No-Bake Chocolate Energy Bars
on Mar 26, 2020, Updated Sep 11, 2024
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These no-bake chocolate energy bars are vegan, gluten-free, packed with nutrition and taste amazing!
About the Recipe
All of the ingredients in these bars adds its own host of health benefits ranging from essential fatty acids to protein, to various vitamins and minerals, to powerful antioxidants.
Plus, they taste incredible and are topped with chocolate. That alone is enough to give them a try! They’re easy to make in a food processor, no baking required and can easily be adjusted to suit whatever superfoods you have on hand.
If you prefer energy bites, these No-Bake Chocolate Energy Balls are yummy too or for more protein, these No-Bake Chocolate Protein Bars.
Ingredient Notes
These bars require a number of ingredients but are easily customizable to whatever you have on hand. Let’s take a look.
- Almonds. Almonds are the main dry ingredient but they can be substituted with cashews, pecans, walnuts or any combination of nuts up to 1 cup total.
- Seeds. The recipe calls for a mixture of seeds: hemp seeds, pepitas, chia seeds, and ground flax. These are all interchangeable so just work with what you have to reach a total of 10 tbsp.
- Cacao powder. If you don’t have cacao powder you can use regular processed cocoa powder. They are interchangeable but the cacao powder adds more nutrients.
- Dates. The dates bind the recipe and hold everything together so they cannot be substituted. It’s important to use soft, moist dates, so if you feel your dates are too dry, soak them in hot water for 15 minutes then drain well before using. Medjool dates, sayer dates or deglect noor are all suitable.
Step-by-Step Instructions
You will need an approximately 7×7 inch square baking pan, parchment paper and a food processor to make this recipe. Let’s take a look at the steps – it’s easy!
Step 1: Process the almonds into a coarse, grainy flour. It’s totally fine if there are some larger chunks left behind, they add crunch!
Step 2: Add the hemp seeds, chia seeds, ground flax, pepitas, cacao powder, sea salt and cinnamon.
Step 3: Add the dates and blend into a thick, sticky dough. If it’s not sticking together after 30-40 seconds on high, add 1 tbsp of warm water and continue blending until it does.
Step 4: Line a small square baking pan with two strips of parchment paper so the paper sticks out either end. Once you’ve prepared the pan, dump in the dough and firmly press it to the pan.
Quick Tip: To get the bars nice and smooth on top, wet your fingers and use them to smooth out the surface.
Step 5: This is optional but recommended, of course! Melt some dark chocolate or dairy-free chocolate chips in the microwave or stovetop, then spread the it over the bars using a spoon or spatula.
Pop the entire pan into the fridge or freezer and let it sit until the chocolate has hardened.
Step 6: Use the edges of parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan and onto a cutting board.
Before you slice the bars, here are a couple of quick tips to help prevent the chocolate from cracking:
- let the bars sit at room temperature for 10 minutes
- use a thin, sharp knife and heat it under hot water for 30-seconds before slicing the bars
- score the bars with lines before you slice all the way through
Slice the bars into 8 large bars or 16 smaller squares and store them in the fridge or freezer.
More Energy Bars
- No-Bake Oatmeal Bars
- Homemade Sesame Energy Bars
- Apricot Chocolate Granola Bars
- No-Bake Hemp Chia Energy Bars
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 Chocolate Energy Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw almonds, 150 g
- 2 tbsp chia seeds, 20 g
- 3 tbsp hemp seeds, 26 g
- 2 tbsp ground flax seeds, 14 g
- 3 tbsp raw pumpkin seeds, 30 g
- 1 tbsp raw cacao powder or cocoa powder, 6 g
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1.5 cups tightly packed, soft, moist pitted dates, 330 g
- 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate, 90 g
Instructions
- Place the almonds in a food processor and blend into a coarse, grainy flour. If a few larger chunks are left behind, that’s totally fine.
- Add everything except the dates and chocolate chip and mix until broken down into a grainy consistency,
- Add the dates and process until it forms a thick, sticky dough. If the mixture is not sticking together, add 1 tbsp of warm water and process again.
- Line an approximately 7 x 7 inch square baking pan with two strips of parchment paper so they stick out the sides of the pan. Tightly press the dough into the pan. You can wet your fingers and use them to smooth the bars out.
- Melt the chocolate on the stovetop using a double boiler or in a microwave safe bowl in 15-second increments, stirring often. Evenly spread the chocolate over the bars using a spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Place the pan in the fridge until the chocolate has hardened, about 20-30 minutes.
- Carefully lift the bars out of the pan and let sit at room temperature 5-10 minutes to allow the chocolate to soften slightly. Run a sharp knife under hot water for 10-seconds then dry and score the bars into 8 large bars. Slice into 8 bars. If desired, slice each bar in half so you have 16 squares.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on March 19, 2014.
This will be a new go to recipe when I am craving a little sweetness. This past year with COVID I have let myself eat too many things that just aren’t good for me. I am on a track to eating healthier (not a diet…just make good choices) and I really needed something I could go to for my sweet tooth. This is perfect. I substituted sunflower seeds for pumpkin seeds (because frankly…I bought the wrong ones) and I used half pecans/half almonds for the base to use up a bag I had in my pantry. I really think you could do so many delicious combinations with this. Thank you so much for sharing!
That’s awesome, Susan! It’s been a tough year for sure. I’m so glad you’re on your way to healthier options that make you feel good. You can definitely customize these so many ways, have fun playing around with the recipe! Thanks so much for the review, I really appreciate hearing from you.
I made these this week and they are amazing! So so yummy! The only thing I added, was some coconut oil to the melted chocolate chips, so I could slice the bars more easily without cracking.
Made these without the ganache! Totally delicious……will be making them again! Xx
Thank you for sharing this recipe. These are absolutely delicious and so much fun to make! I made my first batch two days ago and am about to make my second. I plan to take some to work with me so my co-workers can discover that vegan & raw are amazing!
That is so awesome, Tracy!! Thank you so much for letting me know, I really appreciate the comment 🙂