No-Bake Protein Balls: 6 ways! Vegan & Gluten-Free
Well friends, my family has made it out of the fourth trimester (aka first 3 months) with Baby L!
The past 3 months have been a blur of baby cuddles, one-handed snacks, round-the-clock nursing sessions, more baby cuddles, more snacks and so on. I’ve needed some serious fuel to get me through most days (and keep my milk supply up for the little one!), and during the first month or so (not to mention the last couple months of my pregnancy), I ended up relying heavily on store-bought protein bars.
Organic, clean-ingredient bars are not cheap and I don’t even want to think about how much money we must have spent on them before I came up with today’s recipe!
These Vegan & Gluten-Free No-Bake Protein Balls are just as tasty as anything you can buy at the store and you can make them at home for a fraction of the price. Let me tell you, keeping a batch of these babies in the fridge has been a major game changer for me, and I think Ross can attest that I’ve been way less hangry since I started making them.
I shared the first iteration of this recipe in this Instagram post, and many batches later I’m back with 6 different ways you can customize them! First of all, I added a chocolate drizzle, which I love because it’s a super easy way to make boring-looking balls way more visually appealing. I’ve also been experimenting with different mix-ins, and here are 6 of my favorites:
- handful of chocolate or carob chips
- handful of cacao nibs
- handful of shredded coconut
- scoop of spirulina powder (for a blue tone)
- scoop of matcha powder (for a green tone)
- scoop of pitaya powder (for a pink tone)
Before we get to the recipe, I have a couple of notes on the ingredients. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the puffed brown rice, which you can find in the cereal aisle or order my favorite brand here, and I want to clarify that it’s very different than dry brown rice (one of my girlfriend’s tried to make it with regular rice- LOL!). For the protein powder, I’ve only used this vanilla one (which I love!) but I’m sure chocolate would be delish too. Also, feel free to use whatever kind of creamy nut butter you like best!
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup puffed brown rice
- ½ cup vanilla protein powder
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- your choice of mix-ins (see above)
- optional drizzle- ½ cup chocolate chips
- In a large bowl, mix the oats, puffed brice, protein powder, peanut butter and maple syrup together. Add your choice of mix-ins.
- Use your hands to roll a heaping tablespoon into a ball and place it on a plate. Repeat until all the batter is used.
- If adding the chocolate drizzle, melt the chocolate then use a fork to drizzle it over the balls. Place the plate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes so the chocolate can harden. Transfer the balls to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.
These look like such a fabulous dessert set–LOVE the various flavors. Peanut butter, maple syrup, oats, and protein powder taste like cookie dough! It’s addictive and I adore this combination!