Protein balls: an easy no-bake recipe and 9 flavors, with protein per ball

How do you make protein balls?

Stir the oats, peanut butter, honey and protein powder together into a thick dough, divide it into 12, roll each piece into a ball and chill until firm. No oven and no food processor are needed for most flavors. The recipe pages that rank for protein balls, such as Love and Lemons', use the same method with a few more ingredients, flaxseed, vanilla and chocolate chips; checked October 30, 2026.

1. Weigh the ingredients: 90 g of rolled oats, 130 g of peanut butter, 50 g of honey, 60 g of whey protein powder.
2. Stir them together in a bowl until no dry powder is left. The dough is thick; if it crumbles, add water a teaspoon at a time until it holds when pressed.
3. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, about 28 g each, and roll each between your palms.
4. Chill them on a plate until firm, then keep them in a closed container in the fridge.

Each ball of the base recipe has 123 kcal, 7.3 g of protein, 11.2 g of carbohydrate and 6.1 g of fat; 2 balls have 247 kcal and 14.6 g of protein. Dividing the dough by weight is what keeps those figures true for every ball.

Figures are summed from the grams of each batch with the values per 100 g of USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy, then divided by 12. Protein powder is USDA's generic whey-based powder; a branded powder can differ, so read its label if you use another. Vanilla and salt, used in pinches, are not counted.

IZeat wrote these recipes and computed their figures from USDA values; creators' tested versions will replace them as they are published.

Which protein ball flavors use protein powder?

These 8 recipes add whey protein powder to the base of oats and a nut butter, then change the flavor: chocolate chips, cocoa, coconut, chia seeds, cinnamon and raisins, pumpkin, or dates and almonds blended in a food processor. Roundups of flavors give their own figures: most of Joy to the Food's nine list 8 to 13 g of protein per two balls.

Chocolate peanut butter protein balls: 241 kcal and 14.7 g of protein for 2 balls.

1. Stir the cocoa into the protein powder first so it does not clump, then stir in the rest into a thick dough, adding water a teaspoon at a time if it is dry.
2. Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball and chill until firm.

Four-ingredient peanut butter protein balls: 247 kcal and 14.6 g of protein for 2 balls.

1. Stir everything together in a bowl into a thick dough; if it is too dry to hold, add water a teaspoon at a time.
2. Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball and chill until firm.

Chia seed peanut butter protein balls: 252 kcal and 14.3 g of protein for 2 balls.

1. Stir everything together in a bowl into a thick dough; if it is too dry to hold, add water a teaspoon at a time.
2. Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball and chill until firm.

Almond butter coconut protein balls: 261 kcal and 14.1 g of protein for 2 balls.

1. Stir everything together in a bowl into a thick dough; if it is too dry to hold, add water a teaspoon at a time.
2. Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball, roll it in a little of the coconut and chill until firm.

Cinnamon raisin protein balls: 243 kcal and 13.9 g of protein for 2 balls.

1. Stir everything together in a bowl into a thick dough; if it is too dry to hold, add water a teaspoon at a time.
2. Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball and chill until firm.

Peanut butter chocolate chip protein balls: 270 kcal and 13.8 g of protein for 2 balls.

1. Stir everything together in a bowl into a thick dough; if it is too dry to hold, add water a teaspoon at a time.
2. Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball and chill until firm.

Pumpkin pie protein balls: 223 kcal and 13.7 g of protein for 2 balls.

1. Stir the pumpkin purée, almond butter and maple syrup together, then stir in the oats, protein powder and cinnamon into a dough.
2. Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball and chill until firm.

Chocolate date and almond protein balls: 199 kcal and 10.8 g of protein for 2 balls.

1. Blend the almonds in a food processor until finely ground.
2. Add the pitted dates, protein powder and cocoa and blend until the mixture sticks together when pressed.
3. Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball and chill until firm.

How do you make protein balls without protein powder?

Replace the powder with foods that carry protein themselves: hulled hemp seeds have 31.6 g of protein per 100 g and peanut butter 22.2 g, against 13.2 g for oats and 1.8 g for dates. In the base recipe, the powder supplies 53% of the protein, so a recipe without it needs more nut butter and seeds to reach 10 g in 2 balls. These 2 recipes do; the peanut butter, hemp and date balls is also vegan.

Peanut butter hemp seed balls without protein powder: 292 kcal and 10.9 g of protein for 2 balls.

1. Stir everything together in a bowl into a thick dough; if it is too dry to hold, add water a teaspoon at a time.
2. Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball and chill until firm.

Peanut butter, hemp and date balls (vegan): 281 kcal and 10.4 g of protein for 2 balls.

1. Blend the pitted dates in a food processor into a paste.
2. Add the peanut butter, hemp seeds and oats and pulse until the mixture holds together.
3. Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball and chill until firm.

Are protein balls healthy?

Protein balls give a measured portion of protein in a snack you can make ahead, and their oats, seeds and nut butter add fibre and fat. They are also dense: the balls here have 99 to 146 kcal each, most of it from nut butter, seeds and the sweetener, so a few balls add up quickly. Honey, maple syrup, dates and raisins are sugars; added sugar, saturated fat and sodium are not computed here.

By the IZeat healthy check, at least 20 g of protein and 80 g of vegetables, fruit or legumes per serving, none of these recipes passes: 2 balls have 10.4 to 14.7 g of protein and at most 25 g of fruit or vegetables. They are snacks, and the check is written for a meal.

How many protein balls fit into a day?

There is no set number: it depends on what else you eat that day and on your needs. This page counts a serving as 2 balls, 247 kcal and 14.6 g of protein for the base recipe, and gives every figure per ball, so you can count what you ate. The calorie calculator and the protein calculator give a reference for your own day; this page sets no target.

To store them, the ranking recipes say a closed container in the fridge for up to a week, or the freezer for up to three months (Love and Lemons, Bob's Red Mill; checked October 30, 2026).

IZeat is the five-star chef calorie tracker that suggests satisfying, great-tasting meals, so you enjoy every calorie you have left. It works inside ChatGPT, Claude or any other assistant: IZeat knows your numbers for the day, which foods fill you up and what you like.

After you connect your assistant, say what you ate in one sentence. IZeat logs the snack and returns calories, protein, carbohydrate and fat for the day, with the source of each figure.

Where are the other protein snacks and desserts?

A single-serving version, the peanut butter protein energy bites, sits with snacks of at least 10 g of protein on the high protein snacks list, and meals of at least 20 g on the high protein meals list. Ninja Creami protein ice cream gives pint recipes for the machine, with and without protein powder, each with its protein per pint. Protein cookies give a four-ingredient baked recipe and its flavors, each with its protein per cookie. Other protein desserts each get their own page in the Recipes section as they are published:

• Protein brownies, with their protein per square.
• High protein desserts, from Greek yogurt bowls to puddings.