Make Your Own Energy Gels

Did you know that it's easy to make your own high-performance endurance gels that are directly comparable to the best gels on the market? In this video, TRACER Co-founder Joey Wilson teaches you how to make your own endurance fuel, saving you money and giving you complete control of thickness and flavor. Compare the ingredients to your favorite gels!

Why make your own gel?

COST - It’s much less expensive to make your own gels. If you do it yourself, the cost is well under 50 cents per 100 calories. When you buy gel off the shelf, 100 calories typically costs in the range of $1.60 - $4.00. Add that up over a season of training, and it ends up being a lot!

CONTROL - You can adjust the recipe of your gel to dial it to exactly what you want. You can adjust the thickness or add other ingredients like electrolytes or caffeine.

CONVENIENCE - Drinking gel straight from the same flask makes it way easier when you're moving. No trash to clean up, no stickiness on your fingers to deal with.

EASY - It’s really easy to make this recipe, and likely takes less time than driving to the store to buy gels.

TASTE - This recipe tastes great and it’s fun to experiment with different flavors. Any juice or flavoring can be used.

Stuff you need

Maltodextrin powder - This is a powder consisting of long chains of glucose, the simplest form of fuel for your body. It’s less sweet than glucose in pure form, but still just as easy for your body to absorb.

Fructose powder - A different form of sugar than glucose that gets absorbed through a different gut enzyme. Adding this allows you to absorb more calories per hour.

Juice or mixer flavoring - get at grocery store

Hydrapak Nutrition Flasks - For easy carrying and consumption of your gel.

Kitchen scale - To measure grams and ounces easily.

How to Make the Gel (400 calories, 100 grams)

1. Add 50 grams of maltodextrin to a pot

2. Add 50 grams of fructose powder

3. Add about 1 oz of juice

4. Add about 1-3 oz of water, depending on the desired thickness

5. Heat (but don't overcook) while stirring the powders together until all clumps are gone

6. Place in flask and use!

Scale this recipe to larger batches as desired.

Nerdy Stuff

Ratio of glucose to fructose

There are various theories about how to mix the ratio of glucose (maltodextrin) to fructose. In this recipe, we used a 1:1 ratio. Many companies are using a 1:.8 ratio, and classic gels like the original GU uses 2:1.

Sucrose (Table sugar)

Sucrose is the common table sugar that you already have in your pantry. Each molecule of sucrose is one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule bound together by an oxygen atom. It makes for great endurance fuel and is very inexpensive. It’s just very sweet, so it can get overwhelming when you have to eat/drink it for a long time. Great for short, high intensity workouts. Every tablespoon of sucrose is worth about 50 calories.