No-Bake Cashew Coconut Balls
These simple, healthy, no-bake cashew coconut balls are ready in 10 minutes with just 3 ingredients.
Recipe Features
- vegan and gluten-free – perfect for those with dietary restrictions
- quick and easy – make them in minutes with 3-ingredients
- travel well – they make a great snack on-the-go
- food prep-friendly – make a batch for healthy snacking all week long
What You’ll Need
- coconut – look for medium or fine unsweetened shredded coconut
- dates – any kind of date works as long as they’re soft and moist
- raw cashews – look for “raw” cashews, they should not have any added oil or salt
- sea salt – I like to add a pinch of sea salt to enhance the flavors but it’s totally optional
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor.
Step 2. Blend everything into a thick, sticky dough.
Step 3. Use your hands to roll the dough into balls.
Tips and FAQs
- It’s important to use soft, moist dates in this recipe to bind everything together. If you only have dry dates, you can soak them in hot water for 15 minutes then drain well before using in the recipe.
- If you blend everything up and it’s not sticking together, add 1 tsp of water, blend again and repeat as needed until it does. Usually just a splash of water should do the trick, and only if needed, if your dates were nice and juicy you shouldn’t have a problem!
How long do these keep?
The finished balls can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 3 months.
Related Recipes
- Coconut Goji Berry Balls
- Lime and Coconut Energy Balls
- Chocolate Superfood Balls
- Carrot Cake Energy Balls
- Cinnamon Date Coconut Balls
Did you try this recipe?
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I’d love to hear about it! Click here to leave a review and be sure to tag me @runningonrealfood if you post it on social media.
Cashew Coconut Balls
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 15 balls 1x
- Category: Snack
- Method: Food Processor
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These delicious little coconut date energy balls make the perfect quick snack or dessert any time of day.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (225 g) packed, soft pitted dates
- 1 cup (100 g) raw cashews
- 3/4 cup (60 g) unsweetened fine coconut
- 1/8 tsp sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and process into a thick, sticky dough you can press between your fingers.
- Use your hands to roll the dough into 15 balls.
- Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
It’s important to use soft, moist dates in this recipe to bind everything together. If you only have dry dates, you can soak them in hot water for 15 minutes then drain well before using in the recipe.
If you blend everything up and it’s not sticking together, add 1 tsp of water, blend again and repeat as needed until it does. Just a splash of water should do the trick, and only if needed, if your dates were nice and juicy you shouldn’t have a problem!
The cashews can be substituted with pecans, walnuts or almonds.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ball
- Calories: 100
- Fat: 4.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 14.7 g
- Protein: 1.6 g
Keywords: cashew energy balls, no-bake balls, cashew coconut balls
UPDATE NOTE: This recipe was originally published on November 10, 2014. It was updated with new photos and text on May 4, 2020.
These are so simple and delicious!! They lasted less than two days in our fridge as we ate them so quickly 😂 Added some chia seeds the second time and they’re great too.
★★★★★
That’s awesome! So glad you like them.
Absolutely delicious and so easy! I used half cashews and have pecan nuts.
★★★★★
Just diagnosed with celiac disease, needed something to snack on. First thing that popped up. I am totally in love 🥰 absolutely delicious 😋
★★★★★
Great! I’m so glad you enjoyed them. I have many gluten-free recipes so I hope you find some more you like 🙂
Absolutely love these little bites of deliciousness! So easy to make, and whole food goodness. ❤️
★★★★★
I’ve made these many times and they always turn out so yummy! I like to roll my balls into the coconut flakes when forming them 🙂
★★★★★
Yay, a simple whole food, healthy treat.
★★★★★
These were incredibly simple to make in less than 15 minutes from start to finish. And holy cow they are delicious! They taste like salted caramel!!
★★★★★
Super-easy and delicious. Not overly sweet. Be sure to add the salt as it makes the flavors “pop”! Otherwise, they’d be a bit “flat” tasting.
★★★★★
So glad you liked them! Thanks for the feedback.
I’m vegan and recently started a raw diet and wanted something easy to satisfy my sweet tooth, because honestly I’m getting sick of fruit. Lol This was so very simple and they are so good!
★★★★★
These are simply outstanding!
★★★★★
Do you wash and dry the cashews since raw cashews need to be washed? Why can’t roasted and salted cashews be used and then just leave out the sea salt?
They aren’t really true raw cashews, they’re just commonly labeled as such. “Raw” cashews have been roasted to remove the shell. Then they’re packaged without added oil, salt or additional roasting. You can use roasted and salted if you’d like.
I love the cashew flavor. I added lemon zest and lemon juice. They were so fresh and I’m keeping this recipe on repeat!
★★★★★
So delicious – incredibly quick and easy to assemble. Made with sticky medjoul dates – yum!
★★★★★
This has become a summer staple in my freezer. It’s yummy as is, and yet, so versatile. I have swapped out the dates for prunes, apricots, and a mix of any of the three. I’ll be searching for another fruit to try. I’ve also used almonds and pistachios. I think I prefer regular shred coconut over the fine, but both hold up well. Notes to share: weighing is more accurate than measuring, but you have room. Freezing works beautifully for these, as they don’t go rock hard (I place mine on a wax covered cookie sheet, and when they’re ready, they get moved to a freezer storage tub). I’m wondering as I write this if I could coax this recipe into something spicy…. Thoughts?
★★★★★
Hello, has anyone tried to substitute the dates for another dried fruit? I’m not a huge fan of dates and it seems these kinds of recipes always use dates.
Thanks!
You could try dried apricots, raisins, or cherries but you may need to soak them first in order for them to have enough moisture to bind the balls. I haven’t tested these with any other fruit though so I can’t guarantee how they’ll turn out! I have made other no-bake recipes with raisins before and they do work but they have a much stronger flavor than dates.
Thanks so much for getting back to me Deryn!
I did actually go ahead and make these with dates as per the recipe and because of the intense flavour of the desiccated coconut I used, you can barely taste the dates.
They are so moreish – I don’t think they will last long! When that happens I think I will make another batch substituting maybe about half the amount of dates for apricots and see how that works out. The apricots I have are pretty soft rather than the more dried out and chewier ones.
I’m guessing the dates are needed for the stickiness and I don’t know if apricots have that. But I will try it 🙂
★★★★★
I’m glad you enjoyed them despite the dates! I would agree, you can’t really taste them in these. Let me know how the apricots work out, I think if you do half and half it should be ok. Thanks!
How many dates would you say make a cup?
Sorry, I’m really not sure as it depends on the type of date used. Do you have any way to measure 1 cup or weigh out 225 g? I’d recommend an inexpensive kitchen scale for the future…makes things super easy!
I’ve made this recipe twice. It is soooo delicious!! And easy to make too!
I was buying something similar in the natural food section, but these are much tastier and cheaper!
My first batch I put them in the fridge and ate them all in a few days. My second batch I froze half and put half in the fridge.
Thanks!
★★★★★
Hi, Deryn
May I know are these Raw Vegan Cashew Coconut Balls hard to bite?
Thanks
They’re fairly soft unless you freeze them.