Cookie Dough Protein Balls
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Published Apr 15, 2015, Updated Oct 02, 2023
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These no bake chocolate chip peanut butter cookie dough protein balls are tasty, portable and packed with wholesome ingredients – great for snacking!
I know what you’re thinking. Brittany, why the heck are you posting another protein ball recipe?!? That’s the last thing the internet needs right now. But you know what? They’re incredibly tasty because they feature the ultimate culinary duo: peanut butter and chocolate. AND they taste like cookie dough… what could be better?
If my flavor introduction is not enough to tempt you, there’s more – these protein balls have only six ingredients and take about 10 minutes to whip up!
Only 6 Ingredients!
- rolled oats
- Medjool dates
- vanilla protein powder
- natural peanut butter – look for peanut butter where the only ingredients are peanut butter and salt.
- unsweetened almond milk
- dark chocolate chips – Enjoy Life chocolate chips are great if you’re dairy free. I also like Lily’s chocolate chips, which are lower in sugar.
Why Are These Protein Balls so Healthy?
On the nutrition front, they’re vegan and gluten free with a great balance of protein, healthy fats and smart carbs – perfect for before or after your workout, as a mid-afternoon pick me up or a late-night snack. Heck, I’d even eat them for breakfast. I mean, they DO have oatmeal.
Peanut butter has a good amount of protein, but I decided to add a bit more by including a little protein powder. This snack (or breakfast) will actually keep you satisfied.
More Cookie Dough Recipes You’ll Love
- Protein Cookie Dough
- Healthy Cookie Dough Bars (Low Sugar)
- Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough Ice Cream
- Healthy Cookie Dough Bites
More Protein Ball Recipes to Try
- Thin Mint Protein Balls
- Coconut Protein Balls
- Vegan Protein Balls
- Cinnamon Raisin Cookie Protein Balls
- Almond Joy Protein Balls
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Balls
- Pumpkin Protein Balls
Cookie Dough Protein Balls
Ingredients
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 8 pitted Medjool dates
- 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 Tablespoons dark chocolate chips, I like to use Lily's
Instructions
- Add dates to a food processor and pulse until they form a thick paste. Add in rolled oats and pulse a few more times until just combined.
- Place date and oat mixture into a bowl. Stir in protein powder and peanut butter. Then add almond milk and stir well to combine. If the mixture seems dry, add an extra splash of almond milk. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Scoop dough from the bowl using a small/medium cookie scoop and form into balls using your hands. You should get about 24 balls.
- Place balls into a sealed storage container and store in the fridge for 1-2 weeks or the freezer for 1-2 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These sound so good and look so yummy!
Thanks Erin! <3
i havent made energy balls in a while, i do have all the ingredients, will have to try it soon.
You gotta get back on the ball wagon. 😉 Let me know how they turn out if you try them.
I pinned these – love that they include protein powder and healthy fats. I might even convince my boyfriend to swap his muscle milk for these!
Thanks lady! I bet you can convince him — my husband loves them and guys seem to get a kick out of anything with balls in the title. ha!
I have all the ingredients so I’ll make these this weekend!!
I love it when I find a recipe that I have all the ingredients for! 🙂 Let me know how they turn out. Hope you’re doing well, Ash.
these look so heavenly!!! yumm
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Thanks lady!
Just made these and had to substitute wheat germ in place of the protein powder, still very good and fast to assemble. I do think the balls could have used some nuts. Thanks
can you make these in a vitamix?
I haven’t tried it, but I think mixing the dates and oats in the Vitamix would work. Let me know if you test it out.
I’m crazy excited to try these. 🙂 🙂 🙂 But you already knew that. Remind me to get dates at WF today so I can recreate them!
YUM!!! Do you think if I swapped the chocolate chips to cacao nibs and the almond milk to coconut milk it will taste just as good?
Lennae xxx
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Totally! I’ve actually made them with cacao nibs before and they were great.
These sounds like the PERFECT little sweet bite!
What about if i used steel cut oats?
I don’t think steel cut oats will work for this recipe because they’re too tough to eat raw.
I just made these but without the choc chips (as I didn’t have any) Mine ended up a little too wet (as the phone rang as I added the milk!) so after making the balls I rolled them in cocoa powder, The whole family love them!
I made these with hemp protein powder and cacao powder (vs chips) and they turned out great!
Hooray. So glad you liked them, Amanda. The modifications you tried sound great!
This look and sound AMAZING!!! I am new to the healthy eating/lifestyle and have been looking for a good all around snack for mid morning/afternoon, and/or press/post workout. Kinda getting sick of the Greek yogurt and fresh fruit with low fat granola, and I am going to make these tomorrow morning! I will totally let you know how they come out! Thanks for all the super recipes!!!
Yay! Definitely let me know! 🙂
I only had chocolate protein powder but they are very yummy! Can’t wait for my hubby to try them. Especially since I used his homemade pb in it.
Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
Thank you for adding nutritional stats!!! 🙂
I like the use of dates for texture and sweetness. However at 3g per serving I hardly consider this a ‘protein’ ball. I’d suggest backing off the oats by at least half and substituting a seed mixture with much more nutritional value. I used a mixture of pumpkin, chia, flax, hemp seed along with some goji and coconut. Not only does this add much more protein and omegas but also resuces the carbs a bit. Also try finding a good protein powder with much more protein per serving. I used Optimum Nutrition chocolate protein powder and upped it about 3/4c with added almond milk to compensate. I managed to get 11 balls out of this recipe with my changes and have a protein per serving around 14g and carbs still at 12g. They taste great and the dates really make them stand out from most recipes. I definitely recommend experimenting with the protein and oats however.
Great points, Gino. I’ll have to try them with more protein powder and less oats.
Brittany – these are DELICIOUS!!! Thanks so much for posting! Just a quick question: I’m not much of a cook, but I “try” to cook and bake from time to time. I had to use a blender to cut up the dates, but as you can imagine, it is not very efficient and I ended up putting in the almond milk with the dates, so they would actually blend. Any suggestions for a good food processor that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg? Or if it really does make a difference to spend a few extra bucks to get a food processor that WORKS, I’d consider it. Thanks for your advice! Heather
Thank you Heather! I’m glad you like the protein balls.
I’m sorry your blender isn’t cutting it (pun intended). I’ll admit that I was hesitant to buy a food processor and used a hand-me-down and a Ninja chopper a long time. We received a 9-cup Cuisinart Food Processor as a wedding gift and it’s amazing. I use it way more than I thought I would! I love it for chopping large batches of veggies, making homemade nut butters and making recipes like this one. Here’s the one I have. It’s a little over a $100 on Amazon. http://amzn.to/1F1rpcV
Thanks so much, Brittany. $100 is definitely feasible. I appreciate your suggestion!
Looks delicious! Any substitution for the protein powder though?
I haven’t tried the recipe without protein powder, but I bet you could use flour — maybe oat flour, coconut flour or almond flour. Ground flax seed, hemp seeds or chia might work too. Let me know if you decide to experiment.
Just made them with oat flour instead of protein powder as you suggested, and they are delicious! I will be sure to keep them in the fridge all week for my workouts. Thanks for the recipe and tip!
Yay! So glad they turned out with the oat flour. Enjoy!
Holy crap these are ridiculously good. Before I even started rolling them I was scooping it with a spoon into my mouth! It’s like eating cookie dough without the guilt!
Best find EVER…thank you!!
I’m so glad that you like them, Brianna. Enjoy!
Amazing made them today just replaced the date with dray fig and used a chocolate protein powder and dip thim in grated coconut ???????????????????? thanks a lot
This recipe is awesome and soooo simple, I used date paste to make it even easier 😉
Thanks a lot for your amazing recipes !
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Sophia. And I love that you made the balls with date paste!
SO GOOD! And so easy to whip up. A really yummy grab and go snack.
Yay!! So glad you’re loving these protein balls, Carrie. Thanks for coming back to leave a comment and star rating, I so appreciate it!
These are AMAZING!! A go-to snack or dessert for me and my kiddos. So perfectly sweet, nutritious and satisfying!
Ahh yay!! So glad you and your kiddos are loving these, Erica! Thanks for making them and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. <3
I am a true addict to all your balls recipes! I usually make sure I have a few varieties in the freezer at all times to grab before our nightly 7K walk. I make a chocolate one, a fruit one and a blondie one. I like how you can customize with what you have on hands. I don’t have protein powder, so I subbed in half PBfit powder and half garbanzo flower and they are delicious!
Woo!! I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying all of the energy ball recipes, Brigitte! Thanks so much for trying them and coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate it!
Simply amazing! I love how dates are the only sweetener in this recipe. The texture is perfect! I could easily form them into cute balls. A quick and delicious dessert for the whole week!
Ah yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Taylor! Thanks so much for trying it out and coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate it!
absolutely delicious and quick to make !! love how this recipe is sweetened with only dates and protein powder. took just a few minutes to whip up and it rolls super easily into balls. will definitely make again and can’t wait to try more variations of these energy bites !!
Woo! So pumped these protein balls were a success, Emily! Thanks so much for trying them out and coming back to leave a review. It means the world to me!
Could you use chocolate protein powder or collagen in place of the vanilla protein powder? Thanks!
We love this protein ball recipe. It was super easy to make and it’s a yummy treat or dessert. I’ll definitely make them again.
Yay!! I’m so pumped these protein balls were a hit, Maren! Thanks for trying them out and coming back to leave a review. It means so much to me!
These are delicious! Question though- is everything mixed in the food processor? After step one it says to mix in a bowl and at the end it says to scoop from the food processor so I didn’t know which to do. I used the bowl and it ended up working though! Just curious for the next time. Because there will be a next time – these are so good!!
Hi, Joanna! Thanks for catching that error, it should say scoop from the bowl. I’m glad they worked out well for you! 🙂
I am addicted to these 🙂 I use PB2 instead of the protein powder and they are delicious, nutritious and filling. Gives you that burst of energy and calms your hunger until dinner in my case before my workout.
Woo! That makes me so happy to hear, Brigitte. Glad you’re enjoying these protein balls. Thanks for sharing your review.
How many grams of dates? We only have normal available. Thanks.
Hi Rachel – Not sure what you mean, you’ll want 8, regular size, medjool dates. When I googled it I found that 8 dates is 24 grams but I am not sure how accurate that is. Hope that helps!
Wow these were terrible. Too sweet, gluggy and just not nice.
Oh no! I am sorry to hear these did not turn out for you. Not sure how they turned out too sweet for you, there are only natural sugars in here (medjool dates). Did you change anything about the recipe?
These were so good! I made a batch with vanilla protein powder and another batch with chocolate (leaving out the chips in both). Also used a mixed nut butter. It’s like eating little cookie dough bites. I refuse to look at the nutritional values because we can’t stop eating them 😂
WOO! I am SO glad you gave these a try and are loving them, Jennie! Thanks for sharing your review & star rating, it means so much to me.