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I love no bake treats. These easy vegan nut butter energy bites sure do hit the spot for an energy boosting 3pm snack. Bonus: kids love and can help make.
I developed this recipe after falling in love with Coffeebar’s ‘energy balls’ at Palisades Tahoe where I love to ski.
A picture of me skiing so you know I’m not lying.
I have a midweek ski ritual where I stop by Coffeebar for a matcha latte made with almond milk and an energy ball. Do I sound like a basic yoga girl or what? They also have paleo bowls, woot. But anyway, my favorite aprés ski snack of all time is their energy ball made with (from what I can tell) peanut butter, chocolate chips, chia seeds, oats, and coconut oil, give or take a few ingredients.
So I set out to recreate it at home, and to make a sugar free version at that. Here’s what I came up with!
Vegan No Bake Nut Butter Energy Bites
These can be made mostly sugar free. They’re also gluten and dairy free and can be made vegan. So versatile!
The oats provide you with some good soluble fiber; you get good fats from the nut butter and coconut oil; and we all know chocolate is a superfood! Best of all, these will be very low sugar if you use monkfruit. Pretty much the perfect snack for the 3pm slump. A good mix of protein, fat, and carbs.
Here is what you’ll need + recipe variations:
- Nut butter of your choice. I LOVE peanut butter, so that’s what I used here. You can use almond butter and probably sunbutter too. Avoid Jif or other crappy peanut butters that contain hydrogenated oils and added sugar.
- Gluten free rolled oats
- Coconut oil
- Granulated sugar free sweetener. My go-to is Zen Sweet, which is a granulated monkfruit sweetener. You could also use xylitol. Both safe for diabetics. Alternatively if you don’t have a granulated sweetener, you could use honey or maple syrup (see adjustments in recipe), but it won’t be mostly sugar free.
- Vanilla
- Sea salt (I like this kind).
- Unsweetened flaked coconut
- Dark chocolate. I use a bar of 70 – 80 percent dark and chop it. Very low sugar (this one has only 12 grams of sugar for the whole bar). You can also use Enjoy Life for a vegan version. They’re dairy and soy free. If you use regular sized chocolate chips, chop them down a bit. I have also used these dark chocolate covered cacao nibs from Trader Joe’s, and they work perfectly! They’re the ideal size.
Nut Butter Energy Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup nut butter
- 1.5 cups gluten free oats
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 2 tbsp granulated monkfruit sweetener (or more to taste. I like treats on the not-so-sweet side). Variation: ¼ cup honey or maple syrup along with 2 tbsp coconut oil if you don't have monkfruit.
- 2 tsp vanilla
- pinch sea salt
- 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
- 1/2 cup mini dark choco chips or chopped chocolate
Instructions
- First off, melt coconut oil and whisk in the granulated sweetener til dissolved.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together nut butter, coconut oil/monkfruit, and vanilla. If using honey or maple syrup, just whisk that in together with nut butter, melted coconut oil (be sure to only use 2 tbsp in this case), and vanilla.
- Mix in rolled oats and flaked coconut. I usually use my hands to incorporate everything.
- Add pinch salt, then stir in chocolate chips (I also use my hands for this).
- Roll into balls. This works best with clean, wet hands. Batter will be sticky.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer so they set. Keep refrigerated. Enjoy!
Super easy. Let me know how they turn out!
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Mary Vance is a Certified Nutrition Consultant and author specializing in digestive health. She combines a science-based approach with natural therapies to rebalance the body. In addition to her 1:1 coaching, she offers courses to help you heal your gut and improve your health. Mary lives in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe in Northern California. Read more about her coaching practice here and her background here.
Just left Tahoe and love those energy balls. This recipe looks perfect. I am adding chia seeds and flax seeds. Will let you know what happens. Thanks!
I think the original recipe does contain chia. Let me know how it turns out!!