk

• Nut or Seed Butter

• Fruit (bananas, mangos, berries, etc.

• Dates

• Oats

Protein Powder

Including a protein powder in your mass gainer shake is an easy and effective way to boost the protein content of your meal, while also enhancing the taste (since the majority of protein powders come in a variety of different flavors.

Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt is another ingredient that you can add to your shake that will help to increase your protein intake. 

If your goal is to get in as many calories as possible, you can also opt for a full fat Greek yogurt. 1 cup of full fat Greek yogurt contains a whopping 280 calories.

Milk

Using a cow’s milk in your mass gainer shake as opposed to a lower calorie option such as unsweetened almond milk or water is going to be more beneficial. 

Similar to Greek yogurt, opting for a full fat version will help you easily increase your calorie intake. For example, 1 cup of whole milk contains 149 calories, as opposed to 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk which contains about 30 calories.

Nut or Seed Butter

Nuts and seed butters are the perfect ingredient to add into your mass gainer shake since they are not only quite calorie dense, but also contain essential nutrients and healthy fiber that contribute to your health.  Notwithstanding, many seeds are high in protein.

A few examples of nut/seeds butters you can try in your next shake include:

• Peanut butter

• Almond butter

• Cashew butter

• Sunflower seed butter

• Coconut butter

• Hazelnut butter

• Tahini

Fruit

Adding fruit into your mass gainer shake will provide healthy carbohydrates and a fast energy source, since fruit is a natural source of sugar. 

Fruit also contains an abundance of essential nutrients, antioxidants, water and fiber that contribute to your overall health and proper digestion. 

My favorite fruits to add into mass gainer smoothies include:

• Bananas

• Mango

• Pineapple

• Cherries

• Mixed berries

Dates

While dates are technically a dried fruit, they deserve their own category within mass gainer shake ingredients, since dates are particularly dense in both calories and carbohydrates. 

Adding a few dates to your shake is a very easy way to boost your carb and calorie intake, since 1 Medjool date contains around 70 calories and 18 grams of carbohydrates.

Oats

Oats are the perfect ingredient to include in both your homemade mass gainer powder and shake. 

Oats are a great source of carbs that also contain a good amount of fiber, and have been shown to have other health benefits such as lowering cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

• Related Article: Can You Build Muscle Without Supplements?

3 Mass Gainer Smoothie Recipes

1. Tropical Banana Hulk Shake

The flavor of this recipe is light and refreshing, but don’t let that fool you. This tropical-flavored smoothie is packed full of calories from healthy, whole-food ingredients. The combination of banana, mango, pineapple, and dates in this recipe provides a significant amount of fast-digesting carbohydrates, making it a great choice for after a workout.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 scoops Vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 frozen banana
• ½ cup mango
• ½ cup pineapple
• 2 pitted Medjool dates
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 Tbsp coconut butter
• 2 cups spinach (for the green color)

Nutrition:

Calories: 1022 calories
Protein: 63 grams
Carbohydrates: 121 grams
Fat: 36.5 grams

2. Chocolate Cherry Shake

This chocolate cherry shake will make you feel like you are eating dessert. Using frozen cherries is a great way to give your smoothie a creamy consistency, while also providing a good amount of antioxidants and fiber.

Chocolate hazelnut butter not only provides a delicious flavor, but hazelnuts also contain heart-healthy Omega 3 fats that are shown to reduce your risk of ailments like cardiovascular disease.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 scoops Chocolate Whey protein powder
• 2 cups frozen cherries
• 1 cup rolled oats
• ½ cup full fat Greek yogurt
• 2 Tbsp chocolate hazelnut butter
• 2 cups skim milk

Nutrition:

Calories: 1060 calories
Protein: 78 grams
Carbohydrates: 147.5 grams
Fat: 23.5 grams

3. Peanut Butter and Banana Shake

Forget peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and bananas are the ultimate flavor combination for your homemade mass gainer shake.

Bananas are the perfect fruit to add to your mass gainer shake since they contain high amounts of fast-digesting carbohydrates, along with rich amounts of potassium and fiber.

If you are not a fan of peanut butter, you can always swap it out in this recipe for the nut/seed butter of your choice. You could even swap out the powdered peanut butter option for powdered almond butter instead.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 scoops Vanilla whey protein powder
• 2 frozen bananas
• ½ cup oats
• ½ cup full fat Greek yogurt
• 2 cups skim milk
• 2 Tbsp peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp peanut butter powder

Nutrition:

Calories: 1060 calories
Protein: 84 grams
Carbohydrates: 121.5 grams
Fat: 29 grams

• Want more recipes? Check out my other article that gives you 5 additional 1000-calorie protein shakes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Can I Make My Own Mass Gainer?

You can easily make your own mass gainer powder at home with a few simple ingredients and a high-powered blender or food processor. Making your own mass gainer powder is as simple as blending together a protein powder of choice, along with ingredients such as rolled oats and powdered peanut butter.

What Are the Ingredients in Mass Gainer?

Some common ingredients that you can find in a home-made mass gainer powder are protein powder, rolled oats, and peanut butter powder. You can even choose to add in cocoa powder for a chocolate flavor. In addition, you could increase the fat content of your mass gainer by adding in ground flaxseed or MCT powder.

What To Read Next

• Want tips on how to make your pre-workout cost less? Check out my article on Why Pre-Workout Is So Expensive. 

• If you’re going to be taking mass gainers every day, then read my article on how to do it properly.