🍢 SNACK
Chokladbollar (Swedish Chocolate Oat Balls)
No-bake balls of oats, butter, sugar, cocoa and a splash of cold coffee, rolled in pearl sugar and chilled, a fixture of Swedish fika and children’s parties.
Swedish · easy · serves 20
prep 20 min · cook 0 min · plus 40 min hands-off time
~89 cal · 1g protein · 12g carbs · 5g fat · 1g fiber · 8g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Chokladbollar are one of the simplest and best-loved treats in Sweden: rolled oats, butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and cocoa mashed together, flavoured with a little cold coffee, rolled into balls about the size of a golf ball and coated in pearl sugar, coconut or sprinkles. Nothing is baked. They sit in the fridge until firm and are eaten with coffee at fika, the Swedish coffee break, and at children's parties.
With no oven involved they are an easy first recipe for children, and every family recipe differs a little in how much cocoa or coffee it uses. The coffee is barely noticeable, but cooks say it makes them taste better.
For a long time they had an older name that Swedes now consider racist; the Swedish Academy added chokladboll to its dictionary in 2006 and removed the old word from its spelling list in 2015.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 20
- 100 g butter, soft
- 1 dl (85 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 3 dl (about 110 g) rolled oats
- 2 to 3 tbsp cold strong coffee, or water for children
- 4 tbsp pearl sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- 1Beat the soft butter with the sugar and vanilla sugar until well mixed.
- 2Add the cocoa, oats and coffee and work everything together with a spoon or your hands into an even, sticky dough.✎ Chef’s noteIf the dough is too soft to shape, add a spoonful more oats; if it is dry and crumbly, a drop more coffee.
- 3Chill the dough for about 30 minutes so it firms up.
- 4Roll into balls about 3 cm across and roll each one in pearl sugar until coated.
- 5Chill for another 10 minutes before serving with coffee. Keep them in the fridge.
Swedish home fika tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Skåne. Two Scanian set pieces. Aggakaka is a thick baked egg cake eaten with fried pork and lingonberry, and spettekaka is a hollow cone built up by trickling egg and sugar batter onto a spit turning over a fire; it came north from Denmark and is mentioned in writing as early as 1642.
🗺️
Sweden. Two Swedish rituals are more distinctive than the meatball. The kraftskiva, the August crayfish party, comes with paper hats, schnapps and singing, and is timed to a season that was once legally enforced. Surstromming is fermented Baltic herring, sold in tins that bulge from the pressure inside, and is opened outdoors by anyone with sense.
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Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Sweden
Köttbullar (Swedish Meatballs)Small allspice-scented meatballs in cream gravy with potatoes and lingonberries, Sweden’s definitive comfort plate.
HavregrötWarm oat porridge topped with lingonberry or blueberry and a splash of cold milk.
RäksmörgåsA lavish open sandwich piled high with cold peeled shrimp, egg, and dill mayonnaise, a Swedish lunch indulgence.
Browse all Sweden recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Rolling pin.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Chokladbollar (Swedish Chocolate Oat Balls)?
No-bake balls of oats, butter, sugar, cocoa and a splash of cold coffee, rolled in pearl sugar and chilled, a fixture of Swedish fika and children’s parties.
Where does Chokladbollar (Swedish Chocolate Oat Balls) come from?
Chokladbollar (Swedish Chocolate Oat Balls) is a Swedish dish from Skåne, Sweden.
Can Chokladbollar (Swedish Chocolate Oat Balls) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Chokladbollar (Swedish Chocolate Oat Balls) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Chokladbollar (Swedish Chocolate Oat Balls) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Chokladbollar (Swedish Chocolate Oat Balls) take to make?
About 1 h in all: 20 minutes prep and 0 minutes cooking, plus 40 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 20.
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