These peanut butter cereal bars are healthier than Rice Krispie Treats–they are naturally sweetened and made without marshmallows!
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Heads up! This post was originally published way back in 2011. I’ve updated some of the photos and left some of the old ones for you. 🙂 The text with the post is the same, so you’ll notice my now 9 year old daughter is just a toddler here and my son Luke wasn’t born yet! Since I first made these, I have started to make them into bars instead of balls because it’s a lot faster! You can do it either way and they are equally delicious. ENJOY!
Ah, Rice Krispie Treats. A childhood favorite. Why is it that some of my yummiest childhood memories are filled with the worst ingredients? The typical Rice Krispie treat is made with Rice Krispie cereal (white rice cereal), a lot of butter, sometimes peanut butter, and marshmallows.
Those fluffy little marshmallows are so unassuming, but they are packed with sugar, artificial flavors, and even food dyes. (Blue 1-Not sure why since they are white?!)
Luckily it isn’t that difficult to make a Rice Krispie-like treat that is much healthier than the original version. A quick ingredient swap and you are in business.
Instead of regular Rice Krispie cereal, look for a brown rice version. Brown rice is always a better bet than white rice. I found this box of Nature’s Path in the regular cereal aisle, in the small section dedicated to “natural cereals.” There are other varieties depending on where you live; I recommend the kind with just one ingredient: puffed rice.
Next, get some natural peanut butter, preferably made with only peanuts and maybe some sea salt. Instead of marshmallows, we are going to sweeten our treats with honey. It’s a bonus if you use raw honey as then you are getting the extra anti-viral and anti-bacterial benefits. For extra flavor, you’ll also need some pure vanilla extract and cinnamon, which is also an anti-inflammatory and helps regulate our blood sugar.
I actually got this recipe from Nicole over at Zen Tree Wellness when I was looking for some healthy treats to make for Meghan’s 2nd birthday party. These are not the type of treats I make all the time, but rather are our special treats.
I made them yesterday because we were hosting a play date today and I thought it would be a fun treat for the kids. I made a huge batch since Tim eats these up so quickly I wanted to make sure there’d be enough left for our play date!
I suggest you make these for a crowd because you don’t want to be alone with an entire tray of these guys. Trust me!
Edited to add: Now that I’ve made these Healthier Than Rice Krispie Treats for years, I’ve learned that it’s quicker to cut them into bars instead of roll them into balls.
These are sticky (just like traditional Rice Krispie Treats are!) and are best when you keep them in the refrigerator and don’t keep them at room temperature for too long before eating them.
The nutritional information below is for if you roll them into 40 balls. I usually get 20 when I cut them into bars, so just double the information if you do that. 🙂
Healthier Than Rice Krispie Treats
- Total Time: 15 mins
- Yield: 40 balls 1x
Description
This is a healthy twist on the kid-favorite classic, Rice Krispy treats!
Ingredients
- 1 cup natural peanut butter
- 1 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 cups brown crispy rice cereal
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, honey, vanilla, and ground cinnamon.
- Stir in the cereal and mix until it is evenly incorporated.
- With slightly wet hands, form the mixture into small balls. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Category: dessert
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ball
- Calories: 76
- Sugar: 7.9 grams
- Fat: 3.4 grams
- Carbohydrates: 11 grams
- Protein: 1.7 grams
Awww–I couldn’t get rid of these pictures!
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Where I live, I can’t find any brown crispy rice cereal. Any DIY methods so I can make this?
I’m so sorry but I don’t know how to make brown crispy rice cereal.
I halved the recipe to try them, instead of making a big batch of something I didn’t know I would like. I only used half of the suggested honey and felt like it still was a little too sweet for me. I substituted almond butter for the peanut butter. I think next time I would maybe use cocoa powder or cacao powder instead of the cinnamon to experiment. Wondering also if a substitution of maple syrup for honey would work? Thank you for the recipe, it’s hard to find treats recipes without marshmallows.
Has anyone tried freezing them? Does it work? Don’t want to waste the big batch I just made.
Thanks
I haven’t tried freezing them, but my hunch is that it would work with a slight texture compromise. Please report back if you try it!
Love this – I just Googled and it’s exactly what I was looking for! Although I’m going to have to use normal rice crispies due to an online shopping mishap 🙂 Thanks
You’re welcome! I hope you love these as much as we do. 🙂
These turned out great except a bit to sweet for my tooth. I cut the recipe in half, and added a little extra cereal… I think next time I will cut the honey in half. Thanks for the yummy idea! The 3.5 year old has zero complaints! 😀
I can see how these could be too sweet for some people. I think cutting back on the honey will work great.
This looks like a good recipe for a healthy rice crispy treat!
http://www.wholegraingourmet.com/recipes/57/84.html
Just found your website thru google. Recipe on box of rice krispy where I live overseas calls for honey. I thought it was sounded strange but now can’t wait to try it! Thx!
Glad you found me and I hope you enjoy this recipe! It’s one of my daughter’s favorites. 🙂
These look yummy. I have made something similar using brown rice syrup. They turn out really good, at least to me they do…my kids were a little skeptical about them…I will try your version and see if they like it better! Thank you 🙂
Love the photos of the little. We love rice krispy trests..who doesn’t? and this healthier variation looks good!
Beautiful photos! I’ve been seeing these around blogs and might just try it since little girls can’t be wrong!
Thank you, Julie. You’re so right; toddlers are particular about what they like! 🙂
I was all proud of myself last weekend for making vegan brown rice krispy treats, but you out-did me for sure! 🙂 Can’t wait to try your version.
Did you use brown rice syrup? I’ve been meaning to pick up a bottle and try it, but keep forgetting. It’s definitely tasty with the honey, though!
No, I used vegan marshmallows I so joyously found at Whole Foods awhile ago. They were good, but definitely fall under the “treat” category.
Great recipe! She looks sooo cute eating them! HUGE GRIN. 🙂
Hi Maryea,
This is Katie, Amy’s cousin from Tucson. Amy told me about Happy Healthy Mama and I was curious to see what it is all about. Since I signed up to get your posts, I have enjoyed reading them daily. I consider myself pretty health conscience and your post serve as a constant reminder to be diligent in serving healthy food to my family. I have two girls, 12 and 14. At times, it is hard to get them to try new foods. I would love to make the brown rice crispy treats but they will not go for peanut butter. Can you suggest a substitute or do you think I can just take out the peanut butter?
I love what you are doing. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us all!
Katie
Hi Katie! Thanks so much for reading. 🙂 So your girls just don’t like peanut butter? I’ve never heard of such a thing! ha ha Well, I definitely think these would be too sticky and too sweet with just honey. So I racked my brain for a suitable substitute and the only thing I could come up with was unsweetened apple sauce. I gave it a try with a small batch. I used 1/4 C. honey+1/4 cup apple sauce+1/4 t. vanilla+1/4 t. cinnamon+1 cup rice cereal. Once I mixed it all together it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to form it into balls. So I spread it into a small serving dish and stuck it in the freezer. After 2+ hours, it did firm up enough to be cut into bars. The taste was good, however nothing like a Rice Krispie treat. I would call them Apple Sauce Bars. If I come up with a better idea, I’ll let you know!
What about almond butter instead of peanut butter? Or sunflower seed butter? All very close to peanut butter but not made with peanuts! 🙂
I think either of those would work great! Just depends on what flavor you are looking for. I personally would loooove these with almond butter.
Maybe Nutella?im not to confident about them becoming balls.. but much sweeter maybe add marshmallows too but not as healthy I imagine
Wonderful recipe. Definitely bookmarking this to make for Summer someday. I think it’d be even better with some melted unsweetened chocolate. 😉
Maybe if it was mixed with a little agave nectar! hahaha
Yum…those look good Maryea. I will give those a try for sure!! I love when you take pictures of the ingredients. It makes it so much easier for me. And as always, I LOVE seeing pictures of my adorable niece!!
That’s good to know about the ingredient pictures. I’ll include them more often!
Yum. I love peanut butter and those krispy rice grains.
Do you find the brown rice ones to be tough? I got one brand and I thought it was hard to eat.
I don’t find the Nature’s Path brand tough at all. I think they’re really similar to regular Rice Krispies.
Great recipe! I’ll be making these soon! Thanks!
These look delicious! We make something similar 🙂 M loves them 🙂