Crispy Lentil Energy Bites
Looking for a unique vegan and gluten free treat? These Crispy Lentil Energy Bites is the recipe for you! Lentils are crisped up in the oven giving these bites a one-of-a-kind flavour.
Today’s recipe for Crispy Lentil Energy Bites have a very special inspiration: a contest! I enjoy a good challenge and this one from Canadian Lentils was right up my alley.
Create a lentil centered recipe, write a post and shoot some photos. Not only do I love lentils, I also like blogging recipes. No brainer, right? 😉
My idea was to stick with what I know and that is balls! Er, I mean Energy Bites.
I’m trying to win a contest here, so I should class things up. 😉 From here on out, balls will be known as bites. Thank you.
CRISPY LENTIL ENERGY BITES
As I was saying, rolling up a bunch of healthy components into little bites of goodness is my bread and butter.
New flavour combinations of different grains, sweeteners, nuts and seeds prevents boredom and helps us to stick with nutritious, whole food snacking.
For my entry to the contest I didn’t want to disguise the lentils. I wanted to showcase them. Lentils are the best for texture and that shouldn’t be isolated to plain old cooked lentils.
These particular beauties had a little coconut thing going on, as the cooked lentils are stirred with coconut oil, coconut sugar and coconut flour. All the coconut action just added such a buttery sweetness to the lentils.
Crisping them up in the oven after cooking makes them kind of pop like corn and they are the BOMB in these balls energy bites. It’s the texture that shines through and that comes from the crunch of the lentils.
That crunch lasts, too. They don’t get soggy or lose that snap.
It lasts longer than the bites will! 😉
I used a nutritious cornucopia of seeds with oats and chocolate chips.
Play around with what you have.
So if your looking for something super unique to up your energy bite game, this recipe will elevate you to that next level.
Enjoy!
LOOKING FOR MORE HEALTHY LENTIL RECIPES?
Vegan Curried Lentil and Potato Stew
Instant Pot Chicken and Lentil Soup
*Originally posted February 13, 2015. Updated February 17, 2019*
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Crispy Lentil Energy Bites
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dry green lentils
- 1/2 tbsp. coconut oil
- 1 tsp coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp coconut flour
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 2 cups dry quick oats
- 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut shredded
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 dark chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup peanut butter**
- 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup or a combo of both
- **I use a drippy natural style PB. You may need to add 1/4 cup or so, if you use a thicker PB.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Rinse lentils and transfer them to a small saucepan. Cover them with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes
- Drain lentils and transfer them to a small mixing bowl. Stir in the coconut oil and coat the lentils. Sprinkle with the coconut sugar, cinnamon, coconut flour and sea salt and stir well
- Spread lentils evenly onto lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring after halfway and keep an eye on them if they start to burn
- Set the lentils aside to cool
- Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, stir together the oats, seeds, coconut and chocolate chips. Add in crispy lentils, then the peanut butter and honey/maple syrup and stir well again
- Roll into tablespoon sized balls and refrigerate for 30 minutes
- Store covered in the fridge or freezer
These taste delicious – but i also had trouble forming into balls. I didn’t want to give up because I knew they were going to be good. I think it might be the type of oats that is causing the problem. The oats I used were very thick and sturdy. I think if you use a quick oat or a Quaker oatmeal type oat it may work better. To fix mine I made two chia seed eggs stirred them in and added two tablespoons of almond flour. Voila – they stuck together!
Hey Leiza! I’m so glad you didn’t give up on these and happy they tasted delicious in the end. The recipe does call for quick oats, which I totally recommend, so you are right on that one for sure. Also, a drippy, natural style nut butter is ideal.
Whats the shelf life of the lentil balls
Keep them covered in the fridge for a week or three weeks in the freezer. 🙂
Absolutely the best snack ever! You get your money’s worth of chewing if you need a good chew!! Love them and you make so many each time so I only have to throw a batch together every 2-3 weeks.
Thanks Cheryl! I agree about the chew factor. Love it! 🙂
Ok….mine look NOTHING like the photo. They were more like blobs than balls. If you try to eat them with hands they fall apart. They tasted good but had to be eaten with a spoon like sticky granola. How do you get them to stick into balls?
Do you have the nutritional information?
Click the link at the bottom of the post for the nutritional stats.
Do you have the breakdown of the nutritional value. They look great
I love the concept of this recipe, but the consistency was so soft and crumbly there was no way to get it to form into balls at all. I tried pressing it into a pan to cut into bars but even after several hours chilling, the mixture was so crumbly the “bars” just fell into crumbs when I tried to pick them up. I have no idea what I’m going to do with all this “protein crumble” now. It is really tasty for sure but there is something missing from the ingredient combination, there’s just no way to make it stay together. Thinking about sprinkling it on yogurt maybe, but it is already so high calorie I’m not sure if that’s going to be doable. There has to be something else besides the advise of adding more peanut butter or honey, that will just make it more calories and more gooey I think.
Agreed. These thingy’s will NOT stick together. Not quite sure what to do with my protein goop. Any suggestions?
Hey Lisa, sorry to read these didn’t turn out for you. I wonder if it’s the peanut butter. Do you use a drippy, natural style peanut butter? If not you may need more peanut butter. About 1/4 cup maybe. I’ve made an amendment to the recipe.
For those who said it’s too dry to form a ball I would add a splash or two of coconut milk. Oats would soak it up anyways. Just my thought , never tried ?
Btw your balls looks and sounds awesome
Thanks Dijana! Great suggestion. 🙂
Do you know calorie count per ball/bit?
Maybe 250-300 per ball?
A friend made these, wow! I’m struggling to find green lentils, could I use brown? Can’t wait to experiment!
I haven’t tried brown lentils, but I think it should work fine. Thanks Ayesha! 🙂
I’m unclear about the nutritional facts. It says 162 calories in a serving but it doesn’t say how many balls to a serving. I am assuming that the 21 servings means the recipe makes 21 balls.
Yes, one ball = one serving. Enjoy! 🙂
I’m looking forward to trying these – I checked the nutritional information — what is the serving size??
It’s per ball. Enjoy! 🙂
I made these today and they are beyond delicious ! Fantastic recipe ! Thanks so much for posting it! I did have to add more honey and peanut butter but I kept at it and they came together just fine.
Hey Penny! Thanks so much. We love these too. I think the peanut butter/honey ratios can be due to how drippy or solid they are? Maybe? Either way, so glad you like them. 🙂
Great idea 🙂 I changed it up a little bit – added chia seeds to lentils before boiling; blended together 1/4 cup cashew butter, 1/4 cup peanut butter, 2 medjool dates, about 1 tbsp fresh ginger, vanilla extract; nixed the coconut sugar; crisped the lentils with diced tofu, cinnamon, coconut oil, salt; mixed in oats and 3 tbsp raw honey; formed the bites and threw them back in the oven at 375˚ for about 20 mins. Gingersnaps!!
Sounds amazing! I’m totally into ginger right now too. I’ll have tot try this. Thanks Marina. 🙂
I made them, they taste good but there is no way I came make balls, they do not stick into form at all. Any suggestion?
Adding more honey or peanut butter should help with the stickiness. You could always press them into a pan and slice into bars as well! I hope that helps. 🙂 Thanks Michelle!
nutritional facts? please?
Click the link at the bottom of the page. There should be stats there. 🙂
What is the amount of serving size
1 ball = 1 serving
Love this! I love lentils in various forms, but never would’ve thought to incorporate them into a bite like this. I also like the idea of baking them to make them crispy — who knew? Thanks — can’t wait to make these!
Hey Kallie! You will LOVE the crispy lentils. I first saw it at the Four Seasons in Vancouver. Chef Ned Bell made crispy lentils and topped a mac & cheese with them. Delicious! I’ve been hooked on crispy lentils ever since. 🙂 Enjoy the bites!
Thank you!! These are amazing! We devoured them! My 2 and 4 year old are eating them up. Great breakfast on the go! Thanks.
Yay! That’s so awesome. Little ones are always so honest, so their approval means a bunch. Thanks Christina. 🙂
These balls look fantastic! I love lentils but have never had them in balls. I love this idea! Oh and since I’m not entering the contest, there’s no need to call them energy bites on my end, let’s be honest! 😉
ballsballsballsballsballsballsballs
Are the oats supposed to be cooked? I did not cook them and i am having a hard time getting them to stick to roll into balls…….hmmm wondering what i did wrong? more peanut butter?
Hey Christina! Don’t cook the oats. They should roll together but if it is dry (some peanut butters are drippier than others and some honey/maple syrup seem to bind better), try adding more honey, 2 tablespoons or so at a time and see of that works.
Yum!! I love crispy lentils – and how you’ve used them here. We all benefit from your ball – er bite – expertise.
Wink, wink. Thanks Sondi!
These look just as good as you described them on Monday! Love that they add a good natural protein and iron boost to these balls… I mean bites!
Iron too! Awesome. Keep your fingers crossed for me with the contest! 🙂