Easy date energy balls

Healthy date balls

Easy chocolate peanut butter date energy balls. No bake recipe with dates, oats, peanut butter and cocoa powder. Can also be made into bars. Meal prep for a busy week to always have a perfect healthy snack on hand. Kid friendly vegan and dairy free recipe that can easily be made gluten free.

These easy chocolate peanut butter energy balls are full of healthy fats and contain no added sugar. You can even make them into bars. Makes for great afternoon snacks. This is the perfect snack with an amazing chewy texture.

Ingredients

Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven. If you’re having some sweet cravings, but would like a healthier version, this recipe hits the spot. They're full of healthy ingredients.

• Medjool dates - Make sure they're pitted and whole dates. You can use any type of dates that you can find at your grocery store, but medjool will be best.
• Oats - I prefer rolled oats. Quick oats might make this recipe a bit too gooey, but if you like that texture, feel free to use it.
• Peanut butter - Not only is peanut butter delicious, and a great source of protein, it's used as an amazing egg free binding agent in these energy balls.
• Cocoa powder - you can also use cacao powder.
• Vanilla extract
• Soy milk - this helps to create sticky dough so it sticks together. You can also use warm water.
• Dairy free chocolate chips - added in the end to add texture and crunch.

These chocolate peanut butter bars are sweetened with dates. Dates are amazing because they’re chock full of fiber, so the fiber prevents a big sugar spike in your blood stream.

Processed white sugar is stripped of all its nutrients. Dates are full of natural sweeteners, but also contain the whole, intact fruit and its nutrients. Dates are full of potassium, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals(1) and natural sweetness.

How to make date energy balls

• Put your oatmeal and pitted medjool dates into a food processor and process until oats and dates are broken down a bit.
• Add in the soy milk, vanilla, peanut butter, cocoa powder and salt and process for a couple of minutes.
• Add in the dairy free chocolate chips, and process for 10 seconds.
• Roll into 2" balls and store in a fridge in an airtight container or roll out on a baking sheet with parchment paper and let it set in the fridge for a few hours. Melt some peanut butter and coconut oil to create a chocolate drizzle and drizzle over the date bars. Cut into bars and enjoy.

Recipe tips

These bars are great to make at the beginning of a busy week. Just make sure to store them in your fridge. Then you will always have a delicious snack or after dinner treat on hand.

Feel free to add any nuts and seeds of your choice. Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, coconut flakes or any extra dried fruit are a great option. These are also good if you roll them in hemp seeds. This adds some amazing omega 3’s.

If you’d like an amazing treat at the end of the day, pop these bars into the oven for 10 minutes, or until they’re warmed up. Put the warmed up, gooey bars into a bowl and top with some vegan ice cream. My GOD, this is about as good as it gets.

If your dates are dried out, soak them in some hot water for 10 minutes.

If you don't like peanut butter, feel free to use any other nut butter like cashew butter, almond butter or tahini.

How to store

These date energy balls will last in an airtight container in the fridge for about 5-7 days.

Can you freeze energy balls?

Yes! These freeze very well. Just make sure to completely thaw them out to room temperature before eating them.

Can you make this recipe gluten free?

This recipe can absolutely be made gluten free by either omitting the oatmeal, or by using a certified gluten free oatmeal.

And that’s it. I hope you enjoy these delicious and easy chocolate peanut butter bars.

Share this recipe with a fellow chocolate and peanut butter addict

Happy Munching!

Try these recipes next

• Vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
• Healthy vegan granola bites
• Chocolate chickpea cookies
• Kid friendly vegan snacks
• Easy eggless chocolate chip cookies
• Vegan black bean brownies
• Crunchy vegan granola
• Peanut butter bliss balls

If you loved this recipe, please leave a star rating in the recipe card and a comment below.

📖 Recipe

Vegan date energy balls

These delicious and healthy chocolate peanut butter bars are simple to make and perfect to take with you on the road. Make ahead of time and have a quick snack for when you're on your way out the door. Pairs really well with coffee in the morning as well

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 12

Calories: 153kcal

Author: Maria

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Equipment

• ▢
  Food processor

Ingredients

US Customary or Metric

• ▢ 1 cup oats
• ▢ 20 pitted dates
• ▢ ⅓ cup peanut butter
• ▢ 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• ▢ 3 tablespoons soymilk
• ▢ ½ teaspoons vanilla
• ▢ small pinch of salt
• ▢ ⅓ cup of semi sweet chocolate chips (check for dairy free)

Melted peanut butter topping

• ▢ 2 tablespoon peanut butter
• ▢ 1 teaspoon coconut oil (or vegan butter)

Instructions

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

• In a food processor, blend the dates and oats first for about 10 seconds.
  1 cup oats, 20 pitted dates
• Add in everything except the chocolate chips and process for 15 seconds
  ⅓ cup peanut butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons soymilk, ½ teaspoons vanilla, small pinch of salt, 2 tablespoon peanut butter
• Add in chocolate chips and process for 5 seconds
  ⅓ cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
• Either press into an 8x10 pan to make the bars or take a tablespoon and roll into balls. After melting the peanut butter topping, drizzle over the balls or bars. Place in a freezer for 10 minutes for the bars/balls to set. Then store in the fridge

Melted peanut butter topping

• Melt peanut butter and coconut oil in a sauce pan on low heat. Stir while it melts. Drizzle over the bars
  1 teaspoon coconut oil, ⅓ cup peanut butter

Notes

You can also use almond butter
Add in your favorite nut for more texture. Roll these in hemp seeds for added Omega 3's. 

Store in an air tight container in the fridge. 

These bars are great to make at the beginning of a busy week. Just make sure to store them in your fridge. Then you will always have a delicious snack on hand for when you head out the door.

Feel free to add any nuts and seeds of your choice. These are also good if you roll them in hemp seeds. This adds some amazing omega 3’s.

If you’d like an amazing treat at the end of the day, pop these bars into the oven for 10 minutes, or until they’re warmed up. Put the warmed up, goey bars into a bowl and top with some vegan ice cream. My GOD, this is about as good as it gets.

If your dates are dried out, soak them in some hot water for 10 minutes.

If you don't like peanut butter, feel free to use any other nut butter like cashew butter, almond butter or tahini.

Nutrition

Calories: 153kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 48mg | Potassium: 218mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 18IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 1mg

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The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Chocolate energy ball recipe