A recipe for healthy energy bites that uses gluten-free muesli, quinoa flakes, peanut butter, dates, and other nutritious ingredients. They're delicious!
In the past 10 days, I’ve driven over 1000 miles!
From NYC > Vermont > NYC > Massachusetts > NYC
Craziness, but it was all for fun visits with friends and family. Totally worth it.
Most of the trips were at least 3 hours each way which means I’ve needed to plan my food accordingly. When you have food allergies, or even if you’re just trying to eat healthily, there’s nothing worse than being absolutely starving with only gas station food available.
In a pinch, I’ll grab a granola bar, but those tend to be too high in sugar for my liking. So whenever I can, I make sure to pack the car FULL of snacks. Quick, easy, portable snacks that are nutritious and tasty. Those are my rules.
My favorite car snacks are either trail mix or energy bites, and today I’m sharing my recent energy bite obsession which, unlike my other energy bites, is more like a granola bar. Just in ity bity bite-sized form. (i.e. so fun to eat)
The energy bites I’ve made in the past (like my snickerdoodle– and brownie-flavored ones) have relied primarily on a blend of nuts and dates. This time I was hoping they’d be more in the granola bar realm, so rather than loading up on nuts and seeds, the base of these energy bites is muesli.
While you can make muesli at home, I love the gluten-free variety from Bob’s Red Mill. Not only is it conveniently packaged and pre-mixed, but it literally has all my favorite ingredients. Oats, coconut, pumpkin seeds, almonds, apples, cranberries, and even brown rice cereal. So good.
And the best part? No added sugar.
That means my goal of keeping these little energy bites also low in sugar, was totally doable. Hooray!
(here's a peek at the secret)
My typical recipe tends to be fairly high in sugar and fat; I usually add at least a cup of nuts (or seeds) and at least a cup of dates (usually more). Blended together in the food processor, they provide an ultra-sticky base to hold the rest of the ingredients together. And while they are both on the healthy spectrum when it comes to sugar and fat, I know some of you are looking for a snack option that’s lower in both.
These muesli energy bites are it!
So after doing a bit of research on Pinterest, lots of recipes I saw used a blend of peanut butter and honey to act as the binder. I wanted to keep these bites strictly vegan, so honey was out, but the nut butter got me thinking…
What if I blended the dates and nut butter together to form a super-sticky paste?
Friends, it totally worked! Date-peanut butter paste = amazing
And all you have to do to get this magical mixture is blend together peanut butter (or nut butter of choice) with some super soft Medjool dates and water until it’s completely smooth. It’s basically a caramel-flavored peanut butter. And I want to spread it on ever-y-thang!
The rest of the recipe is super straightforward. We just toss in our muesli, quinoa flakes, chia seeds, flaxseed meal and vanilla, stir everything together and form them into little balls. The whole thing takes maybe 15 minutes, rolling included.
Oh, AND they hold together really well so you don’t even have to store them in the fridge.
Which means….
BEST ROAD SNACKS EVER!
Yep, it’s true. These little lovelies saved my butt this past week and a half. When everyone else wanted to stop for a break and came back with packaged chips, crackers and candy, I had these fabulous energy bites to snack on. They tasted like a treat, but they also filled me up and perked me back up. Total lifesavers.
K so next time you head out on the road, you know what to bring to stay fueled and energized, right? Right. Glad we’re on the same page here (high five!)
xo Alyssa
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Other Energy Bite Recipes to try:
- Easy Cherry Pie Energy Balls
- No-Bake Gingerbread Energy Balls
- Golden Milk Energy Balls
- Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Energy Balls
- Raw & Vegan Carrot Cake Bites
Muesli & Quinoa Energy Bites
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter or nut/seed butter of choice
- 8 medjool dates
- 6 tablespoons water
- 2 cups Gluten-Free Muesli
- 1/2 cup quinoa flakes
- 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon vanilla powder optional
Instructions
- Add peanut butter, dates and water to a high powered blender (or food processor). Blend on high until smooth and creamy.
- Spoon into a bowl and add remaining ingredients.
- Stir with a wooden spoon (or your hands - I found that easier), until the mixture is fully combined.
- Roll about 2 tablespoons of "dough" in your hands to form small balls. Repeat until no dough remains.
- Store in an airtight container on counter or in fridge. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Filed Under:
This post was sponsored by Bob's Red Mill, but all opinions are my own. I only share brands that I am passionate about, so thank you so much for supporting them and in turn supporting SQ!
Tastes like a yummy muesli bar… I didn’t have any muesli so I just made my own based on the ingredience from Bobs Red Mill – worked perfectly! Thanks for the recipe.
Awesome! So happy you enjoyed them 🙂
Is this uncooked quinoa? I don’t understand flakes.
Wow. These energy bites look amazing.