3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls {No Bake} - Clean Eating with kids (2024)

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These NO BAKE! 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls are great for a quick sweet Real food healthy snack guaranteed to give the kids an energy boost. All you need is 3 ingredients, a few minutes a few minutes and very little prep!

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3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls

If you’re looking for a quick, easy, mega kid friendly (assuming they like peanut butter and that’s why you’re here!) snack, this is it! Seriously, it doesn’t get much easier than this. My kids love to make these, they’re easy enough for the littlest hands to create and you’re more than likely to have the ingredients already sitting in your pantry ready to go.

We keep these cold. While I have a batch of them often in the freezer so I can grab a few out at a moments notice, if you’re going to be eating them the day you make them you can keep them in the fridge.

Make sure they’re on a plate or in a container lined with parchment paper, although they’re sticky, when they’re cold they shouldn’t be overly so.

More Clean Eating Snacks

• Bliss balls for kids
• Chocolate and date energy balls
• No bake date slice
• Great for little kids banana biscuits
• Healthy biscuits for kids

What Are Peanut Butter Balls Made Of?

Not only are these made with just 3 simple ingredients but they’re also no bake! Yep, made in minutes without so much as heating up the oven.

I use a smooth natural peanut butter for these (and everything else!) and look for those ones that contain only 100% peanuts. If the label says it contains a little salt, I’m okay with that, but anything else is a No No from me. Many store bought peanut butters contain all sorts of things, mostly oils and preservatives you really don’t need, so I always check the labels. Feel free to use crunchy peanut butter if you have it or you’d like a little crunch in your peanut energy balls!

Aside from the star ingredient, these use Maple syrup (you can also use honey if you prefer) for sweetness and Oatmeal flour for binding. The rolled oats flour is simply the oatmeal you might have for breakfast ground in a powerful blender, I use my NutriBullet, to make a flour.

You don’t have to blend the oatmeal and can use it as it comes straight from the pack. I do usually blend it because if you also use a smooth peanut butter you get a smooth, silky, texture my kids (and me!) really like. The choice is totally yours and all quantities remain the same.

How Healthy Are Peanut Butter Energy balls?

I know some people wouldn’t consider these to be a healthy snack. I think they are.

I always compare what we used to eat with what we eat now and these are made with Real, natural ingredients, no refined sugars and give the kids a long lasting protein energy boost with some fiber.

The store bought equivalents to these balls contain some shocking ingredients I can’t even pronounce and so I’m totally happy with these. The nut butter is protein heavy and the Oatmeal is also one of the more protein rich grains, so these really do give the kids an energy boost.

Of course no ones suggesting anyone eats these for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but we’re snackers here in this house and so these fit the bill nicely!

Additions & Substitutions

The base of this recipe is a nut butter, a flour (or some type of binding ingredient) and a sweetener. You could use any nut butter you like, I’ve chosen peanut butter because it’s a family favorite treat, but there are a few around and they’re all Clean, just check labels.

Other nut butters you could try are almond butter or cashew butter, and for the binding ingredient you could use coconut flour, finely shredded coconut or whole cut Oatmeal.

Where I’ve used Maple syrup you can also use honey. I find this makes them slightly sweeter!

If you wanted to you could add a few chocolate chips, or chopped nuts if you wanted to add some more texture to these.

Recipe Notes

• I’ve used ground Oatmeal flour and so have written the quantities for that. If you’re using coconut flour, it’s slightly more absorbent than oatmeal and so mix in half the flour first and then the other half slowly, you’ll be able to see if the mixture is becoming too dry
• Make sure you chill the mixture in the fridge before you make your balls rather than keeping them at room temperature. The mixture will be too soft to roll unless it’s been chilled for an hour or so
• I use natural peanut butter. If you’re using a peanut butter that contains other oils, you may need to use less Maple syrup
• I use a small cookie dough scoop or an ice cream scoop to make the ball shape so we can make some attempt to get them the same size. It doesn’t always work :)
• I don’t buy quick oats as they’re often pre coated in other ingredients
• You can use a food processor to make these, I find a bowl and wooden spoon does the trick perfectly well!

Storing Peanut Butter Balls

Once you’ve made your energy balls, you want to cool them down again after being worked into balls so they stay bound together and in their ball shape. I keep these for up to 2-3 days in the fridge, sitting on parchment paper and in a little airtight container.

You can keep these for far longer in the freezer, and i usually have some of these waiting in the deep freeze to be eaten.

Peanut butter balls are fine to stay in the freezer for up to a month and although they don’t need to be thawed as you normally would, they’re solid and so if you leave them on the worktop for an hour or so they’ll be chilled but soft enough to tuck into.

How To Make 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients

• 1CupOatsGround into a flour in a blender
• ½CupNatural smooth peanut butterCan also use crunchy peanut butter
• ¼CupMaple syrupOr honey

Instructions

• Use a blender to grind the oatmeal into a flour
• Put all your ingredients into a bowl
• Stir to combine well, keep mixing until you have a smooth mixture
• Put the bowl into the fridge for at least an hour to firm the mixture up
• Divide into balls and keep in the fridge until you want to eat them!

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls Recipe