Today we’ve got a recipe for some delicious chocolate black bean protein balls. They’re free from peanuts, tree nuts, and seeds. Made with just a handful of ingredients; black beans, cocoa, coconut oil, coconut flakes, rolled oats and chocolate pieces to top it off.
It wasn’t long ago when Pinterest and Facebook were rampant with various protein ball recipes. The were popular for a reason – quick, easy and packed with protein, they’re great snacks for the health conscious or athletic individual.
The first ever recipes were peanut butter based, then those with allergies started making their own recipes with SunButter. But some people can’t eat any nuts or seeds, so we set out to find a recipe that didn’t rely on any tree nuts or seeds. And we found it.
This recipe is free from the top 8 most common allergens, with a protein base of black beans. These balls give you that boost you need to power through a tough day or energise yourself on the go. What’s even better is we’re told they taste quite similar to a cliff bar!
This recipe makes roughly 30 balls, each weighing in at around 20g (though we don’t expect you to measure out each one!
Ingredients
- 400g Can of Black Beans (rinsed well)
- 135g Rolled Oats (old fashion)
- 60g Chocolate, either chips or baker’s chocolate (roughly chopped)
- 35g Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
- 30g Cocoa Powder
- 4 tbsp Honey
- 1 tbsp Coconut Oil
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor blend the black beans, honey, coconut oil, and cocoa together until they form a smooth paste. Once you think you’ve blended it enough, blend for an additional 30 seconds. (If your coconut oil is solid, you may want to heat it up a little to make blending and mixing easier)
- Transfer the black bean paste to a bowl and mix in your rolled oats, coconut flakes and chocolate until very well combined. The same applies here, one you feel it’s well mixed, mix it some more!
- Roll the mixture into balls, either weigh them out or eyeball it. If you weigh them out, take the overall weight of the dough and divide by 30 to get the weight for each ball (roughly 20g). When rolling into balls, the dough may crumble a bit, give it a squeeze (like you would with dry play dough) and gently roll between your two hands.
- Keep refrigerated. They should keep for up to 3 weeks.
Nutrition
- Calories: 93 cal
- Fat: 2.5g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7g
- Sodium: 1.9mg
- Cholesterol: 0g
- Protein: 3.7g
- Fibre: 3.1g
