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No-Bake Energy Bars are chocolatey, date-sweetened, healthy snacks that are easy to make and travel-friendly. They're packed with whole oats, nuts, and coconut, with a rich chocolate flavor. Skip the packaged energy bars and make your own!
Chocolate Energy Bars
If you're looking for that super healthy snack for lunchboxes, meal prep, road trips, outdoor activities, or a fun kitchen activity with the kids, I have a tried and tested winner!
Ingredients
- pitted dates
- cocoa powder
- rolled oats
- sliced almonds
- cashews or walnuts
- pecans
- shredded coconut
- oat bran or oat flour
- salt
Why we love this recipe
- naturally sweetened
- gluten-free and vegan
- low sodium
- fiber-rich
- preservative-free
- made with nuts (peanut-free)
- no-bake and EASY to make
- packable - not gooey/messy
- kid-friendly, but also loved by adults
How to make energy bars
Step 1. Blend dates and cocoa powder together in a food processor until the mixture forms a ball.
Step 2. Finely chop the cashews (or walnuts), almonds, and pecans.
Step 3. Add chopped nuts, oat bran, coconut, and sea salt to the mixture.
Step 4. Pulse the blade until the ingredients are incorporated. It should look like this...
Step 5. Press the mixture onto a baking sheet. Use a sheet of wax paper over the mixture and the flat side of a meat tenderizer to compress the mixture.
Step 6. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for an hour, or cut into squares and serve immediately.
Store the energy bars in an airtight container chilled or at room temperature.
Ingredients and substitutions
In order to keep this healthy snack exactly what it is, I recommend using as many RAW and unprocessed ingredients as you can find.
Dates - These beauties add natural sweetness to this recipe, so you don't need to add sugar. You can use pitted dates (often called Deglet Noor) or Medjool dates (you must remove pits). Either will work fine for this recipe, but the Medjool dates are stickier, so you may need to adjust the cocoa powder or oat bran to achieve the right texture. You get to pick!
Cocoa Powder—Unsweetened. Boom! I don't recommend using sweetened cocoa powder in my recipes. I like to control the sugar in my food preparation. When you use unsweetened cocoa powder, you know exactly what you're getting.
Rolled Oats - I love to use whole, uncooked, rolled oats for this recipe. You can also quick-cooking oats. If you're gluten-free, make sure to buy gluten-free rolled oats.
Almonds - Unsalted sliced almonds are my favorite shape for this recipe. They're so delicate because they're so thinly sliced, and I (very) loosely chop them because I love the texture as they are.
Unsalted Cashews or Walnuts - You can use cashews or walnuts for this recipe. I prefer whole raw cashews as they're more nutritious than roasted, salted cashews. Hot tip: cashew pieces can be less expensive than whole cashews. I absolutely LOVE walnuts in this recipe. They add a rich texture you just don't get from any other nut.
Unsalted Pecans - These add so much richness to the recipe. You can use raw pecans (these can get pricey) or roasted pecans. Either way, I like to go with unsalted and sprinkle in a few salted variety.
Shredded Coconut - First, make sure you use unsweetened coconut. Second, you want shredded coconut pieces sold as an 'ingredient', not as a 'snack'. The snack-ey coconut is probably a sweetened snack.
Oat Bran - You want fiber? You got it! Oat bran is one of my favorite ways to add fiber and protein to any recipe!
Sea Salt - You can use any salt you like for this recipe. I prefer fine sea salt because it dissolves more quickly than Kosher salt. I generally don't use table salt for cooking.
Energy Bar Recipe Tips
Tip #1. Blending the ingredients
You could throw all of the ingredients in the food processor and blend them to an equal consistency without the added step of chopping the nuts. But I like to keep the oats "whole" and the nuts finely chopped for added texture and visual appeal.
If you try to blend the ingredients together all at once in the food processor, you will end up overblending the nuts into a 'meal,' which means you will lose the texture, and the bars will become stickier.
Tip #2. Customize the ingredients
What’s really great about this recipe is that you can customize the ingredients. For instance, you might want to add sesame, chia, hemp, or dried fruits like cranberries, apricots, or cherries.
If you prefer a sweeter bar, you can add ¼ cup of raw honey to the wet mixture ingredients or add more dates. You could also make this easy chocolate ganache recipe to drizzle over the bars.
Tip #3. Consistency
The recipe is forgiving. I mean, I hardly call it a recipe. It's more like "mix a little of this with a little of that" until it feels right.
Here's the test: When the batch is mixed, you should be able to form a firm ball without stickiness or crumbles. This results in a perfect consistency for pressing, cutting, and eating.
Tip #4. Get the kids to help make this recipe
This recipe is easy enough for the kids to measure, pour, stir, and work with their hands to mix and later smoosh the ingredients. They can also eat it as raw dough. It's a win-win for everyone!
Another healthy snack for kids is this No-Bake Energy Bites recipe. Like these, they're date-sweetened, and NO cooking is necessary.
Nutritious snacks you'll love
- Chocolate Covered Nuts Recipe
- No-Bake Energy Bites
- Healthy Homemade Granola
- Crispy Kale Chips
- Crispy Roasted Chickpeas
📖 Recipe
No Bake Energy Bar Recipe
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Ingredients
- 2 cups Dates pitted
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- ¼ cup Rolled Oats uncooked
- ¼ cup Sliced Almonds
- ¼ cup Unsalted Cashews or Walnuts, finely chopped
- ¼ cup Pecans finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons Coconut Flakes
- 2 tablespoons Oat Bran
- ⅛ teaspoon Sea Salt
Equipment
- wax paper
- pancake turner (optional) or meat tenderizer
Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, place DATES and COCOA POWDER together; pulse or blend until it forms into a nearly solid ball in the food processor.
- Add OATS, ALMONDS, CASHEWS, PECANS, COCONUT, OAT BRAN, and SEA SALT to date mixture in the food processor.Pulse the food processor in short spurts just until everything is evenly distributed. CAUTION: Do not overmix, as your energy bars may turn out gooey and hard to manage.
- Transfer mixture to an 8" by 8" pan. Lay a sheet of waxed paper over the mixture and press it firmly into to compress evenly across the surface. (I like to use a flat meat tenderizing tool).
- Place bars in the refrigerator for an hour, or cut into squares and serve immediately. Store the bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator, or at room temperature.NOTE: Refrigerating these bars and eating them chilled will prevent them from becoming sticky.
Final step
Click stars to vote. Please visit 'Comments' below for reviews.
Mary says
So easy and so good! The sea salt takes them over the top!
Traci Antonovich says
Haha thanks, Mary! So glad you love the salt add-on like I do 🙂 Makes energy bars irresistible in my book!
Paula Montenegro says
OMG I just love every single ingredient in this recipe! Wonderful to have around and grab for a quick breakfast or snack. Thanks for sharing.
Traci Antonovich says
Thanks, Paula! It is packed with the best ingredients...always available too! 🙂
Emily says
I need a new recipe for energy bars. I'm kind of over energy bites. This is perfect!
Traci Antonovich says
A great big YES to that statement...and exactly why I created this recipe 🙂 Thanks, Emily
Dannii says
This looks like just the kind of afternoon pick me up I need. YUM!
Traci Antonovich says
We think alike 🙂 Thanks, Danni!
Natalie says
I love homemade energy bars! These look so crispy and delicious - I love this flavor combination and can't wait to give this recipe a try.
Traci Antonovich says
Thanks, Natalie! Hope you love 'em 🙂
Jocelyn says
The chocolate in these makes this irresistible! I would love to eat these to start my day with tons of energy.
Traci Antonovich says
Thanks, Jocelyn! These are so chocolatey 🙂
Tawnie Kroll says
These bars were so tasty and healthy - my family loved them and I loved that they are no bake!
Traci Antonovich says
Awesome, Tawnie! So glad you enjoyed them 🙂 We really love them too!
Edyta says
These energy bars are a perfect snack. I like them in the middle of the day when my energy level goes down. Super delicious and super healthy!
Traci Antonovich says
Love hearing that, Edyta! Homemade energy bars really ARE the perfect snack. Thanks again! 🙂
Pam says
All I needed to hear was chocolate and healthy in the description and I'm on board with these bars! Thanks for the recipe.
Traci Antonovich says
You're so welcome, Pam! Hope you enjoy these bars 🙂
Lee torrence says
These look delicious! I like to pin great looking recipes to my Pinterest recipe board and the icons at the bottom of your recipe are overlapped? I don't see one for Pinterest. Is there one?
Traci Antonovich says
Thanks so much for the comment, Lee!
And you're totally right, the bottom-of-recipe icons don't show a Pinterest button...I'll have to look into that because it's definitely in there, but not displaying. Thanks so much for pointing it out.
If you want to pin an image, go back up to the recipe images themselves, hover over any image, and the Pinterest button pops up. Click through to pin to your own boards.
That should do it...but do let me know if it doesn't 😉
xoxo