Keto Peanut Butter Balls
These Keto Peanut Butter Balls are perfect for your chocolate peanut butter craving! They are the perfect combination of sweet and salty with a bit of crunch from roasted peanuts and the vibrant flavor of chocolate.
Peanut butter balls are one of my family’s Christmas favorites. Most of us are tried-and-true peanut butter lovers with a sweet tooth. I decided a few weeks ago, when I started thinking about all the delicious Christmasy things I wanted to make this year, that low carb peanut butter balls were near the top of the list.
These easy keto peanut butter balls use only 4 simple ingredients but taste rich and decadent. This easy keto dessert is also low carb, gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.
If you love peanut butter, make sure to try my Keto Peanut Butter Fudge and Keto Peanut Butter Cheesecake next!
Ingredients
No Sugar Added Peanut Butter – To be keto diet friendly, peanut butter should have two ingredients: peanuts and salt. Smuckers Natural peanut butter is one that is easily found. You can use creamy peanut butter or chunky peanut butter.
Finely Chopped Roasted Salted Peanuts – Using roasted salted peanuts in place of the rice crispy cereal in the original version gives these a nice texture and kicks up the peanut flavor. Using peanuts eliminates the need for almond flour or coconut flour.
Powdered Sugar-Free Sweetener – Any brand of 1:1 powdered sweetener will work.
Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips – This recipe calls for a full 8-ounce bag of sugar free chocolate chips, such as Lily’s Chocolate Chips, if you’d like to completely cover the healthy peanut butter balls in chocolate. Add a small amount of coconut oil if necessary to thin it.
How to Make Keto Peanut Butter Balls
By swapping in a sugar-free sweetener for the powdered sugar and chopped peanuts for the rice crispy cereal I make the filling for these much healthier than the original. Just coat with a sugar-free chocolate and no one will ever know you converted this recipe to be sugar-free. This energy balls recipe is bound to be one of your favorite low carb snacks!
Step One: Finely grind fresh peanuts in a food processor.
Step Two: Mix the peanuts with the peanut butter and sweetener. It is easy to do this in a medium bowl with a spoon.
Step Three: Form into balls. I normally scoop them with a small cookie scoop so they are the same size and then roll them in my hands to make a more uniform sphere shape.
Step Four: Coat in melted chocolate and place on parchment paper or wax paper on a baking sheet. Let harden. On a warm day, it is helpful to pop the trays into the fridge to speed up the process.
Storage
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for up to a week. These can be frozen for longer storage.
Top Tip💡
These do flatten a little from the ball shape as they chill. If you really want round peanut butter balls I think adding a mix-in would help.
Variations
- Peanut Butter Protein Balls – Mix in a few tablespoons of collagen or peanut butter protein powder to make this into a keto energy balls recipe. You may need to add a little more peanut butter, keto maple syrup, or regular butter to balance out the additional dry ingredients.
- Crunchy Peanut Butter Balls – Add in some coarsely chopped peanuts as well as the finely chopped peanuts.
- Double Chocolate – Add some cocoa powder to the peanut butter mixture to make keto chocolate peanut butter balls.
- Chocolate Chip PB Balls – Boost the chocolate and throw some chocolate chips into the filling.
- White Chocolate Balls – Sub in some white chocolate chips.
- Almond – Sub in almond butter and almonds for the peanut products.
- Coating – Skip the chocolate coating. Roll these in cocoa powder and just do a drizzle of chocolate, or roll them in unsweetened shredded coconut flakes.
- Shapes – Make these into Easter eggs, hearts for Valentine’s Day, or Peanut Butter Trees.
My Tagalong Peanut Butter Cookie Bars are just as easy to make as these, with the same flavors. Give those a try next!
Common Questions
What is the easiest way to form peanut butter balls?
My tip for making even peanut butter balls is to use a cookie scoop for scooping. I love my set of cookie scoops. It has 3 different sizes and use them for everything from cookies and cupcakes to meatballs and chicken nuggets.
I used the medium scoop and made 18 balls from this recipe. You can make more and make them smaller but you might need additional chocolate to be able to coat them all.
Can I use peanut flour?
You can substitute peanut flour for the freshly ground peanuts. I do this in my Keto Peanut Butter Eggs.
Are these a fat bomb?
Yup. They are basically chocolate peanut butter fat bombs. They have enough healthy fats from the peanuts and nut butter to be fat bombs.
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Keto Peanut Butter Balls
Ingredients
- 1 cup roasted salted peanuts finely chopped (not peanut flour)
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup powdered sweetener such as swerve
- 8 oz sugar-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Mix together the chopped peanuts, peanut butter, and sweetener. Divide the dough into 18 pieces and shape into balls. Place on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until cold.
- Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or on top of a double boiler. I microwave chocolate chips, stirring every 30 seconds until they are 75% melted. Then I just stir until the rest melt.
- Dip each peanut butter ball in the chocolate and place back on the wax paper. Refrigerate until the chocolate sets.
Notes
Nutrition
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Originally Published October 31, 2018. Revised and Republished September 19, 2025.
These are life-saving when you are in danger of giving in to sugar cravings! We love them covered in white chocolate!
These are the most simple and the best keto chocolate covered peanut butter balls!
These are so delicious and easy! I’ve added collagen a couple times for more protein and it worked great. We love them! I pretty much keep them on hand in the fridge all the time
I wonder how these would turn out if using finely-crushed pork rinds. Maybe more of the “rice krispie” texture. I will have to experiment. Thank you for the recipe!
LMK if you try! I’ve never been brave enough to try pork rinds in a sweet recipe.
these are wonderful! I tried adding pork rinds and it was amazing! In our pre-keto days, I was and a baker who specialized in sweets. I literally couldn’t tell that these were pork rinds and not loud rice cereal.
I made these PB balls and substituted chopped pecans in them for the crunch. Didn’t have peanuts on hand. I also sprinkled the top with sea salt! Yummy!
So easy to make , so delicious!!! Great recipes are found at joyfilledeats.com
What are your thoughts on subbing cashew butter and chopped cashews instead of peanuts for those allergic?
That should be fine!
I can’t get sugar free chips or sugar free chocholate where I’m
Living in Ireland. Can I use 70% dark chocholate and how much should I use weight wise Thanks
70% dark chocolate will work but will have more carbs. You need about 225 grams. If you click ‘metric’ under the ingredients it converts automatically.
These are my favorite sweet treat to keep on hand. They are simple to make and I like to dip them in Lily’s white chocolate peppermint chips for a fun flavor.
Oh and I also only used 1/2 cup sweetener was plenty for me.
Just made these yesterday they are super delicious, I think next time I’ll blend my sugar to powder as it didn’t dissolve as much as I thought it was all I could find at the time. I also accidentally bought chunky peanut butter but it worked fine, the dark chocolate is a treat and so smooth and yum. They are just the right size and rich enough that one is not enough but I don’t need to eat 10! Will definitely be making these again. Friends said they were delicious too!
Hi Sally, did you use a powdered sweetener? That does make a difference in this recipe. I’m glad you liked them!
Hi Taryn, I used granular sugar, I thought it would dissolve as I’m new to using sweetener and to me it didn’t seem very granular, but yes powdered is definitely the way to go as it didn’t dissolve as much as I thought.
Oh myyyyy, I love PB balls and must try these! <3
Questions –
1 – Can it be made with all peanut butter instead of chopped peanuts? If would be too wet, I may experiment with a bit more PB and some powdered PB2. (not a chunky PB fan)
2 – I see the recipe calls for 1 cup sweetener, suggesting Swerve. I actually have your sweetener mixed up and it's supposed to be twice as sweet? So only use 1/2 cup? It's my first time using it, want to make sure I'm interpreting correctly!
Thanks for this recipe – the holidays are coming!!!
1. You need the combination of chopped peanuts and peanut butter.
2. I would suggest using all xylitol or erythritol so you can use a 1:1 sweetener. Grind it to a powder first.