Carrot Cake Energy Balls

These carrot cake energy balls are done in 10 minutes! They use simple ingredients and little effort to make a healthy no bake snack.

These carrot balls are also vegan and gluten-free. They are made with 5 simple base ingredients plus spices and optional add ins!

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 carrot cake bites 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 no bake carrot protein balls:

• Oat flour - to keep these gluten-free, ensure the package says "certified gluten-free". You can also make your own with a blender and oats!
• Grated carrots - use the fine side of box grater to shred your own carrots, large or medium carrots are easiest to work with. Or, purchase already shredded carrots to save on prep time.
• Almond butter - this is my nut butter of choice in this recipe as the flavor is neutral (as opposed to peanut butter) and won't overtake the other flavors of the carrot cake taste.
  • To make nut free carrot cake energy balls, use sunbutter instead of almond butter, and leave out the chopped nuts.
• Maple syrup - this adds amazing natural sweetness. For sweeter carrot cake energy balls, use more maple syrup and no apple sauce.
• Apple sauce - it is best to use unsweetened plain applesauce so that it is easier to control the overall flavor.
• Chopped nuts - walnuts or pecans will give you the most classic carrot cake taste and feel.
• Seasonings- ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt add all the best carrot cake flavors to the mix. You can omit the ginger and cloves and use more cinnamon instead if you prefer. Nutmeg is another popular spice that you can sprinkle in as well.
• Unsweetened shredded coconut - rolling the carrot cake protein balls in shredded coconut add extra texture and flavor, and makes them pretty! However, this is totally optional. Leave them plain or roll in chopped nuts instead.

How To Make Carrot Cake Protein Balls

Raw vegan snacks are easy to make, and this recipe is no difference! Here's what to do:

1. Mix up the base ingredients and chill.
2. Roll into balls and coat.

Mix in Suggestions

You can also mix in other ingredients into the carrot cake balls for flavor, nutrition, and texture variety, but you may need to adjust the other ingredients for consistency.

Try any of the following:

• Oatmeal (rolled oats are ideal)
• Dates
• Raisins
• Chopped almonds
• Sunflower seeds
• Flax seeds
• Chia seeds
• Chocolate chips (choose dairy-free to keep the recipe vegan)
• Vegan protein powder
• Vanilla extract

Preparation and Storage Tips

• 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.
  • A cookie scoop can be helpful in portioning, but a spoon works just as well!
• 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 carrot cake protein balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

More Vegan Protein Balls

It's so easy to make a wide variety of flavors of energy bites to mix things up. Check out these other plant based energy ball recipes: