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These quick, no-bake snack balls are rich in nutrition
Low iron levels? These Iron Bites should do the trick.
They are chock full of whole foods that naturally contain large amounts of iron.
The ingredients came together easily in our Vitamix. They are bite sized and perfect for snacking.
Go make yourself a batch and notice how much more energy you suddenly have!
A delicious treat that solves a common problem
For years my family (including myself) thought I was a “low-energy” person. Although my skin would tan in the summer, I always had a kind of washed-out look. I’d bruise easily and heal slowly.
Turns out, I was just really deficient in iron.
There’s a classic story from my childhood in which my pediatrician says she has no idea how I am alive and breathing with levels so low.
I had been a vegetarian for years at that point. And was used to people saying “you don’t eat meat? how do you get protein and iron?” To which I would reply “I don’t know… cheese?”
Making sure my diet was balanced was not a huge priority.
So I took iron supplements. For years.
I didn’t like the way they made me feel at all, but I knew anemia was not fun either.
Through college I continued a vegetarian diet and a daily iron pill.
But guess what? My levels were still low. I was still lethargic and pale and still bruised like a peach.
Until I decided to skip the supplement and eat my iron instead.
I googled foods that had high levels and added them to my diet.
Instant success.
Never has a change in diet impacted my daily life so drastically. I suddenly had energy!
Energy led to working out which led to wanting to live a healthier life in general. It led to balancing my meals, and caring about what I put into my system.
It led me to where I am today.
Which is 6 months pregnant with the highest levels of iron I’ve ever had. I swear my doctor almost high-fived me the other day.
Iron in an integral nutrient for a fetus and many pregnant women are lacking.
They check your levels over the course of 9 months. Making sure you’re giving your baby it’s best chances for development.
I’ve been getting my daily iron from things like our morning green juice and our detox salad. But I also wanted to create something that was quick & easy and helped ensure I was getting my daily dose.
So without further ado, may I introduce the Iron Bite.
I have crammed every (non-vegetable) food that is high in iron into a 2-bite snack. And I gotta say, they are delicious.
They remind me of Kind Bars: sweet, sticky and nutritious.
I threw all of the ingredients into our Vitamix. This is one of those recipes where you’ll need a tamper. Not sure they will come together without it.
Go make a batch of these nutrient-rich, delicious morsels for anyone in your life who is lacking in iron (especially those pregnant mommas)!
Recipe
Iron Bites
A 2-bite iron-rich snack that's sticky and sweet.
Ingredients:
- molasses - 2 Tbsp.
- dates (pitted) - 6 whole
- apricots (dried) - 3/4 cup
- dark chocolate (bar or chips) - 1/4 cup
- flax seeds - 1/4 cup
- pumpkin seeds - 1/4 cup
- cashews (raw) - 1/4 cup
- almonds (raw) - 1/4 cup
- oats (rolled) - 3/4 cup (+1/4 cup for garnish)
- coconut (flaked unsweetened) - 1/4 cup (+1/4 cup for garnish)
Instructions:
BLEND
- Add molasses, dates and apricots to Vitamix container.
- Ramp from variable speed 1-10.
- Use the tamper to push ingredients into the blades from the corners.
- Blend on high for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the rest of the ingredients.
- Pulse on medium 15-20 times to combine ingredients.
ROLL
- Mix oats and coconut on a small plate.
- Use your hands to roll golfball sized pieces of the mixture.
- Roll in the oats and coconut.
- Snap a pic and tag #lifeisNOYOKE
- Enjoy immediately or cover and eat within the week (freeze for up to one month).
Useful tips for Iron Bites
If you don’t like one of the ingredients, omit it!
If you don’t have one of the ingredients, make them without!
These bites have so many good things packed in, so don’t worry if you’re missing a couple.
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Yum! They remind me of Fig Newtons, but way healthier and unprocessed. I did add some monk fruit sweetener to them.
I don’t have a Vitamix, just a regular blender. I spent like a half hour blending for like 5 seconds (until it stopped blending), stirring, smooshing and then blending again lol. My blender started to smell kinda burny so I stopped. It was fine though.
I really loved them!
Oh! I forgot to say, I chopped up my dates then soaked them in boiling water for 15 minutes since I knew my blender would not be able to handle it.
I also chopped the apricots, but did not soak them.
Everything washed off quickly and easily too.
Glad you liked the flavor! Most of our blenders you can make with any ole blender but this one really needs a high powered one or a food processor. Great work arounds to make it work for you!
Can I add rice flakes along with this ,which is high in iron that you added in this recipe and also I need your nutritional value for protein, energy,fat,iron and vitamins . Can I use to grind it in mixer grinder or food processor please reply me it will be useful to my project .and also give some more ideas about iron rich food recipes
Wow…I just spent over an hour trying to clean out the blender. I would absolutely not recommend this recipe. I love my vitamix but hated this experience.
So sorry it didn’t work out for you, Michelle. Have you heard of the Under Blade Scraper tool? Helps with stickly blends like this one.
This is a personal preference but i found adding a little cinnamon to the recipe enriched the flavor profile and toned down the molasses a bit, i also added a small chunk of dark chocolate to each bite sized ball and found the overall snack to be very full of flavor as well as easy to repeat. i would recommend to blitz the seeds first and set aside, same with the nuts and then mix those with the oats in a bowl dry, blend the fruit and molasses and then you can mix in a food processor, kitchen aid or by hand.
Anyway you slice it though, this is a fantastic recipe and i would love to hear what yall think about my changes.
P.S.
I will be passing this on to several of my friends whom also struggle with iron and proper nutrition.
Thank you
Thanks for the awesome recommendations, Steve. Adding cinnamon sounds delicious… I’ll try that next time.
Is it possible to make this recipe without a Vitamix? I’d really like to try it, but have very little storage space for another appliance at the moment. And also probably can’t afford at the moment either…
Also live in Aus… So don’t know if I can even get Vitamix here..?
This is a great one to try in a food processor!
You can use any small blender or food processor just make sure to scale down the recipe to fit the size of your processor to avoid breaking your stuff.
Can I add rice flakes along with this ,which is high in iron that you added in this recipe and also I need your nutritional value for protein, energy,fat,iron and vitamins . Can I use to grind it in mixer grinder or food processor please reply me it will be useful to my project .and also give some more ideas about iron rich food recipes
Hi Shalva!
Have not made these yet. Is the overall nutritional analysis for these ‘bites’ posted somewhere?
Thank you so much!
Hi Sigi,
We don’t post nutritional analysis because our readers are worldwide and we find quite a bit of differences in ingredients depending on where you buy them. We usually plug our ingredients into an online nutritional calculator. From our calculation this recipe has 5 mg of iron per bite (for 80 mg total).
Your batch got me 24 balls – not 16 balls. I guess mine are a little smaller. I’ve got low iron but not extremely low.
I’ve been eating 1 iron bite per day now for 24 days and was wandering how long to continue eating them and is it safe to do so on a daily basis.
My blood test for iron will be done June.
I would value your feedback.
Thank You kindly. PS. I enjoy eating them.
Hi Gina, so glad you’re enjoying them. I am not a doctor or nutritionist, just someone with low iron. There does not appear to be a dangerous level of iron in these, so I would think they would be safe to eat daily. But always ask your doctor if you’re not sure.
Wish I had read what someone else did about blending sticky stuff, then taking it out and pulsing the rest before adding the sticky back in. I just burned out my very expensive vitamix motor following the instructions exactly. Soooooo bummedright now.
Hi Michelle, this recipe should not burn out your Vitamix. I’m sorry that happened. Hopefully you gave it a rest for a few minutes and it turned back on (it turns off to protect itself from actually burning out). If the recipe gives you trouble again you can certainly do sticky stuff separate, that’s a great work-around.
I did the same thing
VERY EXPENSIVE RECIPE DO NOT TRY IT WILL BURN UP YOUR VITAMIX
THANKS VERY LITTLE TO WHOEVER POSTED THIS RECIPE
I posted this recipe, Richard. You are reading our food blog. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. As you can see from the comments it has worked out and become a favorite for many others. Perhaps try a different one of our recipes?
Being a caterer for a few years ,I was wise at the way this would come together and made the changes before I broke anything
A 2-bite iron-rich snack that’s sticky and sweet.
INGREDIENTS:
molasses – 2 Tbsp.
dates (pitted) – 6 wholeI……………I would use date paste
apricots (dried) – 3/4 cup
dark chocolate (bar or chips) – 1/4 cup
flax seeds – 1/4 cup………………………ground
pumpkin seeds – 1/4 cup……………….. ground a bit
cashews (raw) – 1/4 cup ..broken pieces
almonds (raw) – 1/4 cup ………….. I would use almond butter
oats (rolled) – 3/4 cup (+1/4 cup for garnish)
coconut (flaked unsweetened) – 1/4 cup (+1/4 cup for garnish)
INSTRUCTIONS:
BLEND…………………..I mixed all ingredients together in a bowl then pulsed it in a food processor and pulled it together with 2 tablespoons coconut oil ..
I did not coat with anything …they turned out very good
Add molasses, dates and apricots to Vitamix container.
Ramp from variable speed 1-10.
Use the tamper to push ingredients into the blades from the corners.
Blend on high for 1-2 minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Pulse on medium 15-20 times to combine ingredients.
ROLL
Mix oats and coconut on a small plate.
Use your hands to roll golfball sized pieces of the mixture.
Roll in the oats and coconut.
Thanks for the great suggestions, Linda 🙂
These were not tasty at all. I’ve never liked molasses and dried apricots but I still added them and been eating one ball a day. I eat it like medicine. I wish there were other ingredients to use to make them taste better.
Not sure how to respond to this comment, Niva. I’d recommend not making a recipe if you don’t like two of the main ingredients… these are optional afterall.
I put this through a calculator and it only contains 1.56mg of iron per serve. There’s 25mg for the entire mixture.
That said, its still a great nutritious snack for people, full of lots of other minerals like Manganase, Potassium, Magnesium, and omega 3’s :)(
Thanks, Rohan! When we added it all up, we found each bite had about 5 mg of iron per bite (for 80 mg total).
Pro-tip for women, this recipe is a fantastic ritual when you get your period. I’ve been making these on day one for the past 6 months and eating 2-3 a day for typically around 5-6 days. This really helps me replenish iron during and after menstruation. I get my energy back and notice my nails feel super strong as well. Total gamechanger, thank you so much!!!
What a great idea, Rachel! I made up this recipe when I was pregnant and needed to keep my iron levels up. But making it a monthly ritual gives you something to look forward to when your period arrives 🙂
I made these tonight. I soaked my dates for a couple hours so they wouldn’t kill the Ninja blender I have. I blended the sticky stuff. Transferred it to a bowl, then pulsed the bigger nuts and seeds. Put the sticky mix back in the mixer and added the smaller bits and pulsed all that.
My biggest tip is gloves. I use disposable latex gloves all the time in the kitchen. Keeps my hands clean and I don’t feel bad sharing food at work or with friends since I never touched it with bare hands.
Pretty tasty. I made mine on the smaller size as they do require a lot of chewing. I hope these along with the horrible iron infusions will boost me up.
Great way to make this recipe work in a Ninja. And very nice of you to share 🙂
Just made these – I used a 3 cup chopper as I do not have a Vitamix, it was difficult but the results are yummy.
Happy to hear the results were good! This is one of our only recipes where it really does help to have a high-powered blender with a tamper. Most you can make with any blender or food processor.
What is a tamper?
Good question, it’s the tool that comes with all full-size Vitamix machines. It’s kind of what sets Vitamix apart from other blenders and what makes a recipe like this work in a high powered blender. If you’re making this recipe w/o a Vitamix, I would recommend using a food processor as you may burn out another blender. Most of our recipes you can make with any ole blender though!
Do you have the nutritional breakdown for this recipe?
Unfortunately we don’t. The recipes we have in our First Ten Recipe pack do, though.
Hi Lori, We can’t be absolutely certain considering the source of ingredients can vary so greatly. But after inputting the information into an online tool, each bite has about 5mg of Iron (which is 25% of what is needed in your day).
I followed the recipe and your directions exactly. My Vitamix kept jamming up and shutting down, once all the ingredients were added. I kept having to scoop out the bottom. Has anyone else had this issue? I finally just scooped it all out, put it in the fridge and gave up.
Any suggestions?
Hi Caren,
Are you running your Vitamix on the highest speed it has?
Trying to!
My Vitamix just stopped working- smells like I blew a fuse. 🙁 I just finished adding all the ingredients. I’m wondering if more liquid would save my machine and still allow the recipe to work out?
I’m surprised you put chocolate in it. Chocolate has oxalates which bind iron.
I’ll have to do some more research on that, Deb. Dark chocolate has iron in it (and tastes delicious), that’s why I’ve added it to the recipe. Feel free to skip that ingredient to conform to your dietary needs.
I’m dealing with iron deficiency anemia and trying to bring my levels up with my diet. I do not eat red meat so I’m trying to find iron rich recipes. I eat very healthy and have been on prenatal vitamins with iron for several months as I’m trying to conceive but my levels are still low 😕. I made these iron bites a few days ago. They are very good! Thank you 😊
How many is a serving per day?
Hi there, that’s exactly why I created these bites. Needed to get my iron levels up before trying to bring a baby into the world. There isn’t really a recommended serving size, but I usually end up eating 2-4 a day.
I just made these bites and they are really good but a little sweet for me. Any suggestions for a substitute for the molasses? I also would not recommend this recipe for a Pro 750 model. The bottom is too flat and there is not enough volume in the first part of this recipe to actually keep it in the blades for more than a few seconds never mind a minute and the tamper doesn’t reach far enough down into the corners. But the end product was worth the pulsing and scraping!
Hi Karen, what’s great about these bites is if you don’t like an ingredient, you can just skip it! No need to use molasses, just has a lot of iron it it 🙂 If you double the recipe next time you shouldn’t have the scraping issue.
Very tasty. I substituted Agave (dark) for molasses and had a good result.
Great idea, Ailish 👍
I made your iron bites recipe and I absolutely love them!! Thank you
Our pleasure! People are always asking us how to get more iron so we thought we’d make an easy & delicious answer 🙂
Oh, my! What a relief. Right up to the “six months pregnant” part, I thought I was reading Lenny’s words. How could a guy be so deficient in iron, I thought. And a man taking an iron supplement would just be nuts! I’m pretty sure there’s no controversy that men should not supplement iron unless medically supervised. Even vegan men aren’t likely to be deficient in iron, right?
Fortunately, this recipe looks delicious and something everyone can eat. I’m looking forward to giving it a try. Thanks.
Haha, yes. We’d have a pretty big problem if Lenny was that deficient in iron! Luckily they are delicious and nutritious for everyone 🙂