Healthy Peanut Butter Chocolate Rice Crispy treats made with all natural peanut butter, dark chocolate, and sweetened with honey. Made without marshmallows, these healthier treats use real food ingredients to satisfy your sweet tooth. 

Healthy Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats with Chocolate

Homemade rice crispy treats were one of my favorite childhood snacks. Anyone else? They are just the right amount of chewy, sweet, and crisp, and I loved adding extra goodies like peanut butter or chocolate chips to the mix to make them my own.

These healthier peanut butter rice crispy treats are made with all natural peanut butter, sweetened with honey, and finished with just the right amount of dark chocolate. This easy recipe is gluten free, dairy free, and made with simple real food ingredients.

Watch How to Make These Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats

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peanut butter rice crispy treat ingredients

Peanut Butter Chocolate Rice Crispy Treat Ingredients

Gluten Free Brown Rice Crisp Cereal: Look for a brown rice cereal that has been lightly sweetened only and is gluten free.

Peanut Butter: Try to grab a peanut butter without any added oils, sugars, or other weird ingredients. Look for a jar made with only peanuts.

Honey: This sweetens the peanut butter mixture without having to use any marshmallows or processed sugar. You can also substitute maple syrup if you don’t have honey.

Vanilla Extract: Adds just the right amount of vanilla flavor.

Cinnamon: Cinnamon and peanut butter go really well together and just a pinch of cinnamon goes a long way. Feel free to leave this spice out if you prefer.

Salt: Helps to balance the sweetness of the honey in the peanut butter mixture. The flaky sea salt on top is also delicious.

Dark Chocolate: The slight bitterness of dark chocolate helps to balance the sweetness and richness of the honey and peanut butter. Use a chocolate bar or chocolate chips that are dairy-free if you are particularly concerned about these treats being dairy-free.

Coconut Oil: you’ll need a bit for both the peanut butter and chocolate layers.

peanut butter in sauce pan

How to Make Healthier Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats Without Marshmallows

Step One: Add the peanut butter, honey, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt to a saucepan. Heat the peanut butter mixture over medium low heat until everything is smooth and melted together.

 Step Two: Add the gluten free brown rice cereal to a large mixing bowl and then pour the peanut butter mixture over the cereal. Stir until the peanut butter and cereal are well combined.

Step Three: Pour the cereal mixture into a prepared 8×8 pan. Use a spatula or your finger tips to press the bars evenly into the pan.

Step Four: Next, melt the dark chocolate chips. To do this add the chocolate chips and one tablespoon of coconut oil to the same small saucepan you used to make the peanut butter mixture. Heat the chocolate over medium heat until melted and smooth. Pour the melted chocolate over the peanut butter treats and then use a spatula or knife to spread the chocolate into an even layer. Let the chocolate cool for forty-five minutes to an hour until it is completely set. Or, you can put the treats in the fridge to cool for fifteen to twenty minutes.

Step Five: Once the chocolate has set, cut the treats into squares, top with sea salt, and enjoy!

peanut butter and cereal in mixing bowl

Tips and Tricks

  • Don’t like peanut butter? Feel free to use almond butter, cashew butter, or your favorite nut butter blend.
  • Line your 8×8 pan with parchment paper so the rice crispy treats don’t stick to the pan. This will make lifting them out to cut them much easier.
  • Use a not stick spatula or wooden spoon when stirring the cereal and peanut butter mixture together.
  • If you want the chocolate layer to set a bit faster, you can put the bars in the fridge to chill.
  • Use a sharp knife when cutting the bars to get nice even pieces.
  • You can cut these treats into nine squares or sixteen squares. The peanut butter and chocolate combination is rich so I recommend cutting them into sixteen treats.

chocolate over peanut butter mixture

How to Store the Rice Crispy Treats

Once you have sliced the treats into individual squares, place them in an airtight container and store them in the fridge or freezer.

More Delicious Treats to Love

rice crispy treats stacked

I hope you give these Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats a try! They are so easy to make and delicious! If you do give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo & tag @allthehealthythings on INSTAGRAM. Your reviews and ratings help support All the Healthy Things and make it possible for me to continue to create the recipes you trust and love.

Print
bitten peanut butter rice crispy treat

Healthy Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats

  • Author: Ashlea Carver
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 16 1x
  • Category: dessert
  • Method: no bake
  • Cuisine: american
  • Diet: Gluten Free
  • Author: Ashlea Carver
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 16 1x
  • Category: dessert
  • Method: no bake
  • Cuisine: american
  • Diet: Gluten Free

Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 cups brown rice crisps cereal
  • 1 cup all natural peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Chocolate Layer

  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • flakey sea salt, for topping

Method

  1. Add the peanut butter, coconut oil, honey, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt to a small saucepan. Heat the peanut butter mixture over medium low heat until everything is warm and melted together.
  2. Add the gluten free brown rice cereal to a large mixing bowl and then pour the peanut butter mixture over the cereal. Stir until the peanut butter and cereal are well combined.
  3. Pour the cereal mixture into a prepared 8×8 pan. Use a spatula or your finger tips to press the bars evenly into the pan.
  4. Add the chocolate chips and one tablespoon of coconut oil to the same small saucepan you used to make the peanut butter mixture. Heat the chocolate over medium heat until melted and smooth. Pour the melted chocolate over the peanut butter treats and then use a spatula or knife to spread the chocolate into an even layer. Let the chocolate cool for around forty-five minutes until completely set.
  5. Once the chocolate has set, cut the treats into squares, top with sea salt, and enjoy!
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Recipe by: Ashlea Carver / All the Healthy Things | Photography by: Eat Love Eat

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34 Comments

  1. These were delicious and so quick and easy. I suspect they’ll be a staple treat in our house.






  2. Chelsie Newkirk says:

    So delicious! I have already made this a dozen times.






  3. Sara Goral says:

    Made these for Father’s Day and they were devoured!! So delicious. My husband is gluten free and I’m dairy and soy free so great when we can find a yummy recipe that we both love.






    1. Natalie Perkins (ATHT) says:

      Yay! I’m so glad you all loved the recipe, Sara! Thanks for sharing!

  4. I used the type of peanut butter you grind yourself at the store, and it turned out to be too dry to mix with the cereal. I improvised and made healthy fudge…one layer of the PB-honey mixture topped with the chocolate coating. I’m sure it will be deelish! Just posting to warn others against using PB on the drier side.

    1. Natalie Perkins (ATHT) says:

      Thanks for sharing, Susan! That’s a great tip!

  5. Could this be used with sunflower seed butter? Was looking for nut allergy alternative for my child’s school? Thx!

    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      Yes! definitely! I hope you love the recipe, Jessica!

  6. So good and so addictive! My husband is diabetic so I used sugar free chocolate chips. It turned out really well. I did forget to add the coconut oil 🙄 but it was still delicious and we didn’t miss it. I’ll definitely use it next time though since I may not know what function it serves, or how it adds to the taste. It was so nice to find this health alternative to the Rice Krispies treats. I always thought they were too sweet! These aren’t at all. Can’t wait to share them at a potluck.






    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      I’m so glad you loved the recipe, Diane!