Whether you call them protein balls, energy bites, no-bake granola balls, or snack balls is totally up to you. The bottom line is that these are one of the easiest and healthiest homemade edibles. You don’t need to own any special equipment, you don’t need to be good at cooking or baking, and you probably have a lot of the ingredients in your pantry. These treats are perfect for bringing on a camping trip, sharing with friends as a thoughtful surprise (who doesn’t love snacks?!), or curbing that late evening munchie craving.
There are infinite ways to customize the base recipe to your personal taste preferences—as long as you stick to the proportions. Exploration is encouraged, so if that’s your style, you can find the base recipe at the bottom of this post. But in case you need some inspiration to get motivated, then try out one of our favorite variations below!
First, a few recipe tips:
- Toast the nuts, seeds, and oats to add an extra level of flavor!
- If your batter is a little dry and it’s difficult to form into balls, add more nut/seed butter 1 tbsp at a time.
- A cookie scoop, portion scoop, or ice cream scoop can be super handy tools when measuring and shaping the batter— but a spoon works fine if you don’t have any of these.
- If you want some extra protein, substitute 1:1 with the oats, but we wouldn’t recommend substituting more than ½ a cup—and you may need to increase the proportion of nut butter if your mixture seems too dry.
The Method:
Get it together– Get all your ingredients and measuring tools out. Toast nuts, seeds, or oats if desired, and set them aside to cool.
Mix it up– Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until fully combined.
Make it stick– Press everything together, cover with a towel or plastic wrap and refrigerate for ~1 ½ hrs.
Shape it– Shape the mixture into balls using about 2 tbsp per ball.
Chill it— Taste it! Save it for later, or make your friends some goodie bags! You can store the remaining energy bites in your fridge for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Make sure to clearly label whatever bag or container you store these in, and keep them away from your pets and children.
Now for the recipes!
Infused PB Chocolate Chip Energy Balls
(yield 13 balls, 3 tbsp each)
1 ¼ c Rolled Oats (toasted)
⅔ c Peanut Butter
3 tbsp Regular Honey + 10 Packets of Swifts Infused Honey
⅓ c Peanuts (crushed slightly and toasted)
⅓ c Mini Chocolate Chips
2 tbsp Flax Seeds (whole)
½ tsp Coarse Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
*Swifts Infused Honey is available in THC (10mg THC per packet) or 5:1 CBD to THC (10mg CBD + 2mg THC per packet).
Infused Tahini Date Energy Balls
(yield 13 balls, 3 tbsp each)
1 ½ c Rolled Oats (toasted)
⅓ c Tahini
⅓ c Almond Butter
3 ½ tbsp Maple Syrup
1 ½ tbsp Molasses
8 Spot Dark Chocolate Wafers
⅓ c Chopped Dates (before adding to the recipe – soften by soaking in hot water for a few minutes, then draining and remove the pit)
3 tbsp Sesame Seeds (toasted)
3/4 tsp Coarse Salt
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Coconut Almond Cashew Energy Balls
(yield 15 balls, 3 tbsp each)
⅔ c Rolled Oats (toasted)
¾ c Unsweetened Shredded Coconut (toasted)
1/2 c Cashew (or Almond) Butter
3 tbsp Infused Coconut Oil*
⅓ Honey
⅔ c Almonds (chopped or sliced)
1 tbsp Flax Seeds
1 tbsp Chia Seeds
½ tsp Coarse Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
*if you don’t want to make your own infused coconut oil, you can substitute Olio Infused Olive Oil (3 tbsp ~ 75mg THC, so that’d be 5mg THC per ball). Alternatively, you can substitute regular almonds for Swifts Chocolate Covered Almonds OR add a little extra sweetness using Ruby Sugar.
Maple Cinnamon Pecan Energy Balls
(yield 13 balls, 3 tbsp each)
1 ¼ c Rolled Oats
⅔ c Almond Butter
⅓ c Maple Syrup
1 tbsp Molasses
⅔ c Pecans (chopped and toasted)
8 Seagoat White Chocolate Squares (chopped)
2 tbsp Flax Seeds
½ tsp Coarse Salt
1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Cinnamon
Base Recipe:
(yields 13 balls, 3tbsp per ball)
1 ¼ c Rolled Oats (sometimes called old fashioned oats)
⅔ c Nut or Seed Butter (or ½ c Nut/Seed Butter + 2 tbsp olive or coconut oil)
⅓ c Honey, Maple Syrup, Agave, or another sticky liquid sweetener
⅔ c Exciting Mix-ins (nuts, chocolate, dried fruit)
2 tbsp Seeds (sesame, sunflower, flax, chia etc)
½ tsp Coarse Salt
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
Of course, you can make uninfused versions of these energy balls following this basic recipe using whatever mix-ins that tickle your fancy. But, assuming you’re here to make the infused version, here are a variety of suggestions to help you get the flavor and potency you desire:
- Substitute some of the nut/seed butter with infused coconut oil or infused olive oil. If you aren’t up for making your own, you can pick up a bottle of Olio Infused Olive Oil from Dockside. Each tablespoon contains ~25mg THC (400mg/bottle).
- Substitute some portion of the liquid sweetener for Swifts Infused Honey (available in 5:1 ratio of THC to CBD or THC only) Each packet contains about 1 tsp of honey.
- If you’re using chocolate and prefer to minimize the weedy flavor of your balls, you can substitute some of the chocolate chips for broken-up pieces of Spot Chocolate or Seagoat Chocolate Squares available in dark, milk, or white in a variety of ratio options.
- If you like things a little extra sweet and extra potent, you can always just follow the above recipe as is with the addition of Infused Ruby Sugar.