I LOVE anything with Peanut Butter and Chocolate, but sometimes I don’t have all day to bake in the kitchen. When I found these No Bake Peanut Butter Bars, I knew I had to give them a try.
It only took about 5 minutes to throw everything together then I let them sit in the refrigerator until after dinner. They turned out perfect and so delicious.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter
- Graham Cracker Crumbs (use the boxed kind, or grind them in a food processor. Tiny granules.)
- Powdered Sugar
- Peanut Butter
- Milk Chocolate Chips
How to make Easy No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
- In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended.
- Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9 × 13 inch pan. (I did mine in a 9 X 9 inch square pan because I wanted them to be thicker)
- In the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted until smooth. Spread over the peanut butter layer.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.
Storing and Other Tips
Store your no bake peanut butter bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can also store them in the freezer in a freezer-safe container. These bars make the perfect sweet treat any time of year.
These No Bake Peanut Butter Bars are so delicious with the peanut butter chips. However, we have made them with butterscotch chips and they were absolutely delicious.
It was a fun change, and the flavor was still amazing. You could also use the combination of milk chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips, to give it a creamy texture, and not so much rich chocolate.
I love this recipe with graham crackers, but if you don’t have any on hand, there are plenty of other options that would work just as well. Here is what I recommend:
- Golden Graham Cereal
- Vanilla Wafer Cookies
- Vanilla Oreo Cookies
- Teddy Bear Grahams
- Cinnamon Sticks
- Vanilla based cookies
- Biscoff Cookies
- Honey Nut Cheerios
- Frosted Flakes Cereal
- Frosted Cheerios
- Peanut Butter Cheerios
Other No Bake Desserts You Might Like
- Monster Cookie No Bake Bars
- No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Bars
- No Bake Chocolate Raspberry Eclair Cake
- No Bake Coconut Cream Pie
No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 2 cup graham cracker crumbs, (use the boxed kind, or grind them in a food processor. Tiny granules.)
- 2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 ¼ cup peanut butter, divided
- 1 ½ cup milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended.
- Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9 × 13 inch pan. (I did mine in a 9 X 9 inch square pan because I wanted them to be thicker)
- In the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted until smooth. Spread over the peanut butter layer.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.
Notes
Nutrition
Video
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
I love PB, so this is awesome! Gotta try this!
Yum. PB and chocolate is my favorite. I’m your newest follower. I love your blog.
http://www.herecomesthesun-kelly.blogspot.com
Wow, that looks so easy and so delicious! I am definitely pinning this recipe! Thank you!
Best wishes,
Natasha in Oz
YUM! I am SO making these……but I need an alternative to the graham cracker crumbs…we don’t have those in Australia as far as I am aware?
Reminds me of peanut butter cups and I’m such a sucker for those…yummy!
Erin
takingtimetocreate.blogspot.com
Thanks for the reference to Bakerlady! 🙂
I love all things peanut butter and chocolate:-) These look and sounds super easy to do!!!!
These look wonderful – it’s always nice to have a few no-bake recipes on hand, especially once the weather gets warmer! Sometimes it’s just too hot to cook!
I must try this asap! I’m sure I can spare 5 minutes tonight 😉
ps: This is my first time on your site and I love love love it!
amultifariousme: you can use “Digestive Biscuits” ground up instead of graham crackers. You can use less butter, use just enough to keep the mixture together.
Do these keep after being in the fridge? My husband is deployed and anything peanut butter is what he is always asking for! I would love to send him some homemade bars, but want to be sure they would keep out of the fridge for like a week while in transit.
do you think you could substitute animal crackers for the graham crackers?
Those look amazing. I’ve never made any bars or cookies that are no-bake because they always include oats, and I hate oats! I can’t wait to try them.
Maybe digestives would work. Do you have those?
I’ve got a similar recipe and Digestive biscuits work great. Love peanut-butter bars.
I can’t wait to try these! Thanks for sharing!
Chrystal
http://www.adornonashoestring.com
I easily think you could!!!!
My biggest concern is that he could have a huge melted chocolate mess. Speaking from Missouri… our temperature is nuts right now!!! But if there are colder days coming up, I would say to give it a try and see what happens. 🙂 Sorry I’m not much more help!
Looks like a yummy recipe to try.
{new linky follower}
~Amy 2 Permanent Kisses
Can’t wait to try these. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I made these today, DELISH!! I have also made your Cake Batter chex mix. My husband’s co-workers dubbed them “Crack Snack!” Thanks for your fabulous recipes!
I made these today, DELISH! I have also made your Cake batter chex mix. My husband’s co-workders dubbed them “Crack Snack!” Thanks for all your great recipes!
These are chilling in the fridge right now for Bible study tonight. I can’t wait to try them!
I am going to try these this afternoon! I am loving your recipes, you have some great ideas.
Thank you for posting this recipe! It was so easy to make and delicious.
I shared it with my Facebook readers
Do you think that rice crispies would work in place of graham crackers?
This looks amazing! I gotta try this! 😀
I made these today and the bottom portion just doesn’t want to get firm enough to act like a cookie. It’s mushy with a nice firm layer of chocolate on top? Tastes okay (VERY rich) but is a pile of mush. Any thoughts besides I am a horrible cook? LOL
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sounds delicious, definitely putting it on my to-do list 🙂
Featured you guys on my blog today, stop by & check it out:
http://www.artsyfartsymama.com/2012/03/pinteresting-features-n-shtuff-27.html
I made this over the weekend….so easy! And so GOOD!
I’m wondering if there is an alternative to the powdered sugar. That’s just not something we use in our house… thoughts?? Otherwise, these sound delish!
My two year olds official review of this recipe.
Num num num num…no done…num num num…
This comment has been removed by the author.
@amultifariousme – just get some plan biscuits, or wheat biscuits and grind the up fine. That’s all you need to use.
can you use semi sweet chips,or woud tht have a different flavor?
Janell
I will definitely try this the next time I need a quick, no bake recipe! Chocolate and peanut butter are my weakness!
WoolMoon- I have made these a few times already and one time I had crumbly bottoms, too. I figured out that when mixing the bottoms parts together it really helps to do it with your hands and knead it for a while. Then, when pressing into the pan use something with a flat bottom to press it firmly in the pan. Good luck!
I’ve taken these to the last 3 parties I’ve gone to and they have always been the first to go!
Delicious! Used rice crispies since I didn’t have graham crackers on hand.
I found this same recipe a few months back when looking for something to use up a lot of graham cracker crumbs. They were a delicious hit and easy peasy to make.
Hi,I liked you guys on FB and pinned the no bake peanut butter bars.
Vanilla wafers
These are AMAZING and super addictive… watch out!
Made these last night- they were amazing!!!!
I only had semi- sweet and white chocolate chips in the house so I used 1c. semi-sweet and 1/2c. white chocolate. They were great that way too.
I just made these and the batter alone is amazing and I didn’t even let it refrigerate yet! I didn’t have graham crackers, so I used Fiber One original cereal as a substitute. Worked out perfectly. Thank you!
This is a delicious recipe! I am eating them right now! thanks for it
These look so good. THANKS.
This is the EXACT recipe I’ve been making for years that I found on AllRecipes.com – maybe it is you on there if it is – this is the PERFECT peanut butter bar – I always get compliments 🙂
Always make things more complicated. As I didn’t have the graham crumbs, I used a chocolate biscotti, pretzels, & 1/2 a pack of Graham crackers. For the sugar, I only used 1 cup as I found it to be pretty sweet already. When I was melting the chocolate & 1/4 c. Peanut butter, I was a bit worried about it not smoothly melting. A good squeeze of honey, 2 T. Butter, & it was smooth & silky. Then, to gild the lily, I ground up butterscotch chips with toffee coated peanuts, about 1/4 c. Of each. Then sprinkled those crumbs on top of the chocolate. oh, my! Yummy.
How do these keep after the initial refrigeration? Do you keep them in the fridge, or can they sit at room temp for a few days?
Yummy, I am sharing this on my blog!
Many blessings!
I am a lunch lady from a small oklahoma school. I fondly remember a peanut butter bar that tasted like a butterfinger when i was in school 33 yrs ago. I dug thru some of our old recipes here at school and found that recipe. It has a item that we no longer have available to us but it can be special ordered from Lousianna. So i ordered it a few years back. I still have enough dehydrated sweet potato granules to make one more recipe for our students. This was probably my favorite desert besides our old favorite chocolate no bake cookies. Love love love the old school recipes.
Okay, I have to stop reading your blog… MY MOUTH IS WATERING! Lol! Thank you for sharing your great ideas! :)Also, I love that you 6 sisters keep in touch here! I hope me and my 3 sisters and 4 brothers can do something like this when we are all gone (so far only 1 of my bro’s is married ;P) Thanks again!
http://www.centplay.com/affiliate/id_139/
Since there’s been no response from the blogger and lots of people have asked… I’m going to suggest that these not be kept at room temperature. The butter in them will go rancid.
I started making these when I lived in Australia and I always made them with shortbread cookies. Since moving back to the US, I still make them with shortbread crumbs because they taste better than with Graham crackers!
I had the same problem- just add more graham cracker/pwd sugar mixture. I think I added an extra 1/4-1/2 cup. Hope that helps!
You need to keep them refrigerated after you make them.
Exactly what I was going to ask … I’m from Australia as well and never heard of Graham crackers. Thanks for alternative ideas!
These tasted like butterfingers!!! so gooooood! I kept them in the fridge 🙂
I am from Louisiana and I also remember having those at school as a child. My mom worked in the lunch room for a while and when I asked her how they were made she didn’t remember but she knew they were made using sweet potatoes. I have been searching for the recipe for years and haven’t had any luck finding it. could you please share the recipe you have for these? My email address is dubiescott@aol.com. Thank you!
I utterly attitude and revalue your bushel on each and every target.
cookingrecipetips
I was wondering, how many bars does this recipe make?
Butter does not have to be refrigerated! It will go rancid eventually, but not within a couple of days!
I made these and they were delicious! I blogged about them here: http://kimmydavis.blogspot.com/2012/07/i-dont-cook.html
Thank you for the easy recipe!
I made these last night so my daughter, she turned 5 years old today, could have a treat for her birthday. We’re not having hers and her brother’s birthday party until Aug. My kids and the adults too loved these. We had Blue Bunny Ice cream on the side to make the treat complete. I will make these again. It’s a hot day her in Michigan, so I put them in the freezer after I made them. I put them in the fridg just about 1/2 hour before we ate them. They turned out great, very easy to make. Yummmmmmy!!!!!!
My batch is currently chilling in the freezer as it is over 100 degrees today here in Southern California…I used dark chocolate chips, as that was all I had on hand (I like to keep them in the freezer and eat them when I have a chocolate craving lol). Totally forgot to at the peanut butter to the chocolate when heating but I don’t think that will make a huge difference. Can’t wait to try these!!!
Correction…my email is dubbiescott@aol.com
My son got back from Afghanistan last December. He was there in August. Because it is so hot there you wwould need to eait until October to send them, probably later in the month. Everything woud melt, because of the heat. He received a 3 lb bag if gummy bears last September and it became one lump of gummies. Also, use parkay margarine, it will not go rancid like butter.
Thanks to your husband for his service, and to you also. It is hard on those left behind.
best wishes,
Debi @ Adorned From Above
I made these with half gramcrackers and half bread crumbs for my first batch, just because i didn’t have enough gramcrackers. then when i made them another time with all gramcrackers my DH said they tasted too sweet! I would say either use a semisweet baking chocolate to off set the sweetness, or use bread crumbs instead of (or half mixed with) gramcracker crumbs. I had a stale/dry loaf of french bread that i processed in a coffee grinder. it worked perfectly!
I made these today with crunchy PB..so delicious!!! Thanks for the recipe!!!
I made these today with crunchy PB..so delicious!!! Thanks for the recipe!!!
Great! Except my microwave made the chocolate stiff not smooth spreadable so I used the double boiler method to get smooth chocolate results:)
I used chopped pretzels for a slightly salty alternative. Woo Hoo.
you could also reduce the butter by ¼ cup.
I found this on one of the sites we use to mail my uncle cookies!! He loves them~
This recipe was given to me by a WSU Food Advisor, Muggs Broselle. She says they travel very well and stay fresh
during their travels.
Monstor Cookies Monstor Cookies
Make 90 cookies
Preparation Time 20 minutes
12 large eggs 4 cups sugar
2 pounds brown sugar 1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon maple syrup 8 teaspoons baking soda
1 pound butter 3 pound peanut butter
18 cups oatmeal 1 pound chocolate chips
1 pound M&Ms Plain Chocolate candy
? Mix eggs, sugars, butter and peanut butter together.
? Add vanilla and soda.
? Add ½ of the oatmeal then the chocolate chips.
? Add the rest of the oatmeal. You may need to add more oatmeal until the dough is no longer sticky.
? Add the M&Ms now and mix well or add them to the top of each cookie before baking
? Use an ice cream scoop to put on cookie sheet
? Bake at 350 F for 12 minutes.
I added a layer of chocolate to the bottom to be more like reeces cups. I made up the chocolate like the top layer, and poured it into a foil-lined pan. I froze it while I made up the rest, the proceeded as usual. Yum–mee!
I added a layer of chocolate to the bottom to be more like reeces cups. I made up the chocolate like the top layer, and poured it into a foil-lined pan. I froze it while I made up the rest, the proceeded as usual. Yum–mee!
Butter is pricey (but there’s no substitute for flavor) so I always half the amount when I make these and they turn out great. They may be a little more effort to blend so I use my stand mixer for quick work. I also double the recipe and use a 9×13 pan…otherwise they disappear too quickly!
Just put these into the refrigerator to “set”. Can’t wait to try them! Would you mind if I shared the recipe over at my blog stuffingsofasockmonkey.blogspot.com ?
It’s not much of a blog but I’m working on it!
These were great. Made them for my husband’s birthday. Chocolate and peanut butter are his two favorite things. I had all the ingredients on hand and the fact that they were a “no bake” dessert worked perfect since my oven broke. Thanks so much for a quick, easy, tasty recipe my whole family loved =)
So glad they worked out for you! Be careful, they are addicting!!
-The Six Sisters
I am apparently slow, lol So when you say melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter….. is it only the cup of peanut butter used above then the 4 tablespoons of peanutbutter is what you use to melt the chocolate chips with?
Can I use margerin instead of butter?
Can I use margerin instead of butter?
Margarine will work fine!
I just love this recipe. However, I made this with carob chips and it was even more fantastic than the chocolate chips! My poor husband is allergic to chocolate and I had to switch this up for him.
These bars saved the day for me a little while back when I had a horrible mishap with another recipe. They are delicious! I LOVE you gals and all your recipes! I use them frequently! Thanks! http://withcoffeecupinhand.blogspot.com/
I cut out one stick of butter and they turned out amazing!
Tonight i am making them with a extra layer of the choc mix on the bottom.. They are in the fridge setting up now.. They are gonna be like homemade reese peanut butter cups!
This is like dessert crack!
This is like dessert crack!
I just made these, and they look delicious. Then I started thinking about how many calories is in a batch… Isn’t this like a 7000-ish calorie dessert? I hope my math is way off. :-/
This is doing the stolen Facebook rounds.
looking to adapt these for low-carb (I’m diabetic) using coarse ground almonds and sucralose sweetner
My peanut butter layer turned out to be mush…. Maybe less butter next time.
these are so good! especially in the summer since you don’t have to heat up the kitchen. i love making them for picnics, they’re always a big hit! and super quick n easy to make 🙂
i know!!! they’re so good!!
I’m thinking those biscuits that you get at the Supermarket called Teddy Bears would work. They are the closest ‘tasting’ to graham crackers that I have found. (I’m from America, but am a perm. resident of Australia now.) These biscuits are not the tiny ones, but the ones that are about as tall as the palm of your hand.
Can you take the graham out??
If you took it out you would need to replace it with another ingredient. We have only made this as according to directions.
How far in advance is it safe to make?
I think they would be fine for a few days. I would put them in an airtight container in the fridge.
Could I use cake crumbs instead of graham crackers?
I dont know how this will come out, but I only had a cup of graham crumbs, so I made a thin crust, and crunched up some rice cereal to form a second layer, and then poured the chocolate and peanut butter mix on top. I do not have a microwave, so I blended the chocolate chips and peanut butter with a slight bit of milk, on low stirring continuously. Assembled it all, and have it in the fridge now.
I have made this and it is the best I have tried yet. It tastes almost like Reese’s Peanut butter cups.
Do you serve them directly from the refrigerator or let it sit out for a bit?
We have served them both ways. Our favorite is after they have been out of the fridge for about an hour.
cuddles.1960, I have been looking for that recipe for a long time!! I am from Oklahoma as well. The “butterfinger” cake was one of my favorites! Do you still have the recipe?
My email harmonfam4@hotmail.com
Thank you.
Great recipe…I used dark chocolate instead of milk…that’s how we roll!! I think my kids actually thought they were too sweet, but they were right up my alley!
I love these-wish I could find something for the graham crackers as I am now Gluten-free
Could I substitute the graham crackers for vanilla wafers?
Vanilla wafers will work great too!
These are amazing… I make them all the time for my family! I make the original version and substitute honey Chex cereal for the graham crackers when I make them for my sister who is gluten free! I love so many of your recipes….Thank you!
Full Melt chocolates are organic fair trade premier brand of medicated chocolate bars.
full melt chocolates are too delicious.
Can you use Nutella instead of chocolate?
We melt chocolate chips and mix with peanut butter for the top. You could use Nutella, but it is a totally different texture than chocolate chips. They will set up a little when cooled, but Nutella will not set up nearly as much.
I made these for the first time tonight and thought they were great. I just have one question….my husband did not care for the texture because he thought they were a little bit “gritty”. Do you think using a hand mixer to mix up the bottom layer would help or is that just the texture due to the graham cracker crumbs? (I used Keebler’s Graham Cracker Crumbs)
We put our graham crackers in the food processor so they would be fine granules. Maybe the boxed kind is not quite as fine.
They look so delicious! But I don’t have gram crackers:( Is there anything I can substitute for it besides cookies?
Vanilla wafers would probably work fine too!
Could you please share your school peanut butter bar recipe that used the sweet potato granules? My school made the most wonderful bars that I later learned contained that same secret ingredient. I’ve been thinking about them for months but can’t find a recipe. Please help!
Yes! Please share the recipe! I’m also in Oklahoma and friends with a former teacher, quite possibly from that same school, who loved those bars and I would love to surprise her with some! My email is ladyrwhen@gmail.com if you don’t want to post it.
I make something similar but use crushed Honey Nut Cornflakes
Hi there colleagues, its impressive article on the topic of teachingand completely explained,
keep it up all the time.
So are we supposed to use regular sugar or powdered sugar
powdered sugar
Can I cut the amount of powdered sugar since my peanut butter is sweetened? Not sure if it works as a binder. Thanks!
I used one cup granulated sugar with one tsp corn starch and blended it! This recipe is amazing!
We have only made these bars as directed on the recipe. We used regular peanut butter and it wasn’t too sweet.
I’m not sure what I did wrong, I rechecked the recipe several times to try to figure it out 😂 but my mixture came out pretty runny!
I stuck it in the fridge, I hope it stiffens up so I can put the chocolate on top.
I’m so sorry it didn’t work for you. We make these all the time.
What a delicious recipe! It is literally my husband’s and my mom’s favorite dessert…OF ALL TIME! That’s saying something, too! My one change is that I think the recipe is a little too rich with so much powdered sugar. I only use one cup of sugar and it is still divine!
I’ll bet crushed pretzels would be great. Crunchy with a little salt to contrast to the sweetness!
It was just okay, and I am a big fan of peanut butter. Not enough peanut butter taste to the bottom layer and lackluster overall.
I also am from a small Oklahoma town and the peanut butter bars that tasted like butterfingers was very popular at our school. I work at this school but unfortunately the recipe can’t be found. If u have this recipe I would love it if u could share with me. I would be forever grateful. Schools do not have all that good eating we had when we were in school. I work in our Elementary office at Watts Public School.
Love this recipe. Tastes better than Reese’s PB Cups (but similar).
Tastes like Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups, yet better!
You could put some Dry Ice in his package.
Is it supposed to be 1 CUBE butter instead of 1 CUP? We are making them with 1 cup (like the recipe says) and it is runny.
ours did to. I think you are supposed to use 1 cube butter instead of 1 cup. we ended up doubling the recipe using 2 cube (1 cup) butter and they turned out.
It’s 1 cup of butter (2 sticks). If it’s too runny you can always add a little more graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar. We haven’t had a problem.
I want to try this it looks amazing
I can’t wait to make these! Do these need to be stored in the refrigerator? Or is the counter ok?
They are ok on the counter for a few hours, but you can easily stick them in the fridge and they are still delicious.
I made this to satisfy a sweet craving, and the recipe seemed to be simple to put together. It did, in fact, go together very easily. The end result was so good. We tried it after an hour of chill time, but it was even better after several hours of firming up. It is a hit with the family, as well. The flavor and texture totally reminds me of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I will make this again,
probably many agains.
I fixed this tonight and the family loved it! Growing up, this was a favorite of mine served in elementary school as a treat! Thank you!
Can I use natural peanut butter to make these?
We usually use regular peanut butter, but if it’s the same thickness and consistency it should be fine.
Also made this recipe (along with your BLT Dip) for the Easter gathering. Another excellent recipe that everyone liked a lot!!!
Can I make these in a cookie sheet and how many times should I multiply the recipe by? I’m in charge of treats for girls camp next week and trying to do them all ahead of time. I think they would love these.
I can freeze ahead of time, right? Do you have any other cookie sheet bar recommendations? I have already done chocolate chip cookies and chocolate rolo cookies.
Probably triple the recipe for a sheet pan. They will work great ahead of time.
These are so good!! Going to make them for the 3rd time today!
i think your measurements are off. 2 sticks of butter is way too much. a 9x 13 pan. there is not nearly enough stuff to cover that size pan. nice idea on the graham crackers though
We have made this many times with great results. Let us know if you try it and how it turns out.
I made these and followed directions, I’m so sad they’re just mush , I don’t understand
Oh no! I don’t know what could have happened. There are so many factors that could have gone sideways. Sorry that happened!
Very easy to make. Love this recipe.
Please remind me of the ones we used to get in the school at lunch time One of the favorite desserts that they served.
This turned out great but next time I will try only 1 cup of powered sugar because between the graham crackers/chocolate chips, I think it will be sweet enough. Thank you for the recipe.
I’m definitely not a graham cracker leather so I used rice crispy.. I also used kisses for my milk chocolate and they were fabulous my neighbors loved them. Sooo easy to make.
I’ve made these before with a digestive type biscuit (I live in Germany) but found them too sweet. I’ve just made them again with salted crackers and they’re delicious
I think this should have been one stick of butter instead of one cup of butter. I certainly was not able to press the chrome mixture into the pan. It was very wet.
Wondering how to make the chocolate topping adhere better to the squares..?
Very tasty. My peanut butter mixture was mushy and greasy.
Can’t get how much to use
If you either click on the “Jump To Recipe” button at the top of the post, or scroll down you will see our recipe with amounts and instructions
So yummy
Absolutely love these bars!! I never have graham crackers on hand so I use ritz crackers. Just that hint of salt from the crackers is so yummy. I’ve also used ritz and crushed pretzels.