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.
How long do these last?
For 2-3 weeks in the fridge. You can probably freeze them too but I haven’t tried. They don’t last that long in my house.
Hi! Love this recipe.. just wondering as I’m doing Keto how you got 7g carbs and when I logged it in my fitness pal mine is 18g carbs 🙁 as far as I can see same ingredients??
Thank you 🙏🏻
MFP does not subtract the sugar alcohol in the sweetener. I have to do that manually.
Oh ok thank you 😊
Can’t tolerate those sweeteners. Is there any way to use maple syrup or dates for a sweetener?
Granulated maple sugar would work. Maple syrup would make them too thin. You would have to add nut flour to get the right consistency. I think dates would work. Just add finely chopped dates to taste.
Could you use almonds and almond butter or macadamia nuts and macadamia butter?
Sure!
If u have no peanuts but peanut Butter and almonds ground up….does that work?
Ground almonds could work as long as they are like almond meal, not almond butter.
So if I was going to use THM gentle sweet, would I just use 1/2 cup to convert it from Swerve? Can’t wait to try these!
Yes, 1/2 a cup. I highly recommend grinding it to a powder first or it will be gritty. You may need to add additional chopped peanuts (or a little peanut flour) to make up the missing bulk from the powdered erythritol.
I used a mixture of peanuts, almonds, and hazelnut and the only peanut butter I had on hand which was Skippy. It is low in carbs and sugar so I don’t mind the tiny cheat. I melted chocolate bars that were 85% and 90% cacao with a little coconut oil to dip them in. I used powdered Pyure sweetener and they turned out great, I’m keeping them in the freezer because they are a little soft. Maybe the longer they’re in, the more solid they will get.
Hello! My husband can’t tolerate erythritol, xylitol, or other sugar alcohols in even minute quantities without severe digestive repercussions. Is the sugar alcohol necessary for bulk or texture? Could I substitute straight stevia or even Splenda instead? Thank you!
You could use straight stevia but you will need to increase the chopped peanuts to make up the difference. Or add something like finely shredded coconut. Otherwise they will be too soft to make balls.
My daughter made them as a dessert as I am on Keto , they are delicious😋. Im keeping them in freezer to have as a treat!
These are delicious. Thank you for the adaptation to make a holiday favorite healthy.
Thought you might like to know that Vitacost sells 3 lb bags of Xylitol and Erythritol and they are powdered! It was a pleasant surprise!
Good to know! Thanks for sharing that.
What is ratio of your sweetner blend of xylitol, erythritol and stevia?
There are clickable links within the post and my sweetener recipe is here: https://joyfilledeats.com/sweetener
I buy 3 lb bags of xylitol and erythritol from Vitacost and use a whole container of Trader Joe’s 100% stevia extract (1 oz). I mix it all together and store in containers. It makes a lot!
What if you can’t eat peanuts? I can eat peanut butter but can’t have nuts.
You can leave them out. The dough will be a little softer though. You might need to freeze it before dipping in the chocolate.
Is the 1 cup of chopped peanuts measured before or after you chop them?
I measured before. If thr dough seems too soft you can always add more.
I’ve been lazy and dunking low carb chocolate into almond butter. These look so much better.
What do you think about using smukers natural peanut butter with peanuts in it?
That’s fine but you will still need to add finely chopped peanuts or the dough may be too soft.
These are just the kind of healthy, keto snacks I’ve been looking for. Thanks for the recipe!