Name: 5-Minute No Bake Peanut Butter Balls
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 Cups Oatmeal; 1 Cup Peanut Butter; 4 Tablespoons Honey; 3 Tablespoons Ground Flax Seed; 1/2 Cup Dairy Free Chocolate Chips

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These no-bake peanut butter balls come together faster than a trip to the cookie store! Melted chocolate chips and creamy peanut butter make these easy treats a delicious and healthy choice for little hands.

Peanut butter balls will quickly become one of your favorite recipes because they only take about 10 minutes to make and you can use ingredients that you have on hand. The base recipe has only 5 ingredients but they can easily be swapped as you please!

How Healthy Are Energy Balls?

Like anything else, energy balls are only as healthy as the ingredients that are used to make them. In this recipe, we are using simple ingredients like natural peanut butter, which won’t have any of the additives that other peanut butter has and flax seeds which will work as a binder while adding beneficial nutrients.

This recipe calls for dairy free chocolate chips, but you could use a bar of quality dark chocolate instead for additional health benefits. Real dark chocolate just tends to be more bitter.

Is Oatmeal Gluten Free?

These oatmeal balls is a great gluten and dairy free snack idea for class parties, but with all the allergies out there these days, it is important to know what you are serving.

Oatmeal itself is gluten-free, however, it can be cross-contaminated if it is processed on, or near a machine that processes gluten items. So if you need a gluten-free snack, read the oatmeal labels to triple-check that it says gluten-free.

There are several options but Bob’s Red Mill is the easiest to find in grocery stores.

How To Make Peanut Butter Energy Balls

These 5 ingredient peanut butter balls are so easy to make so this is a great recipe that you can print and hand over to the kids to try.

Step 1: Add all the ingredients to a medium bowl

Step 2: Mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Roll into one inch balls. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Step 3: Add the chocolate chips to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each 30 seconds until melted. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the peanut butter balls

Energy Ball Variations To Try:

Use the base of 1 part nut butter to 2 parts oatmeal. From there, let your imagination run wild! Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Shredded Coconut
Substitute Sunflower Seed Butter, Almond Butter or Cashew Butter for the Peanut Butter
Dried fruits: Raisins, Cranberries, Apricots, Berries or Goji Berries
Nuts: Almonds, Peanuts, Walnuts and Pine Nuts
Peanut butter chips or White Chocolate Chips
Superfoods: Flax, Chia Seeds, Matcha Powder, Cacao Powder, YourSuper Powders and even Green Coffee Powder!

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls – Another Option

For this recipe, I drizzled the chocolate over the top because I don’t like it when the chocolate melts in my hands. If you don’t have an issue with melted chocolate, you can easily turn this recipe in to chocolate-covered peanut butter balls.

Step 1: Add all the ingredients to a medium bowl

Step 2: Mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Roll into one inch balls. Place the balls on to baking sheet lined with a sheet of parchment paper and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Step 3: Add the chocolate chips to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each 30 seconds until melted.

Step 4: Use a spoon to roll the peanut butter ball into the melted chocolate until you have a smooth chocolate coating. Gently place the chocolate ball back onto the parchment paper. The parchment paper will catch the excess chocolate drip.

Step 5: Place in the fridge and enjoy!

Do Energy Balls Need To Be Refrigerated?

Because we are using natural peanut butter, the peanut butter mixture will be stickier than traditional balls that use powdered sugar to hold them together. It is best to store them in an airtight container in the fridge. If they will be included in your child’s lunch, send it with an ice pack to keep it cool.

Tips and Tricks for The Best Peanut Butter Balls:

1) The easiest (and cleanest) way to drizzle the chocolate over the peanut butter balls is to add the melted chocolate chips to the corner of a sandwich bag. Make sure the chocolate is cool to the touch (but still warm). Cut the very corner of the sandwich bag and push the melted chocolate through the cut corner and drizzle it over the peanut butter balls.

2) If you need a nut free classroom snack, substitute the peanut butter for sunflower seed butter or cashew butter. They are both delicious in this recipe! I would also recommend Enjoy Life chocolate chips because they are free of common allergens.

3) When microwaving the chocolate, test that you are using a heatproof bowl. If you are unsure, microwave the empty bowl for 15 seconds to see if it gets warm. If it gets hot, it is not microwave-safe. A glass bowl would be the ideal option.

4) The best way to achieve uniform balls is to use a 1 inch cookie scoop. I prefer them to be 1 inch in size, but that can be adjusted to your preferences.

5) Smooth peanut butter works best, but if you only have crunchy peanut butter, don’t let that stop you!

Have fun playing around with this recipe! And let me know if you find a variation that you love!