This easy Energy Balls recipe makes the perfect healthy snack, made with whole grain oats, peanut butter, honey, chocolate chips, and coconut. Whip up a big batch in just 5 minutes, and make extra to freeze for later.
Looking for more healthy snacks? Try my Banana Oat Muffins, Carrot Muffins, Applesauce, or No Bake Granola Bars!
Why I love this healthy snack:
- No Bake – Only 5 minutes to make and all you need is a bowl!
- Adaptable – Use this recipe as your base and substitute any of your favorite ingredients! I like to include chopped almonds, raisins, craisins, or butterscotch chips. The options are endless, and you can use a different nut butter or swap it out for sunflower butter if needed for allergies.
- Grab-and-Go – Keep them in the fridge for any snacking emergency or simply grab a few on your way out the door!
Ingredients in Energy Balls:
- Oats: This energy ball recipe is made with both rolled oats and steel cut oats, which add a fun crunch and an extra dose of healthy grains full of fiber and protein. The steel coat oats are not cooked before hand, but will soften once combined with the other ingredients and refrigerated.
- Coconut. Any kind, sweetened or unsweetened.
- Crispy Rice cereal. Rice Krispies or any off-brand work well. You could even use crushed rice chex.
- Ground Flax seeds: The flax seeds are a great source of omega-3, protein and fiber,
- Peanut Butter: or your other favorite nutter butter, or sunflower butter for nut-free energy bites.
- Chocolate Chips. Because everything tastes better with a handful of chocolate chips.
- Honey. This is (along with peanut butter) is the major binding ingredient. Add more honey if your energy balls seem dry or crumbly. You can substitute agave.
- Vanilla Extract.
How to make Energy Balls:
- Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl until well incorporated.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before forming into balls. (If the mixture isn’t holding together well enough you can add a little more nut butter or honey to help it bind).
- Form into balls. I like to use a cookie scoop to make 1-2 inch uniform balls and gently roll them with my hands. Wet your hands with water or spray them lightly with cooking spray for easier rolling.
- Serve, refrigerate, or freeze. See more freezing directions below.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Store no bake energy balls covered in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, depending on freshness of your ingredients.
To Freeze: Make energy bites then place in a freezer safe bag or container for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, or at room temperature.
Recipe Variations:
- Add dried fruit: dates, raisins, or anything you like.
- Higher protein: If you’re looking for extra high protein balls, add 1 scoop of protein powder (any flavor) and about 1 Tablespoon more honey to ensure they aren’t dry or crumbly.
- Add nuts: Add chopped walnuts, almonds, or pecans.
- Without flaxseed: Replace flaxseed with an extra ½ cup oats or cereal.
- Nut Butter: Swap out the peanut butter for almond butter or any nut butter. You may also use sunflower butter for anyone with a nut allergy!
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Recipe
Energy Balls
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup steel cut oats
- 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 cup crispy rice cereal (like Rice Krispies or crushed rice chex)
- 1 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
- 1 cup ground flaxseed
- 2/3 cup chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before forming into 1-2 inch balls. (If the mixture isn’t holding together well enough you can add a little more nut butter or honey to help it bind). Keep refrigerated for an easy snack on the go.
- Feel free to include other “add-ins” like chopped almonds, raisins, etc.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, depending on freshness of your ingredients.
Notes
- Add dried fruit: dates, raisins, or anything you like.
- Higher protein: add 1 scoop of protein powder (any flavor) and about 1 Tablespoon more honey to ensure they aren’t dry or crumbly.
- Add nuts: Add chopped walnuts, almonds, or pecans.
- Without flaxseed: Replace flaxseed with an extra ½ cup oats or cereal.
- Nut Butter: Swap out the peanut butter for almond butter or any nut butter. You may also use sunflower butter for anyone with a nut allergy!
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe March 2017. Updated July 2020 and January 2022.
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I want to make these today, they look amazing! Is the serving size 1 ball? I’m cutting calories and need to know how many calories are in each ball. It says 30 servings, but not how much that serving is. Thank you 🙂
yes
I have made this quite a few times since you first published it. In fact, there are some in my freezer right now. I recently had surgery on my esophagus, and I am really looking forward to being past the soft food stage so that I can eat these again. I use mini chocolate chips, as I am not overly fond of chocolate.
Hi. Would this recipe work using all rolled oats instead of steel cut?
Yes, sure.
What can I use in place of the honey? My housemate is allergic to honey…
I’m going to try agave when I make it, I’m not a huge honey fan.
Outstanding. I’ve made several energy balls from recipes I’ve found online. This one, by far, is the best.
The crunch from the rice crispies are a game changer!
I also added 1/4 cup of chia seeds.
We LOVE these energy bites. I now make them for anyone who just had a baby because postpartum hunger is intense! I have started printing off the recipe for each mom because every time I made them for someone they wanted the recipe. Just made a big batch for the freezer today!
I make these often but not this recipe. I actually tried this recipe for the first time and GAME CHANGER according to my husband! He says that I cannot make any other recipe but this one. I will say that I didn’t have any steel cut oats and I was so hungry for them that night that I couldn’t wait until I did so I improvised with Fiber One All Bran Cereal and it worked, they were fabulous. I even wondered if a scoop of instant coffee would bring these to a whole other level of greatness to change the flavor up??
Great to hear that you tried our energy ball recipe and it was a hit, especially with your husband! We’re always happy to hear about delicious improvisations like the one you did with the Fiber One All Bran Cereal. That’s the beauty of cooking, you can always make it your own. As for adding instant coffee, that’s a great idea! It’s always fun to experiment with different flavors and ingredients. We can’t wait to try it ourselves and see how it turns out. Thank you for sharing your experience with our recipe, and we’re so glad it worked out for you! 🤗👨🍳
I see these referred to as “energy” bars but I don’t see any caffeine or similar ingredient that give energy (other than protein, sugar, etc). I’m looking for a grab-n-go breakfast snack that DOES have an energy component for my early-morning college student who doesn’t drink coffee (and I’d rather he not reach for energy drinks). Is there an ingredient I can add that will give an added energy boost?
Hi Rebecca, You could add a scoop of caffeine powder to the mixture!
We LOVE these! I don’t anyways have cereal on hand, so we swap with crushed graham crackers. The kids gobble them up!
This recipe is so handy for quick snacks and packed lunches. All my kids really like these, and they are so easy to pop it straight from the freezer into a lunchbox as a favorite protein source and treat. I have made this recipe several times and they have always come together really well. I’ve had issues with recipes like it being too crumbly, but not this recipe. It’s a keeper!
I love this recipe!!! I have made it several times and it is always a favorite!!!
Can the coconut just be left out or substituted for something? Thanks!
Yes, you can just leave it out–if the mixture feels too wet you can add a little more oats. Or substitute the coconut with something you like, like dried fruit.
Very needed. Am going to try.
Thanks!
I haven’t made these, but they sound delicious. How many energy balls in a serving?
Hi Valerie- I usually get about 30 energy balls per recipe, in that case, 1 energy ball is a serving!
We LOVE these so much! However, as a recently diagnosed T2 diabetic, I am curious about the nutrition info, especially the carbs per serving. What size/serving/ how much equals the 14 carb count noted in the recipe? 🤷♀️ (Does that make any sense?) 😉😊
Thanks in advance for any further info!
So good!
What would you substitute for coconut in the cookies I am allergic to coconut?
Would Maple Syrup be an okay substitute for honey?
We make these weekly! They are so good!
This was so tasty! Thanks.
These are fantastic! I even flattened some of them and baked them like cookies and they turned out well — YUM!
How long and at what temperature? Thank you….
Do we need to cook oats before adding to mixture? Excited to make these with my 3 year old!
No. Enjoy!
I didn’t have rice cereal so used multi-grain Cheerios and they were delicious. And just used steel cut oats. Turned out great!
Have you ever added whey protein powder to either your granola bars or the energy bites?
I haven’t but there’s no reason you cant! If the mixture seems too dry, add more wet (honey or peanut butter) to help it stick together.
Made these for my family with picky 7 and 5 year olds and they are a huge hit! I left out coconut and flaxseed for personal preference.
I even took them to a family dinner as a dessert and everyone devoured them. Super addicting! Bonus that they are healthy.
Great Idea! I have been searching the web lately for great ideas to help our family eat better while maintaining our current work load. So far all of your recipes and suggestions have been wonderfully helpful 😀 I am curious, how long would something like this last in the fridge and also, have you ever frozen them?
I have never frozen them however, they store in fridge in airtight container for weeks. Enjoy.
I store them frozen – and just get out what I need. They seem fine.
Hello! What can I substitute the rice crispy with? I never buy cereal and prefer the use something else than that. Thank you!
Just leave them out, and add another cup of oats. Enjoy!
How much is per serving that is equal to 128 calories as stated?
One energy bite.
I have three very picky little kids and they had so much fun making and eating these! Thanks for the perfect snack idea.
If I don’t have steel cut oats can you just use double regular old fashioned oats??
You could, you will just want to adjust the amount that you add. You want the mixture to be a little wet/sticky but workable to form into balls.
Thanks for this! I googled milled flaxseed still cut oats and peanut butter as it was all I had on hand. I did cook the steel cut oats in the microwave with water for five minutes only and added Quakers instant oatmeal maple and brown sugar 1 pack as well. I used 2 tbsp of jif peanut butter 1 tbsp milled flaxseed 1/4 cup steel cut oats. I didn’t use any coconut flakes or extras like yours but still delicious: per my fitness pal I yielded six balls
66 cal per serving
Total Fat 2.9g 4%
Saturated Fat 0.5g 2%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 47mg 2%
Total Carbohydrate 12.7g 5%
Dietary Fiber 2.5g 9%
Total Sugars 2.6g
Protein 2.3g
Vitamin D 0mcg 0%
Calcium 20mg 2%
Iron 2mg 12%
Potassium 21mg 0%
Great recipe! My kids love them!
Hi
Does the coconut shredded has to be dried one or the fresh white flesh from a coconut ?
Hi Sveta,
The coconut should be packaged sweetened shredded coconut! Definitely not fresh!
These are the absolute best!! Ended up making 28 larger balls 🙂
So happy you liked them! Thanks Chelsea.
Can I not add ground flaxseed?
Sure, you can!
Quaker has steel cut oats and also an instant version same nutrition. The instant isn’t as crunchy if you prefer a smoother feel.
Steel cut oats take 20-30 minutes to cook. How do they soften enough for this recipe?
Thanks
Barb
You’re right, we don’t cook the oats for this recipe. They add a tender “chew”y grain texture to the bites, but they’re not “hard”.
Aré the oats cooked or raw?
Raw Oats
? I FINALLY FOUND THE PERFECT RECIPE FOR A SCHOOL SNACK!!! You are a pure creative genius. My mom and I have searched far and wide for a snack rich in calories, because I normally don’t eat enough of them. I’m already on the 10th percentile of weight for my age and maybe, hopefully, this will be the snack that brings me back to life! Thanks for posting this, it really REALLY helps!
Oh man. These are the absolute best snack! We love this recipe SO MUCH!
These energy bites are delicious! Any nutrition info details like approximate calories/fat/carbs/protein, etc. I realize it will depend on the size of the ball. 🙂
Hi Paulette, I don’t include nutritional info because, like you said, it varies so much by size of the ball and what people add to them. MyFitnessPal.com has a pretty good calculator you could try.