Pumpkin Protein Balls

It’s here again, the end of the summer and beginning of all things pumpkin season. Do I like pumpkin? Yes. Do I hate that seeing pumpkin everything means we’re that much closer to winter? Also yes. Regardless, we’re kicking off the season and making some no bake Pumpkin Protein Balls that are macro friendly and take no time at all to prep!

Speaking of pumpkin, what’s your favorite thing that has pumpkin in it? Is it a dessert? A chili? Sauce? Butter? Drop it below!

Start this one by taking out a mixing bowl and a food processor or blender. Add into whatever you’re using, 1 cup or 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats which we’ll talk more about in a second. Give those a quick process or blend until your oats are broken up.

If you don’t have a food processor or blender, you can crush your oats using your hands by simply rubbing them together. It won’t turn exactly the same as it would in an appliance but you’ll get a blend of the textures.

Add your oats into your mixing bowl followed by 2 scoops of a good tasting vanilla protein powder, 2 tablespoons of hemp seed hearts, 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, 1/4 cup of a nut butter or alternative, 2 tablespoons of a sugar free syrup or honey if you don’t like sugar free ingredients, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon of a pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 2 optional tablespoons of chocolate chips or anything else you want.

Here’s some of my other favorite things to add into these balls:

Pumpkin Protein Ball Variations

• White chocolate chips
• Cacao nibs
• Nuts
• Dried cranberries
• Shredded coconut
• Gingersnaps

Mix those ingredients together until thoroughly combined, I use a fork to do this.

Here’s the part where you can add in your other 1/2 cup of rolled oats if you didn’t process or blend all of them. I like doing this for the texture in my pumpkin protein balls. Mix those in if you choose to go with this route!

Don’t have access to pumpkin puree or a pumpkin pie spice? Make your own.

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

One sugar pie pumpkin makes about 3 cups of puree (around 2 cans).

Ingredients

• 1 Sugar Pie Pumpkin (2-3lbs)
• 1-2 Tablespoons Water

Here are the steps to make it:

1. Halve and seed your pumpkin.
2. Place your halves cut side down on a baking sheet.
3. Put them into the oven on 400F/204C until a knife slides into the flesh with no resistance (40-50 minutes).
4. Let your halves cool and blend them until smooth, adding water if needed until everything comes together and your “puree” is formed.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice

*Double or triple this recipe as needed and store whatever you have leftover for next time!

• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger & Nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Allspice & Cloves

From here, put your pumpkin protein balls mix into the fridge for around 15 minutes. It should go from sticky to not sticky at all. This will help make shaping them a ton easier. If you don’t want to wait, you could try shaping your mix with damp hands.

If your mixture ends up becoming too dry as you mix it, add in a little more pumpkin puree. If your mixture is too wet, add in some more oats until your reach your desired consistency

Take some of your mix, roll it around, and repeat until you’ve got all of your pumpkin protein balls ready to go. You can make them however big or small you want them, I went pretty big today.

Another thing you can do after you roll them out? Roll them around in a coating like graham cracker crumbs, crushed up nuts, sprinkles, and so on.

Put them in the fridge or freezer to harden up a bit before eating them.

Pro tip? You can easily make a bunch of these at a time and freeze them where they’ll last around 3 months. The smaller you make them, the faster they’ll thaw…and it’s usually pretty quick.

Ready for a pumpkin meal prep? Try our Chicken Pumpkin Chili recipe next!