If there’s one thing I learned about myself over the years, it’s that I absolutely must have snacks (like these peanut butter energy bites) available or I become an out-of-control raging hypoglycemia animal.
Think Tom Cruise mixed with a wolverine. Very scary stuff.
Ever since I’ve been little, my blood sugar has always been on a rigid 3-hour dive schedule. As in, I’m the type of person who has to have something to eat every few hours or I’ll crash. My mom says that when she brought me somewhere, she always had to make sure that she had food with her otherwise I’d ruin the day and throw a fit. Terrible, right?
Of course, when I’m working or hanging out with the kiddos at home it’s pretty easy to grab snacks, but I’ve (of course) been in situations where I was far from both home and food (especially when traveling). To avoid a meltdown into hunger oblivion, I started creating my own little energy bites and trail mixes for healthy snacking anywhere I went. Not only are they a lifesaver, but they’re SO delicious and more satisfying than any store-bought snacks I can find.
Ingredients in peanut butter energy bites
These wonderful no bake peanut butter energy balls are loaded with some of my favorite things. They take 5 minutes tops and you have yourself a nutritious, homemade snack with healthy fats, omega-3s, and over 5g protein per serving!
- Peanut butter: I recommend using an all natural drippy creamy peanut butter with only peanuts + salt as the ingredients. I’ve also made them with almond butter, and cashew butter works, too, but everyone knows peanut butter reigns king on Ambitious Kitchen.
- Oats: be sure to use old-fashioned rolled oats, and if you’re gluten free, be sure to use certified gluten free rolled oats.
- Sweetener: good news, you can use honey, coconut palm syrup or date syrup in these energy bites! If you want to make these vegan, use coconut palm syrup or date syrup. A little sweetener gives them that peanut butter cookie flavor.
- Flaxseed meal: this provides a boost of healthy fats, fiber, protein and vitamins. It’s also great for lactating mamas.
- Chia seeds: a boost of healthy fats and omegas to help keep you fuller, longer.
- Vanilla extract: the one and only. Feel free to skip if you don’t have it, or learn how to make your own here!
- Protein powder: I prefer to use unflavored collagen peptides or this vegan protein powder, but you can use whatever protein powder you prefer.
- Cinnamon: a dash of cinnamon helps these taste like Teddy Grahams, I swear.
- Mini chocolate chips: because who doesn’t love a little chocolate in their life? Feel free to use vegan/dairy free chocolate chips if you’d like.
- Optional: I personally love to add unsweetened shredded coconut because I’m a coconut addict, but it’s definitely not necessary.
Can I make them without protein powder?
Sure! These peanut butter protein balls should be just fine without protein powder. You may just need to add more oats if the mixture feels too wet.
Easily make them nut free
Feel free to swap the peanut butter and use sunflower seed butter instead! They’ll be great for lunch boxes for kiddos.
How to make no bake energy bites
- With a food processor: add in the peanut butter, honey, vanilla, protein powder, flaxseed meal, oats, cinnamon and chia seeds. Pulse together until well combined. Add in chocolate chips (and coconut if using) and pulse a few more times. Use a medium cookie scoop or your hands to grab dough and roll into 10 balls.
- Without a food processor: add wet ingredients to a medium bowl, mix to combine. Add in dry ingredients and mix together until combined. I usually have to use my hands to mix and work with the dough. At this point you should be able to form balls that stick together. You may need to add a bit more nut butter and/or sweetener to help them stick together.
Want to make bars instead?
Instead of rolling the mixture into balls, press the energy bite “dough” into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan before placing it in the refrigerator. Cut into bars and enjoy!
Watch me make the peanut butter energy bites
Storing tips
- To store: these peanut butter energy bites will last for 1 week in an airtight container in the fridge.
- To freeze: feel free to add them to a freezer-safe bag or container and store them for up to 1 month. I prefer these energy bites straight from the freezer, and I’d recommend letting them soften up for about 5-10 minutes in the fridge or at room temp before eating them.
Recommended tools
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More no bake snacks you’ll love
- Chia Banana Bread Energy Bites
- No Bake High Protein Peanut Butter Cereal Bars
- Monster Cookie Energy Bites
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
- No Bake Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bars
Get all of my no bake snacks here!
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave a comment below and rate the recipe! You can also snap and picture and post it on Instagram using the hashtag #ambitiouskitchen. LUH you. xo.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
5-Minute Protein Peanut Butter Energy Bites
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup natural drippy peanut butter (or sub almond butter)
- 1/4 cup honey (or date syrup or coconut syrup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup protein powder of choice*
- 1/3 cup flaxseed meal
- 1/2 cup rolled oats (gluten free, if desired)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon mini chocolate chips (vegan, if desired)
- Optional
- 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, add in the peanut butter, honey, vanilla, protein powder, flaxseed meal, oats, cinnamon and chia seeds. Pulse together until well combined. Add in chocolate chips (and coconut if using) and pulse a few more times. Use a medium cookie scoop or your hands to grab dough and roll into 10 balls, place in an airtight container.
- To make without food processor: add wet ingredients to a medium bowl, mix to combine. Add in dry ingredients and mix together until combined. I usually have to use my hands to mix and work with the dough. At this point you should be able to form balls that stick together. Because all peanut butter/nut butter consistencies are different and depending on what protein powder you use, you may need to add in more nut butter or sweetener to help the balls stick together.
- Store in the fridge for up to 1 week, or the freezer for up to 2 months. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on February 17th, 2016, republished on December 30th, 2019, and republished on April 18th, 2023.
I made your delicious protein bites. We love them. They are pretty quick to put together, with pretty healthy ingredients! I made a batch a week ago and made a double batch yesterday. They freeze beautifully. It’s a great snack and helps get more protein into our diet in a most enjoyable way.
Thanks so much!
Amazing! So glad they were a hit 🙂
I’m looking to increase protein in our diet as we are eating mainly vegetarian so I was interested to try your recipe for protein peanut butter bites. Wow! They are delicious! Thanks so much.
😋
These are the perfect snack!
i foound and then lost this recipe, and found it again. Made a batch to share with my exercise partener and they loved them. I didn’t have Chai seeds today and I used maple syurp instead of honey. Very good snack with coffee.
Amazing! I’m glad you found it again!
I literally make these once a week! They are a household staple according to my 8-year-old daughter and myself. They are so easy, delicious, and the perfect snack.
Love that! Such a great snack 🙂
Delicious! I didn’t have any protein powder on hand so I added a little more oats and flax seed. A great nutrient dense snack to keep in the freezer.
Perfect snack!
I make these every week so my husband has a quick and yummy breakfast while he’s on calls for work- always a hit!
Love that!!
Do I need to soak the chia seeds before I make these? Can I soak them beforehand or will that mess up the texture?
Hi Amanda! No need to soak the chia seeds here!
Love the texture, taste, all of the above! Just right about all each ingredient with a really yummy taste!
So yummy!
I love the little additions to the protein, peanut butter, energy balls!
Thank you!
I curse the day I started making these because I’ve had to make them twice a week since 😅 my partner, our son and I are all obsessed. Great for grabbing out of the fridge as we’re running out the door! I blend the rolled oats for a smoother texture and add more honey than the recipe says and add some melted dark chocolate over the top!
Love hearing that!!
Mine isn’t the consistency of yours and it’s not “sticking” into a ball…not sure what is wrong or what I should add?
Depending on what protein powder you used you might need to add more nut butter or sweetener!
High protein and delicious!
Can you use maple syrup as the sweetener in these?
Yes that should work!
Delicious! Just made with tahini instead of peanut butter and added 2 tbsp more oats since the tahini was pretty runny. They are SO good! Will absolutely make again.
Perfect! Love these for an easy snack 🙂
These are addicting! I substitute 1 tbsp of cocoa powder for the chocolate chips, and mix them easily with my KitchenAid mixer. They are a little dry from the cocoa powder and I should prob add a little more honey, but I haven’t tried that yet.
Try these bites next instead!
Delicious and easy recipe. So quick to put together too without much mess. I made it as written minus using more flaxseed in place of the chia seeds. My only complaint is the crazy amount of advertising popping up when using the site. I know you’ve got to pay bills, but sheesh. Thanks for the recipe. The kids love these.
So glad they were a hit! We’ll absolutely look into any trouble with the ads. In the meantime, feel free to click the “Print” button 🙂
Hi! Do you use the vanilla Aloha protein powder?
I typically use Four Sigmatic or Collagen Peptides, but Aloha will work well!
cant use oats what can I sub.
Trey these energy bites instead, but feel free to use peanut butter!
I’m obsessed! These are so good.
The perfect snack!
Excellent!!
I’m 50/50 on these as there were SO hard to roll; definitely not the right consistency for rolling. I followed the recipe to the letter bar using sunflower seeds butter and doubling it; it gave me 99 small balls. Now in the freezer.
So strange! Did you mixture seem overly dry? Was your sunflower seed butter “drippy” in texture?
These are amazing! Packed full of nutrition and perfect for that mid afternoon sweet craving! Thank you.
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
Just made our first batch and they are delicious. Used whole flax seeds, forgot the cinnamon (oops), and substituted about 8 whole dates that had been soaked in water for a few hours (plus most of the soaking liquid). Looking forward to making the recipe again!
Amazing! Glad you loved these!
This is a good recipe whenever you need a quick snack for the go.
I chose to leave out some of the extra ingrediants like cinnamon & flakseed meal but I found that it came out super extra sweet (coming from the honey) so personally I would just put a little less honey or a little more peanut butter but its all up to you.
Overall, great recipe. Just needs some tweaking 😉
Yes feel free to reduce those!
Perfect mid-day snack or a snack to eat while ur waiting for dinner to be done😂😂 nonetheless these are so good and i had no trouble mixing my hand, just had to add more peanut butter, also added hemp seeds 🙂
Oh my gosh so delicious! I make these every week.
I usually eat two a day for a snack. Thank you so much for these fantastic recipes.
These are delicious! I prepped these for postpartum and they’ve been so easy to grab on the go and taste great. It’s a quick simple snack that’s perfect for me as a new mom balancing a newborn and breastfeeding. They were easy to make without a food processor and have kept well in the freezer. I did add extra protein powder. I’ll be making another batch very soon!
Amazing! Glad you enjoyed!
These are so good! Super easy to make too.
OMG.. I NEVER post on these recipes but had to reply and say THANK YOU!! I just made this and these are SOOO good. I won’t be buying Protein Bars anymore!!! It was super easy to make as well.
So glad you found this recipe!!
Sooooo good. I made them using half honey, half maple syrup for the sweetener. I also cut the amount of cinnamon to 1/4 tsp as I’m not crazy about the taste of cinnamon, and that was just the right hint of it. I didn’t have protein powder but just used a little extra flaxseed, coconut, and oats until the balls held together.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
I was wondering if I could make this recipe without chia seeds and flaxseed meal. Would it be close to the same? Or are those ingredients essential?
Hi! They may not hold together as well without those two ingredients, so I’d recommend keeping them in.
This recipe is the best! I usually don’t leave reviews for online recipes, but this is a winner. These energy bites are kid approved and full of nutrients and flavor. We love the almond butter version!
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed 🙂
Way too dry as written
Sorry to hear that! Did you make sure to use natural peanut butter?
These are great! Easy to make, and a taste of indulgence when needing a quick pick me up. We notice a slight and pleasant banana aftertaste that is probably a combination of our whey protein, flax and chia seeds.
Used Skippy Creamy PB, vanilla 100% Dynamic Whey by INC International Nutrition Co., and our favorite dark chocolate candy bar cut up for the chocolate chips.
The perfect protein-packed snack!
These have single-handedly fueled my postpartum recovery. They’re absolutely delicious and so easy to make!
SO happy to hear that!!
These are so tasty, the perfect filling snack! I’ve made them twice now to try and incorporate more flax into my diet & they really do take only 5 minutes to make! The second time I made them I used less honey, more PB, and chopped up a date to add more texture and sweetness. Both times I’ve made them I’ve had to add closer to 3/4 cup PB for them to collect all the dry ingredients.
So glad you love them! Such a great snack and easy to customize 🙂
Very good. Omitted flaxseed meal did not have it, Added coconut. So good! I put vinyl gloves and rolled it into balls. No mess and super fast. (I also did not blend it, no need.)
Perfect! Such a great snack 🙂