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The BEST homemade crunch bars recipe that tastes BETTER than the actual candy bar! 5 ingredients, 5 minutes and perfectly crispy, crunchy, sweet copycat crunch bars- Vegan, Gluten-Free, Dairy-free.
Nestle announced back in 2018 that Crunch bars have been discontinued but do not fret- We have a homemade and even BETTER version here, and is relatively healthier than the traditional version!
You may come across other homemade crunch bar recipes, but those are quite frankly sub bar. Most of them call for 2 or 3 ingredients, mostly melted chocolate with crispy rice cereal.
Is that a crunch bar? Technically, yes. But taste-wise, it is very, VERY average.
Instead, I’m here to share with you my homemade version which tastes amazing and one recipe that thousands of my readers have continually made over and over again!
WHY THESE ARE THE BEST HOMEMADE CRUNCH BARS
Crunchy, crispy, smooth, and creamy and all words to describe these no bake chocolate peanut butter crunch bars.
You bite into it and are met with of these, which are a texture lovers’ dream!
Traditional crunch bars use butter, sugar, margarine and several kinds of oil to produce a delicious end product.
My version uses just FIVE ingredients, and takes less than 2 minutes to whip up!
Not only are these beauties completely vegan, gluten-free and dairy free, but it also has the option to be made completely sugar-free, so take note below!
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE CRUNCH BARS
Start by pouring your cereal in a large mixing bowl, and setting it aside. To also save time, prepare your baking dish by adding parchment paper to it.
In a microwave-safe bowl or in a saucepan, add all your ingredients, except for the cereal. Heat the mixture until the chocolate chip has melted. Whisk very well together, until you have silky, thick, and smooth chocolate.
Finally, pour the melted chocolate mixture over the crispy cereal, and mix very well, until all the cereal is coated in the chocolate. Transfer to the lined baking dish and refrigerate until firm.
THE INGREDIENTS (and substitution tips!)
- Crispy Rice Cereal
- Peanut Butter
- Chocolate Chips
- Maple Syrup
- Coconut oil
The ‘crunch’ factor can come in two folds. The first and most dominant one is in the cereal used. The original recipe from the cookbook used cornflakes, but my preference lies in rice crispy treats, so I used gluten-free crispy rice cereal. It’s my favorite to use in these no bake bars and these no bake rice crispy cups. If you don’t have a gluten intolerance, any crispy rice cereal will work fine.
The second part comes with using crunchy peanut butter. You are welcome to use smooth peanut butter if that is all you have on hand, but I love the added texture of the little pieces of peanuts throughout!
Speaking of peanut butter, for those with peanut allergies, I’d recommend you use crunchy sunflower seed butter or soynut butter. You can also substitute the peanut butter for another nut butter, like almond or cashew.
As these crunch bars are based around chocolate, PLEASE make sure you choose a high-quality chocolate bar (baking style or standard) or chocolate chips. I used my favorite dairy free chunks, which I regularly eat on its own.
For those who want to keep this completely sugar-free, use your favorite sugar free BAKING bar or chips. Simply melting a generic sugar-free candy bar won’t yield the results you are after.
Also, for the maple syrup, swap it for this sugar-free alternative. While not as good as the original, it’s the best sugar-free syrup when used IN recipes.
Coconut oil is my preference, but butter or vegan butter works well too.
STORING CRUNCH BARS
Like any candy or chocolate bar, crunch bars can be stored at room temperature, in a sealable container. They will keep fresh for up to 2 weeks, but I promise you, they will NEVER last that long!
They are also freezer friendly, so wrap up a few and store away to enjoy when the chocolate cravings strike! Wrap individual bars in parchment paper and place them in ziplock bags. They will freeze well for up to 6 months.
CAN I MAKE CRUNCH BARS KETO AND PALEO?
Yes! I have made a keto and paleo option for this recipe. It uses nuts and seeds instead of the cereal, and also keto-approved chocolate and syrup.
MORE HOMEMADE CANDY BAR RECIPES
Watch the step-by-step video below!
The BEST Homemade Crunch Bars
Ingredients
- 3 cups crispy rice cereal
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 cup peanut butter can substitute any nut or seed butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut oil can sub for grass fed butter
Instructions
- Line an 8 x 8-inch baking dish or deep baking tray of choice with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add crispy rice cereal into a large mixing bowl and set aside. In a microwave safe bowl or stovetop, combine all your other ingredients and heat until melted. Remove from microwave/off stove and whisk until completely incorporated.
- Pour the chocolate/peanut butter mixture over the crispy rice cereal and mix until combined. Pour into the lined baking dish and refrigerate until firm (at least an hour).
- Remove and cut into bars.
Notes
Nutrition
Made these. Love these. Even my hard to plez family LOVED them! Ty-chris
what can i sub the maple syrup for i really do not like the taste of maple syrup can i use honey or golden syrup
Those will work!
As a fan of the fondly remembered Nestle Crunch bar, I’m so going to make this soon. Thank you for sorting out a naughty but nice treat we can have 👍👍. All the very best to you, keep mixing up your magic.
Thanks, Tom!
these are the best no bake bars i have every eaten
Made these exactly as the recipe and they turned out great, everyone loved them – nice crunch. Stored them in a zip lock bag in the pantry and next day the rice cereal was soft. Now not a crunch bar, more a chewy (stale) bar. Where was the mistake?
Hi Rhiannon! Try storing them in the refrigerator, some brands of rice crispies become quite soft the day after.
These were pretty good but they melt pretty quickly in your hand, I think I’d try using a little less coconut oil next time. Super easy to make though!
Can these be made with crunchy peanut butter?
Yes!
Just made these today. We LOVE PB & chocolate. These are delicious and so very easy to make! Thanks for a great recipe 😊
Absolutely AMAZING! I used Creamy Skippy Natural Peanut Butter & bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate and it was delicious!
Thanks for the feedback, Noree!
Is there a way to make them w/o peanut butter? I prefer them with just chocolate. Thanks
Use almond butter or sunflower seed butter.
I had about a cup of Rice Krispies left in the box after mixing in the amount called for in the recipe. The mix looked moist enough that I added those in, too. Not the worst thing, but they were more crumbly than they should have been and would have been much better without the extra cereal. They really did taste like a Crunch bar (or Nestle’s Crunch, as I call it – I’m old!).
I’m giving this 5 stars because my family enjoyd them. although I thought it was a too sweet. I’m going to make it again because it’s a good way to use up old cereal. Next time I plan to add another cup of cereal and use unsweetened chocolate to make it less sweet but definitely keep the syrup because it binds it togethee.
Can I substitute honey instead of the maple syrup? Or do you have another suggestion? Thanks!
Yes!
Thank you for your response. Agave worked well. When I mixed all the ingredients, it looked too much for the amount of Rice Krispies (3cups) that were needed. I thought it would be too sweet so I incorporated 3 more cups for a total of 6 cups of Rice Krispies and put it in a 9×11 pan. I think it worked well. It wasn’t as compact (not sticking hard to each other) as I thought. Do you think I should have added more than a cup of agave to account for the 3 additional cups of cereal to make it stick to each other better?
Is there something else to use instead of maple syrup or can it be omitted?
Pls advise. Thanks.
You can use agave nectar. If you leave it out, the bars will be hard to cut into pieces.