Homemade Maltodextrin Energy Gel: The Recipe in Grams
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Short answer: one homemade maltodextrin energy gel uses about 27 g of maltodextrin and 12 g of water, a 2.25:1 ratio by weight that gives roughly 25 g of carbohydrate at about 65% concentration. For a batch of 10 gels, mix 270 g of maltodextrin, 120 g of warm water and 1 to 2.5 g of sea salt.
Those numbers are not guesses: they are built backwards from the composition of commercial sports gels published by the Australian Institute of Sport, and from the carbohydrate content of plain maltodextrin powder. This guide gives the batch table, the mixing steps and the maths behind the salt, so you can scale the recipe up or down without a calculator.
What is in a typical commercial sports gel?
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) describes sports gels as a highly concentrated carbohydrate source of 65-70% (65-75 g per 100 mL) with a honey-like consistency. According to the same fact sheet, a typical sachet provides:
20-30 g of carbohydrate and about 80-120 kcal;
less than 100 mg of sodium in most products, with some brands going up to 300 mg;
a carbohydrate type that varies by brand; some gels blend glucose and fructose sources.
Those three figures are the target for a homemade version: a gel of 20-30 g of carbohydrate, at about 65% concentration, with a measured amount of sodium.
How much maltodextrin and water per gel?
Plain maltodextrin powder is mostly carbohydrate: unflavoured maltodextrin entries in the USDA FoodData Central database list about 93-95 g of carbohydrate per 100 g. So 27 g of powder supplies about 25 g of carbohydrate. Add 12 g of water and the finished gel weighs about 39 g, of which roughly 65% is carbohydrate, right in the AIS range.
Batch
Maltodextrin
Water
Sea salt (40-100 mg sodium per gel)
1 gel
27 g
12 g
0.1-0.25 g
5 gels
135 g
60 g
0.5-1.25 g
10 gels
270 g
120 g
1-2.5 g
20 gels
540 g
240 g
2-5 g
Each gel in this table carries about 25 g of carbohydrate. If you prefer a smaller gel, keep the same 2.25:1 ratio and scale the portion: 22 g of maltodextrin with 10 g of water gives about 20 g of carbohydrate.
How much sea salt should you add?
Sodium chloride is about 39.3% sodium by weight (22.99 g/mol of sodium in 58.44 g/mol of salt). Treating sea salt as essentially sodium chloride:
1 g of salt holds about 393 mg of sodium, so 1 g in a batch of 10 gels = about 40 mg per gel;
2.5 g of salt in 10 gels = about 98 mg per gel, the upper edge of the "typical" AIS range;
going higher, toward the 300 mg some brands use, means about 7.6 g of salt per 10 gels, which you will taste.
Weigh the salt on a scale that reads to 0.1 g. A pinch is not a measurement, and at these small amounts the error is large.
How do you make the gel, step by step?
Weigh 270 g of maltodextrin and 1-2.5 g of sea salt into a bowl and stir the dry powders together.
Warm 120 g of water. Warm water helps a concentrated powder disperse; it does not need to boil.
Add the water gradually while whisking, or pulse in a blender. The mixture starts as a paste and turns smooth and syrupy as the powder hydrates.
Rest the mixture for a few minutes, then stir again to remove lumps and let air bubbles rise.
Flavour if you want (see below), then weigh the total. Divide by 10 to get the weight of one portion, about 39 g.
Portion into small reusable soft flasks or pouches, using a kitchen scale for each one.
Label and refrigerate. Write the date and the batch on each container.
How do you adjust thickness and flavour?
Too thick: add water a few grams at a time. A 2:1 ratio (27 g of powder, 13.5 g of water) lands near 62% carbohydrate; the gel gets thinner and slightly less concentrated.
Too thin: add maltodextrin rather than heating the mixture down.
Flavour: maltodextrin tastes neutral and only slightly sweet, so a plain gel is bland. Replace part of the water with lemon juice, cold brew coffee or a fruit syrup, keeping the total liquid weight the same so the ratio holds.
Carbohydrate blends: some commercial gels combine glucose and fructose sources. If you want to compare maltodextrin with dextrose or table sugar before blending, see our guide on dextrose vs maltodextrin vs sucrose.
How should you store a homemade gel?
A homemade gel contains no preservative, so treat it like any fresh food:
Make small batches you will use soon, and keep them in the refrigerator.
Use clean, dry containers and a clean spoon or funnel when portioning.
Discard any gel that smells off, separates in an unusual way or shows mould.
Keep the dry powders (maltodextrin and salt) sealed in a cool, dry place: maltodextrin picks up moisture and clumps when the bag is left open.
Why weigh instead of using spoons?
Maltodextrin is a light, fluffy powder whose volume changes a lot with how it settles in the bag. A "tablespoon" can vary by several grams, which shifts the carbohydrate per gel and the texture. Weighing every ingredient in grams is the only way to get the same gel twice, and it makes scaling from 1 to 20 gels simple arithmetic.
