These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip No-Bake Granola Bars are deliciously chewy and incredibly quick and easy to make with just a few simple pantry ingredients!
If you’ve ever thought about making your own homemade granola bars but thought it would be too much work, think again!
You only need about 10 minutes to make these granola bars, and then you just let them sit in the fridge to set up. Yep, only 10 minutes of hands-on time!
Not only are these granola bars quick, easy and delicious, you’ll save money by making your own! Makes it seem kind of silly to buy them, doesn’t it?
This is a simple variation of the Oat and Honey Chewy No-Bake Granola Bars that I shared a while back. That recipe has been really popular lately, so I thought I’d share this yummy version for all you peanut butter and chocolate lovers out there!
Now, if you like the hard and crunchy granola bars, these are not those, but you should definitely still give them a try. They’re soft, sweet, and chewy.
The texture is like a cross between a granola bar and a Rice Krispies treat. SO GOOD!
INGREDIENTS YOU NEED:
- Cooking spray
- Quick-cooking oats
- Crispy rice cereal (such as Rice Krispies)
- Butter
- Honey
- Light brown sugar
- Peanut butter
- Vanilla extract
- Chocolate chips
HERE’S A QUICK LOOK AT HOW TO MAKE PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP NO-BAKE GRANOLA BARS:
TIPS & TIDBITS:
- Quick-cooking oats are what you want to use for this recipe. I have tried making these with regular oats, but they just never seem to hold together very well.
- Use smooth or crunchy peanut butter – your choice.
- Use milk chocolate, semisweet or dark chocolate chips. My favorite is milk chocolate.
- When combining the peanut butter mixture and the oat mixture, make sure you mix it really well until everything is coated. Dry spots can result in the bars not holding together.
- Work quickly once you start combining everything because you don’t want the mixture to cool down too much and stiffen up before you put it in the pan.
- When you put the mixture in the pan, press it down really well. This will also help ensure that the bars hold together.
- Individually wrap each bar with plastic wrap to help maintain freshness.
- Store in the refrigerator or at room temperature. I keep mine in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. They get very firm when stored in the fridge, but they will soften up as they warm up.
When those hunger pangs hit and you or the kids are looking for a delicious snack, these granola bars will surely hit the spot!
I hope you try this recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars and love it as much as I do. Thanks for visiting today!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip No-Bake Granola Bars
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 2 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1 cup crispy rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup chocolate chips, milk chocolate, semisweet or dark
Instructions
- Lightly spray an 8×8-inch pan with cooking spray. Place a piece of parchment paper or wax paper in the pan so that it will cover the bottom and come up two of the sides (this will make it easier to remove the bars from the pan once they set up).
- Combine the quick-cooking oats and the crispy rice cereal in a large bowl.
- In a small saucepan, combine the butter, honey, light brown sugar, and peanut butter. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture comes to a boil.
- Immediately reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Add the peanut butter mixture to the oat mixture; stir until very well combined. You want to make sure that the oats and cereal are evenly coated and there are no dry spots (if you have dry spots, your bars may not hold together well). Work quickly once you start combining everything so that the mixture doesn't get too cool and firm before you put it in the pan.
- Transfer the oat mixture to the prepared pan. Press down the mixture very firmly with the back of a spoon or spatula so it is very compact (the more compact it is, the better the bars will hold together).
- Immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the oat mixture while it is still soft. Gently press them down into the oat mixture with the back of a spoon or spatula so they will adhere to the top of the bars.
- Cover the pan and place it in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours or until firm.
- Remove from the pan; cut into 12 bars or squares.
- Wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator (they will get very firm in the refrigerator, but they will soften once they warm back up).
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