Homemade vegan oat energy balls with orange are the perfect snack when you want something sweet but don’t want unnecessary calories. They’re made using oats, nuts and dried fruits – all the goodness in one delicious treat.
This year, I have a big life event – my wedding. And like every future bride, in the run-up to the celebration I’ve started looking at what I’m eating more carefully. Well, don’t get me wrong – I’m not going on a crash diet or removing all the cakes from my menu (that would be a disaster!), but I do want to reduce my sugar intake and have healthier swaps for my constant cake cravings.
Due to this, you might have noticed I started posting more low sugar desserts on my blog recently. Delicious energy balls, nut bars and vegan panna cottas – these are the desserts that help me get that sugar hit, but still (hopefully) look amazing in my wedding dress. I think it can be easily called a win-win situation.
I still love a slice of cheeky lemony cake after my lunch, but having healthier options in my fridge helps me control the sugar rush and these orange energy balls are divine! They are sweet, zingy and completely full of flavour.
Oat Energy Balls with Orange Ingredients
I love this recipe because it’s so versatile and easily adaptable to your needs. You just need to create the base and everything else can be down to your own creativity:
- Oats – they are filling and help you to reduce your intake (it’s hard to eat two oat energy balls in a row because of this!).
- Nuts and seeds – by adding nuts and seeds you’re giving your body all the good fats it needs. It’s very rare to consume all the seeds we should be eating in a day, so by adding them to this recipe you’ll provide your body with all the goodness.
- Sweetener – in this case, I used two types of sweeteners: dates and maple syrup. Feel free to use just one of them if you wish.
- Orange – you know me and my love for citrus, so it’s no surprise I had to use oranges in this recipe as well. It gives freshness and zinginess to the end result.
Oat Energy Balls Recipe Variations
This is where you can go wild. There are no limitations, and you can use so many different ingredients. Here are some options:
- Instead of dates and maple syrup add nut butter. You can use peanut, almond, cashew butter. This will give sweetness to your oat energy balls and combines the ingredients.
- Skip the oats and add more nuts. If you don’t like the taste of oats, you can completely skip this ingredient and substitute for more nuts.
- Change the coating – in this recipe I used cocoa powder, but you can roll the oat energy balls in shredded coconut, sesame seeds or crushed nuts.
- Instead of having them as a ball, make energy bars. Add the mixture to a baking tray and firmly press it. Leave the bars in the fridge for a couple of hours and then slice the mixture into the bars.
Recipe
Ingredients
100g oats
150g nuts (pistachios, peanuts, blanched almonds)
100g medjoul dates
100g seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, flax seeds)
1 orange (zest and juice)
50ml maple syrup
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Method
Prepare the energy balls:
- Add all the ingredients (except the cocoa powder) into a food processor and blitz the mixture until everything comes together.
- Form same size energy balls using your hands.
- Add the cacao powder onto a plate and roll the energy balls in the cocoa powder.
- Leave them in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
