Salted Chocolate Energy Balls
These Salted Chocolate Energy Balls are just the ticket if you’re looking for a quick, healthy-licious on-the-go snack! I’ve tried a lot of different recipes for energy balls recently. My main criteria: they had to be tasty, easy to make, and hold together well. But I never really found one that fit the bill.
So I finally decided to craft my own. It took a bit of experimenting to get the right formula, texture, and taste. (Oh darn, we had to eat the experiments!) But we think you’ll agree these Salted Chocolate Energy Balls are the bomb!
Each energy ball contains 8 grams of plant-based protein from oats, nut butter, nuts, and seeds, plus 14 grams of healthy fats from nuts, seeds, nut butter, and coconut shreds. And they only have 3 grams of added sugar from maple syrup and a few chocolate chips each. It’s recommended not to have more than 26 grams (6 teaspoons) of added sugar a day. So you can easily eat a couple of these to boost your protein intake, and still be well under your recommended added sugar allotment.
How much protein do you really need?
How much protein do you really need? Depending on your age, lifestyle, and the amount of exercise you do, you may need to intake between 70-150 grams of protein a day. This can be hard to get, especially if you’re vegan/vegetarian or don’t eat a lot of meat. To make these Salted Chocolate Energy Balls higher in protein, you could also substitute part of the oat flour for protein powder. However, the texture might be a bit granular that way.
Eating an adequate amount of protein and healthy fat each meal (or snack) can help keep you satiated much longer. This is because protein, fat, and complex carbohydrates take longer for the body to break down and digest than simple carbohydrates. So while your digestion system is working away to digest the protein, complex carbs, and healthy fat in these Salted Chocolate Energy Balls, you’ll be feeling full. And if you’re still in the camp of “eating fat makes you fat“, you need to read the article I wrote for Chopra, it debunks that myth.
For years I’ve had a coffee grinder for galley use (no coffee beans!) that I use for grinding spices or nuts/seeds. I love my Black+Decker Coffee & Spice Grinder. The blade stays sharp, it grinds quickly, and is easy to clean. It makes short order of turning organic, GF steel-cut oats into oat flour, or grinding up flax meal or pumpkin seeds.
Salted Chocolate Energy Balls
Equipment
- Coffee grinder, Vitamix, or food processor for grinding grains, nuts, and seeds
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 cup organic GF oat flour (we grind our own using steel cut oats and a coffee grinder, you could also use a Vitamix or food processor)
- 1/2 cup flax meal (ground flax seed)
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut unsweetened
- 1/4 cup ground pumpkin seeds (we grind our own using a coffee grinder, you could also use a Vitamix or food processor)
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 2 TBSP organic cocoa powder (non-alkalized)
- 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
Wet ingredients
- 1/4 cup organic maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
- 1 cup nut butter (mixed nuts, almonds, peanuts, etc)
Optional
- 1/2 cup 80% dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Grind dry ingredients in a coffee grinder, Vitamix, or food processor as needed.
- Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Add in wet ingredients and mix by hand until well mixed.
- Fold in chocolate chips and mix until thoroughly mixed in.
- Roll into 1.5” balls.
- Keep 1 week at room temperature or 2-3 weeks refrigerated.
Nutrition
Share with your friends and family who love healthy-licious snacks too! And please leave a comment to let us know how you like them, or what modifications you made to yours. Saludé!
