Peanut Butter Balls Recipe

Peanut Butter Balls are a favorite no-bake treat! Made with smooth peanut butter and covered in chocolate they are so easy to make!

Few things go together as well as peanut butter and chocolate. It has to be one of my all-time favorite flavor combinations and one that I talk about a good bit for recipes.

Easy Peanut Butter Balls Recipe

Growing up, my Grandmother would make little peanut butter balls that looked just like little buckeyes. She’d mix all of the ingredients together and roll the peanut butter mixture around to form these little bite-sized treats. Then, she’d carefully dip them into her chocolate, leaving just a bit of the peanut butter peeping through at the top.

Now, her buckeyes were wonderful treats that I surely love still, but when Sam and I were making them when he was younger we decided not to fool around with all that special dipping for our peanut butter balls. And by request, we decided to make them a little bit bigger.

Okay, a good bit bigger.

I don’t think she’d mind and I know she’d love the changes.

How to Make the Best Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Balls

Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.

For these peanut butter balls, you’ll need:

• Peanut butter – creamy peanut butter is perfect in this recipe.
• Confectioner’s sugar – this is also called powdered sugar since it is of a powdery consistency. Granulated sugar will not work here.
• Butter – Use salted or unsalted butter based on what you have. If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of salt called for in the recipe to 1/8 teaspoon.
•  Vanilla extract – the vanilla extract enhances the sweetness in these peanut butter balls.
• Salt – take note of the type of butter used in the recipe and adjust the salt accordingly.
• Chocolate chips – You can use your favorite chocolate chips in this recipe: dark, milk, or semisweet. The chocolate chips are melted with vegetable shortening or coconut oil to coat the peanut butter balls.
• Oil – Use vegetable shortening or coconut oil. Coconut oil can lend a coconut flavor to items, while vegetable shortening is generally flavor-neutral.

How to Make Peanut Butter Balls

Make the Peanut Butter Mixture

Mix. Mix the peanut butter, confectioners sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and salt with an electric mixer until well combined.

Scoop. Scoop the peanut butter mixture into individual balls with a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop and place on the parchment lined baking sheet.

Chill. Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes to harden.

Make the Chocolate Coating

Melt. Melt the chocolate chips and your choice of shortening or coconut oil together in microwave for 1 1/2 minutes to 2 minutes at 50 percent power.

Dip. Dip each hardened ball into the melted chocolate. Place each chocolate-dipped ball back onto the parchment-lined baking sheet to dry.

After the chocolate has dried, serve immediately or store accordingly.

How to Make-Ahead, Store and Freeze Peanut Butter Balls

These delicious peanut butter balls are always a favorite treat to have on hand and make such a thoughtful food gift to take to a friend!

To make ahead. Prepare as directed. Store in a cool place on the counter for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.

To store. Place in an airtight container in between layers of waxed or parchment paper.

To freeze. Place the balls in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet and into the freezer until they have frozen, about 30 minutes to overnight. Once frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe container and freeze up to 7 months.

To serve, simply remove from the freezer and allow to reach room temperature.

More Delicious Treats

Best Rice Krispies Treats

Caramel Crunch Popcorn

Peanut Brittle

Easy Fudge

Here’s my family recipe for these delicious peanut butter balls.

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Peanut Butter Balls Recipe

Robyn Stone

5 from 21 votes

Peanut Butter Balls are the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate! This no-bake peanut butter balls recipe makes a simple treat that everyone loves! These peanut butter balls are deliciously make-ahead and freezer friendly too!

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Prep Time: 1 hour hour

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 50 pieces

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups (540 g) peanut butter
• ▢ 2 cups (227 g) confectioner’s sugar
• ▢ 4 tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) vanilla extract
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon (0.65 g) kosher salt
• ▢ 1 (12-ounce) package (340 g) chocolate chips, dark, milk, or semisweet
• ▢ 2 teaspoons (8 g) shortening

Instructions 

• Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
• Mix together peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar, butter, vanilla extract and salt with an electric mixer until well combined. Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop individual balls and place onto the parchment paper. Place in freezer for 15 minutes to harden.
• Melt chocolate chips and shortening or coconut oil together in microwave for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes at 50 % power.
• Dip each hardened peanut butter ball into the melted chocolate using a spoon and then place back onto the parchment paper lined baking sheet to dry.
• Store in an airtight container.

Notes

Make-Ahead and Freezer Friendly:
Prepare peanut butter balls as directed. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week or in a freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 7 months. 

Vegan:
For a vegan option for these peanut butter balls, use dairy-free chocolate chips and coconut oil in place of the butter called for in the recipe. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1piece | Calories: 88kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 59mg | Potassium: 66mg | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 30IU | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Recipe time includes time for chilling to firm before dipping in the chocolate as well as the time for the chocolate to dry.

Enjoy!
Robyn xo

From the Add a Pinch recipe archives, originally posted 2011.