Sometimes after I eat lunch, I crave a little sometime sweet. Or sometimes it’s when that mid-morning sweet tooth hits and I just need something to hold me over until lunch. Of course, there’s always the 3pm hanger that kicks in where I really can’t decide if I could eat dinner right then or just have a BIG snack.
Either way, these honey cinnamon almond butter energy bites are the perfect solution to all our snacking probs. They’re easy to make, only require a few ingredients and taste like TEDDY GRAHAMS. Plus they have 7g protein per serving, making them perfect for post workout refueling. I hope you love these as much as we do!
What makes these little bites special?
These amazing almond butter energy bites are packed with protein thanks to almond butter & protein powder, and also have a boost of healthy fats and omega-3’s from flaxseed meal and chia seeds.
These are truly a powerhouse snack all in one little bite! Post-workout perfection. They’re also made without oats so they’re perfect if you’re looking for a grain free and/or paleo-friendly breakfast or snack!
What are omega-3s?
Omega-3’s are a fatty acid that is essential for brain, heart & immune health, and a lot of people don’t get enough of them in their diet from things like fish and walnuts.
What you’ll need to make almond butter energy bites
These protein-packed energy almond butter bites are made with plenty of pantry staples that you might already have on hand. They just so happen to be dairy, gluten & grain free, and paleo! Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Almond butter: be sure to use a natural, creamy almond butter that’s made with just almond and salt. I love Wild Friends creamy almond butter. Use my discount code ‘ambitious15’ for 15% off your order at Wild Friends!
- Honey: we’re naturally sweetening these energy bites with a bit of honey, which gives them that teddy graham flavor when paired with the cinnamon! OMG.
- Cinnamon: add a little cozy flavor with some cinnamon.
- Flaxseed meal: I love using flaxseed meal in my baked goods and no bake snacks because it’s a great source of healthy fats and fiber. Please don’t skip it!
- Chia seeds: hello, little bites of extra protein and omega-3’s thanks to chia seeds!
- Protein powder: feel free to use any protein powder you’d like. I personally like using Vital Proteins collagen peptides. Options for making them without protein powder are below.
- Extras: mix in mini chocolate chips for an extra treat and sprinkle with some fancy Maldon sea salt. YUM.
Customize these energy bites
Looking to switch up ingredients? We always get questions on what can be swapped and substituted. Here’s what we recommend:
- Use a different nut butter: instead of almond butter you can also use a natural, creamy peanut butter or cashew butter. Yum!
- Make them vegan: feel free to make them vegan by using pure maple syrup instead of honey, a vegan protein powder and be sure to also use dairy free/vegan chocolate chips.
- Out of something? these energy bites will also still hold together without the chia seeds, but I would not recommend leaving out the flaxseed meal.
An easy protein powder swap
Out of protein powder? Feel free to make these almond butter energy bites with 1-2 tablespoons of coconut or oat flour, or 2-3 tablespoons of almond flour until the dough resembles cookie dough.
How to make almond butter energy balls
These easy almond butter energy balls can be made in one bowl for the perfect, quick snack!
- Mix the wet. Combine the almond butter, honey, vanilla & cinnamon in a medium bowl until smooth.
- Add the dry. Mix in the flaxseed meal, chia seeds, protein powder & mini chocolate chips. It’s easiest to do this with your hands once the “dough” starts to come together. If the dough feels too dry, simply add a little more nut butter or sweetener.
- Make the balls. Use your hands to shape the dough into 8 balls just like you would with cookie dough.
- Refrigerate & enjoy. Sprinkle these babies with a little sea salt and pop them in the fridge for about 15 minutes to let them firm up. Then enjoy!
Storing & freezing tips
To store: store these almond butter energy bites in an airtight container or a stasher bag in the fridge for up to 1 week.
To freeze: these little bites are delicious straight from the freezer as well! If they’re too hard, simply let them sit at room temp for 5-10 minutes before eating.
More no bake snacks & treats
Birthday Cake Cookie Dough Energy Bites
Salted Dark Chocolate Pistachio Quinoa Crunch Bars
Chia Banana Bread Energy Bites
No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars
No Bake Omega 3 Mint Brownie Energy Bites
Looking for more? Get all of our no bake snacks here!
I hope you love these honey cinnamon almond butter energy bites! If you make them be sure to leave a comment & a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup natural, creamy drippy almond butter
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1/4 cup protein powder of choice (we like Vital Proteins)*
- 2 tablespoons chocolate chips, dairy free if desired
- Maldon sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add in almond butter, honey, vanilla and cinnamon; mix until well combined.
- Next add in flaxseed meal, chia seeds, protein powder of choice and mini chocolate chips. At this point I usually have to use my hands to mix and work with the dough and get everything mixed together well. You should be able to form balls that stick together. Because all nut butter consistencies are different and depending on what protein powder you use, you may need to add in more nut butter or sweetener to help the balls stick together.
- Roll dough into 8 balls and place on a plate; sprinkle with a little sea salt, then transfer to the bites to the fridge to firm up. Once firm (after about 15 minutes), you can transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 1 week. Makes 8 energy bites.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by:Â Eat Love Eats
79 comments
these are AMAZING!!!!! taste soooooo good!
So glad you loved them!
Absolutely delicious!! I used peanut butter protein powder and these are soooo good! Wouldn’t change a thing
Perfect! Such a great snack.
Delicious!
Glad you liked them!
Yum! They look delicious!!! Can’t wait to try.
Enjoy!!
Cinnamon teddy grahams were my fave and yep, these taste just like them! I did use a not-quite-drippy almond butter and needed to use probably about a tablespoon or so more to get everything to come together well, but they turned out great!
Aren’t they the best?? Glad you enjoyed these!
Love these! I substituted with cashew butter (because it’s my favorite) and 3 tbsp of oat flour instead of protein powder. I also made them half the suggested size, which is a perfect little snack for my small kids.
Super easy to make and very tasty! I had to add a little more honey and peanut butter then what was called for!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
These are AMAZING (no surprise here, it is an AK recipe after all). I am avoiding added sugars this month, so I subbed the honey for 3 Tbsp unsweetened almond milk and used Lily’s sugar-free choco chips and it worked beautifully. Not the ‘Teddy-graham’ flavour anymore, but still delicious and nutritious. Thanks for another lovely recipe Monique!
I’m glad that worked out well! Great snack 🙂
Yum yum yum! I used chocolate protein because it’s all I had and they were delicious!
Love that! So delish.
Delicious! I was looking for a way to incorporate protein powder into recipes other than shakes. This recipe was perfect. Love the cinnamon! I used the cacao chips fro
Perfect! Such a great snack 🙂
Delicious! I used Trader Joe’s Organic Completely Cacao Chips and you couldn’t even tell there was no sugar in the protein balls. The honey adds the perfect amount of sweetness.
Love it! Perfect snack.
These are delicious they taste just like a Honey teddy bear graham cracker I had when I was a kid. They are easy to make. I put dark chocolate chips and it balances out the sweetness. If you make it, I suggest you double the recipe to make a huge batch cause when you eat one you will want to go back for more and more.
Love that! Glad you enjoyed!
I’ve made these two times and they always turn out really great. I love how high in Omega 3’s they are. I have substituted hemp seeds for the chia seeds, and I think that swap works really well. My 2-year toddler really likes them and I like how they are lower in sugar and higher in healthy goodness.
Perfect! So happy to hear that.
Yes, these indeed taste like a teddy grahams! Ah, I am obsessed! My family devoured them in less than a day. Thanks for such a great recipe, Monique!
The best! Glad they were a hit 🙂
Easy and delicious! I have been meal prepping and these are a stable for the week as snacks!
Love it! The perfect snack 🙂
Oh my GOSH – just made these, and they’re AMAZING!! I used my homemade nut butter (almond/peanut), pea protein and maple syrup. Left the salt off (simply because we’re trying to cut back on added salt), and had to add about two more tablespoons of nut butter so they’d hold together. Soooo good – will definitely double the recipe next time! 🙂
Love it! Glad you enjoyed!
These were delicious!! Next time I make them I may try using less flax meal as I feel the taste dominates over the others.
Thanks for another easy, tasty recipe!
Glad you enjoyed! Let me know how it goes with a little less flax.
Amazing, amazing flavor! The cinnamon and honey really took it up a notch from the usual energy bites that end up just tasking like….peanut butter. So excited to have these on hand. Definitely a new go-to!
Love it! Perfect snack 🙂
Very good! Quick and easy!
Glad you enjoyed!
SO good and easy to make! Followed instructions to a T and left out chocolate chips. Will be hard to not eat them all in two days 😅
Love it! Such a great snack.
They really do taste like Teddy Grahams!
Right?? So good!
SO good! I made them with peanut butter since I didn’t have almond butter and they were incredible! Definitely adding these to the list of snacks I eat throughout the week.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
I’ll be looking at this page for ideas on healither eating. Thanks
Hope you find recipes here that you love!
SO GOOD!!
Glad you loved them!
These are incredible and toddler approved! Made them with half Nutzo, half PB and I heart macros vanilla protein powder. Can’t wait to make them again!
So happy to hear that!
This was super easy to make and really yummy! Made these to help keep up milk supply (with all that flax!). I made it with collagen powder, unflavored and it’s all delicious. I did extra salt on top because thats how I like it!
Amazing! Love the pinch of salt on top 🙂 Glad you enjoyed!
So delicious!! Tastes just like a teddy graham.
Don’t they?? Glad you loved them!
Delicious!
Glad you enjoyed!
I just made the energy bites and they are so good! They also gave me a lot of energy, so I will definitely continue to make this recipe.
So happy you enjoyed them, Sara! Excited for you to make them again 🙂
So easy and sooo good
Yay!! So happy you love them, Annalee!
SO GOOD! Perfect to grab on the go
I have made these – exactly as is – many times and they are delicious! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! Highly recommended!
I do have one question. I see that if you remove the protein powder that you suggest subbing coconut, oat, or almond flour. Is it possible to leave out all of those things? Or does it need some kind of powder/flour to work?
Thank you again! Love your recipes!
So happy you love these, Sarah! And good question. I think it might not come together quite as well without the dryness of the protein powder/flour to hold these together. If you don’t have any of those but have rolled oats, you can easy blend those to make a flour!
THESE ARE SO GOOOOOD. have been on my list to make for a while + finally remembered to get the mini chocolate chips. I know this will be a recipe I’ll return to again and again.
One thing i did differently – I had an awkwardly small amount of almond flour left from baking this weekend so I used that plus a little scoop of collagen powder to make the 1/4 cup. Worked just fine!
Happy that worked well and that you enjoyed them, Trista!!
They don’t look pretty but they taste great! I made my own almond butter and it was drier so I added 1 TBSP of maple syrup and 2 TBSP melted coconut oil (flavorless). I used a small scoop and got 19 bites. I recommend really pressing these down into your mixing bowl so that they stick together well. These are perfect for my daughter’s school lunch because they are quick and easy to eat.
The taste is what matters! So glad to hear you loved them 🙂
I made these into protein bars instead of bites. They’re like a copycat almond butter Perfect Bar. So yummy!
Oh I love that idea!! Nice!
Easy and delicious! Perfect snack food. I doubled the recipe and used date paste instead of honey. Will definitely make again.
WOW, just wow! I thought I would like these, but I LOVE them! They are just sweet enough, have a great cinnamon flavor, and make an awesome & healthy snack! I love the simple ingredients and how easy they are to make! These are a new favorite in my household! Another win for AK/Monique’s recipes!
YAY I’m so happy to hear that!! Thanks so much for the sweet review 🙂
I saw this on your instagram, however you add what looks like cocoa powder. I don’t see that in the recipe here. Do you have a different recipe for them? Or is it the same ingredients, just adding cocoa powder. How much do you add?
Thanks!
Hi! In the IG video I added the cinnamon, no cocoa powder. But you could add cocoa powder or even protein powder if you wanted. Enjoy!
What is 178kcal? That would mean each of these is 178000 calories. Please help
delicious, as all your recipes are! i subbed 1/4 cup oat flour for protein as that’s what i had. have made them with both almond butter and peanut butter and they’re great both ways!
Like all other comments, these were amazing! So great to pack in my first grader’s lunch, as she is a slow eater and doesn’t get a chance to eat much. With these, I know that she is getting quality macronutrients and healthy calories in a few bites. And they have great fiber as well!!
Yay! I am so glad this recipe is a hit. Love serving these to my kiddos too!
This is what I have been looking for, I can’t wait to try these out? My niece will love this website. I am so excited.
So glad you’re here, Cheryl. Hope you both love my recipes!