No-bake date nut nuggets combine fruit and nuts to make a healthy sweet treat or a mid-day pick-me-up. With no added sugar, they’re a great alternative to other sweet snacks.
Date nut nuggets are perfect for school or work lunches, and they go great with a cup of tea or coffee. They might be just what you need to get through that afternoon meeting at work. We make a bunch of these before a road trip because it can be hard to find healthy snacks at gas stations along the way.
Ingredients
These date nut nuggets are full of healthy ingredients with no added sugar. The dates provide a natural source of sweetness and the nuts and seeds have protein, healthy oils, and nutrients. Go here for more info about nuts and seeds. The peanut butter helps keep all the ingredients together after they have been mixed together in the food processor.
Making Date Nut Nuggets
There’s no baking required. These date nut nuggets will be ready in minutes. To get started, toss the cashews and pumpkin seeds into the food processor and pulse them to little bits.
Then add half of the coconut and all of the other ingredients into the food processor. If you chop the dates and apricots into two pieces beforehand it makes things go a little faster.
Pulse the ingredients in the food processor until they are well blended. The mixture should look something like the picture below.
Transfer the date nut nugget mixture to a bowl.
Here’s the fun part – scoop out spoonfuls and form the mixture into balls by hand. Then roll those balls in the remaining coconut and – just like that – you have date nut nuggets. Yeah, it’s kind of messy but it’s all worth it. Depending on how big you make them, you should wind up with 12-15 nuggets. Full confession; I ate one before I took the picture below.
No Food Processor Method
I made a batch of these date nut nuggets without a food processor as an experiment. It’s hard to do it all by hand, so I used a countertop chopper. I cut the dates and apricots into small pieces using a knife, and I put the cashews, pumpkin seeds, and coconut into the countertop chopper. Depending on the size of the chopper, you might have to chop the ingredients in small amounts. This method takes more time, but I still made the entire recipe in about 30 minutes. Using this method, the nuggets are a little more coarse, but they still taste great.
Date Nut Nuggets
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup cashews; roasted unsalted
- 1/8 cup pumpkin seeds
- 12 Dates about 1/3 cup chopped dates
- 4 dried apricots
- 1 T peanut butter
- 1 T water
- 1/4 cup coconut; separated
Instructions
- Put the cashews and pumpkin seeds in the food processor and pulse them until they are in small bits.
- Coarsely chop the dates and apricots by hand and then add them to the food processor.
- Add the peanut butter, water, and 1/8 cup of shredded coconut to the food processor.
- Pulse until mixed thoroughly.
- Put some shredded coconut in a bowl.
- Scoop out the mixture one large spoonful at a time and shape the scoops into balls.
- Roll the balls in the shredded coconut.
If you like these date nut nuggets, you might also like my chocolate energy bites.
Products used in this recipe
- For the quick method, I used a Cuisinart Food Processor.
- I used a Vremi Food Chopper in the countertop method.
These date nuggets look like the perfect go-to snack to have on hand.
Thanks!
These little nuggets look packed with flavor. I like the fact they have no added sugar. Perfect for a little pick me up.
Love desserts and treats without sugar. Will have to try these!
I love the fact that you’ve used dates as a sweetener! These look really tasty & healthy… YUM!
Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks, I hope you enjoy them.
Thanks!
Thanks, I hope you enjoy them!
These look great and I love that they’re healthy! Going to try them soon, thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoy them.
Love the idea of making these date nut nuggets to snack on during a road trip! I need to make some soon as we are planning a road trip holiday later this month!
Thanks, I hope you enjoy them!
wow these are the perfect pick me up nuggets for anytime meal . Will try this out
I’m so impressed by the amount of detail you have included in preparing this recipe post. I love energy bars with dates, though we have to now leave out the cashews. Apricots are so wonderful in an energy bar as they give such wonderful tart pop.
Thanks, I hope you enjoy them!
Thanks for the compliment! I bet they’ll be just as good without the cashews.
Ohhh these look like a flavorful power-packed bite! I bet the texture is incredible, also love the fact that apricots naturally sweeten them too. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Thanks!