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Chex Bars are the no bake treat that eats like a candy bar crossed with a rice krispie square, crunchy Chex cereal and peanut butter chips bound in peanut butter marshmallow, blanketed with melted chocolate, and crowned with chopped mini Reese’s cups. I made them for a bake sale where they outsold actual baked goods two to one. If my puppy chow is your Chex weakness, these bars are its sliceable big sibling.
Twenty five minutes of mixing, zero minutes of oven, and one very popular pan.
Chex Bars Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 25 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 0 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 15 bars
- ⚡ Calories: 485kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Peanut butter and milk chocolate over toasty cereal crunch
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, a stir, press, and chill project
Quick Answer
Stir 8 cups of Chex with a third of the peanut butter chips and a half cup of chocolate chips. Microwave the marshmallows and butter in one minute bursts until melted, stir in the peanut butter, and immediately toss with the cereal. Press firmly into a lined 9×13 dish. Melt the remaining peanut butter and chocolate chips, spread over the bars, sprinkle with chopped mini Reese’s cups, and refrigerate until the topping hardens before cutting.
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Marshmallow is the no bake glue. Melted marshmallows and butter coat every piece of cereal in a flexible binder that sets firm at room temperature, no corn syrup boiling required.
- Peanut butter goes into the binder, not just the top. Stirring it into the hot marshmallow distributes peanut flavor through the whole bar instead of leaving it as a topping accent.
- Chips mixed into the dry cereal survive as pockets. Tossing chips with the cereal before the hot marshmallow hits means some stay whole and some smear, giving two textures from one ingredient.
- Firm pressing prevents crumbly bars. Compacting the mixture hard into the pan fuses the marshmallow web, bars pressed lightly fall apart at the first bite.
- The fridge sets the chocolate lid fast. Chilling hardens the melted topping into a snappy shell that holds the Reese’s pieces in place and makes clean knife cuts possible.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No oven, no candy thermometer, just a microwave and a big bowl.
- Chex plus peanut butter plus Reese’s is a triple peanut butter threat with real crunch.
- They travel like champions, sturdy enough for bake sales and potlucks, just like my brown butter rice krispie treats.
Key Ingredients
The cereal aisle and the baking aisle split this list evenly.
- Chex cereal: Eight cups, rice or corn Chex both work, the sturdy crunch that holds the bars together.
- Peanut butter chips and milk chocolate chips: Divided between the cereal base and the melted topping.
- Mini marshmallows and butter: Melted together into the binder that replaces any baking.
- Creamy peanut butter: A half cup stirred into the hot marshmallow for flavor in every layer.
- Mini Reese’s cups: A cup, chopped, pressed into the chocolate topping while it is still melty.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
The cereal bar formula takes swaps without complaint.
- Use dark chocolate chips in the topping to cut the sweetness a notch.
- Swap the Reese’s cups for chopped peanut butter M&Ms or Butterfinger pieces.
- Stir a half teaspoon of flaky salt over the topping before it sets for a sweet salty finish.
- If you like the bar format, my no bake peanut butter bars go full fudge with no cereal at all.
- Golden Grahams or Crispix sub in for the Chex if that is what the pantry holds.
How to Make Chex Bars
- Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment and spray with cooking spray. In a large bowl, stir together the cereal, a third of the peanut butter chips, and a half cup of the chocolate chips.
- Place the marshmallows and butter in a large microwave safe bowl and heat on high 1 minute, stirring vigorously, then in 30 second bursts until completely melted.
- Add the peanut butter to the marshmallow cream and mix to combine.
- Immediately pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal mixture and toss well, spritzing your hands with cooking spray and finishing the mix by hand if needed.
- Firmly press the cereal mixture into the prepared baking dish.
- In a clean bowl, microwave the remaining peanut butter chips and chocolate chips in 1 minute then 30 second bursts, stirring well, until melted and smooth.
- Spread the melted chocolate peanut butter topping evenly over the pressed bars.
- Sprinkle the chopped mini Reese’s cups over the top and press them gently into the melted chocolate. Refrigerate until the topping hardens, then cut into bars.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Work fast once the marshmallow melts. The binder starts setting immediately, have the cereal bowl and pan ready before you microwave.
- Spray your hands, not just the pan. A quick spritz of cooking spray makes pressing the sticky mixture painless.
- Press harder than feels polite. Really compact the mixture, that is the difference between bars and a bowl of coated cereal.
- Chop the Reese’s cups cold. Chilled cups cut cleanly instead of smearing on the knife.
- Let the topping set fully before cutting. Thirty to sixty fridge minutes gives clean squares with a chocolate snap.
- Use a big, sharp knife pressed straight down. Sawing shatters the cereal layer, one firm press per cut keeps the edges tidy.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Cut the chex bars into squares and stack them on a platter with extra mini Reese’s cups scattered around, the gold wrappers do the decorating for you.
For a no bake dessert board, pair them with my puppy chow, the Chex family resemblance is the theme.
Tuck a bar into lunchboxes or serve them at the school bake sale next to my chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels, both survive a backpack commute.
Store chex bars in an airtight container at cool room temperature for 3 to 4 days, or refrigerated up to a week if your kitchen runs warm. Layer them with parchment so the chocolate tops stay pretty. They freeze up to 2 months, thaw in the fridge before serving.
Chex Bars FAQs
Chex bars are a no bake cereal treat where Chex cereal gets bound with melted marshmallow and peanut butter, pressed into a pan like rice krispie treats, then topped with melted chocolate and peanut butter chips and chopped Reese’s cups. They eat like a crunchy homemade candy bar and need only a microwave.
Either the marshmallow binder cooled before mixing or the bars were not pressed firmly enough. Toss the cereal with the marshmallow immediately after melting while it is still fluid, and compact the mixture hard into the pan, pressing with sprayed hands or the bottom of a measuring cup. A firm press fuses everything as it sets.
Yes, any sturdy crisp cereal works at the same 8 cup measure. Crispix, Golden Grahams, and Corn Flakes all hold up to the marshmallow coating. Avoid delicate flakes and puffed cereals that crush into dust, the bar depends on cereal pieces that keep their crunch under the binder.
Line the pan with parchment and give it a quick coat of cooking spray. The parchment sling also lets you lift the whole slab out to a cutting board, which makes cutting clean bars far easier than working inside the dish.
Three to four days airtight at room temperature, or up to a week refrigerated. The marshmallow binder slowly softens the cereal over time, so they are crunchiest in the first two days. For longer storage they freeze well for up to 2 months, separated by parchment layers.
Absolutely, they are a great day ahead treat. Make and chill them the night before, then cut and platter just before the party. The chocolate topping protects the bars and they hold their look for hours on a dessert table, no refrigeration needed at the event.
Made these Chex Bars? Leave a comment and a star rating below, and tell me how fast the pan disappeared!
Another no bake treat the kids beg for, my dirt cake brings the same fuss free, chill and serve payoff.
More no bake cereal magic: caramel rice krispie treats with a brown butter base.
If you love white chocolate coated cereal, my crunchy white chocolate chex mix with crushed peppermints disappears fast.
If you love cereal bars, my golden grahams smores bars layer in real Hershey”s chocolate.
Keep the no bake snacks coming with my pumpkin spice Halloween muddy buddies.
Keep the no-bake streak going with our Valentine rice krispie treat hearts.
No Bake Reeses Chex Cereal Bars
Ingredients
- 8 cups Chex cereal any flavor
- 10 ounces peanut butter chips divided
- 2 ¼ cup milk chocolate chips divided
- 10 ounces miniature marshmallows
- ¼ cup salted butter cut into pats
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup miniature peanut butter cups diced
Instructions
- Prepare a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, stir together the cereal, ⅔ cup peanut butter chips, and ¼ cup chocolate chips. Set aside.8 cups Chex cereal, 10 ounces peanut butter chips, 2 ¼ cup milk chocolate chips
- Place the marshmallows and butter into a large bowl.10 ounces miniature marshmallows, ¼ cup salted butter
- Microwave on high for 1 minute, stirring vigorously until melted. If needed, return the bowl to the microwave and heat it in 30-second increments, stirring well between each cycle until it is completely melted.
- Add the peanut butter to the marshmallow cream and mix to combine.½ cup creamy peanut butter
- Immediately add the marshmallow mixture to the cereal mixture and toss well to combine. You may need to spritz your hands with nonstick cooking spray and use them to make sure the cereal is thoroughly mixed.
- Firmly press the cereal mixture into the prepared baking dish.
- In a clean bowl, add the remaining peanut butter chips and the remaining chocolate chips.
- Place in the microwave and heat on high for 1 minute, stirring vigorously until melted. If needed, return the bowl to the microwave and heat it in 30-second increments, stirring well between each cycle until it is completely melted.
- Spread the melted chocolate and peanut butter chips over the homemade cereal bars.
- Sprinkle with the diced candy. Press the candy into the melted chocolate so it sticks.1 cup miniature peanut butter cups
- Refrigerate the bars until the chocolate topping has hardened.
- Cut into squares or bars and serve.
Notes
- Hit your prepared pan and hands with nonstick cooking spray.
- Microwave the marshmallows in short bursts so they don’t turn into lava (yep, I’ve burned a batch!).
- Smash that cereal mixture into the inch pan so it sticks together.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the bars. This ensures you get those perfect clean slices.
- Let the melted chocolate harden in the fridge, or you’ll have a gooey mess.
- Press those miniature Reese’s peanut butter cups in good.
Nutrition
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