No-Bake Carrot Cake Bites are a healthy snack that tastes like carrot cake! They are a great way to sneak more veggies into your life, and are naturally sweetened with fruit.
Why You’ll Love Them
They are easy to make. All you need is a handful of ingredients and a few minutes of effort to prepare these bite-sized treats. No cooking required!
They taste amazing. These delicious carrot cake bites really do taste like carrot cake, only without the refined sugar or frosting.
They are nourishing. Made with walnuts, dates, shredded carrots, and warming spices, these energy balls will leave you feeling satisfied, with plenty of fiber and healthy fats in each bite.
They are easy to customize. If you don’t have walnuts on hand, you can swap them for pecans, and if you don’t enjoy coconut, you could swap them for some old-fashioned rolled oats, instead. It’s easy to adjust as you go, since this is a no-bake recipe.
They are allergy friendly. These carrot cake energy bites are naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan friendly, in case you’re serving someone with special dietary needs. No eggs or specialty flours required.
Ingredients You’ll Need
When shopping for these ingredients, I recommend looking for raw walnuts, which are not roasted or salted, so they will contribute a mild flavor to the carrot cake bites. Be sure to grab unsweetened shredded coconut, rather than the sweetened variety, too.
Pitted Medjool dates give this recipe a natural sweetness, but if you don’t have them on hand, you could swap this ingredient with a similar amount of raisins, instead.
If you want to add in any extra ingredients, like a pinch of nutmeg or a few chia seeds, you can do that, too. This recipe is flexible!
How to Make Carrot Cake Bites
1. Process the dry ingredients.
Add the walnuts, shredded coconut, cinnamon, ginger, and sea salt to the bowl of your food processor fitted with an “S” blade.
Pulse briefly, just until the nuts are ground into the texture of a coarse flour.
2. Add in the wet ingredients.
Now, add in the pitted dates, shredded carrots, and vanilla extract, and process again. The mixture will start to form bigger crumbles as it blends, with bits of carrot distributed throughout. You’ll know the mixture is done blending when you can squeeze the mixture between your fingers and it sticks together.
Be careful to NOT over-process the mixture, because the nuts may release their oil when they are blended for long. (Just like they do when making homemade nut butter.) You don’t want the carrot cake balls to have a greasy texture, so as soon as the mixture sticks together, stop blending.
3. Roll into balls.
Use a 1-ounce cookie scoop or heaping tablespoon to scoop the mixture, then roll it between your hands to form a ball. You may need to squeeze it between your fingers to help it stick together before rolling.
For an extra-pretty look, you can roll the balls in shredded coconut or crushed nuts. Or, if you prefer them plain, they are ready to taste-test right away.
Store the carrot cake balls in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. They will firm up slightly when chilled, and make an easy snack that you can grab on the go.
Frequently Asked Questions
I haven’t tested these without the walnuts yet, but readers have mentioned swapping the walnuts for rolled oats with good results. Feel free to experiment with it!
You can use any other variety of dates using a similar weight, or try using raisins, which are also naturally sweet.
No, since you’re using a food processor to mix these energy balls, you can simply peel & dice the carrot on a cutting board, if you prefer.
Yes, you can press this mixture into an 8-inch square pan lined with parchment paper, if you prefer to skip making balls. Let the pan chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour before cutting into squares. You could even top it with cream cheese frosting, if you want to make them more dessert like.
Looking for more healthy snacks? Try Date Energy Balls, Chocolate Energy Balls, Easy Protein Balls, or Homemade Granola Bars for more ideas.
No-Bake Carrot Cake Bites
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw walnuts
- 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut , plus extra for rolling
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ heaping teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 medium carrot , peeled & shredded (about ½ cup)
- ¾ cup soft Medjool dates , pitted (see notes)
Instructions
- In a large food processor fitted with an "S" blade, combine the walnuts, coconut, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Secure the lid and pulse briefly, until the mixture looks like a coarse flour.
- Add in the vanilla extract, shredded carrots, and dates and process again until the mixture looks crumbly. Be careful not to over-process the mixture, or it could become greasy. As soon as the mixture sticks together when pressed between your fingers, it's ready to roll.
- Scoop the batter using a tablespoon or 1-ounce cookie scoop, and roll it between your hands to make a ball. Repeat with the remaining mixture and arrange the balls on a pan or plate lined with parchment paper. Roll the balls in extra coconut, if desired.
- Place them in the fridge or freezer to let the carrot cake balls firm up for 1 hour. Once chilled, you can transfer the balls to an airtight container to store in the fridge for up to a week. I recommend eating these straight from the fridge, but they'll also hold up well in a packed lunch. They will become softer as they come to room temperature, so just keep in mind they will become squishier when not chilled.
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this carrot cake bites recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how you like them!
YUM!!! Is it 92 calories per ball?
Yes, if you make 24 balls. You could make them smaller or bigger, depending on how big of a snack you need!
Can I use nut flour instead of whole nuts? If so, would you be able to tell me how much I should use? Thanks so much.
These things are the “B-O-M-B”! I made these tonight because I wanted something sweet to eat. I now have to hide them from myself so that I don’t eat them all in one sitting! Love, love, LOVE these! Thanks for sharing the recipe!!!
These are PERFECT! Thank you so much for sharing.
SO. GOOD. I ran out of coconut, so I used half coconut and half oats, and the texture was perfect! Thanks for sharing.
Love that you added a veggie to date balls! The carrot cake flavor is spot-on, and I can see this batch lasting me a while. I got a few more than 24 balls in my batch!
These are delicious! I made mine with 1.5 cups pitted dates (not Medjool) because that’s what I had in hand. I used one cup oats in place of the nuts so they’re school-friendly. Though I have a feeling I’ll be eating more of them than the kids 🙂
These are way too good! They taste better than carrot cake!
These are absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing!
These are amazing! I have made a batch twice in a row now, it actually gives me a boost of energy and is the PERFECT pre-workout snack. Since I want to make these regularly now, do you think i can double this and freeze some of the balls and just take them out when I need them? or will keeping them frozen for longer than they need to chill be bad?
thank you!
(duplicating my post because I forgot to rate these 5 stars!)
Amazing! And so easy. My family loves your recipes. I made these for my daughter’s birthday. Do you think they will transport ok? I plan to ship them 2-day priority mail. Any suggestions on how to package will be appreciated!
This is probably a great time of the year to ship them with the cold weather! The carrots in this recipe would concern me a little bit (I pack carrots in my son’s lunch box, and they start to release moisture after an 8-hour school day), so I think my classic date energy balls would ship a little easier, but maybe if you pack them with some sort of towel to help absorb any extra moisture? Let me know how it works out!
I made these today. Me and my 8 yo enjoyed them a lot.
These are delightful! I am chilling them now, but I took a taste before I put them in the fridge, and I am very pleased with them! I used deglet noor dates instead of medjool, but I weighed them and used about 5.5 oz, which would be less than the amount called for if using 12 medjool dates (The google machine says that 12 medjool would weigh about 8 oz), so I think this would work with maybe 8 dates instead of 12. I added a few other spices as well, but I made sure they all amounted 1 tablespoon in total. The amount of salt recommended in the recipe was perfect! Normally I have to add a bit more salt when I bake, but it was perfect. Thanks for sharing!
I made these as an Easter treat and was so glad I did. The only thing I didn’t have was the shredded coconut. I had to use flaked, which worked OK in the mix. It didn’t work so well to roll in, LOL. Some stuck but a lot fell off. Still tasted delicious and satisfied my craving for a sweet treat on the holiday.
These bites are delicious, I used Pecans and gave them a great *Pecan Pie flavor
Love these! They really do taste just like carrot cake but healthy. My son loves them as well.
I didn’t really like this recipe compared to other recipes I have found for energy balls. I can’t taste the carrot cake resemblance that other people speak of. It just takes like nuts and coconut. Not my fav
Loved this! Made half the amount and made half of these and half of the chocolate energy balls. Both turned out delicious! Thank you for the great recipe! 🙂
Delicious! I subbed pecans for the walnuts and added a little more vanilla and cinnamon and made them into bars. Will def make again!
We’re not crazy about coconut here- is there anything that might work besides coconut?
These are delicious! All the great carrot cake flavor without all the work of a real carrot cake.
What else can we use instead of dates? Thankyou 🙂
Would it be possible to swap the walnuts out for shelled hemp hearts, without affecting the flavor or texture?