No-Bake Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars — These homemade granola bars are ready in just 10 minutes! Packed with peanut butter chocolate flavor, they’re bound to be your new favorite snack in no time!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars
Move over, Quaker Soft and Chewy Granola Bars. You can make these soft, chewy, vegan, gluten-free, and healthier DIY bars in 10 minutes. This homemade granola bars recipe is adapted from my Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars and I included a very similar recipe in my first cookbook.
Readers have said they’re the best granola bars they’ve ever had, their kids love them, and they’re saving so much money making their granola bars at home.
It would have been too easy to just leave the recipe alone. That’s not what food bloggers do. It’s mandatory to keep tinkering.
So I made a chocolate version. Double chocolate. There’s both cocoa powder and mini chocolate chips, and while the chocolate flavor is present, it doesn’t overwhelm the peanut butter flavor. You get a pop of chocolate and peanut butter in every bite, and that’s a beautiful thing.
The no-bake granola bars are naturally vegan and gluten-free. Always read labels to select certified brands and the exact ingredients that are right for your dietary needs.
The special ingredient that gives the bars an extremely authentic mouthfeel and texture is crispy rice cereal. As you’re stirring it in, it magically seems to disappear into the very thick mixture, but does so much when you bite down for lightness and subtle crunch.
The batch makes 1 dozen bars, very similar in size to the Quaker version. I wrap them individually in plastic wrap, keep a gallon-sized Ziplock filled with them, and then just toss the bars into school lunches, my purse, or my car. They’re not too messy which is nice, too.
The chocolate peanut butter granola bars can be customized with the add-ins you prefer, from dried fruit to nuts, making them very versatile.
They taste like a candy bar, but much healthier than eating candy bars or chocolate peanut butter cookies when chocolate + PB cravings strike. They’re my new best friend.
What’s in Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars?
To make these no-bake peanut butter chocolate granola bars, you’ll need:
- Light corn syrup
- Creamy peanut butter
- Light brown sugar
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Quick cook oats
- Crispy rice cereal (such as Rice Krispies)
- Mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars
In a large, microwave-safe bowl, combine the corn syrup, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Heat on high power for 1 minute, stir, then heat for another minute.
Add in the vanilla, oats, cocoa, and salt. Then, add 1 cup of the crispy rice cereal and gently stir to combine. If needed, add extra cereal until the right consistency is reached.
Lastly, mix in 3/4 of the chocolate chips. Turn the mixture into a foil-lined 8×8-inch baking dish, then sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips. Chill the chocolate peanut butter granola bars until set, then slice.
How to Store Homemade Granola Bars
Bars will keep wrapped in plastic wrap inside a large ziplock at room temperature for up to 1 month, in the fridge for up to 2 months, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Tips for Making Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars
The bulk, heft, and bigtime chewy-factor comes from quick cook oats. Quick cook oats are just whole-rolled oats that have been cut smaller in the manufacturing process to cook quicker. If you typically buy whole-rolled oats, pulse them in your food processor or blender for about 5 seconds and you’ve got quick cook.
It’s important to use quick cook because they behave more like flour, binding together the wet ingredients. Whole-rolled oats are bigger, coarser, and won’t act as a proper binder and the bars won’t hold together.
If you’d rather not use corn syrup in these no-baked granola bars, you’re welcome to use brown rice syrup or honey instead.
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No-Bake Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup light corn syrup, brown rice syrup to keep vegan or honey may be substituted
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- 2 cups quick cook oats, Quaker, Bob’s, or similar; don’t use whole-rolled oats, pulse/grind briefly if that’s what you have
- 2 cups crispy rice cereal, Rice Krispies, Erewhon, or similar
- 1 cup mini semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Line an 8×8-inch pan with aluminum foil leaving overhang, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl combine corn syrup, peanut butter, brown sugar, and heat on high power for 1 minute; stir to combine.
- Return bowl to microwave and heat for 1 more minute on high power, and stir to combine.
- Add vanilla, cocoa, optional salt, and whisk to combine.
- Add oats and stir to combine.
- Add 1 cup rice cereal and gently stir to combine so cereal doesn’t become too crushed.
- Slowly add the second cup of cereal, stirring while adding to incorporate. Mixture will be very thick, which is good so bars hold together after they’re set up. However, if your mixture seems extremely thick or dry, and doesn’t quite need the entire second cup or cereal, refrain from adding it all.
- Add 3/4 cup chocolate chips and stir to combine. The mixture is warm and chips will likely begin to melt, which is okay but the less stirring, the less melting. Reserve remaining 1/4 cup chips.
- Turn mixture out into prepared pan and pack it down firmly with a spatula or hands.
- Evenly sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips and very lightly tap them down with a spatula.
- Cover pan with a sheet of foil (to prevent fridge/freezer smells) and place pan in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours or in the freezer for at least 1 hour, or until bars have set up.
- Using foil overhang, remove bars from pan, place on cutting board, and slice. Mine are sliced 4-inches long by 1/2-inch wide, similar in size and shape to Quaker Chewy Granola Bars. Wrap bars individually in plastic warp.
Notes
- Bars will keep wrapped in plastic wrap inside a large ziplock at room temperature for up to 1 month, in the fridge for up to 2 months, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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so many granola bars I see look great in pictures but after reading the ingredients I can tell they are going to fall apart the moment I pick them up. Not the case with yours. they look perfectly chewy but hold together nicely. I know my boys would love them
I can tell they are going to fall apart the moment I pick them up. Not the case with yours. <--- so true, and thank you. These don't fall apart. I hate that so much when bars just crumble before your eyes. So frustrating but these aren't that, at all!
I love chocolate and peanut butter together! What a great combo! These look incredibly delicious and would make such a perfect treat!
Oh my goodness, these look so good! I need to make these immediately. Just wondering, what would you suggest swapping the peanut butter for as my son’s school is nut free? Thanks, Averie! Pinned.
I would probably use cookie butter then :) If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s, gosh, find one :) Sunflower seed butter is going to be too thin as well as other seed butters. You need a thick butter like PB or Cookie Butter!
Just made these today with a combination of regular and chocolate soy nut butter, and they came out perfectly! Thanks for the great recipe.
Glad they were a big hit and thanks for LMK you tried them with choc soy nut butter – good to know!
I think I may have just died. I LOVE the thick, the chewy, the oaty, the nutty, the chocolate … it all makes my world go round! Ditto Dorothy, this is my favorite granola bar recipe of yours yet!
Thanks for the compliments!
I NEED to get on the granola bar making bandwagon. They’re so darn expensive and so easy to make. This is probably my favorite version EVER!
You’ll save so much money and seriously, they BLOW the pants off storebought! It’s like trying to compare apples and oranges – you’re gonna love the results!
Double the chocolate=double the fun. Love that you don’t have to bake these! Pinned.
Thanks for pinning, Jennie!
Glad the tinkering involved double chocolate–I’d love to sink my teeth into one of these! They look so chewy and would satisfy a choc-PB craving. I haven’t bought granola bars in a very long time–too expensive for what you get. Yours are much more dense and satisfying! One of my go-to bars is your PB choc chip coconut oil protein bar recipes–it’s from a while ago but I’ve made it so often I don’t ever have to look at the recipe. Jon requests them too!
I know that recipe well! I made it so often when Skylar was a toddler. Wow, time flies, eh? Like 5 years ago I made that recipe tons & it’s great to hear you still make them! Sometimes I think about deleting old recipes and posts because I hate the photography so much but it’s stories like these that remind me to never do that :)
And these are posted for the perfect timing that is “summer” aka no baking when it’s 90 degrees and humid.
Oh I hope we don’t have a brutal hot & humid summer. I love the heat I do, but just hate a hot kitchen.
These look and sound good Av.
Oh I know how it can go from cool/cold to hot hot and humid and a hot kitchen is…miserable! Girl I know!
Lawwwwwd, these look amazing!! Are you packaging these?? Because I am ready to BUY!
Beautiful job, Averie!
You are so sweet! :) I want to buy your new Mrs Field’s white choc cookies!
Yum! These look good. I’m always on the look out for new granola bar recipes. Usually when I make them they fall apart so I loved your tip about the quick cook oats :)
Yes, that will make a huge difference and now you know! :)
Love peanut butter and chocolate! And I love how easy these seem to make! Can’t wait to make a batch at home!
Thanks, Kelly, LMK if you try them!
Yum! Love how they incorporate peanut butter for a protein hit!
Helps you feel more satisfied that way with a little protein/fat!
You had me at double chocolate, then you added peanut butter!!! Absolutely love this recipe, Averie, and I’m happy you decided to tinker with the old version!
You had me at the strawberry cake I saw this morning on Pinterest. Omg I am going to be dreaming about that baby :)
This recipe has all the keywords to my heart! No bake, double chocolate, peanut butter… yes please! What a delicious treat!
Definitely trying these when I run out of my current batch of granola bars. Your original PB chocolate chip version is still my favorite granola bar recipe! I recently took a break from it and tried out a couple of other granola bar recipes, but I regretted it as soon as I took my first bite. I love the taste and texture of your bars and I especially love that they’re no-bake. I now refuse to make granola bars that require baking because I know I can make yours with guaranteed delicious results and so much less effort. Thanks again, Averie!
Thank you for saying my original is your fave and that you even had regrets after cheating on the recipe…LOL :) I am so glad you love that recipe and feel the same about the results being excellent without having to BAKE. I agree! If you try these LMK what you think about the original vs. the new!
Ooh! We LOVE your PB chocolate chip bars. I’m sure we will love these, too! Your snickerdoodle bar recipe is also on my to-do list. Yum!
I am so glad to hear that you love them and if you try these LMK what you think about the original vs. the new!
Just tried these. I like them even better than the PB chocolate chip bars. I subbed in white chocolate chips–mostly because I thought they would be less messy to eat–they added a nice pop of contrast color to the bars and tasted divine. I may always make them that way. :) I like your granola bar recipe for road trips–healthier than cookies, but they still seem like a treat.
I bet they’d be excellent with white choc (visual as well as taste contrast; and less messy) but some people hate white chocolate. It’s like raisins or mayo, never knew what major opinions some foods can bring til you start a blog! But I personally love it & bet the bars are great! And yes to healthier than cookies, but they still seem like a treat!