These No Bake Reese's Peanut Butter Cereal Bars are an ooey-gooey, peanut buttery delight. Topped with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a white chocolate drizzle, these cereal bars are going to become a new favorite!
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Cereal Bar Recipe
These No Bake Reese’s Peanut Butter Cereal Bars are a serious no-brainer for any caramel, marshmallow, and peanut butter lover out there. It is such a crowd-pleaser, and comes together super quickly. Who doesn’t love a chewy, crunchy, caramely no-bake treat - especially one that is finished with a white chocolate drizzle? Come to Mama!
If you don’t have Reese’s Puffs around, there are plenty of other great substitutions. Pop’s, Cheerios or Chex would make great cereal bars. Top them with Rolos, Snickers, Twix or any of your other favorite candy bars. In fact, this would be a perfect way to use up the candy left over from a holiday!
Ingredients in Peanut Butter Cereal Bars
- Butter - make sure to use unsalted butter for this recipe.
- Karo Syrup - this corn syrup helps ensure that your caramel doesn’t crystallize.
- Sugar - the cooked sugar helps to stabilize this no-bake treat, so be sure to boil your mixture for 1 minute.
- Peanut Butter - any brand of creamy peanut butter will work great.
- Mini Marshmallows - the mini-sized marshmallows will be much easier to melt in this recipe.
- Reese’s Puffs Cereal - if you don’t have this type on hand, you can substitute another cereal with larger crunchy pieces, like Pop’s, Cheerios, Puffins or Chex.
- White Chocolate - we used the wafers but you can also use white chocolate baking chips.
- Reese’s Cups - it’s helpful to chop these up ahead of time and have them ready to sprinkle over the top while the mixture is still warm. You could also substitute another chopped candy bar, or any flavor of chocolate chips.
How to Make No Bake Reese’s Peanut Butter Cereal Bars
- Spray a 9"x 13" pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- Put your white chocolate into a microwave safe container and microwave for about 20-30 seconds. Stir, then microwave again for another 20-30 seconds. Continue to microwave for 20-30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until your chocolate is fully melted. Set aside.
- In a large and deep non-stick pot, melt the butter.
- Add the Karo syrup, and sugar and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, then reduce the heat to low and stir in the peanut butter and marshmallows. Keep stirring until the mixture comes to a boil again.
- Remove from heat and pour over cereal. Stir until well mixed.
- Pour into your prepared baking dish and spread evenly with a spatula.
- Sprinkle the chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on the cereal mixture and then drizzle the melted white chocolate over the bars.
- Let sit for 10 minutes or so until the cereal bars are cool and the chocolate has set on the top. You can speed up this process by putting them in the fridge too.
- Once you are ready to serve, cut into 3" squares and enjoy!
Tips for Making The Best No Bake Cereal Bars
- Be sure to have all the ingredients measured and ready to go. This recipe goes quickly and requires you to stir the entire time. This includes having your white chocolate melted and Reese’s Cups pre-chopped.
- Don’t forget to spray your baking dish with non-stick spray!
- Let the cereal bars cool for at least 10 minutes before you serve them or they will fall apart.
- You want to boil your butter and sugar mixture for 1 minute - no more and no less! If you boil too much, the sugar will cook too far and your cereal bar will be too hard when it cools. If you don’t boil enough, they will fall apart easily.
- Once you have poured out your mixture into your baking dish, place a sheet of parchment paper over the top for a no-mess way to spread it out evenly.
How to Melt Chocolate
White chocolate burns very easily, and no one likes burnt chocolate! There are two simple at-home methods for melting your chocolate that both work perfectly, as long as you keep an eye on them.
- Microwave - you can microwave your chocolate in 20-30 second increments, mixing in between. Depending on your microwave, you may want to even reduce that to 15 seconds. If you notice any sign of burning, scoop it out with a spoon before you continue to melt the rest. In total, it should take about 2 minutes to melt 6 oz of white chocolate.
- Stovetop - you can put your white chocolate in a large bowl over a small pot of simmering water and mix it with a spatula until it melts. This indirect heat helps ensure that your chocolate doesn’t burn, but it still gets very hot so you need to keep stirring.
Other No Bake Recipes With Cereal
If you love a good peanut butter cereal bar or cookie, check out another variation with this Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookie recipe, or these No-Bake Peanut Butter Smores Bars. Yum!
For Nutella lovers, our No Bake Nutella Cookies are an irresistible variation on Cornflake Cookies.
These Fruity Pebble Rice Krispie Treats are a super fun, colorful version of the classic. They’re great for birthday parties! For a more no-bake treat using Rice Krispies that’s a little more on the healthy side, try our Chia Oatmeal Energy Balls. They are packed with healthy fats and Omega 3s, but we make sure to save room for plenty of M&Ms.
Is popcorn a cereal? Not really, but this no bake recipe for White Chocolate Cinnamon Bear Marshmallow Popcorn deserves some recognition, too.
No Bake Reeses Peanut Butter Cereal Bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Butter
- 1/2 Cup Karo Syrup
- 1/2 Cup Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
- 12 oz Mini Marshmallows
- 12 Cups Reese's Puff Cereal
- 6 oz White Chocolate melted
- 12 oz Reese's Cups chopped
Instructions
- Spray a 9"x 13" pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- Put your white chocolate into a microwave safe container and microwave for about 20-30 seconds. Stir, then microwave again for another 20-30 seconds. Continue to microwave for 20-30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until your chocolate is fully melted. Set aside.
- In a large and deep non-stick pot, melt the butter.
- Add the Karo syrup, and sugar and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, then reduce the heat to low and mix in the peanut butter and marshmallows. Keep stirring until the mixture comes to a boil again.
- Take off the heat and add the cereal. Stir until well mixed.
- Pour into your prepared baking dish and spread evenly with a spatula.
- Sprinkle the chopped Reeses Peanut Butter Cups on the cereal bars and then drizzle the melted white chocolate over the bars.
- Let sit for 10 minutes or so until the cereal bars are cool and the chocolate has set on the top. You can speed up this process by putting them in the fridge too.
- Once you are ready to serve, cut into 3" squares and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Gluten-Free
To make these gluten-free, just substitute your favorite gluten-free cereal and be sure to check the label of the marshmallows that you use. Everything else is already gluten-free!Nutrition
If you love no-bake recipes, give these a try:
- Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
- No Bake Chocolate Cheesecake
- Coconut Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
- No Bake Nutella Cheesecake
- Nutella No Bake Cookies
- No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Easy No Bake Cheesecake
- Nutella Balls
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Reese's Peanut Butter Cereal Bars are the best ooey-gooey, peanut buttery delight! Topped with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a white chocolate drizzle, these cereal bars are sure to become a new favorite!
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