Peanut Butter Protein Balls

Packed with peanut butter, protein powder, chocolate chips, oats, and honey, these peanut butter protein balls are the easiest homemade snack you’ll ever make and delicious to boot!

These peanut butter protein balls are packed with all the good stuff. You’ve got peanut butter (of course), ground flaxseed meal, honey, chocolate chips (although you can omit them if you prefer), protein powder of your choice, and oats.

Now, when I say this is the easiest protein-packed snack you’ll ever make, I mean it. All you need to do is mix the ingredients together, roll them into balls and your protein balls are ready to eat. You don’t need a food processor (or dates) to make these peanut butter balls, just a wooden spoon and a tablespoon or cookie scoop to shape the balls.

They’re the perfect grab-and-go snack for busy weekdays and a great option for a pre or post-workout snack. Basically, grab a peanut butter ball whenever you need a boost of energy! These protein balls also keep for a long time in the fridge and freezer, so really, what’s not to love about this recipe?

If you’re interested in more no-bake peanut butter snacks, check out my chocolate peanut butter balls and my no-bake peanut butter bars.

Recipe Ingredients 

• Smooth peanut butter
• Protein powder of your choice, I use vanilla
• Quick old-fashioned rolled oats (do not use instant oatmeal)
• Ground flaxseed meal
• Regular or mini chocolate chips (optional)
• Honey 
• Water 

  Add peanut butter to a medium bowl.

Combine with protein powder, rolled or quick oats, flaxseed, honey, and chocolate chips.

  Mix together. I use a wooden spoon and aim for the consistency of cookie dough.

Troubleshooting

  If the mixture seems dry, add water 1 teaspoon at a time until it’s at the right consistency.

If it’s too wet or sticky, adding a tablespoon at a time of protein powder or oats will do the trick. 

  Roll into balls with a cookie scoop or a tablespoon.

  You can make up to 14-16 peanut butter protein balls with this recipe.

  Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

How good do they look? Enjoy!

Storage

• TO STORE: Refrigerate protein balls for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.
• TO FREEZE: Freeze protein balls for up to 3 months or longer (if they are airtight, you can freeze them practically indefinitely). Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

• You can use any nut butter, such as almond butter or cashew butter, in this protein ball recipe, as long as it’s on the runny side (that means no crunchy peanut butter, sorry). You could also use sunflower seed butter or tahini if you have a nut allergy.
• Instead of water, you could also add almond milk a teaspoon at a time to the cookie dough batter until it reaches the right consistency.
• Here are a couple of fun protein ball recipe variations:
  • Add 2 tablespoons of shredded coconut instead of the chocolate chips.
  • Substitute the chocolate chips for 2 tablespoons of raisins or dried cranberries.
  • Enhance the chocolate flavor and use chocolate protein powder instead.
  • Add 1 tablespoon of chia seeds when you combine the other ingredients.
  • Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and they’ll basically taste like Teddy Grahams!
  • You could also add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract to bring out the vanilla flavor in the protein powder.
• Make your energy balls into bars by pressing the dough into a loaf pan and refrigerating. In a couple of hours, you can cut them into bars.
• To make these protein balls gluten-free, all you need to do is ensure your oats are certified gluten-free, then you’re good to go!

Here are more peanut butter recipes I love:

Peanut Butter Brownies with Peanut Butter Fudge Icing

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cookie Bars

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Yellow Cake with Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Icing

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Pie Made the Old-Fashioned Way