This No-Bake Energy Bites recipe is easy to make, full of feel-good ingredients, and irresistibly delicious!
Friends, have you tried this no bake energy bites recipe? ♡
It’s one of my all-time favorite recipes here on the blog, and one that I’ve personally made about a zillion times since I first published it here eight years ago.
I love these little energy bites because they are easy to make with simply pantry ingredients that I almost always have on hand. They are super easy to mix up and roll into cute little energy balls. (Or if you would like to save time, you can press the mixture into a parchment-covered baking dish, and then cut them into energy bars.) They are the perfect make-ahead recipe to keep on hand for healthy snacking or breakfasts. And most importantly, they are just irresistibly good.
Over the years, thousands of our readers have made and loved this classic energy bites recipe too. So I wholeheartedly recommend giving it a try!
No Bake Energy Bites Recipe | 1-Minute Video
No Bake Energy Bites Ingredients:
To make this no bake energy bites recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- Old-fashioned oats: Also called rolled oats — these will serve as the base ingredient for our energy bites.
- Shredded coconut: Which I highly recommend toasting — either briefly in the oven or in a sauté pan — before adding to the energy bites. (Just be sure that the coconut has cooled before adding in the chocolate chips or the chocolate may melt.) Feel free to use either sweetened or unsweetened shredded coconut.
- Creamy peanut butter: I have used both traditional creamy peanut butter and natural creamy peanut butter in this recipe, and both work!
- Ground flaxseed: To add some extra protein, fiber and omega-3s to our energy bites.
- Semisweet chocolate chips: I photographed this recipe with standard-sized semisweet chips, but mini semisweet chips mix in easier.
- Honey: To add some natural sweetness and also help to bind the energy balls together.
- Vanilla extract: For a touch of extra flavor.
- Chia seeds (optional): Feel free to skip the chia seeds if you do not have any on hand. But I love adding in a tablespoon or so when I do!
How To Make Energy Balls:
To make these energy bites, simply…
- Stir everything together. Stir all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until thoroughly combined.
- Chill. Cover the mixing bowl and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours, or until the mixture is chilled.*
- Roll into balls. Roll into mixture into 1-inch balls.
- Serve. Then enjoy immediately! Or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.
If you have trouble getting the energy balls to hold together, I recommend adding in more peanut butter to make the mixture a bit more sticky. Or if you would rather, you can also just press the mixture into a square baking dish to make flat energy bars instead of round energy balls.
Possible Energy Bites Variations:
There are all sorts of ways that you can customize this energy bites recipe, so feel free to get creative! For example, you are welcome to…
- Make energy bars: Press the mixture firmly into a parchment-lined 8×8-inch baking pan, chill, and then slice into energy bars (instead of rolling the mixture into energy balls).
- Use a different nut or seed butter: Use almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, or any other nut/seed butters that you prefer in place of peanut butter.
- Omit the coconut: I’ve heard from many of you over the years who don’t love coconut. If that’s the case, no prob, just omit the coconut and add in an extra shake of oats instead.
- Add spices: If you would like to give these energy bites some extra flavor, feel free to add in a few pinches of ground cinnamon or some pumpkin pie spice.
More Healthy Snack Recipes:
Looking for more healthy snack inspiration? Here are a few of my favorite snack recipes!
- Chocolate No Bake Energy Bites
- Seed Cycling Energy Bites
- Easy Refrigerator Pickles
- Nooch Popcorn
- Beef Jerky
- Sea Salt and Vinegar Kale Chips
No Bake Energy Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 2/3 cup toasted shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or vegan chocolate chips)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Stir everything together. Stir all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until thoroughly combined.
- Chill. Cover the mixing bowl and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours, or until the mixture is chilled. (This will help the mixture stick together more easily.)
- Roll into balls. Roll into mixture into 1-inch balls.
- Serve. Then enjoy immediately! Or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I have been struggling in my 5:30AM spinning, and weight training classes, and realized it was because I was not eating before the class. I made a batch of these yesterday (batch of 30, so very small), leaving out the flax seed (did not have it on hand) and adding in a little more oatmeal as suggested. These were the perfect small snack to eat with coffee before the class, and I kicked hiney in my weight training class today (if I do say so myself); I also came home feeling energized. Thank you so much for this recipe! Personally, I found them slightly too sweet, so I’ll cut back the honey to 1/4 cup. Making them very small also made the reasonable with respect to WW SmartPoints.
Thanks for sharing with us, Jen — we’re so happy you enjoyed them and that they helped you out before your class! :)
These have become a favorite in our house! All four kids love these and I love how easy it is to sneak in so much goodness!
We’re so happy you and your family enjoy them! :)
Thanks for this recipe!! One day I’ll follow it, but I wanted to make it now, although I didn’t have all the ingredients. So I made my own variation & it’s good. It’s still chilling in the fridge, but ai tasted it, & it’s yummy.
I used: a muesli cereal that has oatmeal, dates & raisins; raisins; Craisins; Nutella; peanut butter; honey; vanilla; hemp seeds; chia seeds; flax seeds; & teff seeds. I didn’t measure any of the ingredients out, but that’s all right this time. ?
I look forward to eating the yummy balls, & thanks again for your recipe. ?
Sounds delicious! :)
might as well throw in the chia seeds too as you suggest, I’ve been looking for something else besides energy bars for a lot of these same ingredients, so thank you for these!
These things are amazing! I mean really good. There is one problem with them though…I keep them in the freezer (bottom section of the fridge) and they’re too easy to get to. My wife and I go through these fast enough but now our 3 year old is strong enough to open the freezer and get them himself. They just don’t last. I have to make a double batch every week it seems and everyone who tries them gets hooked.
These are the best snack I’ve ever made, and I’m not a huge health nut. These taste so good, they’re a great pick me up, they’re easy to keep at work or around the house and they’re the perfect size.
I’ve just started a new job at a school and it’s nut free so I’m going to try making them with “wow butter” instead of peanut butter. I’ll be sure to let you know how they work out.
I’ll give these an honest 9.9/10 (they lost 0.1 because they’re so good that we go through them too fast and I have to keep making them)
Thank you for sharing, Paul — we’re so glad you guys enjoy them! :)
Do you think I can freeze these?
Yes, definitely — these freeze beautifully!
I love this recipe!!!!
My younger siblings devour these balls! for a family of seven it is a perfect snack!!!
We’re so glad you and your family enjoyed them!
How many calories are in each piece using your original recipe? Thanks.
Hi Laurie! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
If I leave the flax seeds out, will it affect the recipe at all or should it be fine? Thanks!
No, you can totally leave those out (you might want to compensate with some extra oats though). We hope you enjoy! :)
Hey! Looking forward to these. Question – I can’t use vanilla extract because it contains alcohol. Any suggestions for an alternative?
Hi Ashly! We would just leave it out, it won’t make a big difference — they’ll still be yummy. If you really want that vanilla flavor though, you can use vanilla bean (scrape the seeds from half a pod, or use vanilla bean paste). We hope you enjoy these!