These Strawberry Protein Balls are the best fruity protein snack to fix your sweet tooth and fill you up with 6 grams of protein per energy ball.
I love creating protein bites recipes because it’s an easy way to eat something sweet, small, and filling. I have recently shared some delicious healthy energy ball flavors like my pumpkin protein balls and vegan protein balls, but both were made from rolled oats.
For this recipe, I used almond flour as a high-protein gluten-free flour, like in my cookie dough protein balls, to create a healthy snack packed with healthy fats, perfect as a pre-workout snack.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Almond Flour or oat flour – read how to make oat flour from rolled oats. Oat flour is also great for making energy bites; it has fewer calories but less protein. Plus, it’s higher in fiber, so you may need more almond milk to form the dough.
- Freeze-Dried Strawberries – This ingredient adds the strawberry flavor and color. Mine are unsweetened and sliced, and I like to pulse them for a few seconds in a food processor to create a mix of powder and pieces. You can also place them in a zip-lock bag and smash them with a rolling pin.
- Vanilla Pea Protein Powder – or if you find a plant-based strawberry protein powder you love, go for it and skip the strawberry extract.
- Maple Syrup or any liquid sweetener you love, like agave syrup or coconut nectar.
- Strawberry Extract – This is optional. Add only for a boost of strawberry flavor.
- Almond Extract – This is my favorite addition to make the proteins balls taste like strawberry cheesecake. You can also use vanilla extract.
- Almond Milk or any dairy-free milk you like.
- Cashew Butter or any nut butter you like, including almond butter, peanut butter, or sunflower seed butter. Some nut butter varieties can have a strong flavor that covers the strawberry flavor.
Making Protein Ball Recipe
- First, pulse the freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor. You want a mix of powder and pieces of freeze-dried fruits. You can also place the strawberries in a sealed bag and roll a rolling pin on them to crush them.
- In a large mixing bowl, add almond flour, the previous strawberry mixture, and pea protein powder and stir to combine.
- Add in cashew butter, maple syrup almond extract, and natural strawberry extract if used.
- Stir and if too dry, start adding the almond milk. The dough should come together, be soft, moist but not wet or overly sticky.
- Meanwhile, prepare a bowl with some freeze-dried strawberry powder.
- Grease your hand a little with coconut oil before rolling the dough into balls and roll each in the powder to coat.
Frequently Asked questions
You can store the protein balls in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can freeze them for up to 1 month in sealed zip-lock bags and thaw at room temperature the day before.
You can flavor the dough using a bit of natural strawberry extract and/or strawberry flavor pea protein powder.
You can’t use fresh strawberries without altering the recipe. Fresh strawberries are releasing liquid that make the dough very moist and wet. You will need some oat flour, or more protein powder to dry out the dough and make it easy to roll.
Roll the strawberry energy balls into hemp seeds or soy crisp, both are packed with proteins and add a lovely crunch.
More Vegan Energy Balls
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Strawberry Protein Balls
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup Almond Flour - (note 1)
- 1 cup Freeze-Dried Strawberry - lightly crushed (20 grams)
- ⅓ cup Cashew Butter - (note 2)
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup - (note 3)
- ⅓ cup Vanilla Protein Powder - (note 4)
- ¼ teaspoon Almond Extract - (note 5)
- 4 tablespoons Almond Milk - (note 6)
Optional
- ¼ teaspoon Natural Strawberry Extract
To coat
- ¼ cup Freeze-Dried Strawberry - pulsed into a powder
Instructions
- Add the freeze-dried strawberries to a zip-lock bag and tap them with a rolling pin to lightly crush them and get a mix of powder and pieces.
- In a mixing bowl, add almond flour, finely crushed freeze-dried strawberries, and protein powder and stir to combine evenly.
- Add in the liquid ingredients: maple syrup, nut butter, almond extract, and natural strawberry extract if used.
- Stir until the dough comes together into a moist, soft dough that you can roll into balls. If too dry adding 1-2 tablespoons of almond milk. If too wet, add a bit more protein powder, 1 teaspoon at a time.
- Grease your hands with oil – the dough is a bit sticky – roll into 12 balls and roll each bite into freeze-dried strawberry powder to coat.
Is This no bake .?
Yes!
These are SO good. Honestly so delicious and satisfying, you really get your bang for your buck in each bite. I made these with both sunflower and cashew butter. They were both great, but i will say the sunflower butter had a much stronger flavor than the cashew did. The cashew butter was more neutral so you could taste the strawberry more
Oh thank you!!!! Cashew butter is indeed very milk in flavor!
Hello. Just curious if the balls would hold up well without rolling in the strawberry crumbs at the end.
They absolutely will, the strawberry powder is just for color and taste!