These homemade, no-bake vegan coconut balls are a healthier version of that classic chocolate bar you may be familiar with! They are refined sugar-free, use only 5 ingredients and take a minimal amount of effort to make. A perfect tasty treat you can keep in your fridge.

I absolutely love a bounty bar, so it has been very high up on my list to make a version that didn’t include the added sugar and glucose syrup. There are a lot of recipes out there for making a homemade version of these balls or bars so I chose a few and combined a few different elements to come up with the recipe below.

Low carb count snacks are really important for me to have stocked in the house as a way of helping my daughter manage her type 1 diabetes.

These, melt-in-your-mouth, totally delicious vegan coconut balls are even better than the version you can get in the shops. Using only 5 ingredients and taking minimal effort they make the perfect tasty treat to keep in your fridge.

Why I Love These No-Bake Vegan Coconut Balls

Firstly, I am a big coconut fan and my absolute favourite is a bounty bar. To the point where I have even been known to get the kids to pick out the bounty celebration chocolates for me while we trick or treat! However, these indulgent little treats are low in refined sugar which makes them a great low-carb count snack (depending on how many you eat of course!)

I really wanted to make a vegan sweet treat. So I tried making these in 2 ways, using coconut milk and coconut cream. Both options seemed to work perfectly well. In addition, to ensure these were totally vegan, I chose vegan-certified chocolate. My favourite is Lindt Dark 85% which is available in lots of UK supermarkets.

But quite possibly the best thing about these coconut balls is that not only do they taste divine, but they are also super simple and super quick to make.

Coconut Milk or Cream?

Either coconut cream or milk works perfectly in this recipe. But make sure to read below for more tips as the method and carb counting will vary slightly.

Make sure to read the nutrition label and ingredients of the coconut milk or cream that you use. I have found that they all can vary in terms of what they may use to sweeten them. For instance, some I have discovered use sorbitol which is an alcohol-based sweetener whilst others may use sucrose, commonly known as sugar.

Coconut Milk

If you are using milk then it needs to be the tin variety and full fat. This is because you only need to use the solid part at the top of the tin. So make sure not to shake your tin!

A top tip is you could store your tin in the fridge for a few hours before using it to ensure the cream is nice and solid

Simply scoop the cream out of the top of the tin and loosen it up slightly with a splash or two of the coconut water. keep mixing until you get a lovely creamy consistency which is perfect for combining with the desiccated coconut.

If you would prefer to use coconut milk without any added sugar then I can recommend Duchy Organic Coconut Milk which is available at Waitrose.

Coconut Cream

However, you can also opt to use coconut cream as well, which is my preference. Coconut cream is quite a staple in our house as it’s so good in both sweet and savoury dishes. Coconut cream has basically the same ingredients like coconut cream but tends to have a higher fat content as it has less water and more coconut.

I used one from Sainsbury’s which doesn’t have any added sugar or sweeteners.

Using sweeteners for these no-bake vegan coconut balls

In this recipe, I suggest using a liquid sweetener. Most recipes I came across used maple syrup, honey or agave. However, I really wanted to reduce the countable carbs in this recipe so I tried both stevia and sucralose-based drops instead.

Both stevia and sucralose won’t impact blood glucose levels so it just comes down to personal preference and taste as to what you use. If you are interested in reading more on SUGAR SUBSTITUTES AND DIABETES then make sure to read the post linked here.

My personal preference is coconut Flavdrops from MY Protein. This is a sucralose-based drop and you can get a whole range of different flavours which are not only brilliant in baking but we love them to flavour our milk and yoghurt as well.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different sweeteners and quantities in sweet recipes. It may take a few attempts to find your preference as we all have different palates.

What you will need to make these no-bake vegan coconut balls

Unsweetened desiccated coconut
- Essential for creating our beautifully textured coconut ball base.
- Check the label to ensure the sugar hasn’t been added in the refining process.
Coconut Cream or milk
- Use the long-life canned/carton variety and make sure that it’s refrigerated so that it’s nice and thick!
- See notes above for more info
Coconut oil
- This is added when melting the chocolate as it helps to harden it a little faster and a little thicker.
- The coconut oil makes the chocolate act like a chocolate shell
Vegan Dark Chocolate
- For the delicious Bounty-style coating! Feel free to double up for an extra rich coating.
- Try and use a chocolate that has a cocoa content of 70% or above. The higher the cocoa content the lower the sugar!
Coconut drops
- These are optional but I like the additional sweetness they give to these balls, enhancing your truffle experience.
- See notes above on liquid sweeteners

What to do with any leftover melted chocolate

Don’t waste any leftover chocolate you melted. It can simply be blobbed onto your greaseproof paper and left to harden into delicious odd-shaped chocolate buttons.

no bake vegan bounty balls on a wire rack

More Easy & Delicious Diabetic Recipes for BALANCED Blood SugARS:

Storing your Vegan Coconut Balls

As they use coconut cream I like to store mine in a sealed container in the fridge. This helps to keep them fresh as well as the chocolate lovely and crisp when you bite into them.

They will keep happily in the fridge for up to a week if they hang around for that long of course!

Diabetes Note

I really wanted to reduce the countable carbs in this recipe so I opted for a sucralose/ stevia drop to add some extra sweetness to the coconut. This alongside the 85% dark chocolate and unsweetened coconut ingredients means that 1 coconut ball is only 2g of carbs

Please note if you are using unsweetened coconut milk or cream you may not need to carb count for this ingredient. But if it has added sugar/sorbitol then ensure to include this in your carb count.

Carb Counting

The overall carb count for one no-bake vegan coconut ball, based on the ingredients we would count is:

85% Dark chocolate = 120g – 28.8g of carbs

Finally divide this by the serving size, 15 – 28.8/15 = 2g of carb per serving

Also, please note this carb count amount per portion is based on the standard ingredients listed above and may differ depending on what you use and how much you choose to eat.

If you enjoyed this article then leave a star rating and comment below. I would love to hear from you!

Don’t forget you can also FOLLOW ME on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Click below to connect with me

Subscribe to my newsletter for more easy, diabetic-friendly recipes and helpful tips for meal planning and blood sugar management!