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Peanut Butter Cereal Bars are one of our favorite things to make – especially for the Holidays! These peanut butter and chocolate cereal bars are all dressed up for Christmas with red and green sprinkles – plus they’re easy to make and so chewy and crunchy!
No bake treats are perfect for holiday platters – they’re easy to make, super delicious, and so much fun to dress up for Christmas using fun sprinkles. They’re a nice chewy and crunchy addition to the standard cookies!
I usually stick to rice krispie treats when I’m making cereal bars but I decided to test out adding corn syrup to see if I could get a chewier more candy-bar like cereal treat and guess what? It worked! This is one of the best easiest recipes – especially if you have corn syrup left over from making pecan pie!
Ingredients and Tips for No Bake Cereal Bars
- Crispy Rice Cereal: I love using Rice Krispies but generic is fine too.
- Corn Syrup: This is cooked with sugar to make the gooey binder like marshmallows but allows the bars to be nice and crunchy too.
- Peanut Butter: Use creamy peanut butter or crunchy peanut butter – but be sure to use shelf-stable (no stir) peanut butter.
- Chocolate Chips: To make the frosting on top. I like adding the peanut butter to the chocolate chips because it makes the chocolate harden a little softer so it doesn’t crack when I slice the bars.
- These bars fit in a 9×13-inch pan.
- Next time I’m going to use cocoa pebbles or maybe even Honey Nut Cheerios. You could also add pumpkin seeds to this for some extra crunch.
- Once the treats have cooled you can easily slice them into bars. The chocolate hardens so you can stack them easily.
- Be sure to have all your ingredients ready before you start – measure out the cereal, sprinkles, peanut butter – everything. This recipe moves quickly so it’s important to be prepared and read the recipe before starting.
Click to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions and below the recipe card for process shots.
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FAQ about making Cereal Bars
The recipe also needs the peanut butter for texture. You can use another nut butter, if you prefer.
If you’re using a measuring cup, spray it first with nonstick cooking spray. This helps it come out easily. However, since this recipe uses 1 cup, just follow the mark on the side of the jar – they conveniently mark 1 cup on the 2 cup bottle.
Store them in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also freeze them for up to a month!
Holiday No Bake Cereal Bars Recipe
Recipe Video
Ingredients
Bars:
- 6 cups crispy rice cereal
- ¾ cup holiday sprinkles
- 1 cup Light Corn Syrup
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (268) creamy shelf-stable peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
- 1 ½ cups (255g) chocolate chips
- ½ cup (134g) shelf-stable creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup holiday sprinkles
Instructions
- Line a 9×13-inch pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Gather all ingredients; this recipe goes fast and you don’t want to stop to measure.
- Mix cereal and 3/4 cup sprinkles in a large mixing bowl.
- Bring corn syrup and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat; stir in peanut butter and vanilla.
- Pour syrup mixture over cereal and sprinkles. Stir to coat evenly. Be careful, it’s hot! Pat mixture into pan.
- Mix topping ingredients together in microwave-safe bowl; microwave on high in 30 second increments, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. Spread over cereal mixture. Top with remaining sprinkles. Cool (or chill) 1 hour to set. Cut into bars.
Recipe Notes
Recipe Nutrition
How to make Peanut Butter Cereal Bars
- First, you’ll need to mix the dry cereal and sprinkles in a large bowl. Set it aside then make the corn syrup mixture.
- Add the corn syrup and cup sugar to a medium sized pan. Heat it over medium heat until it reaches a boil.
- Once the mixture reaches a full boil, remove it from the heat. Then you stir in peanut butter and vanilla extract. Once the mixture is smooth, then it’s time to assemble the cereal treats!
- Pour the peanut butter mixture over rice cereal in a large bowl. You can do this without sprinkles, but since we’re making Holiday Cereal Bars it’s important to add lots of red and green sprinkles to your cereal.
- Carefully stir the mixture – it helps if you work quickly and have a very large bowl to avoid a mess.
- Then press the mixture into the prepared baking pan – you’ll want a 9-inch pan with 13-inch sides. I line mine with foil but you can use parchment paper too.
- We’re frosting the top of these bars with a mixture of chocolate and peanut butter. You can use your favorite chocolate chips – any kind, even peanut butter chips. Add some peanut butter and melt them until smooth.
- Simply press the cereal treat mixture in the pan, then pour that chocolate topping all over.
- I spread it evenly and then add more holiday sprinkles because more sprinkles is always better!
