Healthy Quinoa Balls Recipe

This healthy snack is perfect to keep on hand when you want a sweet, natural treat. Skip the junk ingredients and incorporate these Healthy Quinoa Balls into your weekly meal prep rotation. Once you try them, you won't be able to live without them!

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top Tip

Ingredients

These quinoa balls only use 5 main ingredients. These were chosen for being mostly whole, unprocessed foods that provide nutrition and flavor. Quinoa is considered a "superfood" because it is a complete protein containing all 9 essential amino acids. Dates and walnuts also contain high amounts of potassium, magnesium, and fiber. And of course, chocolate and peanut butter are delicious!

• quinoa
• dates
• walnuts
• chocolate chips
• peanut butter
• cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

1. Put the quinoa and water in a small pot and cover. Bring water to a boil and then reduce heat to low until all of the water is absorbed, about 12-15 minutes. **Quinoa should still be warm when you combine all ingredients.**
2. Add dates and walnuts to a food processor and pulse or blend until fine.
3. Add quinoa, peanut butter, and cinnamon to the date mixture and pulse until combined.
4. Add chocolate chips to the mixture and pulse until they are melted and fully integrated into the rest of the ingredients.
5. Transfer the mixture into a mixing bowl. Refrigerate for 30 minutes up to overnight.
6. Shape and roll the mixture into small balls.

Hint: Your quinoa needs to be warm when you mix all the ingredients for the chocolate to melt. If you decide to use pre-made quinoa, warm it up in the microwave before adding it to the food processor.

Substitutions

There are several substitutions you can make in this recipe if you don't have everything in your pantry or prefer different flavors. Feel free to use this as a base recipe for your quinoa balls and experiment with other flavor and ingredient combinations! When I try out other combinations, I will be sure to come back and update this section.

• Walnuts - you could use almonds, pecans, or a mixture of the three
• Peanut butter - use the nut butter of your preference - almond or sun butter would work
• Chocolate chips - use dark, milk, or vegan chocolate
• Cinnamon - this is already optional, but you could also add in other spices such as allspice, cardamom, ginger, or use pumpkin pie spice

Equipment

• Pot
• Food processor
• Mixing bowl
• Measuring cups/spoons

Storage

Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container for up to a week. These also freeze well in airtight glass containers or ziploc bags. I like to make big batches of these once a month to keep on hand for a healthy sweet treat when I get a craving. If frozen, the balls need to thaw for 5-10 minutes before eating.