Peanut Butter Energy Balls with Dates
These delicious chocolate peanut butter Energy Balls are made with only 10 ingredients and 10 minutes and they’re tasty and healthy treats!
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These peanut butter energy balls are filled with shredded coconut, peanut butter, Omega-3-rich ground flax seeds, and chocolate chips.
When I set out to make these chocolate peanut butter energy balls, the idea was to make my favorite peanut butter balls more nutritious.
What I created instead was a delicious treat that we love just as much as cookies. The good news? This peanut butter energy balls recipe is much healthier than cookies, so we enjoy having them around nearly every day!
Reader Reviews
★★★★★
Annie
Yummy and versatile! Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Watch How to Make These Energy Balls
Ingredients & Substitutions
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including substitution ideas:
- Peanut butter — You can use creamy or natural peanut butter for this recipe or substitute almond butter or seed butter.
- Medjool Dates — Prefer your energy balls without dates? You can substitute 1/4 to 1/2 cup of agave nectar or maple syrup.
- Vanilla — Use a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Substitute a scrape of fresh vanilla beans. I also add coconut extract when I want more coconut flavor. I use a drop of banana extract for banana flavor.
- Oats — We’ll use rolled oats for the best texture. You can use instant oats, but you may need to add more.
- Coconut flakes — Use unsweetened coconut flakes.
- Ground flaxseed — The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of ground flaxseed. Some people find the flavor is too much. Experiment by reducing it to 1/4 cup (or somewhere in between). Reduce the peanut butter or add a bit more oats to compensate.
- Chocolate chips — Use this guide to find the best dairy-free chocolate chip brands, including some that are sugar-free.
What Are Medjool Dates?
Medjool dates are soft and chewy with a rich, caramel-like flavor. Compared to regular dates that are firmer, Medjool dates are perfect for using raw in energy date balls. Remove the pit to prevent damage to your food processor blades. Buy Medjool dates at stores like Sprouts, health food stores, and Costco.
Storage Tips
Store energy bites in an airtight container where they will keep at room temperature for up to 7 days or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. You can freeze them in freezer-safe containers for up to 2 months.
What Makes This Recipe Shine?
- NATURALLY SWEET — Using dates means these energy bites are naturally-sweetened with no added refined sugars
- HEALTHY — Ground flaxseed creates a perfect texture for these bites and contributes healthy omega-3s.
- ENTICING — Dark chocolate chips add delicious chocolate flavor to every bite!
Frequently-Asked Questions
How many calories are in peanut butter energy balls?
Depending on the size of the energy ball, there are anywhere from 90–110 calories each. However, because they’re loaded with fiber and healthy fats, each energy ball is filling and delicious!
Are energy balls good for you?
Energy balls with dates are made with nutritious and filling ingredients, like oats, flax meal, spices, and more. Each energy ball is typically full of fiber, protein, Omega-3s, and even healthful fats. They’re a perfect nutritious snack!
Also, if you love chocolate and peanut butter, these homemade Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are low in sugar and delicious!
Marly’s Tips
Use these tips to make these peanut butter energy balls perfect every time:
- Add a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder to make chocolate peanut butter energy balls.
- After you mix it up in the food processor, pinch a little bit of the dough off and see if it packs together nicely. If not, add more peanut butter or some maple syrup to add “stickiness.”
- Roll them into balls right away, as the dough has less binding power as it sits.
Peanut Butter Oat Energy Balls
These homemade peanut butter protein balls are:
- Easy to make — make them with less than 10 ingredients and 10 minutes!
- Good For You — they’re packed with Omega 3s from flax seeds
- Lightly sweetened — they’re a perfect lightly sweet treat
- Satisfying — with the addition of dark chocolate chips, they’re so satisfying
- Energetic — they’re a perfect pick-me-up snack or breakfast!
Peanut Butter Date Balls
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 1 cup Medjool dates (about 10 dates with pits removed) (substitute 1/4 cup agave nectar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup coconut flakes
- ½ cup ground flaxseed (see notes)
- ⅓ cup dairy-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place the oats and pitted dates in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine.
- Add the remaining ingredients except for the chocolate chips and pulse for a few seconds. Use a spatula to push down the ingredients and pulse again until the ingredients are combined. Test the batter. It should stick together between your fingers. If not, add another date or two and pulse to combine.
- Add the chocolate chips and pulse in short bursts until combined. Reserve a few chocolate chips to roll the finished energy balls to make them look irresistible.
- Roll the dough into bite-size balls, roll in reserved chocolate chips, and then store in the fridge. Allow the energy balls some time to chill in the fridge for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving to allow them to firm up or eat them in their ooey-gooey room temperature state.
Recommended Equipment
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Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Energy Ball Favorites
There are a lot of great energy ball recipes to be made. In fact, once you have the foundation of the protein ball recipe down, you can begin altering it in myriad ways:
About the Author
Hi! I’m Marly McMillen. I’m the founding editor, author, recipe developer, vegan home chef, and food stylist behind Namely Marly. I’m so grateful to you and every member of my audience for your support and dedication. More about Namely Marly ›
19 Responses to Peanut Butter Energy Balls with Dates
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How many dates if using Deglet Noir, they are smaller …can you give a weight measurement, etc. thanks!
Great question! Since Deglet Noor dates are smaller than Medjool dates, you’ll need more of them to match the same weight. For Deglet Noor dates, you’d need about 18–24 dates to equal the same weight. To be precise, aim for about 150 -180 grams of pitted dates. Since Deglet Noir dates are firmer, soaking them in hot water for about 10 minutes before blending will be helpful. Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with!
Yummy and versatile! Although I’m confused by the remark above about using dates in place of the sweetener – I didn’t see any sweetener included unless you count the chocolate chips.
That said, I did add just a little bit of honey as I found them to be less sweet than I would have liked, probably because I used natural peanut butter. I also added some different nut butter, both of those additions were welcome because they were a little dry and crumbly. But as I said, it’s very versatile and easy to fix by adding something dry if they’re too gooey and something gooey if they’re too dry!
Thanks for the wonderful recipe
So excited to try these. Can you sub dried dates for the sweetener?
Hi Pamela,
I’ve used dates in this recipe frequently and your comment makes me realize I need to add a note to that effect. I love using whole food sweeteners like dates and it adds stickiness to this recipe to keep the energy balls compact. Hope you enjoy them!
Hi! What’s the measurement on the agave/honey/syrup? 1/4 what? Thanks!!
Hi Darcey
First of all – awesome name! Second, it should say “cup” or “up-cay” if you’re speaking pig latin…which I’m sure you’re not, but you know, just in case. 🙂 xoxo!
Hey, I just found your blog through these delicious-looking bites, and I was excited to see that you’re from Missouri! I live in Springfield. It seems like most food bloggers live in California or Toronto, so it’s nice to see someone from my state. 🙂
Yay Missouri! I love this state. We have four seasons, beautiful hills, an arch, and some amazing accents. I personally think people from the areas surrounding Springfield have the best accents. I just love that southern Missouri drawl. Glad to have met you!
healthy and tasty. My 20yo son loves them and so does my elderly mother. I always double my recipie. I use 2 cups gluten free oats, 1 cup of PB, i like to add more to .ake it taste better and easier to roll into balls. I add natural real honey i buy from the farmers market. Flax seeds, chia seeds. Raisins. Raisins taste so good in them and I dislike raisins. I would like to know what the serving size is and how many carbs are in a serving. Does anyone know?
I think my daughter would love these! As a college student with not a lot of cooking experience, it is a perfect recipe for something sweet to share that can give her energy to get the studying done (I may be dreaming a bit)!
My daughter is in college too! And I tested them out on her and she really liked them. I haven’t tried having her make them yet, but I thought about sending her off this semester with an “Energy Bite Kit”. I’m going to put the ingredients in a bag and send them off with her so she can make it herself. She’ll have to use a spoon instead of a food processor, but I think it will work!
They are great for college students. My 20yo son loves them. He will eat all of them. Im currently a online student and they give me a pick me up to help me keep studying. They taste really good. You can add whatever ykur daughter likes, raisins, unsweetened shredded coconut, or sweeten shredded coconut, flax seeds, chia seeds. I have used chocolate peanut butter which i did not like it but my daughter did.
I’m so glad this recipe worked for your college son and yay to you for taking online classes, too! I have to say I’m with your daughter…love the chocolate peanut butter combo! 🙂
its super delicious.
Just like you! xoxoxo
I love these as a mid morning pick me up when I’m getting sluggish or post workout. Or pre-workout out. Might throw out a few peanut butter chip in them too!
Hi Laura. Great idea to have these for a mid-morning pick-me-up. I find when I pair these with a cup of hot tea, they’re really filling! I think it must be from all that great flax seed meal. Bring on the Omega-3s!! xoxo!!
Looks yummy! Thanks for sharing our Autumn harvest! ;0)