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With just 5 ingredients, learn how to make No Bake Peanut Butter Balls that will fly off the platter or make a stellar food gift idea. This easy homemade candy recipe is a winner at any holiday party (or on any day you want to taste like a holiday!).
I love a 5-ingredient, no bake treat at the holidays. As a classically-trained chef with some serious candy-making under my belt, I was excited to tweak this old-fashioned recipe until it was absolutely perfect.
The secret to these delicious peanut butter balls is the graham cracker crumbs in the filling. They add a much-needed texture that is pleasant to bite into without a hint of grittiness. I also love to use semi-sweet chocolate chips which balances perfectly with the peanut butter filling, but you’re welcome to substitute milk chocolate if you prefer that.
Add these scrumptious peanut butter balls to your next cookie plate or package them up to give as a homemade food gift. If you live in a cold climate, you should definitely do that one trick where you store holiday candy on your patio or in the garage. I love that about the Midwest!
Table of Contents
Easy Peanut Butter Balls Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Graham crackers: If classic graham crackers aren’t available in your area, feel free to use the same amount of crushed digestive biscuits, or any slightly sweet, non-shortbread style cookie or tea biscuit. Or try 1 cup of crushed Rice Krispies cereal or 1 cup of rolled oats; you can’t go wrong with any of the above.
- Peanut butter: Homemade or store-bought, creamy or chunky; it’s up to you. Almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, or your top peanut butter substitute should also work as long as it’s not too drippy.
- Semi-sweet baking chocolate: For dipping. You can also use chocolate flavored melting wafers if desired.
- Powdered Sugar
- Butter
How to make Peanut Butter Balls
- In a large bowl, add graham cracker crumbs, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and butter. Stir until uniformly combined and smooth.
- Shape into teaspoon-sized balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Chill at least 30 minutes.
- Set chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water (double-boiler method) or melt in the microwave at 50% power in 30-second increments (stirring well after each increment). Using two spoons, dip peanut butter balls into melted chocolate and transfer to prepared baking sheet.
- Chill at least 30 minutes to set chocolate. Store covered in the refrigerator (or in your cold garage).
Peanut Butter Ball Recipe Tips and Variations
- Yield: My No Bake Peanut Butter Ball recipe makes 30 bite-sized (okay, probably more like two-bite) servings. This dessert is a breeze to make and multiplies easily, so I suggest whipping up a double batch.
- Storage: Transfer extra No Bake Peanut Butter Balls to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to two weeks.
- Freezer: Freeze dipped or undipped Peanut Butter Balls in a freezer-safe zip-top bag for up to three months.
- No Bake Peanut Butter Ball mix-ins: Boost flavor or texture by adding shredded coconut, chopped dried fruit, sprinkles/jimmies, or mini chocolate chips.
Peanut Butter Ball Recipe FAQs
The best way to melt chocolate is either using a double boiler on the stove or in the microwave. Before you start, make sure your bowl and utensils (and anything else that touches the chocolate) is very, very dry. Even just a little water could make the melted chocolate seize up.
Melting chocolate in the microwave: Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave in 30-second intervals at 50% power, stirring between each, until smooth and melted.
Melting chocolate on the stove: Place chocolate in the top of a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over (but not in) a saucepan of simmering water; cook, stirring occasionally, until melted, 2 to 3 minutes.
Your peanut butter balls could be dry because you didn’t grind your graham cracker crumbs finely enough to properly blend with the butter and sugar mixture. Also, if you use natural peanut butter instead of the highly-processed, full-sugar kind, your might wind up with dry peanut butter balls due to a lower amount of oil in the nut butter. Finally, if you added too much powdered sugar and not enough butter, your ratio might be off leading to dry PB balls.
You need something to bind the peanut butter mixture, but it doesn’t have to be butter. You can substitute coconut oil, honey, maple syrup, or vegan butter. If you substitute a sweetener such as honey or maple syrup, you will need to reduce or omit the added sugar in your recipe.
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Peanut Butter Balls Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup crushed graham crackers ( 1 sleeve or 9 crackers, see note 1)
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter (see note 2)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup butter softened (½ stick)
- 8 ounces semisweet baking chocolate (see note 3)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add graham cracker crumbs, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and butter. Stir until uniformly combined and smooth.
- Shape into teaspoon-sized balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Chill at least 30 minutes.
- Set chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water (double-boiler method) or melt in the microwave at 50% power in 30-second increments (stirring well after each increment). Using two spoons, dip peanut butter balls into melted chocolate and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Chill at least 30 minutes to set chocolate.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Graham crackers: If classic graham crackers aren’t available in your area, feel free to use the same amount of crushed digestive biscuits, or any slightly sweet, non-shortbread style cookie or tea biscuit. Or try 1 cup of crushed Rice Krispies cereal or 1 cup of rolled oats; you can’t go wrong with any of the above.
- Peanut butter: Homemade or store-bought, creamy or chunky; it’s up to you. Almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, or your top peanut butter substitute should also work as long as it’s not too drippy.
- Semi-sweet baking chocolate: For dipping. You can also use chocolate flavored melting wafers if desired.
- Yield: My No Bake Peanut Butter Ball recipe makes 30 bite-sized (okay, probably more like two-bite) servings. This dessert is a breeze to make and multiplies easily, so I suggest whipping up a double batch.
- Storage: Transfer extra No Bake Peanut Butter Balls to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to two weeks.
- Freezer: Freeze dipped or undipped Peanut Butter Balls in a freezer-safe zip-top bag for up to three months.
When you said that Graham crackers were not available outside of the United States, you were not correct. They are widely used in Canada. We call them Graham wafers.
Hi Ann, I had no idea! Thank you. Sorry about that! -Meggan
Yes, I found them in the Philippines.
I am making peanut butter balls for the first time and I saw this recipe and thought it might be really easy for me to follow and make the peanut butter balls. I will comment after I make them and tell if it was easy enough to make and if my family enjoy them.
I make them every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My family loves them. Super easy to make.
My autistic 7 year old and I made these together. We used half chocolate rice crispies and half normal as he is gluten intolerant and left out the butter because I didn’t realize I was out until we had the other ingredients in the bowl. He loves them! This is very exciting because he eats almost nothing so I just wanted to let you know how happy we are.
Thank you.
Thanks so much Heather! I just love hearing stories like these. I hope you can continue to find great recipes that you can make together through the years. 🙂 -Meggan
Hi Meggan, I made this recipe today I am in Australia and I used Mc Vities Digestives as suggested by Fi from Scotland as we do not have graham crackers this worked out well. Your recipes are amazing. Happy Thanksgiving to all in America
Couldn’t you set up a chocolate fountain to dip your candy in if you have one ?? If you’re doing for lots of people or for a big party or a wedding…. it’s just an idea if only one person is doing this !! Thanks Meggan for the site
We made these and used McVities Digestive biscuits (I am in Scotland) We made a batch using smooth peanut butter, and one with crunchy, both delicious, but will ALWAYS use crunchy in the future. Loved them, and son in law has requested we make a huge batch for Christmas, we made them together and it was so nice to spend time in the kitchen with him
This makes me SO HAPPY!!!! Everything – the crunchy peanut butter, the fact that you liked them, the fact that you are in Scotland making food from the US, and especially that you spent time cooking with your son. All wonderful things. I’m touched. Thank you so much for the comment. -Meggan
Can you use chunky peanut butter? I have a large had for making my peanut butter cookies. Thank you!
Yes! It will change the text of course, but in my opinion, only in a good way! Go for it. Thank you Karen! If you need anything else just let me know.
I’m from England and you can’t get graham crackers here. Can I just use any kind of digestive biscuit instead?
Hi Ray, it’s worth a shot. I have never had them so I don’t know exactly what the flavor is, but I can’t imagine they would taste bad. I am going to order some digestive biscuits on Amazon so I can test the recipe with them and know for myself. Is McVitie’s a common brand? Thanks!
I ended up drizzling the caramel on top, it tasted very good still!
That’s awesome!!!! I do that with my Oreo cookie cookie balls, a little salted caramel drizzle. Thank you for reporting back! And take care.
I was just wondering if I could use camel instead of chocolate…wasnt sure if it would still taste good!
Hi Breanne! I’m sure it would still taste good, I just cannot provide the exact caramel recipe you’d need to use to set up correctly. But you cannot go wrong with caramel and peanut butter! 😀 Good luck and thanks for the question!