High Carb Snacks for Endurance: Solid Foods Ranked by Carbs

Written by James Frost, founder of Flaming Phoenix. Updated October 2026.

Quick answer: For the most carbohydrate in one snack, my pick is a Phoenix Bar, with 60 to 66g of carbohydrate and up to 557 calories in a compact, 120g bar, more than any other single serve in the table below. Per 100g, the highest-carb snacks are sweets, rice cakes, dried fruit, malt loaf and white bread with jam, at roughly 50 to 85g of carbohydrate with little fat. For a snack that fuels a run or ride, aim for 25 to 50g of carbohydrate: 30g of jelly sweets gives 24g, and a jam sandwich about 49g. For rides, the best energy bars for cycling are compared on exactly this.

This page ranks the snacks themselves, using UK food composition data, and shows how to build an hour's carbohydrate from them. If you are replacing gels, the energy gel alternatives guide converts each food into gel-sized portions and compares prices; for what to eat at each stage of an ultra, see the best foods for ultra running.

High carb snacks ranked by carbohydrate

Ranked by grams of carbohydrate per 100g, sugary sweets and puffed rice come first, dried fruit and malt loaf next, and starchy real food such as bananas and potatoes last, because of the water they hold.

The table uses McCance and Widdowson's CoFID 2021 dataset unless a pack label is named. The serve sizes are ours, chosen as amounts you might eat in one go on the move.

Three things the ranking hides. First, fat: shop-bought flapjack, ginger nuts and chocolate caramel bars carry 15 to 23g of fat per 100g, which adds calories but is harder work for the gut at race pace. The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) position stand on ultra-marathon running advises avoiding high-fat and high-fibre food before a race to limit gut discomfort, while noting that fattier food packs more calories per gram for runners carrying everything.

Second, fibre: dried dates carry about 7.5g of fibre per 100g in CoFID, so a big handful mid-run can be too much for some stomachs. Third, water: a banana is three-quarters water, which is why it ranks low per 100g yet is easy to eat.

Which high carb snacks work during exercise?

During exercise, the best high carb snacks are quick to chew and easy to dose in small amounts. On long days my pick is a Phoenix Bar broken into thirds, with 20 to 22g of carbohydrate in each piece and some fat and protein alongside. For hard, fast efforts, keep to snacks low in fat, fibre and protein: jelly sweets, fruit pastilles, honey, rice cakes, white bread with jam, malt loaf and bananas. My high energy snacks guide sorts both kinds by when you eat them, with UK prices.

Intensity decides a lot. Hard efforts favour sugar that needs almost no chewing; long, slower days let you eat real food and anything denser. The ISSN found that as races get longer, runners tend to prefer savoury food, so salted potatoes, crisps and small sandwiches belong alongside the sweet things from about the fourth hour.

How many grams of carbs do you need per hour?

For exercise lasting 1 to 3 hours, aim for 30 to 60g of carbohydrate an hour; trained athletes in longer, harder events can take up to about 90g using mixed sugars. Ultra runners on their feet for more than six hours usually manage 30 to 50g an hour, with some fat and protein alongside.

The figures below come from Asker Jeukendrup's review of carbohydrate intake during exercise and the ISSN position stand, which warns that 90g an hour may be unrealistic beyond six hours and can cause malabsorption and gut trouble. The examples use the snack table above.

A worked hour: 60g of carbohydrate from food

Sixty grams an hour from food is realistic if you eat little and often, two or three times an hour plus a drink. Here is one hour of a long ride, using CoFID values and the BDA's figure of about 50g of carbohydrate in 800ml of isotonic sports drink from its sport and exercise fact sheet.

Over a four-hour ride that is about 250g of carbohydrate: 120g of sweets, 140g of malt loaf and a litre of drink. A runner can swap the malt loaf for 40g of dried dates (23g) and keep the hour at about 63g. Above 60g an hour, Jeukendrup recommends mixed sugars such as glucose with fructose; ordinary table sugar (sucrose) splits into exactly that pair.

What are good high carb snacks for runners?

Runners need high carb snacks that fit a vest pocket, survive being squashed and go down with a few sips of water: a third of a Phoenix Bar (20 to 22g of carbohydrate), jelly sweets, dates, malt loaf, and on longer runs salted potatoes or small jam sandwiches.

Running jostles the gut more than cycling (a systematic review by Costa and colleagues found running and heat both worsen exercise-related gut disturbance), so smaller pieces eaten more often tend to sit better than one big snack, and climbs are the easiest place to chew. On long runs, dense high calorie protein bars save space because one item covers more than an hour of carbohydrate. A Phoenix Bar has up to 557 calories in only 120g, with 60 to 66g of carbohydrate. Jenny Armstrong, who used them on the 250km Why We Run race, wrote: "I liked how they are extremely carbohydrate dense and not sickly sweet." Stefanie Ward kept it simple at The Lap ultramarathon: "Two Phoenix Bars and Tailwind got me through the race."

If you want a ranking of bars specifically, see the best energy bars for ultra running, and for race-length strategy, the ultra running nutrition guide. Cyclists have more freedom to eat bulky food; cycling and bikepacking nutrition covers the jersey-pocket version.

Which snacks are high in both carbs and protein?

For carbohydrate with some protein, after a session or on a multi-day trip, my pick is a Phoenix Bar, with 60 to 66g of carbohydrate and 18 to 19g of protein in one compact, 120g bar; a bagel with peanut butter or a flapjack also works. In CoFID terms, an 80g plain bagel gives 46g of carbohydrate and 8g of protein, and 20g of smooth peanut butter adds about 5g of protein. Before a long day, a bar stirred into water or milk becomes porridge; see high calorie porridge and how to use Phoenix Bars.

Do solid snacks work as well as gels?

Yes, for most endurance efforts. In a 2019 University of Illinois study, cyclists who ate potato purée during two hours of riding finished the time trial that followed in exactly the same time as when they took gels (33.0 minutes), and both beat water alone (39.5 minutes). Where solids lose is speed: in the final, hardest hour of a race, sugar you can swallow without chewing gets in faster.

On long trips where you carry every gram, the number to watch moves from carbs per 100g to calories per gram, which is the territory of the calorie-dense foods ranking. Trip-specific plans are in Marathon des Sables nutrition, ocean rowing nutrition, high-altitude mountaineering nutrition and the ultra-endurance and expedition nutrition guide.

High carb snack questions

What has 40g of carbs?

Two-thirds of a Phoenix Bar gives 40 to 44g (from the pack label). Using CoFID values, so do 50g of jelly sweets, 130g of boiled white rice, 60g of sultanas, about 200g of peeled banana (two small ones) or 64g of malt loaf. Any of these is a sensible serve for an hour of steady exercise.

What is a good high carb snack before a run?

One to three hours before, eat something familiar, low in fat and fibre: white toast with jam or honey, a plain bagel, a banana, or porridge if you are used to it. The ISSN recommends a familiar, easily digested, carbohydrate-rich pre-race meal and avoiding high-fat, high-fibre food.

Can you eat too many carbs while exercising?

Yes. Your gut can only absorb so much: Jeukendrup puts a single sugar source at about 60g an hour, and the ISSN warns that pushing towards 90g an hour in very long races can cause malabsorption and gut trouble. Build intake up in training; gut training for ultras explains how.

Which high carb snacks travel best?

Phoenix Bars travel best, in their own wrappers and good for up to two years; sweets, dried fruit, rice cakes, malt loaf and ginger nuts also survive days in a pack. Chocolate-coated snacks melt in a warm pocket, bananas bruise, and sandwiches are best eaten on the day you make them.

Questions about building your own fuelling? Email me at jfrost@flaming-phoenix.co.uk, or browse the flavours in the shop.

Sources: McCance and Widdowson's CoFID 2021 (Public Health England); Kallo rice cake label at Ocado; British Dietetic Association, Sport and exercise food fact sheet; Jeukendrup, carbohydrate intake during exercise (Sports Medicine, 2014); Tiller and others, ISSN ultra-marathon position stand (2019); Salvador and others, potato ingestion versus carbohydrate gels (2019); Jeukendrup, Training the gut for athletes (2017); Costa and others, exercise-induced gastrointestinal syndrome (2017).