Peanut Butter Chocolate Pecan Turtles are a fun and easy treat for people of all ages to enjoy! Made dairy-free, vegan and keto, these low-carb pecan turtles are a fun candy for sharing with friends and family or giving away as gifts.
This is very atypical of me.
You guys, I don’t make cute things.
But I saw a few recipes floating around the social medias for Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Pecan Turtles, and I about lost my mind.
In a good way.
I wanted in. STAT.
But I didn’t want to go through the rigamarole of figuring out how to get the consistency of sugar-free, dairy-free caramel just right.
Enter: peanut butter.
Instant gratification, no cooking, the lazy lady’s tortoise shell.
The peanut butter portion of this recipe is remarkably similar to those Keto Peanut Butter Buckeyes I posted last week.
These fun little keto turtle joys require ZERO baking experience, zero patience, absolutely no thermometers, and are actually a real hoot to make! Assemble your family (especially young ones) and have a pecan turtle-making fiesta!
When all is said and done, these adorable little guys require no baking, are low-carb, vegan, and sugar-free. You can easily make them with regular powdered sugar if you don’t follow a low-carb diet.
Now, the details.
Ingredients for Peanut Butter Chocolate Turtles:
Natural Peanut Butter: I use plain simple natural creamy peanut butter that has one ingredient: peanuts. This ensures there is no added sugar to account for since we’re making these low-carb/keto friendly.
Sugar-Free Confectioners Sweetener: In order to make the pecan turtle candy nice and sweet but sugar-free, I use Truvia’s sugar-free confectioners sweetener. You can also use Swerve Confectioners Sweetener or Powdered Monk Fruit Sweetener If you use granulated sweetener, the texture of the peanut butter will be grainy. Acceptable, but fair warning.
You can also use regular powdered sugar if you aren’t going for a low-carb recipe.
Coconut Oil: Adding a bit of coconut oil to both the peanut butter mixture and the chocolate mixture helps achieve a creamy, uniform consistency. If you use butter in your cooking, you can replace it with butter. Or avocado oil.
Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips: That nifty little chocolate coating? It’s nothing more than melted sugar-free chocolate chips. I know, right? Too easy to be true. I use Lily’s Dark Chocolate Chips which are dairy-free and sweetened with stevia. You can use your favorite chocolate chips according to your dietary needs.
Raw Pecan Halves: The star of the show!! Raw pecan halves are what make the turtle head, legs and feet. Be sure to pick up a bag/container that looks fairly undamaged so you can pick out intact halves.
Coarse Sea Salt: Optional but encouraged! I like sprinkling the turtle shells with sea salt for that nice salty counterbalance to the sweet, and also I think it looks pretty 😉
How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Pecan Turtles:
Add the ingredients for the peanut butter mixture to a stand mixer (or use a mixing bowl and mix by hand) and beat until a thick peanut butter dough forms.
Arrange 5 raw pecan halves in the shape of a turtle on a baking sheet.
Shape about 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of the peanut butter mixture into an oval/shell shape and press it onto the pecans. Be sure to press the pecans into the peanut butter so that they stay. Place the turtle back on the baking sheet. Repeat for the remaining peanut butter and pecans.
Add the chocolate chips and coconut oil (or avocado oil or butter) to a microwave safe bowl and heat at 30 second increments, stirring very well between, until melted (about 1 to 1.5 minutes total). You want the chocolate mixture to be thick and spoonable but not too runny.
Drizzle chocolate over the peanut butter, forming a chocolate shell. If desired, decorate the shell with additional pecans or sea salt.
Place the whole baking sheet in the refrigerator or freezer and chill until set up, about 2 hours.
How Many Pecans Do I Need?:
You’ll need 5 raw pecan halves per turtle, for a total of 60 pecan halves if you’re making 12 turtles.
Want to make more than 12? Easy! Because it doesn’t require any additional effort to scale the recipe up (except for the part where you’re assembling the turtles), it is easy to double or even triple the recipe depending on how many turtles you’d like.
I could see my nieces and nephews having a blast making these and decorating them in funky ways with chocolate and peanut butter. If you have children in the family, I’m willing to bet they’d get great joy out of making these.
More Keto Dessert Recipes:
- Keto Eggnog
- Keto Chocolate Pie
- Keto Shortbread Cookies
- Low-Carb Peanut Butter Fudge
- Keto Cranberry Orange Bread
- Keto Snickerdoodles
My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!
If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Pecan Turtles (Low-Carb)
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Mixture:
- 1 cup natural peanut butter
- 1 cup sugar-free confectioners sugar
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil or melted butter or avocado oil
Chocolate Mixture:
- 1 cup sugar-free chocoalte chips
- 2 tsp coconut oil or melted butter or avocado oil
For the Turtles:
- 60 raw pecan halves
- coarse sea salt optional
Instructions
- Add the ingredients for the peanut butter mixture to a stand mixer (or use a mixing bowl and mix by hand) and beat until a thick peanut butter dough forms.
- Arrange 5 raw pecan halves in the shape of a turtle on a baking sheet. Shape about 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of the peanut butter mixture into an oval/shell shape and press it onto the pecans. Be sure to press the pecans into the peanut butter so that they stay. Place the turtle back on the baking sheet. Repeat for the remaining peanut butter and pecans.
- Add the chocolate chips and coconut oil (or avocado oil or butter) to a microwave safe bowl and heat at 30 second increments, stirring very well between, until melted (about 1 to 1.5 minutes total). You want the chocolate mixture to be thick and spoonable but not too runny.
- Drizzle chocolate over the peanut butter, forming a chocolate shell. If desired, decorate the shell with additional pecans or sea salt.
- Place the whole baking sheet in the refrigerator or freezer and chill until set up, about 2 hours.
Nutrition
I sure would like to know how to store these until Christmas Eve. Any ideas?
Hi there! You can store them in a zip lock bag or in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They also freeze well! If your house stays cooler, they should be fine at room temperature for a few days, though if your house is warm, the chocolate and peanut butter might get slightly soft if they are left on the counter.
We made some for Christmas! So good but their legs kinda fall off but still tasty!
I’m so happy you made them! Yes, I experienced this too but found it helped to press the pecans firmly into the peanut butter, and drizzle a little chocolate over the peanut butter and pecans where the legs meet the peanut butter 😀 Happy Holidays!
Such a wonderful recipe and a very beautiful photo! I will definitely try to cook. I love your blog! I look forward to updates.
I’m so happy you like the recipe, Dustin! Thanks for the sweet note! xoxo
This would also work (I would think) with a gluten-free bow-tie pretzel on the bottom instead of the pecans – for a variation in looks for Christmas platters, and also for people who are allergic to nuts. (The pecan turtles are cuter, though.)
I’ve made those (with the pretzels) before, and they were great. However, they weren’t sugar-free. This sugar-free recipe is so nice to have! THANK YOU, Julia, for all the great, healthy recipes you give us.
Ooh, I love the idea of using pretzels too! How fun! So happy you like the recipe, Debbi! Enjoy!
I have to make these for my dad this weekend. He loves pecans, peanut butter, and chocolate, and I can make these sugar free.. Besides, they are so darn cute!
They’re just so fun! I hope you love them!