5-Ingredient Chocolate Date Energy Balls
5-Ingredient No-Bake Chocolate Date Energy Balls are made with all whole food ingredients and make for a lovely snack or small dessert. Use peanut butter instead of almond butter to make peanut butter energy balls. Mix it up with your favorite add-ins!
Servings: 20 Balls
Calories: 115kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats*
- 1 cup unsweetened almond butter**
- 1/2 cup raw cacao powder
- 10 large pitted medjool dates 6.5 oz, 186g
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract optional
- ¼ tsp sea salt to taste
For Rolling:
- Raw cacao powder
- Unsweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- Add the oats to a food processor and process until a flour forms. It is okay for the flour to be somewhat coarse but the goal is to get it to the same consistency as regular flour if possible so that the balls don’t have any grittiness to them. Remember, you can also replace the oats with oat flour or almond flour.
- Transfer the rest of the ingredients to the food processor (almond butter, cacao powder, dates, vanilla extract, and sea salt) and process until a thick dough forms. This mixture should have a thicker consistency than regular cookie dough and also not be sticky or oily. If the mixture does turn out sticky and doesn’t form balls easily, refrigerate it for 1 to 2 hours or until it has set up.
- Roll the mixture into balls, forming any size you desire. If you’d like, roll the chocolate date balls in unsweetened shredded coconut or more cacao powder (this is mostly for looks).
Notes
*Replace the oats with oat flour or almond flour if you’d like
**You can also use sunflower seed butter, cashew butter, etc.
For the best result, be sure to weigh your pitted dates using a kitchen scale, as there is a large variation in the size of dates. You'll want all the stickiness you can get, so weighing them is the best bet to get the right texture.
If the mixture seems dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk (dairy or non-dairy) until the mixture is thick and sticky, similar to cookie dough. Keep processing and adding as needed until the mixture is easy to form into balls.
Store the energy balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. You can also store them in a zip lock bag in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1Ball (of 20) | Calories: 115kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g