No-Bake Banana Bread Balls
on Feb 06, 2021, Updated Aug 27, 2024
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Enjoy these no-bake banana bread balls for a quick, healthy and yummy snack that tastes like dessert and you can whip them up in 10 minutes with just 6 ingredients.
Craving banana bread but don’t feel like baking? These sweet little banana treats are your answer! They’re vegan, gluten-free, perfect for kids and adults and make a great snack on-the-go.
For more no-bake snacks like these, these Lime Coconut Energy Bites, Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Balls and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Energy Balls are all super yummy too.
Ingredients
- Nuts: I recommend walnuts or pecans but almonds also work, feel free to mix and match as needed for 1 cup total
- Oats: Rolled oats or quick oats both work, use gluten-free certified if needed
- Dates: Any variety works as long as they’re fairly soft and moist and not overly dry. If you only have dry dates, you’ll have to soak them before use.
- Banana: Just ripe or slightly overripe is best, do not use an under-ripe banana
- Chocolate Chips: I like Camino or Enjoy Life for a dairy-free and vegan option, if that’s not a concern, any chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate works, the chocolate chips are optional but obviously recommended!
This list is not complete. Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1. Add the nuts and oats to a food processor and process until broken down into a grainy consistency. A few larger bites of pecan left behind are ok but they should be mostly broken down.
Step 2. Add everything but the chocolate chips and blend into a thick, sticky dough you can press between your fingers. Add the chocolate chips and pulse a few times to mix them throughout.
If the mixture seems too crumbly (this can happen if the dates were too dry), add 1-2 tbsp warm water and process again.
Step 3. Use your hands to roll the dough into about 20 balls. You can enjoy right away or firm up in the fridge for about 30 minutes. To smooth out the bites after you’ve rolled them all, wet your hands and give each one another quick roll to smooth.
FAQs
Yes! To make these without oats, replace them with an additional 1 cup of nuts (2 cups nuts total).
I haven’t tested it but I think you could use 2.5 cups rolled oats instead of 1 cup oats and 1 cup nuts, or try using sunflower seeds instead of nuts.
If you have a specific nut allergy, almonds, cashews, walnuts and pecans all work for the 1 cup of nuts, so choose whichever one works for you.
To make these sugar-free, use sugar-free chocolate chips such as stevia-sweetened Lily’s chocolate chips or omit the chocolate chips entirely. To reduce the sugar content, use a high-cocoa content dark chocolate.
Storing Instructions
- Fridge: Store in a sealed container for up to 1 weeks.
- Freezer: Store in a sealed container for up to 3 months.
- Room Temperature: Okay at room temperature if taking to-go but they’ll get soft it’s warm. Keep cool if possible!
More Energy Balls
- Raw Gingerbread Bites
- No-Bake Pumpkin Pecan Balls
- Chocolate Superfood Energy Balls
- No-Bake Pecan Pie Balls
- Chocolate Date Balls
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to comment section below to leave your star rating and review.
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No-Bake Banana Bread Balls
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnut pieces or pecans, 150 g
- 1 cup rolled oats, 100 g
- 1 cup packed soft pitted dates, 220 g
- 1 medium ripe banana, 1/2 cup, 120 g
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract, optional
- 1/2 cup mini or regular chocolate chips, 90 g
Instructions
- Add the nuts and oats to a food processor and blend until broken down and grainy.
- Add everything but the chocolate chips and blend into a thick, sticky dough you can press together between your fingers.
- Add the chocolate chips and pulse a few times to mix throughout.
- Use your hands to roll the dough into 20 balls. To smooth out the balls after rolling, wet hands and roll each ball a few times to smooth. It's okay to enjoy them right away, they'll just be a little soft, otherwise, firm in the fridge for 30 minutes then enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published February 9, 2015.
I’ve been LOVING all your recipes lately. So I say that 100% and I’d love product reviews because you are Canadian!! !
Recipes, fitness /workouts, and wellness! Love your stuff! Thanks so much!
Yum, I always love date balls!
And I like reading about your recipes, travel and fitness/workouts!
I was recently looking to change up my work out routine since I had finished a three month program, and I found a few I loved on your blog! I also love all of your quick and easy snacks, like this recipe right here. So my top three would be
1. Fitness and Workouts
2. Vegan Recipes
3. Beauty and Self-Care Tips
Love love love your blog girl! I too prefer to keep things simpler in the kitchen so definitely keep those recipes coming! Salads, energy balls,, burgers, deserts, you name it – I want it in my belly! Also, loving the wellness section so much, your images, quotes and personal thoughts/ideas/tips are great. I often look through your personal wellness section simply to center, calm and brighten my day. As someone mentioned above, some more meditation content would be nice but I just love it all! Also really dig the product review! I trust your judgement so it helps me skip a step in figuring it all out for myself – case in point – those earbuds you reviewed! I want! The ones I wanted didn’t ship to me though, hoping to find them elsewhere. Lastly – the traveling. Great pics and it’s awesome to hear your experiences… I could go on, but these are the things that I love most on your blog!
I’m always looking for quick nut-based snacks and these look PERFECT! I love that they have almonds and walnuts 🙂 NOM NOM!
Super NOMS. And you can easily sub out the nut butter and nuts for you own preference. They’d be awesome with PB + peanuts too! Or any other nut combo you can come up with!
Right? It’s the best!! Thanks for your comment!
1,2 and 4. I would love more posts on meditation. These banana balls look so yummy!
Oh yes, I’ve been meaning to post again about meditation! Thanks for the reminder! 🙂
These banana bread balls look absolutely fabulous! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe Deryn. For some reason, bananas tend to get ripe REALLY fast in Melbourne – I’m not sure if it’s the weather or anything. But it usually means we have to eat them in a few days or less. I think making them into bread will curb their ripening, in a good way 🙂 AWESOME!
Hi Deryn,
I LOVE your site!! It was the 1st site I fiubd that had WONDERFUL, easy recipies for real, whe food!! I think the best thing you post is all the amazing recipies!!! And they’re soooo good!!
If you’re wanting to expand, my next choice would be wellness, travel & blogging, since I’m going to be traveling the wound & I neec to learn how to blog. But I think also, recipies for natural face/body treatments would be great!
You’re awesome & your website & recipes are amazing!!! Keep it up 🙂
Oops, should have checked my spelling before posting!! Found, whole, need. Those were the correct words.
Thank you SOOO much for the encouragement, it means so much to hear that people are enjoying my posts. I loved writing about travel so it’s good to hear some people liked the travel posts. I like doing the blogging posts too, so that’s great that you would find them useful. Thanks so much for the comment 🙂 happy travel planning!!!