Dark Chocolate Almond Energy Balls

Dark chocolate, raw almonds. creamy almond butter, and touch of sea salt make up these delicious wholesome healthy energy balls.

I’m in love with the new Kashi Salted Dark Chocolate Chunk Nut Butter Bars. These bars are chewy, delicious, and perfect for a morning snack. The only problem is…they’re kinda pricey. On average, I’ve paid about $4 a box for 5 bars. Of course, some bars, like Luna or Lara bars, are more expensive but I can’t help but cringe a little when I purchase a box of these nut butter bars.

My solution? Make an healthy energy ball version of this high price granola bar. I’ve become quite a fan of energy balls since starting to make them earlier this year. Healthy energy balls are so convenient to have on hand. They satisfy sweet tooth cravings but are made with wholesome ingredients so I don’t have a crash and burn 20 minutes after eating it. Typically, I grab one on my way to the gym, for a snack, or out the door when going to grab my kids from school.

Energy bites are easy to make and taste better the next day, or a day later, making it a perfect healthy make-ahead snack.

Alright let’s go over my Copycat Kashi Bar healthy energy balls.

The ingredients are super simple – rolled oats, ground flax seed, chia seeds, smooth almond butter, dark chocolate, raw almonds, pure maple syrup, salt and coconut oil.

A couple notes. I used dark chocolate chips but decided to coarsely chop them up so I could use less and also so there would be chocolate in every bite. Same with the raw almonds, I coarsely chopped those up too. Also, you might be wondering about the coconut oil. I used it to give the energy bites a slight coconut taste. It’s very minimal but I noticed it in the Kashi bars so I wanted to add it in with these bites too.

Then I mixed all the ingredients together. At first, I used a spoon but after 30-seconds realized this would be much easier with my hands. So I dug in, mixed, and got dirty! You want to make sure all the ingredients are evenly distributed and the oats are covered with the wet ingredients.

After you’re done mixing, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours or so. The purpose for this is so the oats soak up the liquid and the mixture becomes firm enough to hold a ball shape.

Now it’s time to roll the balls! You want to try to get 20 healthy energy balls out of this “batter” so use a medium cookie scoop but don’t fill it all the way. If you have a small cookie scoop that will work better. I only had a medium one so that’s what I used. Most likely, you’ll need some water available as you roll the balls. The batter might be a little crumbly but that’s nothing a little water on the hands won’t fix.

After you roll out all the energy bites place them in an air-tight container. I love these round and rectangle ones by Pyrex. I think these are best if they sit for a day or so to give the oats and all the other ingredients time to really blend together.

I sprinkled a little more sea salt over the top to give it that extra flare. Scrumptious!

These Salted Dark Chocolate and Almond Healthy Energy Balls are out of this world. I absolutely loved them. I wouldn’t say the flavors are a dead ringer for the Kashi bars but the flavor profile was very similar. Regardless, in my world, you can’t go wrong with salted chocolate anything.

If you’re looking for a no-bake healthy make ahead snack recipe I 100% think you need to try my new Salted Dark Chocolate and Almond Healthy Energy Balls.

Check out these other healthy energy balls:

Banana Chocolate Energy Bites

Peanut Butter Chocolate No Bake Energy Balls

Salted Turtle Energy Bites

Salted Dark Chocolate & Almond No-bake Energy Bite

Print Pin Rate

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: almond butter energy balls

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Servings: 15 people

Calories: 118kcal

Author: Tammy Overhoff

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips chopped
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon metled coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

• In a medium bowl mix together all of the ingredients.
• Cover the bowl and let the energy bite mixture sit in the refrigerator 1-2 hours or until the oats have soaked up some of the liquid and the mixture has firmed up.
• Roll the mixture into 20 balls using a small cooking scoop. Most likely, you’ll need water near by to wet your hands while rolling the bites.
• Place the bites into the refrigerator using an air-tight container and let them sit for a day.
• Enjoy

Notes

Sugars: 5

Make-ahead instructions
These energy bites can be made completely ahead of time. Store in the refrigerator up to 7 days and freeze up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 118kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Fiber: 2g