I’ve been making energy bites for years now. Years. But I feel like I’ve just now mastered my recipe to a point where I don’t think I’ll be changing it up again. The perfect amount of nuts, sweetness and chew. I bring these with us on pretty much every trip we go on from road trips to our latest adventure abroad. They’ve even gone with us river rafting. A glass jar makes for a perfect container to transport these treats with us wherever we may go.
About the Recipe
One quick trip to the your local grocery store bulk bins and you have all you need for these energy bites. I go to Harmons Grocery for a few scoops of nuts, medjool dates and tart, dried cherries. Those are my essentials. Plus good quality honey and vanilla along with thick rolled oats. They are simple really. Feel free to alter the recipe to your preferences, though I will tell you that I’ve been altering for years to come up with this perfect combo 🙂
A spoonful of this and a spoonful of that… flax seeds and hemp seeds.
Big carmel-like medjool dates and a scoop out of the oat jar.
To make them you basically put all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until they stick together. Then even the littlest hands in your house can help form them into bite sized balls. Everett helped by eating every other one I rolled up.
GIVEAWAY
Today I’m giving away a $100 Harmons Gift card! This is my local grocery store of choice. Not only do they have a good bulk bin selection, they have high quality meats, fish, and dairy, along with a variety of price points for every budget. I especially love their labeling around the store, you can easily and quickly find local products, gluten free, and dietician choice, with their corresponding blue, green and purple labels. Making good food choices is not complicated, which is the way it should be. To enter to win this giveaway, please leave a comment with your favorite snacks for on-the-go. Winner will be announced on Friday. is Amanda Langemo.
Energy Bites Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup oats
- 1 tablespoon flax seeds
- 1 tablespoon hemp seeds
- 1/2 cup almonds
- 1/4 cup cashews
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 6 large medjool dates, seeds removed and roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/ 4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup dried cherries
Instructions
- Pulse Oats, seeds, and nuts in a food processor until then are all a coarse meal. Add in chopped dates, then honey, then vanilla and salt. Pulse until the ingredients form a ball or until you can pinch the ingredients and they clump together easily. If it is too wet add more oats, or if it is too dry add more dates or honey. Add in the dried cherries with just a few pulses so they are still chunky in the bites.
- Roll the bites by the heaping teaspoonful. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. These will also be fine in your purse or a travel bag and are a great snack for skiing or hiking.
My fave on the go snack is hard to pin down. I love Trader Joe’s turkey jerky and their dried fruit and nuts. The coconut chips are to die for! And I love pecans. My daughter loves their freeze dried strawberries.
Ohh yes, I love those coconut chips. I hardly share them with my family when I get them. And those bags of freeze dried fruit are perfect for my toddler too!
My fav on the go food is cliff bars but this energy bite recipe is going to replace it!!!! Thank you for your years of perfecting!!
Tracy, I think you’ll like these way better than cliff bars and if you wanted you could shape them into a full bar and wrap in plastic wrap individually! Enjoy and report back if you get a chance to make them.
Energy bites
Thanks for a great recipe, Becky. I usually take a piece of fruit for on the go snacking but will try out your recipe for sure. Healthy eating is the best! thanks again
Linda, fresh fruit is the best kind of snack! These would be great with an apple or banana too.
I’ve been searching for the perfect energy bite recipe for months now. These look absolutely perfect for a before-yoga snack!
Sarah, I searched and searched too. This one is definitely a winner and would be great for pre or post yoga!
I would love the $100 gift card from Harmons. One of my favorite stores. My favorite on the go snack would be a peanut bar. But this recipe looked so easy I’m going to try it.
I love making energy bites. I admit that I change them up a lot but I too have a base that I use time and time again. They’re perfect for plane rides and grab and go for the mountain or on a hike!
Kelley, I never made them the same way until now. Every time I would try something new but Josh says these are the best by far so I’ll stick with them 🙂 I’m curious what your base is..!
One of my favorite snacks is still Ants on a Log – classic elementary, but I love it. I’ll make them ahead of time and wrap them up in wax paper for the go !
Devan, thanks for that sweet reminder. I need to make some of those for my kiddo 🙂 I’m sure I would still love them too.
These look so yummy!! My favorite on the go snack is a protein bar, but maybe I’ve found a new favorite?!
These energy bites look fantastic! I make something similar that my family uses for our on the go snacks, but I always make different versions. I can’t wait to try these out. Also, isn’t Harmons the best? I drive about 25 minutes just to do my grocery shopping there, however I just found out that one is being built just 1 1/2 miles from my home! 🙂
I’m so excited to make these! I usually just take a protein bar and that gets old. I actually saw another person make these on 2 News, but the recipe didn’t look nearly as good as yours! So excited to do this. And, I’ve been wondering where I could get the Medjool dates. I should have known Harmons would have them. Thank you for sharing.
Harmons City Creek has medjool dates in their bulk bin isle. You can also find them at Sprouts and Whole Foods. They are a great naturally sweet treat 🙂
Mmmm I will definitely try these! I once made some chickpea chocolate chip cookies for a road trip and those went faaassttt! They are for sure one of my favorite on the go snacks. I also love Trader Joes plantain chips for saltier snack.
We’ve definitely brought along those plantain chips on trips before! Trader Joes does have some great snacks!
I’m a sucker for the Boar’s Head chipotle gouda in the salad bar at Harmon’s City Creek (though I buy hunks of it at Station Park too!). Every time I’m there, I grab a little container and squish those cubes in and drive home a happy girl, snacking on smoky, peppery, creamy goodness.
But if I don’t have access to “the good cheese” as my husband calls it, we snack on homemade hummus and carrots, or peanut butter Larabars.
Steph, that cheese sounds amazing! And these bites are very similar to lara bars so I hope you give them a try! Happy snacking!
I love making protein balls.. Mine typically consist of almond butter, honey, oats, nutritional yeast, flax, salt, chia seeds, and the occasional dark chocolate chunks. I will definitely be making your recipe though, because I love dried cherries!
Ours sound similar! I will try adding some nutritional yeast next time and you can’t go wrong with chocolate 🙂
Our go-to snack is granola bars for on the go! However, I’m going to try these bites and hope that they become our new snack! Thanks for sharing!!
Dana, I want to make some homemade granola bars soon! And I hope you like these bites 🙂
These sound awesome, and a bit easier to tote around than my gluten free granola (which is my go-to snack. I use oats, crispy brown rice, almonds, sesame seeds, oat bran, and flax meal. I add my own dried fruit before I eat it since the dude despises dried fruit. I send it with him on the train to work so he isn’t hangry (When you’re so hungry that you get angry) when he gets to work. Gonna give these a try!
Your granola sounds amazon Miriam! I will have to try adding crisp brown rice and oat bran to my granola next time. Thanks for the idea! And I think you’ll like these too. If you want it to be crispy, you can roll it out between two pieces of parchment an bake at 325 for about 15 minutes. I did this the other day and it made a great granola bar- like treat!
My favorite snack to eat on the go is a peanut butter banana with a drizzle of honey wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla (two keep the gooey mess contained)!
I like KIND bars. They don’t get smushed in your purse and are yummy and good quality 🙂 But I’m always looking for new ideas, especially things a little softer and kid friendly… Like this!
My go-to snack is apples and bananas. I love fruits so much ^^
Me too Lilly! I eat an apple every afternoon.
These look so yummy and doable that I’m definitely going to try them. One of our favorite on-the-go snacks is trail mix. I have some in my purse right now…
I have been making mini snacks for myself for work that are easy, but I use a LOT of Tupperware. 🙂
A. Mini Greek yogurt cups with cut up bananas and strawberries, with a protein mix snack blend sprinkled in, but the two are stored in separate containers.
B. For a quick breakfast bite I put bananas and diced figs into my hot oatmeal and pour in some vanilla almond milk instead of using water. Nummmmm!
LOVE all of these ideas Rheanna! Thanks for sharing!
These look great, Becky. This is exactly the kind of thing I need to have around the house at all times, so I don’t end up eating a bag of chips. I also love trail mix for on-the-go-snacking.
My favorite on-the-go snack is probably trail mix. The best mixes include chocolate of course!
I need some of your trail mix Annie! Sounds perfect. I’ve been snacking on Solstice chocolate lately which you must try if you haven’t yet!
I love fruit leathers–so good!
I’ll be trying this recipe soon! My go to on-the-go snack is a Granny Smith apple with slices of good cheddar cheese. Sweet with savory is a fave!
Apples and cheese! That’s a favorite of mine too! My best pairing thus far is a sliced Pink Lady with aged cheddar.
I think I’d always choose a banana – they come pre-wrapped 🙂 however, anything made by you would trump that.
Haaa!! Yes, bananas are good ones to stick in your purse and require no packaging 🙂 Love you friend!
These sound delish, gotta love a bite of tart cherry. My favorite on the go snack is either cucumber and cherry tomatoes with garlic hummus OR Greek yogurt with local honey. A tasty treat that helps my allergies… double win
I could eat Greek yogurt and honey every day too 🙂 And I love the benefits of honey with allergies!!
My favorite snack on the go is an apple and dried fruit and nuts, which makes energy bites a no-brainer. Can’t wait to try this one. I also love our cashew cookie dough balls!
Love me some harmons and $100 would rock!
Do I ever say how much I love the green in your kitchen? So lovely.
Thanks friend! When are you going to come cook in my kitchen? Or I will come to you?! Seriously, this must happen!
I like to carry cheese in my purse. And either crackers or bread, usually bread.
Does this make me weird?
When it’s super hot I don’t carry much cheese – then I like to tote around some fruit or some cookies. Or some granola. My friend makes the best granola in the world.
I just made these and they are delicious! I followed recipe exactly but they tried my patience rolling them into balls. Do you have the same challenge? Any suggestions?
Go to snacks are stretch island fruit from costco and string cheese. I also love some protein balls with honey, peanut butter, dark chocolate and a few other things.
Thanks for sharing.
I’m with you on the annoyance of rolling them out! Sometimes I get my husband to help so it goes more quickly. Also, you can use a small cookie scoop (just grease it slightly).
I was just at a work conference/training and everyone was swapping their energy bite recipes (except for me). Thanks for the recipe. I think I even have everything I need to make these.
You can swap mine 🙂 Hope you like them (I think they are the best and I’ve tried a lot of different recipes!)
Extremely easy to made this ones. My kid had so much fun adding nuts and everything. I would say that is important the choice of honey, since it what gives a taste to the bites. I don´t like honey and actually was preparing this bites for my men, but I ended up eating half of the stuff. :)) Very delicious!
That’s true Anyuta! Definitely pick a honey you already enjoy or one that is more neutral if you don’t prefer honey. I think you could also use brown rice syrup or maybe maple syrup in exchange for the honey.
Hi there – just made these for the third time and had to tell you that they are soooo good. Better tasting than a cookies and better for you! Thanks for a great recipie. It’s a total keeper.
Shannon, thanks so much for reporting back! I’ve made lots of energy bites over the years and these are definitely my favorite. It’s great to hear someone else enjoying them. I also make granola bars with the mixture and bake them in a low oven until they’re set. They’re good both ways!