Coffee and Walnut Protein Balls: Easy No-Bake Snack

Energy rich, nutrient dense and deeply satisfying, these coffee and walnut protein balls are quick and easy to make. With a pronounced coffee flavour and plenty of nutty depth, they’re only lightly sweet with an almost savoury edge – ideal for a post workout pick-me-up. Made with whey protein for an extra boost, they’re as nourishing as they are delicious.

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Dive Right In

Why You’ll Want To Make These Coffee and Walnut Protein Balls

• Quick and easy no-bake protein balls – ready in minutes with minimal effort.
• High-protein snack – made with whey protein powder to help keep you fuller for longer.
• Naturally energising – a gentle caffeine boost from real coffee.
• Rich coffee and walnut flavour – a classic pairing with a grown-up twist.
• Low in refined sugar – lightly sweetened with honey or maple syrup.
• Nutrient-dense ingredients – packed with healthy fats, protein, wholesome ingredients and flavour.
• Perfect post-workout snack – ideal for refuelling after exercise.
• Great for meal prep – make ahead and store for an easy grab-and-go snack.
• Simple homemade snack – no additives, just real, nutritious ingredients.

What Is Whey?

Whey is the liquid left over from making cheese or yoghurt. It’s mostly dried down to make whey protein powder. In this process some of the fats and much of the lactose is removed. It’s an excellent source of high quality vegetarian protein as it contains all nine amino acids.

Not only is whey good for muscle building, maintenance, repair and post-exercise recovery, but it’s also very easy to digest. This means it gets to the parts of the body that need it faster than many other proteins.

Whey may have other health benefits too. The jury is still out, but studies suggest it can be good for lowering blood pressure, managing type 2 diabetes and reducing inflammation. (ref: Healthline)

Whenever I make butter, labneh or curd cheese, I’m usually left with a fair amount of liquid whey. I always see this as a bonus because it’s brilliant for baking and especially useful for scones and soda bread.

But I don’t make cheese or butter that often, so having a source of dried whey powder is really useful. You can add it to all sorts of recipes to boost your protein levels, including my coffee and walnut protein balls

Cautionary Note – If you have a dairy allergy you should avoid whey protein as it comes from milk and usually contains lactose. If you’re not sure whey protein is right for you, Naked Nutrition has a helpful article on this: Does Whey Protein Have Lactose?

Naked Nutrition Whey Protein Powder

Naked Nutrition sell pure protein powders. That is to say that all ingredients are a hundred percent natural with no additives, fillers or artificial sweeteners. This is demonstrated by their strapline “nutrition with nothing to hide”.

When asked if I’d like to try out one of their whey protein products, I opted for a jar of naked whey protein powder as that’s the most versatile for trying out in different recipes.

I’ve tried other protein powders at various points in my life and I have to say I haven’t been impressed. I don’t want artificial sweeteners in my “healthy” drinks and snacks. This whey is a hundred percent whey and comes from grass fed cows which are raised without hormones – hoorah!

Now I’m a regular at our local gym, I’m a bit more aware of the role protein plays in building and maintaining muscle than I was before. According to the Naked Nutrition website:

“Each serving of Naked Whey delivers all the essential amino acids needed to build and maintain lean muscle mass. Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine, help muscle-protein synthesis to promote muscle growth and recovery after exercise. Whey protein can help you improve strength and create a better looking body.”

You can buy a 450g jar which gives approximately fifteen servings or a 2280g jar which gives approximately seventy six servings. Of course a serving very much depends on what you’re using it for.

Each 30g serving contains 25 grams of protein and 5.9 grams of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). The jar comes with a fifteen gram scoop, which makes it super easy to measure and use.

They also have a chocolate version and a vanilla version. The sweetener used for these is organic coconut sugar with the only other ingredients organic cocoa powder and natural vanilla respectively. I’m impressed.

Other protein powders available from Naked Nutrition are pea protein powder and collagen peptides protein.

How Much Protein Do We Need?

How much daily protein we need will vary from person to person. It depends on your age, weight, height and how much exercise you get. But 0.75g per kg of body weight per day is the general recommendation (ref: British Heart Foundation). That equates to around:

• 45g a day for a 60kg woman
• 55g a day for a 75kg man

My coffee and walnut whey protein balls contain approximately 4g each.

How To Use Whey Protein In Recipes

Whey protein is brilliant for adding a vegetarian protein boost to all sorts of recipes.

Just add a scoop or two to smoothies, shakes, pancakes, waffles and pretty much any baked goods you care to mention. It also works well in many no-bake recipes – cue my coffee and walnut protein balls.

You can also stir whey protein into overnight oats, porridge or even chia pudding. But it’s not just about breakfast. Try adding some to mashed potato, homemade burgers or hummus type dips to make them extra nutritious.

According to the Naked Nutrition blog, protein coffee is the way to go. Turns out that without even realising it, I’m on the right track. I haven’t yet tried it in a cup of coffee, but I have used it to make hot chocolate.

I’ve been adding a couple of scoops to all sorts of bakes to supercharge them, including my hot cross buns and Easter biscuits this year. I even stirred some into my two-ingredient breadsticks, already quite protein-rich, and it worked really well.

Coffee and Walnut Whey Protein Balls

Protein balls are a type of no-bake energy ball, but with a bit more protein than you’d normally expect. In this case, as well as nuts, I’ve also added some protein powder – whey protein powder to be exact.

As of this year CT is also a regular at the gym. His favourite cake is coffee and walnut cake, so what better flavour for these protein balls than coffee and walnut? Walnuts for protein and coffee for an additional energy boost.

I’ve included oats for fibre, honey for a touch of sweetness and nut butter for pure indulgence. They’re not overly sweet, almost savoury in fact, but somehow completely irresistible

As well as plenty of protein, these coffee and walnut whey protein balls are full of fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Although they’re incredibly good, they’re quite filling so we try not to eat too many at once. Luckily, they keep well. I don’t store mine in the fridge as I don’t like them really cold. But I do keep them in a cool part of the house and they’re good to go for a couple of weeks.

Ingredients, Additions and Substitutions

With just a handful of simple ingredients, you can make the most delicious and nutritious protein balls.

Coffee

Instant coffee powder is the best type of coffee to use for this recipe. You need a fairly powerful hit for the coffee flavour to come through. You can use caffeinated or decaffeinated, whichever you prefer.

If you don’t have any instant powder, make a really strong cup of coffee and use that instead of the water stated in the recipe card.

Nut Butter

I used walnut butter to make these coffee and walnut protein balls, but if you can’t find this particular nut butter, use almond butter instead.

Oats

You can use either porridge oats or rolled oats for this recipe. Rolled oats will give a finer fudgier texture and jumbo oats give a coarser texture with more chew. It just depends on your preference. I used jumbo oats in the images you can see in this post.

Sweetener

I like to use runny honey in this recipe, it works really nicely with the walnuts. But maple syrup is a good substitute if you’d rather use that. I used a rich dark honey which stands up to the robust flavours of coffee and walnut.

If using honey, make sure it’s a runny one. Thick honey will make the mixture more difficult to work with.

Walnuts

It’s fine to use ready cracked walnuts, but try to buy them as fresh as possible. Walnut halves store much better than walnut pieces.

Whey Powder

I used Naked Nutrition grass fed pure whey protein powder. It gives a real protein boost to the energy balls, but also an additional level of flavour. It adds a welcome hint of caramel to proceedings.

How To Make Coffee and Walnut Protein Balls

Coffee and walnut whey protein balls are super easy to make. They’re quick too, so the sort of snack you can whip up in minutes and eat straight away.

Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities of ingredients used.

Step 1. Prepare Mix

Pulse the walnuts and oats together in a food processor until you get a coarse flour-like texture with a few bits still in it.

I tried to cram mine into a mini food processor, which isn’t ideal, so go for a medium sized one if you have one.

Add the salt and whey powder and pulse again to combine.

Dissolve the coffee in the warm water, then add to the walnut mixture along with the nut butter and honey.

Pulse again until combined. If the mixture is still too dry add a little more water, but be careful, you don’t want it too sticky. It’s ready when you can squeeze a spoonful together in your hands and it doesn’t fall apart.

Gather up a heaped teaspoonful of the mix and squeeze it until it clumps together. Then, using the palms of your hands, roll it into a ball. It shouldn’t stick to your hands too much, but if you find it does, either oil your hands or wet them with cold water.

Repeat the process until you have no mixture left. I made twenty seven.

Place the balls in an airtight container to stop them drying out and store in a cool place. They should keep for a couple of weeks.

For longer term storage you can freeze them for up to three months. Place on an open tray and once frozen transfer to an appropriate bag or container. Unless you want to eat them frozen, remove from the freezer at least half an hour before consuming.

Other Recipes For Energy Balls You Might Like

For an extra protein boost add a fifteen gram scoop or two of whey powder to any of the recipes below.

Keep in Touch

Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these coffee and walnut protein balls, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for using whey?

Please rate the recipe too. And do tag me @choclette8 on Instagram with your images, I really enjoy seeing your take on my recipes.

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If you’d like more coffee recipes or walnut recipes, follow the links and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

Coffee and Walnut Protein Balls. PIN IT.

Naked Nutrition sent me a jar of whey powder to try. I was not expected to write a positive review and all opinions are, as always, my own. Thank you for your support of the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.