Healthy Vegan Energy Bites

These easy, make ahead, no-cook Vegan Energy Bites are literally a life saver if you are busy out an about and need a little pick me up and an energy boost. They are easy to make and make a great snack whether you are at home, work or on the road. 

Adults and children alike will love these bites particularly if you want a vegan option. These vegan energy balls are made with wholesome ingredients like nut or seed butter, oatmeal and shredded coconut.

Even though the Energy Bites I made today did not include a sweet component, you can always add chocolate chips, dates or raisins.

I've made these a couple of times now, and I usually take them on Friday as a snack with my lunch. Not to mention that they seem to otherwise be gobbled up by my kids and hubby lately. 

Making a new batch is always around the corner.

Oh and by the way, did I mention that there is no cooking involved and they are Vegan? Yup. That's right!

Jump to:

• Tips and Tricks to Making these Vegan Peanut Butter Bites
• Choosing Ingredients for an Energy Bites Recipe
• Ingredients You will Need to Make Vegan Energy Balls or Energy Protein Bars
• How to Make Your Vegan Protein Bites Different
• Equipment Needed to Make these bundles of peanut butter
• Use a Food Processor
• Use your muscle
• Use a cookie scoop
• How to Make Energy Bites or Protein Bars
• Storing Your Energy Bites
• Why make them?
• Other Healthy Recipes
• Recipe Details

Tips and Tricks to Making these Vegan Peanut Butter Bites

Choosing Ingredients for an Energy Bites Recipe

Some food bloggers use peanut butter substitutes as a way to reduce calorie intake (e.g. PB2).  You can do this as well if you like, but if you are using more dry ingredients you'll need to add in more liquid ingredients like maple syrup or honey so that you are able to combine everything together into a consistency that will stick together and hold its shape.

To make the best energy bites use real natural peanut butter, don't use peanut butter with additives. You want to use a peanut butter made from peanuts only. There shouldn't be any other ingredient in your peanut butter.

In this recipe, I use whole natural peanut butter and ingredients rather than low calorie substitutes.

Ingredients You will Need to Make Vegan Energy Balls or Energy Protein Bars

• Maple syrup – a sticky component to bind all the ingredients
• Peanut butter – a protein and healthy fat to add that will give you energy
• Oatmeal – an ingredient to help bind all the ingredients and provide energy
• Shredded Coconut  - a healthy fat and pleasant tasting
• Flaxseed – a healthy fat with omega3 that is also high in fibre

How to Make Your Vegan Protein Bites Different

There are some many different combinations and ingredients you can use to make protein bites. Here are just a few ingredients to consider adding to your recipe that will make them different and unique. 

Also, if there is an ingredient in the recipe that you are not fond of then you can remove it and replace it with one you like.

A lot of people don’t like coconut. So you can remove it and replace it with raisins, for example, or another ingredient.

Here are a few ideas on how to make your vegan bites unique by using these ingredients:

• Honey
• Cocoa nibs, chocolate chips
• Spices like cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice
• Dried fruit, raisins, dates
• Seed butter, or any type of nut butter
• Vanilla
• chia seeds, flax seed, hemp hearts

Equipment Needed to Make these bundles of peanut butter

Use a Food Processor

The easiest and quickest way to make these vegan energy bites is to through all of the ingredients in a food processor and mix.

I’ll be honest, though, I haven’t used a food processor yet to make them.  When I make them, I usually throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix by hand.

Use your muscle

You will need to use a little bit of elbow grease when you are mixing up all the ingredients together.  As you start to mix the ingredients, the peanut butter will start to loosen up.  Once the peanut butter begins to loose it will make it easier to combine everything together.  This should take about 5 minutes using a fork.

Use a cookie scoop

Using a cookie scoop to form the balls is the best way to keep these energy balls uniform. The cookie scoop also keeps your hands clean from the mess of the mixture from sticking to the palms of your hands.

How to Make Energy Bites or Protein Bars

Although this recipe is for Energy Bites, there is no reason you couldn’t press the ingredients in an 8 x 8 square baking dish and make protein bars.

How to make them:

Mix: mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl

Roll: use an ice-cream scoop to make balls or take a chunk and hand roll into small 1” balls. Place the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

For Energy Bars: press mixture in the bottom of an 8 x 8 dish.

Cool: place the energy balls in the fridge to cool and harden

Eat: remove from fridge and eat

Storage: store leftovers in fridge or freezer according to local food storage guidelines

Be prepared because making these will require some muscle.  It's best to either soften the nut or peanut butter before you begin working with it. If needed, microwave it for 30 seconds at a time until it is soft enough to start working with it.

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Add in oatmeal, coconut and any other ingredients like chocolate chips, dates or raisins. If you are making a vegan version, you'll want to use a chocolate chip without dairy.

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Begin mixing the ingredients and once incorporated start forming them in one inch balls or use an cookie scoop to mold the balls.

The cookie scoop was extremely helpful because I was able to keep all the bites neat and uniform with one another.  As I made them, I placed them on a piece of aluminum foil. You can also use parchment paper in place of the foil.

Storing Your Energy Bites

As I made these bundles, I placed them in a tray so that I could refrigerate them once done.  Refrigerating them allowed the nut butter to harden and ensure that the bites would remain intact and not fall apart.

These Healthy Vegan Energy Bites also freeze very well. I freeze my bites so that I can take them as a snack occasionally. Whether you are ready to use them all or just a couple, remove them from the freezer and place the desired amount of bites into a small zipper bag and place in fridge to thaw out overnight. 

Even though they are healthy, you still need to add them to your diet in moderation. Consider all other meals when determining your total calories for the day. They definitely make a great option for a vegan lifestyle.

Why make them?

• Family-Friendly: Your family will love them, even your kids.
• Packable Snack: great snack to add to your lunches or to take along on a hike or on a trip.
• Healthy: filled with wholesome ingredients, protein, fiber.  Provides instant energy and curbs your hunger until you eat your next meal
• Personalize: Made with only the ingredients you want and not full of added sugar or sweeteners.
• No Cooking Required: No cooking or baking required

Drop a comment below with your spin on this recipe. I’d love to know how they turned out.

Other Healthy Recipes

Looking for other recipes?  Here are some healthy meal ideas that might bring a smile to your face and your tummy!

Other Related Recipes:

• The easy way to make homemade granola bars by Live the Easy Life