Cricket Protein Energy Balls

These no-bake cricket protein energy balls are the perfect portable snack. They have no added sugar or artificial flavourings, and contain lots of protein and energy! They’re an excellent all-natural and nutritious alternative to candy and sweets.

Energy balls are an excellent portable snack, perfect for outdoor activities such as hiking or anything strenuous and demanding. Next time you want to pack some snacks for the trail, consider making a batch of these. They contain a lot of good stuff: protein from the cricket powder, natural carbs and sugars from the dried fruit, and more protein and healthy fats from the nuts.

If you’ve ever wanted to try edible insects, this is a good gateway recipe to try. To be honest, though, you hardly taste the cricket powder at all! It adds just a tiny hint of toasted nuttiness that is barely detectable. The main purpose of the cricket powder is the extra protein. However, if you’re vegetarian or vegan, you can omit the cricket powder.

That’s all good and nice, you might say, but do they even taste good? Well, the best part is that you can use any flavourings you like with them. Dates make up the base of these energy bites, but you can add other dried fruits, nuts, natural flavourings or spices. Experiment to find your favourites. This time I made the following flavours: pistachio and rosewater, toasted coconut and cacao nibs, toasted almond, and toasted sesame seeds. Next time I plan on making some with peanut butter, pumpkin seeds, carob chips, and dried cranberry. They’re fun to make, take minutes, taste great and look really good. Plus, if you have children, you can get them to participate too!

Ingredients

1. Two cups pitted dates (makes around 20 balls)
2. Two tablespoons warm water
3. A quarter teaspoon salt
4. Half a cup each of pistachios, almonds, desiccated unsweetened coconut, cacao nibs and toasted sesame seeds.
5. Two tablespoons cricket powder
6. Two tablespoons ground almonds or almond meal.
7. A few drops of rosewater (optional)

Method

1. In a large bowl, combine the dates with the water. Mash the dates very well with a potato masher or fork until they become paste like. You can also use your hands. Add the salt, cricket powder and almond meal. Mix thoroughly.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the nuts, seeds, coconut and cacao nibs on the baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Make sure to monitor them closely to avoid burning.
3. Remove the nuts from the oven and allow them to cool. Then, chop them up into smaller pieces.
4. Divide your date mixture into smaller batches. Then, on a plate, place one batch. Take small balls the size of marbles, mix in some cacao nibs, then roll them in toasted coconut. Repeat the same with the almonds and sesame seeds. With the last batch, add a few drops of rosewater and combine the remaining date mixture with the pistachios, then roll them in chopped pistachios.
5. You can place your energy balls in mini muffin cups or you can just place them on a bit of parchment paper on a plate. Enjoy! These keep for 2 weeks in an airtight container in the fridge.

Do you like energy balls? Have you ever made any? What flavours do you like? Let me know in the comments!

For similar recipes, check out:

1. Homemade Cricket Granola
2. Savoury Crispy Crickets

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