Best Sugar Free Peanut Butter Bites

Best Sugar Free Peanut Butter Bites

Today we are making the Best Sugar Free Peanut Butter Bites! Today’s recipe is no bake, peanut lover’s dream – an energy bite that comes together so easily, fuels your workouts, requires minimal ingredients, has no (refined) added sugar, minimal equipment and contains healthy foods in a snackable form that you will crave more of. No more late night trips to the grocery store to satisfy the snack cravings – it’s all right here. Peanut butter. Slather it on bread, add it to milkshakes, mix it in your ice cream, make a tofu peanut sauce or eat it straight off the spoon – it’s a wonderful experience. Does anyone even look at how much a serving of peanut butter really is? If I’m ever out of ALL my beloved nut butters, that’s when the world feels like it’s coming to a screeching halt.

Exaggerations aside, it’s a snack that was a staple in my household growing up, and I’d be lying if I didn’t take advantage of every possible way I could use peanuts to cook, bake, blend or otherwise eat. No wonder the name of this blog is PeanutPalate! Although … not everything is made with peanuts (I do get asked this quite often, so those with a peanut allergy will find something too! There is something for everyone).

Peanut Butter: The Best Nut Butter?

The humble cocoa butter or coconut butter just don’t cut it, lacking the smooth, creamy texture, that stick-to-the-rooftop-of-your-mouth feel. No more nut butter to slather all over apple slices, throw in with my protein powder or to make a PBJ sandwich with?? This is why you’ll find at least two jars of peanut butter in my pantry at all times. One for eating, one for backup! I like to keep one box of crunchy peanut butter, one creamy. Emergency stores, right? So let’s go to this recipe for the best sugar free peanut butter bites!

Great for Peanut Butter Lovers

• Peanut Butter Lovers: If you’re the type of person that can dig into a jar of peanut butter, spoonful after spoonful, then cheers to more peanut recipes! I also started buying only natural peanut butter a few years ago. This was after realizing that the natural oils that float to the top of the jar in some brands of PB (the ones that have just “peanuts” in the ingredients) are the most natural!
• Other traditional peanut butter brands I grew up eating, like Jif or Skippy, added sugar content, salt and additional oil. Ahem, who wants hydrogenated vegetable oil on their morning sandwich? It’s a good thing there are more natural options out there now, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find natural peanut butter options next to the other jars. Peanuts also contain monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats, which are good for heart health. A Harvard study done in 2017 showed that those who ate two or more servings of peanuts per week had a 13% reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease! If that’s a wake up call to eat my peanuts, I’ll gladly take it. Let me also throw in this Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie Milkshake for the PB&Chocolate fans.

Delicious Pre-Workout Energy

• Workout Fuel: Peanuts are higher in protein compared to other nuts and raisins are a great source of carbs for workout fuel! Another thing to note is that many workout snacks on the market contain palm oil, which is linked to deforestation. They also contain a lot of extra calories, are usually not made of the basic simple ingredients and contain a looot of grams of sugar. I mean, they do need to add preservatives to snacks to maintain shelf life too? Although it is difficult to avoid every ingredient that has an issue in where it’s sourced, it’s a much better option to avoid dishing out a few dollars for an energy bar and to just make your own instead!

Best Sugar Free Peanut Butter Bites: Easy To Make & Healthy

• 4 Ingredients, 10 Minutes: These balls are ready in just ten minutes with only four ingredients. They are the ultimate easy, healthy, no-hassle, easy to store, on-the-go snack.
• Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Refined-Sugar Free: These balls are full of natural flavours (no preservatives or processed stuff!). They are also gluten-free, soy free, refined-sugar free and contain fewer calories than most store-bought workout snacks, while still giving you an energy boost. As an added bonus, peanuts also contain tons of healthy fats and are also low-carb for those on the keto diet. Although in this recipe, adding raisins ups the carbs, but peanuts themselves are a good low-carb snack. They are also a great addition on salads!
• Peanut Butter Cookie Dough: This recipe is like a healthy version of a peanutty cookie dough. If you don’t roll it into balls, it is just as delicious to snack on as a dough! If you ARE looking for a real cookie dough energy ball though, look no further than this recipe.

Peanut Substitutions

Here are the main ingredients in this recipe as well as their substitutions. However, I haven’t tried these substitutions so I can’t vouch for them, but leave a comment below if a substitute works for you! Any substitute will change the texture and flavour of the recipe to an extent, so try at your own risk.

Peanuts: This recipe depends on peanuts, so I wouldn’t recommend another nut. I wouldn’t recommend subbing in peanut butter directly, or another nut butter such as almond butter or cashew butter, either. Dry peanuts themselves have a different texture than peanut butter. If you don’t mind removing the peanut taste completely – or if you have peanut allergies – try roasted, salted cashews. Or roasted, salted almonds and/or pecans.

If you are looking for a low calorie option, you might be able to try PB2 in replacement of the peanuts. Those aiming for weight loss, or maybe for specific macros, can still make this. This is a high protein, natural peanut butter powder! It is also low in calories. The first time I tried PB2, I had tried adding it into a smoothie and a bowl of oats. It doesn’t taste exactly like peanut butter but it is still a great option. It is the defatted powder from peanuts! So you have to mix it with water to make it into a peanut butter consistency).

Other Ingredients

Raisins: Raisins act as a binder and a sugar substitute. Medjool dates can also act as a substitute and would be my first recommendation. Second priority would be prunes, dried apricots or another dried fruit. Any dried fruit will give it a sweet taste so you don’t need to add extra sugars.

Date Syrup: Did you know that date syrup is basically dates in liquid form? The only ingredient in date syrup should be just that – dates! This is why this recipe is refined sugar free! Because of the natural ways that we are able to sweeten the energy bites with.

If you can’t find date syrup, there are a lot of other liquid sweeteners that act as a binder. For example, agave, coconut syrup, date syrup, brown rice syrup and so on. I used date syrup here, but you could substitute the 2 tablespoons for a different liquid sweetener. They do vary in sweetness level though, so a replacement syrup could be more or less sweet. You could try to substitute in the same amount of raisins or dates as well. This would be the best way to make it all raw sugar!

Best Sugar Free Peanut Butter Bites Recipe Notes

• The key to getting those chunky peanut bits in the dough is the blend everything together. If the peanuts are blended into a powder first, or if a pre-ground substitute such as almond meal is used, the dough will miss out on the little peanut chunks. Depends what you prefer though! If you want a smoother dough, use a spice grinder to grind the peanuts into powder first.
• Since the peanuts are already salted, taste the dough before adding more salt if needed. If you are using non-salted raw peanuts, then you will want to add a pinch of salt in when blending. You could also add a drop of sea salt on each energy ball once it’s made for a salty flavour.
• To avoid the dough sticking to your hands when shaping, rub a few drops of oil on your hands. Refined coconut oil, or another neutral oil would work well for this. Some oils might leave a smell on the dough.
• A high speed food processor works better than a blender here, because the ingredients are evenly distributed. In a blender, it is upright so it only blends the base of the ingredients.
• You can double or triple this recipe to make and store for weeks. I usually make them in a small batches because I like to change up the flavour of my energy bites every week.

More On-The-Go Snackables

Here are some more of my favourite easy to pack snacks. The best thing about energy bites is that they are made with easy to find, whole food ingredients. Not to mention that the ingredients are pretty versatile. You can add and subtract whatever you prefer to make the dough stick together!

Cookie Dough Bites: If you’re a fan of cookie dough, you need to run to this post and make this energy bites. They are like cookie dough but in healthy energy bite form (no peanuts involved)!

Chocolate Pecan Granola: This is not an energy ball, but still a great option for a packable snack. Granola is also a great breakfast option.

Orange Creamsicle Bites: These are reminiscent of the orange creamsicle popsicles I grew up eating. It’s like a sweet and creamy orange juice popsicle on the outer layer with vanilla ice cream inside! These energy balls, although they aren’t made of ice cream, are like a raw vegan version of an orange creamsicle flavour.

Cinnamon Sugar Pasta Chips

Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

Nutella Energy Bites

Reese’s Peanut Butter Bars

If you make the Best Sugar Free Peanut Butter Bites, then leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!