Raw Vegan Carrot Cake Bites that are chewy, cinnamony, cake-bally, and just the right amount of sweet. Perfect on-the-go snack for spring!
Raw Vegan Carrot Cake Bites
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Luv, luv, luv these carrot bites – and they are super easy to assemble. In fact, I’ll be making them again this weekend. Thanks for sharing.
These carrot cake bites are chewy, cinnamony, cake-bally, and just the right amount of sweet. They are flecked with coconut and oats and made creamy with almond butter. The carrots are there, but they’re not excessively salady – they just add some specks of color, flavor, and texture to an almost-cookie-dough-like bite of joy that lives in a little jar in your fridge, waiting for that 3pm moment to make your day a little brighter.
Breakfast bites, snack-with-coffee bites, desserty bites… with these little gems, all of it is fair game.
I mean, the thing about real carrot cake is that you want it, and you want it loaded with cream cheese frosting. Lots of cream cheese frosting. And then you finally have it and it is, in fact, so so good. But then you spike, crash, and can’t shake the feeling that you need to go to the dentist immediately? I don’t know, maybe that’s just me.
Guess what is there for you in a more wholesome, sustaining, but still tastes like yummy carrot cake way?
THESE BITES. These raw, vegan, delicious carrot cake bites.
How To Make Carrot Cake Bites That Are Vegan and Raw and Delicious
You 100% need a food processor for these. You guys know I LOVE MY FOOD PROCESSOR. Please buy yourself a food processor. This is the one I have. (This is an affiliate link.)
First up: carrots. Just pop in the food processor and go. I seriously hate grating carrots so I will not ask you to do any of that.
Next up: clean out the carrots and pulse up your oats and coconut, so it’s kind of like a flour.
And now: everybody in.
Finally: white chocolate chips for the people who like to be extra.
If you’re vegan or want to keep it totally clean, go for some chunky nuts, cacao nibs, or vegan chips instead.
Roll, refrigerate, and done.
Yep, I’d say the spring snacking season is off to an excellent start. Carrot cake bites for all!
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Carrot Cake Bites:
Raw Vegan Carrot Cake Bites
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 30–40 bites, depending on how big you make them 1x
Description
Raw Vegan Carrot Cake Bites that are chewy, cinnamony, cake-bally, and just the right amount of sweet. Perfect on-the-go snack for spring!
Ingredients
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 cups flaked unsweetened coconut
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (more or less to taste)
- white chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Add carrot chunks to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. (You should have a generous 1/2 cup.)
- Remove carrots and set aside. Add oats and coconut. Pulse until coarsely ground.
- Add all other ingredients, including the chopped carrots. Pulse until a smooth-ish, sticky “dough” forms. (You might have to push it down with a spatula a few times to help it along.)
- Add white chocolate chips and pulse until chopped.
- Roll into balls. Store in the fridge or freezer. Mwah! This week is looking good.
Equipment
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Snack
- Method: Mix and Roll
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: raw vegan carrot cake bites, carrot cake bites, healthy carrot energy bites
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best healthy snacks. Check it out!
It’s so yummy and looking nice. Thank for this recipe.
Hi! How would this taste with peanut butter instead?
Yana,
Maybe you can try it with peanut butter and let us know how it was?! 🙂
Hi! I did try this with peanut butter and they are fantastic! I think because the cinnamon and coconut are strong flavors, I didn’t really notice a weird peanut butter taste. I was afraid it would make them weird but not at all! And it’s what I had in my pantry;)
Hi Lindsay!
These look so good, and while I’m adamantly opposed to s-n-a-a-a-c–k-s in general, these would be so good for someone who has to bring something for soccer practice or something. One question: I’m kind of a sugar nazi, with a weird habit of figuring out the sugar content of recipes. Your nutrition label says sugar content is 8.7 grams, but the only sugar listed is the 1/2 cup maple syrup, which would be 8 tablespoons or 24 teaspoons, which would be 96 grams, divided by 30 (the servings you list) would be 3.2 grams. So I’m not sure where that number on the label comes from.
Debi, you might be overlooking the sugar in other ingredients, like the natural sugars in carrots.
Hi Laura–
Hmmm. Sugar in one carrot is pretty minimal. I just looked it up. I wonder if your nutrition label generator is figuring in the white chocolate chips–except that there’s no specific amount given. No big deal, I guess, but some of your readers may be watching their sugar carefully (as I do–I’m pre-diabetic) and therefore be put off by this otherwise very low-sugar and healthy recipe. (Although I have to say that the chips sound great!)
I don’t put white chocolate chips in mine at all, so I’m sure that would take the amount of sugar down. And they taste great without them!
Hi Debi! Thanks for catching that. 🙂 Our nutrition label was based on a previous version of this recipe – we just updated it! There’s 3.2 grams of added sugar from the maple syrup, and the rest is naturally occurring from the carrot, almond butter, and unsweetened coconut.
Great! Glad I could have even a little input on this wonderful site.
Ooh these looks lovely! How long do they last in the fridge? Also, do you know if they can also be stored in the freezer? Thanks
Hey there!!
Big follower of yours and just love your site.
Just wondering how the heck you store them: do they stick together if you put them all in a Pyrex food container?
Lastly, can you also freeze them if need be? Or how quickly will they expire?
Thanks!! :*
Hi Jess! We don’t usually have much of a problem with sticking together in Pryrex. And yes, you can definitely freeze them to last longer!
Healthy carrot cake based recipes are right up my alley! These little snacks look so great!
Hope you enjoy them, Kelli!
I am going to make these this week. I had an idea though. Instead of adding white chocolate chips to the dough, I’m going to melt white chocolate and dip the balls halfway. Great recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Great idea!
Love these!!
I have an insanely fussy eater who eats carrot muffins, but won’t expand beyond that. She watched this and wanted to try it. We made these, and ate them by the spoonful out of the food processor.
I love so many of your recipes, but this might just top my list right now.
Awesome, Jenna! So glad it’s been a hit!
Fun and healthy dessert to help the dedicated dieters lose weight. Love this creative recipe, Lindsay. Keep doing what you’re doing my friend 🙂
Mmm yum they look great! Really clever way to make a quick snack! (:
Just made these tonight! 4yo approved. They’re delicious!
Make a YouTube video of it next time and share with us. Please & thank you! 🙂
Just finished making these…so good!! Thanks for the recipe!
These look great! Sadly I am an oat-responding Celiac (even the GF oats are no good for me). Is there something else I can sub for the oats? Flax meal? Chia? Nuts? Thanks!
I just tried this recipe and it’s super easy to make and I can’t wait to try them. I don’t like coconut so I substituted ground cashew + walnuts and I lessened the maple syrup and added some dates. Yum!! 😋
Hi! Quick question, can I use something instead of almond butter? Seriously allergic to nuts here. I was thinking avocado but wasn’t sure of the texture change. Thanks!
Hey, same here! I used sunflower seed butter and it worked great. Sometimes it can be overpowering in recipes but I thought it was great in this one.
I read this post and had to make it immediately, substituted almond butter with peanut butter. Its dreamy good, such a lovely carrot cake taste and my kids loved it. Thanks for a great, easy recipe.
Glad to hear it, Bianca!
Made these tonight, I couldn’t wait! Only thing I substituted was butter for almond butter.. makes it non vegan but safe for nut allergies. Honey would work well in place of maple syrup if you wanted.. just melt it a little first? But – oops, sorry, went off on a tangent of possibilities 😉 Anyway – end result – YUM. Even non-foodie husband said ‘yeah, it’s good’ – which actually means he’ll be raiding the fridge for these babies before I get up in the morning. Haha!
Hi I like so much your blog and your recipes.
I would like to do also this recipe but I don’t like coconut, is it possible to substitute it with something else?
Hi! I had the same doubt and asked them on Instagram, they replied that more oatmeal oats could be added instead of coconut 😊
I don’t like coconut either (but it’s texture not taste) and the texture doesn’t come through at all if you like the taste ok.
Have you tried substituting raisins or dried cranberries for the the white chocolate chips? I participated in the no sugar January (I did use some honey and maple syrup occasionally) and loved the way I felt.
Hey, I made these with just the maple syrup and unsweetened sunflower seed butter and found them plenty sweet. Especially if you haven’t been eating a lot of sugar I think you will like them just fine without any additions. But I could see that being good, too.
We haven’t but are sure it would be a great sub!
Lindsay, I am LOVING the photography on this one!
I really enjoyed this recipe! (Admittedly, I just made them on my lunch hour and ate the “batter” from the bowl”, not in the actual ball form….) I’m sure the recipe is delicious as written as well but I made some changes to try to cram a li’l more nutrition in and they worked great!
Subbed sunflower seed butter (unsweetened, the brand with the raccoon on the front, I don’t recall what it is) for the almond butter since I’m allergic
Subbed 1 cup of oats for wheat germ
Added 3 tbsp chia seeds and 3 tbsp ground flax seed
Added just a teense (maybe 1/4 tsp) of nutmeg
I didn’t add add the white chocolate because I’m not currently eating refined sugar. I definitely want to make these again with the white chocolate, ’cause it sounds delicious, but I found them plenty sweet.
I was a little nervous about them coming together with the added dry ingredients, but since chia and flax are binding agents (when exposed to moisture at least) it worked great! I think I will go ahead and up it to 1/4 cup of each next time and see how it goes.
Awesome! Thanks for the tips, Sarah!
How long will the bites last in the fridge? How long in the freezer?
They’ll last for about a week in the fridge, and about a month in the freezer!
I made these today. They are delicious, really just like carrot cake. And they are plenty sweet, even though I used just half the maple sugar called for in the recipe. This will be the perfect snack for us to have on hand for the next few days. Thanks for the fantastic recipes!
Does anyone know of a good substitute for the maple syrup that will still help these ‘bind’ together? I’m diabetic and trying to not use even non-refined things like maple syrup and honey. Thanks.
Hi Shelley! Dates would be a great option if you’re able to have those.
Thanks…..I may try that……or w/prunes.
I cannot live without my food processor either Lindsay…it is an absolute necessity in my kitchen! These bites looks absolutely luscious and I can’t wait to try them!
Hope you enjoy them, Maggie! 🙂
Do you have a particular coconut you recommend? Some are more fintely shredded than others and not sure if it matters.
We’d opt for the more finely shredded kind, but either works!
How incredibly delicious these look! White chocolate chips for me without a doubt 😉 YUMMO
Carrot cake is my faaaaavorite!
Made these tonight…once I saw them I couldn’t get them out of my head! They were delicious. I did not have 1/2 cup of maple syrup, so I subbed in some molasses. I’m pretty sure all in all I had much less than 1/2 cup sweetner, and I didn’t use the white chocolate chips. I tasted it and just decided that it was delicious as is. I got about 38 balls…putting them (most of them) in the freezer. It’s so nice to have a little treat that I can look forward to! I feel good about these. Thanks!
Awesome! Glad to hear it!