These energy balls are a convenient snack that provide a good balance of complex carbs, healthy fats, and filling protein! They’re low sugar and super easy to make: no food processor or baking required!
Look no further; this is the LAST energy ball recipe you will ever need! I’ve designed a template as the base for any and all energy ball variation. You can mix and match ingredients to your heart’s content!
I may have gone a little crazy in coming up with some ideas for you. I ended up making 15 batches, each in a unique flavour. Check out the links to those recipes below.
[x_blockquote type=”left”]Have kids who go to a “nut-free” school? No problem! These can be made nut-free for school lunches: just use seed or wow butter. [/x_blockquote]
learn how to make these no-bake energy balls (60 seconds):
These can be made by hand or with a food processor. There will be a texture difference between the two methods and I personally prefer the food processor method. But there’s no reason you can’t enjoy energy balls if you don’t own a food processor! In this photo you’ll notice that you can see the grains of oatmeals in a few of the varieties. These were mixed by hand so the oats didn’t get pulsed into a flour. Sometimes it can be a little tricky to get the hand-mixed method to stick together. The date paste adds more moisture to the dough so I’d recommend starting with that if you’re going to mix by hand.
why these energy balls are a smart choice
Most of the energy ball recipes I’ve seen and tasted have been UBER sweet. There’s energy balls, and then there’s sugar balls. You might as well snack on candy!
So I set out to create a tasty treat that with just enough sweetness… an energy ball that gets its energy from more than just sugar.
It was a huge success! Each one of these energy balls contains less than 1.5g of added sugar! This translates to about 4-6 calories of added sugar. If you ate 3 energy balls it would be about 15 calories from added sugar.
The World Health Organization recommends consuming less than 10% of your day’s total energy as added sugar. If you consume 2000 calories a day, a satisfying snack of three energy balls would only equal 8% of your recommended added sugar intake for the day!
The “energy” from these bites is found in the complex carbohydrates in the oats, the protein in the whey, and the healthy fat in the ___ (peanut/nut/seed)butter. As an added bonus, the oats and flax provide some fibre to help with regularity, gut health, and healthy cholesterol levels!
Betcha can’t eat just one….
Remember that slogan for Lays potato chips from the ’90s? Well, it’s also what a lot of people are saying about this energy ball recipe! They’re super tasty so I don’t blame them in that regard. But have you ever stopped to think about the psychology of trying to limit yourself to just ONE chip or ONE energy ball? It’s hard to do because you just put a limit on yourself. And the psychology of it is that when your brain has been given a limit, it wants to rebel against it! Just like a little kid, it wants to test the limits! Except as an adult, there’s no higher authority to just take the chips or energy balls away from you.
I have good news though. You CAN really make these energy balls without eating the whole batch in one afternoon. And you CAN do it without relying on willpower! Because giving yourself a limit and relying on willpower to stick to it just plain sucks as a plan to eat less. Believe me, I’ve been there!
Want to know a better way? Check out this video I made to show you the alternative to trying to rely on self-control for changing your eating habits!
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment with a rating or snap a photo and tag it with #smartnutritionrecipes on Instagram! I’d love to see your creations!
mix n match energy ball recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup oats regular or quick cooking
- ⅓ cup “butter”: peanut or nut butter tahini, or seed butter
- 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup or corn syrup OR 1/4 cup date paste
- 3 tbsp chunky add-ins chocolate chips, raisins, coconut, etc
- 2 tbsp fibre: ground flax chia seeds, or psyllium
- 2 tbsp whey isolate optional*
- 2 tsp water ONLY IF NEEDED!
Instructions
By hand:
- Add all ingredients (except the water) to a bowl and stir to combine.
- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out and form into a ball. Don’t try to squish the dough too hard with your hands. The recipe is light on the sticky syrup so you need to gently coax them into a ball shape. Now is not the time to be a perfectionist in making the spheres!
- Add water, 1 tsp at a time, if the mixture is too crumbly to stick together at all.
- Allow to firm up in the fridge.
With food processor:
- Measure the oats into the food processor and turn on high. Process until oats are nearly a flour consistency.
- Add the rest of ingredients to a bowl (except the water) and stir to combine.
- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out and form into a ball. Don’t try to squish the dough too hard with your hands. The recipe is light on the sticky syrup so you need to gently coax them into a ball shape. Now is not the time to be a perfectionist in making the spheres!
- Add water, 1 tsp at a time, if the mixture is too crumbly to stick together at all.
- Allow to firm up in the fridge.
Notes
I tested and tested this recipe… here are my 15 variations to give you some ideas! But get creative!
If you like this energy ball recipe you may also like my edible cookie dough bites or these high protein two bite brownies!
Great recipe! Works every time. Love that I can adapt it according to what we have in hand. The kids love it too. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, the variations are so fun! Glad you enjoy them!
Thank you for the recipes! They look good. How do they need to be stored? Can the be frozen? It sounds like a good frozen snack to. I like where the temperatures are in the 100°+, frozen snacks are awesome.
I would guess freezing would work! I store them on the counter for a few days but more than that I’d put them in the fridge for freshness.
love this recipe and all the adaptations!! i make it ith a bunch of date paste and the sweeter adds ins but have shared it with a friend and my mom who welcomed the chocolate chips! thank you! i got so annoyed paying so much for these when out and needing a pick-me-up and love them for easy filling foods wth great nutrition
I’m so glad you enjoy this recipe! Yes, they are so great for on the go!
We are a group of retired teachers who publish free newspaper articles in the midwest and pod casts during the NPR news locally in Marquette, Michigan ( wnmufm.org/Learningthroughthe seasons) to help families prepare children for school and a lifelong love of learning since 2009. May we have permission to refer to your recipes on your web site? You are the best!
Thanks.
Iris Katers
Hi Iris! I’m sorry I missed this comment until now. Yes, you do have permission to refer to the recipes on my site. Just please don’t reproduce them. Thanks!
I substituted hemp seed for the flax as I did not have ground flax on hand for the monster cookie recipe. It worked. Does the hemp seed provide the same function as the flax?
There are some similarities in nutrition but there are differences as well! For example, both are a good source of fibre (but different types), both are good sources of omega 3s, but hemp hearts contain more protein than flax.
Exactly the recipe I wanted!
First round: tahini, sesame seeds & coconut, flax and date paste. Added a pinch of cinnamon too.
Looking forward to trying lots of variations – thanks!
Awesome! Thanks for the reviw!
I am wondering why you did not bake balls?
They don’t have any ingredients that need to be baked.
How long should they be in the fridge?
They should be kept in the fridge until eaten! They will be good in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
Do these have to stay refrigerated? Want to give as gift.
They could be kept at room temperature for a few hours but long term they should be kept in the fridge.
What is the nutritional information on this recipe? Thanks!
HI Laura, the nutrition info would vary depending on what ingredients you use!
I’m thinking of making these soon! Do you know how long they last?
They’ll last several weeks in the fridge!
Love them. I did flax seed and choc. chips yum yum
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed them.
I know all of the balls have different ingredients but I was wondering around how many calories per ball do they have? Thanks
Somewhere in the neighbourhood of 70 calories each!
These look so good. I’ve got to show this to Claire. She’ll want to make them all!!!!
Report back with her favourites! 🙂
Aaah! So excited to try them!
They’re a lot of fun and easy to make!