When it comes to carrot cake energy balls, these are hands down the best! Not only are they no-bake, vegan and gluten-free, but they are made with 5 simple base ingredients plus spices and optional add ins!
This post was originally published on February 4, 2021.
You can even pack these carrot cake bites with protein by using your favorite protein powder instead of oat flour. Keep them in the fridge and pop one in whenever you need a little energy boost!
Also known as energy balls, these carrot cake flavored snacks are a great kid treat. We mix it up and rotate between these, my brownie protein balls and the pumpkin flavored energy bites!
How To Make Carrot Cake Energy Balls
Make ahead anything is a life saver. Having nutritious snacks prepped and ready to go is key for whenever the inevitable "I'm hungry" starts up. These energy balls are a delicious snack you can feel good about serving all throughout the day.
So save your sanity and keep things simple by preparing a batch of these no bake balls to have on hand for the week, it just takes a few minutes and a few simple steps!
Ingredients
Who knew just healthy, simple, whole foods could taste so good? Here's the breakdown of what you'll need to make healthy carrot balls:
- Oat flour
- Grated carrots
- Almond butter
- Maple syrup
- Apple sauce
- Chopped nuts
- Seasonings
Step by Step Instructions
- Mix up the base ingredients and chill.
- Roll into balls and coat.
Flavor Suggestions
These easy to make energy balls are also easily customizable:
- Coating in coconut is optional, you can skip if you prefer.
- You can omit the ginger and cloves and use more cinnamon instead.
- For sweeter carrot cake energy balls, use ¼ cup maple syrup and no apple sauce.
- You can also mix in other ingredients for flavor, nutrition, and texture variety, but you may need to adjust the other ingredients for consistency.
- Some mix in ideas: oats, dates, raisins, sunflower seeds, flax, or chia seeds.
Preparation Tips
- Use sunbutter instead of almond butter, and leave out the chopped nuts to make this recipe nut free.
- Start with just 1 tablespoon of apple sauce then test the batter consistency and add more to get the texture you want. The more apple sauce you add the softer they will be.
- I divide the batter into 10 equal parts and roll into balls, you can make more than 10 if you make the balls smaller for more of a mini bite sized snack.
- Refrigerating the batter will help to firm it up, making it easier to shape into balls.
- Use a fine cheese grater to grate the carrots, or a shredding attachment on a food processor.
- *Bonus tip, since prepping the carrots can be a pain, shred extra and make Gluten Free Carrot Cake!
- Store these energy balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Common Questions
Energy balls are a mix of nutritious ingredients including protein, healthy fats, and fiber rolled up into a convenient snack.
Healthy is relative. These energy balls are made from simple, whole food, plant based ingredients that pack in lots of good nutrition, if you ask me that fits the definition of healthy!
Whenever you need a pick me up or just want to enjoy a tasty snack! They're a great grab and go morning bite, mid day nibble, or post workout snack.
More Vegan Energy Balls
It's so easy to make a wide variety of flavors of energy balls to mix things up. Check out these other plant based energy ball recipes:
- Pumpkin Pie Energy Balls
- Chocolate Peppermint Protein Balls
- No Bake Protein Energy Balls
- Raw Vegan Protein Brownie Bites
- Caramel Peanut Protein Truffles
No Bake Carrot Cake Energy Balls
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup oat flour or unflavored protein powder , you will need 1-2 tablespoons more if using the all maple syrup option
- ½ cup grated carrots
- ¼ cup almond butter , use sunbutter for nut free
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup , or for sweeter option ¼ cup maple syrup and no apple sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons apple sauce , test batter consistency first and add to get the texture you want
- 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans , optional (remove for nut free)
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 6 tablespoons shredded coconut , optional for coating
Instructions
- Put everything into a bowl and mix well.
- Allow to chill in the fridge while you clean up, this helps firm up the batter.
- Roll into 10 balls.
- Coat the balls in the coconut if you prefer.
- Eat!
Notes
- You can cut out the ginger and cloves and use more cinnamon if you want to cut down ingredients and simplify.
- You can decide how firm or soft you want these. Adjust the apple sauce for what you prefer.
- Nutrition facts include 2 tablespoons of apple sauce and 2 of maple syrup.
Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.
Nutrition
Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.
Rakhinationwide
Great work! Couldn't' have been better.
veggiesdontbite
Happy you liked it!
Cheryl
Made these for the first time. They were very good and tasted like carrot cake for sure!!! I made the recipe exactly as written but decided to double it since we had company. Added reasons as well. If you are a cookie dough lover you will like these. However, next time I will try just have the amount of applesauce so they aren't as soft. Otherwise a hit... Great with coffee too!!!
veggiesdontbite
I am so happy you liked them Cheryl!! Thank you so much for the great review. Definitely add the apple sauce slowly and check for consistency. It changes even for me each time I make them depending on the moisture of the other ingredients. It can change with the carrots and the almond butter especially.
Kelli
It is a good thing that these are so quick and easy to make because they will not last.... They are that GOOD! My whole family devoured within seconds! Super scrumptious!
veggiesdontbite
I am so thrilled you guys liked them Kelli!
Chelsee
I love the variety of these types of recipes you have. They're so good!