These rich, chocolate-flavored energy bites are not only vegan and gluten-free but also crafted with just 3 nutritious healthy ingredients, completely free from processed sugar.
Healthy, bite-sized delights are essential to have on hand for satisfying sweet cravings whenever they arise and these treats are the way to go when this happens!
Enjoy a healthy nutrient-packed vegan snack or dessert that comes together in just 10 minutes.
Post Contents
Recipe Highlights
- Dietary – vegan, whole food, refined sugar-free, gluten-free, oil-free
- Quick & easy
- Made with only 3 ingredients
- Ready in 10 mins
- No bake recipe
- Great for snack or dessert
- Nutritious energy balls
- Deliciously healthy
- Kids-friendly
- Small batch recipe – easily doubled or tripled
Ingredient Notes
The recipe combines dates, cacao powder, and hazelnut butter, blending them into a thick dough and shaped into wholesome energy balls—a delightful choice for a tasty snack or dessert.
Here’s everything you’ll need:
- regular dates – I used regular pitted dates. They sweeten the cookies naturally and are loaded with fiber and essential minerals, like iron and calcium
- raw cacao powder – I used raw cacao powder as it is rich in antioxidants and many minerals. It adds a perfect chocolate flavor and is a whole food ingredient. If you don’t have it, you can use cocoa powder instead.
- hazelnut butter – I highly recommend you use natural hazelnut butter without any additives like salt or sugar. It adds a unique chocolate hazelnut flavor to these balls. If you don’t have it, you can substitute peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower butter.
For the full ingredients list, measurements, and instructions, please find the recipe card below.
How to Make 3-ingredient Energy Balls
The full printable recipe is at the bottom of this post.
Step 1: Blend all ingredients – Put all ingredients for the energy balls in a food processor. Blend for a minute until everything is well mixed.
Step 2: Roll dough into balls – Take about one full teaspoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball (the recipe makes about 6 balls).
Now you have deliciously healthy and nutritious energy balls to enjoy any time of the day!
Top Tips
- A small batch recipe – the recipe makes about 6 energy balls. You can easily double or triple it.
- Don’t have hazelnut butter – although I highly recommend you use hazelnut butter for this recipe because of its unique flavor that combined with cacao powder tastes like a real chocolate delight. However, you can substitute it with peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower butter.
- Add a finishing touch – to make them even more beautiful you can roll the balls into your favorite ingredients like coconut shreds, cocoa powder, cinnamon, crushed nuts, etc.
How to Store
Room temperature: These 3-ingredient energy balls will keep out of the fridge for a few hours or even a day if you plan to take them on the go.
Fridge: You can store them in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Freezer: Store in a sealed container or freezer bag for up to 3 months.
More Easy Energy Balls Recipes
If you try these 3-ingredient Energy Balls, please let me know! Leave a comment and ★★★★★ recipe rating below. I would love to see your remakes and hear what you think.
3-Ingredient Energy Balls
Ingredients
- ½ cup (70 g) regular pitted dates
- 1 ½ tbsp raw cacao powder
- 2 tbsp hazelnut butter
- a pinch of salt, optional
Instructions
- Put all ingredients for the energy balls in a food processor. Blend for a minute until everything is well mixed.
- Take about one full teaspoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball (the recipe makes about 6 balls). Enjoy!
Notes
- If you don’t have hazelnut butter, you can use another nut butter, such as almond, cashew butter, or peanut butter.
- The recipe makes about 6 balls. If you want a bigger batch just adjust the amount of the ingredients.
Nutrition
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SEE ABOVE COMMENT
CAN I MAKE WITHOUT ANY NUT OR SEED BUTTERS? ALLERGIES
Hi Melody,
since you’re avoiding nut and seed butters, I’d be happy to share some alternative energy ball recipes with you that don’t contain nuts or seeds. Here are some suggestions that I hope will work for you:
https://wellnessdove.com/no-bake-coconut-balls-4-ingredients/
https://wellnessdove.com/strawberry-vegan-truffles-recipe/
https://wellnessdove.com/easy-vegan-pumpkin-truffles-5-ingredients/