Chocolate peanut butter no-bake Energy Bites take just minutes to prepare for an endlessly customizable, easy snack! Load this protein balls recipe up with your favorite mix-ins. There’s nothing like a healthy snack that tastes like an indulgent treat!
Healthy, No-Bake Energy Bites with Peanut Butter and Chocolate!
These chocolate peanut butter protein bites are rich, full of flavor, and super-sustaining. Pop one of these when your stomach starts rumbling. Instant satisfaction to carry you through a daily lull! Even better, these easy no-bake energy bites happen to be L-O-A-D-E-D with healthy ingredients. My kids love these just as much (if not more than) chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t know that was possible, but these don’t last long in my house. And knowing they are packed with nutrient-rich ingredients I don’t mind.
Inspired by my Healthy Banana Oatmeal Cookies, I set out to make a healthy snack that also feels like it’s indulging my sweet side. So, along with the oats and seeds, out came the jar of peanut butter and a bag of chocolate chips. A little sweet along with the healthy stuff is my kind of snack. Great for an on the go breakfast, an after school snack, or anytime in between.
Are Energy Bites Good for You?
You may know energy bites by their other names: protein balls, energy balls, or even bliss balls. This recipe is obviously blissful. But energy bites are also good for you! It always comes down to the ingredients you use to make them.
This energy balls recipe is filled with wholesome oats for fiber, protein-rich peanut butter, plus nutritious superfoods like flax and chia, among other vitamins and nutrients. They’re the ultimate guilt-free, energy-boosting bite to take along on busy days.
The Ingredients You’ll Need
I’ve rounded up everything you’ll need to make these fun, filling energy bites. Don’t forget to scroll down to the recipe card for the full details:
Oats: I recommend old-fashioned oats when making energy bites. Oats lend structure and (more importantly) give off some serious oatmeal cookie vibes!
Peanut Butter: Creamy peanut butter helps to bind the ingredients together. Not to mention it also adds protein and scrumptious flavor! You could also use another type of nut butter in place of peanut butter, like cashew or almond butter.
Honey: Honey acts as a natural sweetener. Pure maple syrup or agave are also good options to make these chocolate peanut butter energy balls into “vegan truffles”.
Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract is best.
Shredded Coconut: For added texture. Feel free to omit if coconut isn’t your thing.
Flax Seed Meal & Chia Seeds: Get in your heart-healthy omega-3s! Both flax seeds and chia seeds are added sources of protein, fiber, and nutrients.
Mini Chocolate Chips: I like the mini kind as I can fit more chips into each energy ball. But regular-sized chocolate chips will also work.
How to Make Them
You don’t need any fancy equipment or food processors (or even an oven) to make easy energy bites at home. Just a big bowl and something to mix with. You can even use your hands!
Combine: Toss all your ingredients in a bowl and give it a good mix. Next, chill the mixture so that it’s less sticky and easier to handle.
Shape: After about a half hour in the fridge, the mixture should be good to go! I like to use a small cookie scoop to portion out the mixture into even-sized balls. You can use your hands to roll and shape them.
Store: Place the rolled energy bites into an airtight container to keep in the fridge or freezer. See more tips on how to store energy bites in the section further on.
Tips, Hacks, and Easy Variations
This recipe is simple to pull together, leaving plenty of room for easy customizing. Here are my tips for the best energy bites and variations:
What If I’m Allergic to Nuts?: If you’d like to make this recipe nut allergy-friendly, nut butter can be replaced with a nut-free alternative like sunflower seed butter.
Why Is My Batter So Sticky?: If you use natural peanut butter in this recipe, the extra oils can cause the mixture to become overly tacky. I recommend adding extra oats in this case, a little at a time, to help balance out the texture.
Choose Your Superfood: The world is your superfood oyster. Try other nourishing add-ins like pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins, dried goji berries, and currants.
Powdered Supplements: For even more protein, mix in a spoonful of your favorite whey or protein powder. You could also stir collagen powder into your energy bites for a boost of skin hydration!
Double Chocolate: To give these peanut butter protein balls even more of a chocolate kick, mix in a tablespoon of cocoa powder (plus dark chocolate chunks!).
White Chocolate: Instead of dark or milk chocolate chips, add white chocolate chips. You could even mix in red cranberries for white chocolate cranberry energy bites!
Chopped Nuts: Stir in a handful of the nuts of your choice. Crushed peanuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts are all good options.
How Do You Store No-Bake Energy Bites?
These homemade energy bites hold up best when stored airtight in the fridge. They’ll keep for up to 1 week for an easy anytime snack. Alternatively, you can freeze them! See below.
Can I Freeze This Recipe?
These energy balls will stay fresh for up to 1 month in the freezer. Store them in a freezer bag or seal them in a container and you’ll have endless energy boosts at your fingertips, whenever you’d like to thaw them. They thaw out pretty quickly in the fridge, or in a ziplock bag inside your purse for on-the-go, healthy snacking!
Healthy No-Bake Energy Bites take just minutes to prepare! This recipe for chocolate peanut butter protein balls is easy to customize with your favorite mix-ins, for a healthy snack that tastes like an indulgent treat!
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2/3 cup honey (you can use maple syrup or agave syrup as well)
