Whether you call them bliss balls, power balls, energy bites, or something else all together, buckle up, because we’re about to make some delicious & easy date protein balls together. This chocolate protein ball recipe with dates is super easy to make, and I’ll also share creative ways that you can make them your own. We’ll also chat about the different protein options you can rotate thru when making these date energy balls.
Allergy Status
Free From: Wheat/Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Soy, Tree Nut (including Coconut), Peanut, Fish, Shellfish, Sesame, Top 9 Allergens, Alliums, Beans & Lentils, Buckwheat, Cane/Refined Sugar, Carrot, Celery, Cinnamon, Citrus, Corn, Cruciferous, Garlic, Latex Cross Reactive Foods (H/M), Legume, Lupin, Mushroom, Mustard, Nightshade, Onion, Pea & Pea Protein, Potato (Nightshade Variety), Poultry, Red Meat, Rice, Squash & Gourd, Strawberry, Sweet Potato & Yam, Tapioca/Cassava/Yuca/Manioc, Tomato, Yeast
Friendly To: EOE, Vegan
Compatible With: Seed Free
For Seed Free: Use an alternative spread (this article has lots of options)
Friendly Corn Free Reminder: It’s possible to source truly corn free versions of each ingredient listed. You might need to make a nut/seed butter at home with safe raw materials.
Tools to Make This Protein Ball Recipe
Link Note: I’ve only linked you to items I personally own, test, and love.
- Food Processor (this is the updated model of the one that I use)
- Baking Sheet/Tray (this is the brand I use the most these days)
- Parchment Paper (I get mine in bulk at Costco)
- Kitchen Scale (the one that I LOVE)
- Cookie Scoop (I have a ridiculous amount of these)
- Spatula (this is a good one)
Note: You won’t be able to make these protein balls without a food processor. A blender won’t get you the right consistency. If you have something like a NutraMilk, you could use that if it has an attachment bowl for this type of recipe.
Ingredients For Your Healthy Treat
- 200g Roasted Organic Gluten Free Purity Protocol Rolled Oats
- 280g Organic Medjool Dates, pitted
- 250g Organic Sunflower Seed Butter, unsweetened (aprox 12 TBSP)
- 60g Chocolate Chips of Choice
- 85mL Water (3 ounces, room temperature)
- 4 – 6 TBSP Protein Powder of Choice
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- Optional: 2 tsp Organic Vanilla Extract
- Optional: Cacao Powder for Dusting
Size Note: This is a big batch of protein balls. If you don’t have a large food processor like mine, cut the recipe in half to make sure your food processor can comfortably handle the ingredients.
Important Ingredient Notes
Oats: If you’re not gluten free, don’t manage Celiac Disease, or don’t have a wheat allergy, you do not need to use gluten free purity protocol oats. Regular rolled oats will work just fine.
Dates: Medjool dates are usually very soft. If you happen to have dates that are particularly hard, soak them in warm water for 20 minutes before using. Be sure to drain the water off before adding the dates to your food processor.
Sunflower Seed Butter: This can be swapped for any nut, tuber, legume, or seed butter. This article has different options to consider. You can use almond butter, peanut butter, chickpea butter, even granola butter (great if you have a sweet tooth).
Cacao Powder: This is not the same thing as cocoa powder.
Sea Salt: If you’re a foodie at heart, swap this for smoked salt for something a little different.
Protein Powder Options
You can use your favorite protein powder for this recipe. When selecting a protein powder for this recipe, I suggest sticking to plain/unflavoured protein powder, chocolate protein powder, or vanilla protein powder. Other flavours may work (especially seasonal flavors like mint), but might clash with the chocolate content.
Just Ingredients has some of my fave protein powder, including vegan protein powder. Be sure to also look at their seasonal flavours, as you can rotate thru them when making this recipe for extra flavor and variety.
Zego protein powder is made on top 14 free equipment, and is made from sacha inchi seed. It has a pretty forward flavour that you might not love, so start with 3 – 4 Tablespoons, taste, and add more if you’re OK with it.
Earth Chimp (shared facility) has a very interesting protein powder. It’s organic and made with wholesome ingredients. I’ve never used them, but might pick up a bag one of these days.
Vivio Life makes a great range of vegan and allergy friendly protein powders. I’ve used one of their (now discontinued) powders in several projects. I have a friend that uses their powders everyday and is a huge fan.
There are other brands, and each will provide different flavors. I’d suggest looking at your personal nutrition goals when selecting protein powder(s). If you have an underlying medical condition, or manage a child with specific nutritional needs, check with your registered dietitian or medical team to see if they have protein powder suggestions as well.
Easy Protein Ball Directions
Let’s transform your simple ingredients into delicious little snacks. First you’ll need to roast some rolled oats. Place a good amount of oats directly on a baking tray and place in your oven. Bake at 350f/175c until the oats have browned slightly. You can store the extras after they’ve cooled in baggies for future use.
Whilst the oats roast, pit your dates. The weight is the dates without their pits. For softer dates, you can soak them in hot water for two hours and discard the water before pitting. Place your food processor on your kitchen scale, tare to zero, and add all of the ingredients except for the oats.
Process to get things moving. It doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth yet. Once the oats are browned, allow them to cool for 1 – 2 minutes, then add the portioned weight to your food processor. The heat from the oats will melt your chocolate chips a bit, which is great.
Pulse the protein ball mixture until a nice “dough” has formed. You can also run the food processor in the on mode until you reach the desired texture. Finally, use a small or medium cookie scoop to portion out your power balls. Roll them and enjoy for breakfast, snack time, as part of your lunch, or even as a late night snack (or dessert).
For extra flavour, I dusted these with organic cacao. Be sure to read further down different ways you can tweak this recipe.
If you have kids, use silicone molds to shape the dough into characters and shapes that they love such as stars, or in my case, Star Wars. You can see in the image that the Falcon on my plate didn’t quite come out nicely (the two tips) so be careful with delicate shapes.
Measuring Tip
For ease, when making protein balls, place the bowl of a food processor on your kitchen scale, tare to zero, and add the ingredients directly to the bowl. Make sure the blade is already in place. Also, don’t forget to tare between weighted ingredients. Your recipe will come together much faster, and reduces the amount of dishes you’ll dirty when making this perfect healthy snack.
Protein Ball Storage
After making your protein balls, you’ll want to store extras in the fridge, in an airtight container. The good news is that protein balls keep very well in a sealed container in the fridge for several weeks.
Alternatively, you can freeze extras, however, some people are on the fence. If you’ve never frozen energy balls before, only freeze a few. The next day, thaw one on the counter at room temperature, then eat it. If you like it, repeat for the next few days with the other power balls you froze to make sure you still enjoy them. If you’re still a fan, go all in and freeze your leftovers in a freezer-safe container.
Lazy Storage Tip: If you don’t have kids, and really don’t care about the shape, invest in small 4-ounce jars. You can add a heaping spoonful or two to each jar, and pop the lid on. Now you have an easy snack that’s ready to go, and you didn’t have to get your fingers dirty.
Delicious Gluten Free & Allergy Friendly Recipes with Chocolate Chips
Each of these tasty recipes is gluten free, top 9 free, and more.
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Hummus Recipe (one of my kids’ all time favorites)
- Mint Chip Edible Cookie Dough
- Chocolate Chip Cookies without Vanilla Recipe
- Double Chocolate Muffins
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More Protein Options
When it comes to adding protein to your diet, know that the daily values of different nutrients will vary among popular ingredients. This is why I often encourage people to rotate thru protein sources. Rather than focus solely on the grams of protein, look at the entire nutritional profile (vitamins, minerals, etc.). Many of these options will lend both healthy fats and protein to your power balls. Here’s a non-exhaustive list to get you started:
- Organic Pumpkin Seeds (whole seeds or pumpkin seed meal)
- Organic Flax Seed (whole seeds or flaxseed meal)
- Organic Chia Seeds (whole seeds or chia seed meal)
- Organic Hemp Seeds (also called hemp hearts)
- Organic Peanut Butter or Natural Peanut Butter
- Organic Almond Butter (or other nut butters, there are a lot to choose from including hazelnut, cashew, pistachio, etc.)
- Organic Chickpea Butter
- Organic Soy Butter (I’m told this tastes pretty similar to peanut butter)
- Plant-Based Protein Powders (seed based protein like this one, brown rice protein, pea protein, or even a blended protein powder like this one)
- Milk-Based Protein Powders (Just Ingredients is one of my fave brands in this category, and they also have vegan options)
- Buckwheat Groats (this will also increase the carb content, incase you need low carb recipes)
- Organic (sprouted if possible) Whole Nuts (Almonds, Brazil Nuts, Cashews, Pilli Nuts, Pecans, Pistachios, Hazelnuts, Walnuts), crush and roll balls through the pieces to coat the outside
Another option is to use Zego Protein Oats rather than regular rolled oats. They use a variety of oats that’s naturally higher in protein.
More Amazing Gluten Free + Top 9 Free Snacks to Enjoy
Each of these delicious recipes is gluten free, top 9 free, vegan, and more. Plus, these snack recipes are easy to make.
- Nut Free Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
- No-Bake Cookies
- Sesame Free, Chocolate Hummus Recipe
- Vanilla Protein Balls Recipe (this protein balls recipe is also seed free, and great for little hands to help you make)
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Change It Up
One of my favorite things about protein ball recipes is that they’re easy to tweak so you can essentially try new recipes with every batch you make. There are SO many ways that you can transform these protein power balls into something new. Here are a few ideas to get you going:
Make Peanut Butter Energy Balls
You can swap the sunflower seed butter for an organic peanut butter. The final results will be a classic peanut butter and chocolate combination. You could even get some organic peanut powder, mix it with a little organic cacao, then dust that combo on the balls after you’ve shaped them. Talk about an awesome treat-meets-snack.
Create a Delicious Chocolate Coconut Energy Bite
Coconut and chocolate are another classic combination that you can tap into. If you want the easy road, add coconut flakes to the food processor bowl so it’s completely mixed into your power balls.
If you’ve got a little elbow grease to spare, you can shape your protein balls, then roll them through shredded coconut. This will give your energy bites a festive look, and a little extra texture.
If you’re a huge coconut fan, you can absolutely do both. Either way, I’d encourage you to use unsweetened coconut products, as to not throw off the entire recipe.
Experiment with Different Chocolate Chips
You can purchase a HUGE range of chocolate chips from dark to milk to white to ruby and so on. The next time you make these delicious protein balls, try a different chip, or use gourmet artisan chocolate.
Try Adding Different Dried Fruits
There are several nutritious options for dried fruits, including goji berries and cranberries. If you’re using sweetened dried fruit, swap some of the dates for that instead.
If your fruits are unsweetened (especially cranberries), add an extra date or two to balance the intense tartness. Depending on your taste buds, you may also enjoy dried mango, raisins, or prunes.
No matter which fruit you try, start with a small amount the first time to make sure you really enjoy it, then you can try adding more to a second batch in the future.
Add a Freeze Dried Fruit or Fruit Powder
Adding freeze dried fruit powder is a wonderful way to push thru flavour, without throwing off the texture or water content of your protein balls. You can add any fruit powder that pairs well with chocolate (raspberry, chocolate, banana, and orange would be my top 4 suggestions). If you opt for whole freeze dried fruit, blitz it in your food processor first, before adding other ingredients. This allows it to become a proper powder, which in turn promotes even distribution.
You’ll want to add a little water to compensate for the added dry ingredient. Add 1-2 Tablespoons of water for each 30g of freeze dried fruit you add. This is the brand that I like for freeze dried product, but these days, there are a lot to choose from.
For a different approach, make the base recipe as-is. After shaping the protein balls, drizzle melted chocolate all over. You could also dunk each ball into melted chocolate. Then, dust freeze dried fruit powder all over so it sticks to the chocolate.
The upside to doing it this way: you can make a range of flavours, rather than have one flavour mixed into the base recipe.
Make Elegant Protein Power Balls
This chocolate based recipe would pair so well with pistachio and rose, for a super elegant creation. If I were to make this flavour, I’d use 1/2 cashew butter and 1/2 pistachio butter in place of the sunflower seed butter.
I’d also add crushed pistachio pieces (maybe start with 100g). I’d also add 2 – 3 Tablespoons of rose water to the dough. Once I shape the protein balls, I’d make a chocolate rose glaze, drizzle that on top, then dust edible rose petal dust on top. You can make powder in your spice grinder.
Answering Your Protein Ball Recipe Questions
Can I sweeten this recipe with maple syrup instead of dates?
I don’t recommend it because maple syrup won’t bring body and texture to the recipe like the dates. Not only that, but if you replace a whole food sweetener with a liquid sweetener, you won’t get the right consistency in the end.
If you need to use organic maple syrup as your sweetener, I’d suggest searching online for a protein ball recipe that uses maple rather than dates, to ensure you get the ratios right.
Could I use deglet noor dates in place of the medjool dates?
Yes, you could use deglet noor dates, as they’ll provide plenty of sweetness. It won’t be as much as medjool, but will still be delicious. Before using diglet noor dates in this protein ball recipe, it’s important that you cover them in very hot water for at least ten minutes.
This softens them so they blend easily into a paste, rather than get processed into small pieces that will be all throughout your protein balls.
Are rolled oats the same thing as quick oats?
When you’re at the grocery store and shopping, it’s important to know that quick oats have been pre-cooked and they’re not the same thing as traditional rolled oats. Also know that steel-cut oats aren’t the same thing as rolled oats either. Those are pretty cool, as they’re oat groats, and sometimes called pinhead oats or Irish oatmeal.
However, since this recipe is essentially a blended recipe, and your food processor breaks everything down for you, you could experiment with using quick oats or steel-cut oats. Quick oats will absolutely work in this recipe since they’re pre-cooked oats. Steel-cut oats will need to be processed first in the bowl of your food processor before adding the other ingredients.
Could I use fresh dates instead of dried dates?
You could try, but you’ll be changing the overall texture and flavour profile of this great healthy snack. If you’ve made protein date balls with fresh dates in the past and know what to expect, I’d encourage you to try it out. On the other hand, if this is your first time making protein balls, I’d encourage you to make your first batch with the prescribed ingredients. I’ve tested them to make sure you love the final outcome, and can’t personally vouch for fresh dates in this scenario.
Can I bake this recipe and have something like cookies?
I can honestly say, I don’t bake energy balls, but now you have me thinking about it. There’s fat content from the seed butter, a sweetener, and something like a flour that’s present. If you were to bake these energy balls, you’d have a really weird dense cookie-bar creation. It wouldn’t be soft or fluffy, and you *might* have a little bit of a crisp.
The recipe developer in me wants to encourage you to give it a go. However, do a test bake. Heat your oven to 350f/175c. Line a small baking tray with parchment paper, then use a small or medium cookie scoop to portion at least 6 dough balls. Roll it into a ball, then press flat a little bit and bake.
Start with 12 minutes, then take one out and test for doneness. Continue until you’ve reached something that excites you. Best case scenario, you’ve got a quasi-cookie. Worst case scenario, you’ve only lost 6 balls.
I’d also experiment with baking it as a bar in one single layer, rather than as individual cookies. I hope you get to try this out!
Could I sweeten these power balls with honey instead of dates?
I don’t recommend it because honey won’t bring body and texture to the recipe like the dates. Not only that, but if you replace a whole food sweetener with a liquid sweetener, you won’t get the right consistency in the end. You’ll still have a good amount of stickiness, but the dough will read as much too wet and not enough substance.
If you need to use honey as your sweetener, I’d suggest searching online for a protein ball recipe that uses honey rather than dates, to ensure you get the ratios right. Know that honey isn’t vegan, so if that’s something you need, you’ll want to use the dates instead, or look for a maple syrup sweetened recipe.
Are these protein bites healthy?
It’s important to always remember that the term healthy isn’t a regulated one. It’s going to mean something different to each person that you ask.
Personally, I like to look at sugar content (or lack thereof), fiber content, protein content, vitamins, sodium, and minerals when thinking about applying the healthy label.
I’d say that for my kids, this is a healthy recipe, however, if you can’t have dates too often, you wouldn’t call this a healthy recipe. It’s all about perspective. Another example, if you need copious amounts of potassium due to a deficiency, I wouldn’t have you make this recipe as-is. I’d either have you tweak it and add freeze dried banana, or make something entirely different.
At the end of the day, you’ll have to decide if this recipe is healthy and nutritious, based on your unique nutritional needs.
