These Gluten-Free Vegan Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats are an easy and healthy recipe made with only 6 clean, real food ingredients. They're the perfect plant-based snack dessert that can be prepared in about 10 minutes and with no vegan marshmallows or vegan butter!
Here's Why This Recipe Works
My top 3 favorite reasons:
- Contains No Vegan Butter or Vegan Marshmallows
- Can Be Prepared In About 10 Minutes
- Made With Clean, Real Food Ingredients
You can feel good making my healthy plant-based recipe because it's vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, no-bake, contains no refined sugar, and is Medical Medium® Compliant (with substitutions).
Karielyn's Expert Tips + Ingredient Substitutions
Here are some of my expert tips to make this recipe perfectly:
Coconut Nectar. I used organic raw coconut nectar as the sweetener because it's thicker, but you could also try organic brown rice syrup, organic date syrup, or even organic raw honey (not vegan).
Coconut Oil. I also added coconut oil as a binder to cut back on the sweetener. The only drawback is these will need to be kept refrigerated or they will get soft and lose their shape. In addition, if you don't like the taste or smell of coconut oil, you can use organic refined coconut oil which has zero coconut taste or smell.
Crispy Rice Cereal. I've tried making these with brown rice cereal and the brown rice puffs and the brown rice cereal definitely come out better.
Peanut Butter. Want to make your own peanut butter? Let me show you how here! In addition, it can be substituted with any other type of nut butter. For example, almond butter, cashew butter, and sunflower butter all work great and would make this recipe 100% Medical Medium® Compliant.
Optional Chocolate Drizzle: You can add a chocolate drizzle over the top or make a chocolate topping using the ingredients and instructions listed above.
Optional Protein Add-In. Sometimes when I make these, I add a raw, organic plant-based vanilla protein powder like this one to give them a little extra nutrition boost.
Other Optional Add-Ins. You could also make these more exciting by adding some vegan chocolate chips, all-natural vegetable colored sprinkles, goji berries, cacao nibs, or even shredded coconut.
Serving Size: This recipe will make approximately (16) squares. Nutritional information is for (1) square which is (1) serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are These Healthier Than Store-Bought?
In my opinion, yes!
Here's the ingredient list for the popular store-bought classic afterschool and lunchbox treats:
- S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Kellogg's Rice Krispy Treats Ingredients: Toasted Rice Cereal (Rice, Sugar, Salt, Malt Flavoring, Niacinamide, Reduced Iron, Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), Marshmallow (Corn Syrup, Sugar, Gelatin, Natural and Artificial Flavor), Fructose, Margarine (Vegetable Oil [Soybean and Palm Oil With TBHQ For Freshness], Water, Natural and Artificial Butter Flavor [Contains Milk], Datem, Acetylated Monoglycerides, BHT For Freshness, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D), Corn Syrup Solids, Contains Two Percent Or Less of Dextrose, Glycerin, Salt, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Thiamin Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Soy Lecithin
The soybean oil, soy lecithin, corn syrup solids, and corn syrup are GMO ingredients unless they are organic. They also contain refined sugar and salt. And worst of all, they are not even made with real butter but probably one of the most processed, man-made foods of all...margarine!
Isn't Homemade Always Better Than Store-Bought?
Homemade versions aren't always better especially if you were to buy the highly processed ingredients needed to make them like Kellogg's Boxed Rice Krispies and a bag Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows.
- S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Kellogg's Rice Krispie Cereal Ingredients: Rice, Sugar, Contains 2% Or Less of Salt, Malt Flavor, BHT Added To Packaging For Freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Iron, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Vitamix E (Alpha Tocopherol Acetate), Niacinamide, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin Hydrochloride), Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D
- S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows Ingredients: Corn Syrup, Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Water, Gelatin, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Artificial Flavor(s), Artificial Color(s), Artificial (Blue 1)
The marshmallows are basically a bag of GMO's (corn syrup, corn starch) and food coloring and artificial flavors.
When you make your own healthy treats and snacks at home, not only do you have control over the ingredients that are used but also the quality of the ingredients:
- Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice Cereal (gluten-free) is...organic brown rice, organic brown rice syrup, sea salt.
- Fresh ground peanut butter is...100% organic peanuts.
- Raw coconut nectar is...100% organic coconut sap nectar.
- Coconut oil is...100% coconut oil.
These are clean, real food ingredients with no hidden surprises!
How Can I Make This Recipe Medical Medium® Compliant?
All you need to do is substitute the peanut butter with almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter to make it 100% Medical Medium® Compliant.
Gluten-Free Vegan Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats
Ingredients
For the crispy treat mixture:
- ½ cup organic peanut butter
- ½ cup organic coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons organic raw coconut nectar (or brown rice syrup or raw maple syrup)
For the add-in:
- 4 cups organic gluten-free brown rice crispy cereal
Optional chocolate drizzle:
- 2 tablespoons organic raw cacao powder
- 2 tablespoons organic coconut oil (melted/liquid)
- 2 tablespoons organic maple syrup
Instructions
- Prepare an 8 x 8 baking dish lined with parchment paper and set aside.
Prepare the crispy treat mixture:
- In a small saucepan, melt together the peanut butter and coconut oil on low heat and stir until it is well combined and smooth.
- Remove from heat and add raw coconut nectar and stir until well combined.
Add the add-in:
- In a large mixing bowl, add the brown rice cereal and peanut butter mixture together and stir until it is well combined, making sure it's evenly distributed.
Assembly:
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish, spread it evenly and press it down as firmly as possible (very important or they will not stick together good).
- Place the baking dish in the freezer for about 60 minutes, or until they firm up.
- Store in the rerigerator or freezer until ready to serve because they will get soft and lose their shape if left out at room temperature.
Optional chocolate drizzle:
- Add all ingredients for the chocolate drizzle to a small mixing bowl and stir until well combined and smooth.
- After you remove the crispy treats from the freezer, drizzle the chocolate over the top - it will get hard as soon as it comes into contact with the frozen crispy treats - and then slice to serve.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
Copyright Notice
The instructions, notes, and photographs for this recipe by Karielyn Tillman of The Healthy Family and Home™ website are copyrighted material. This copyrighted work is protected and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International License and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and cannot be legally used without my written permission.
Want More Healthy Gluten-Free Vegan No-Bake Dessert Recipes?
Check out these:
- Chocolate Crunch Bars
- Healthy Peanut Butter Cups
- Lemon Meltaway Balls
- or my CLEAN DESSERTS Cookbook with 72 plant-based no-bake dessert recipes made with clean, real food ingredients just like this one that you will love!
Did You Make This Recipe?
I'd love to hear about it! Please give it a rating and leave a comment below...it would make my day! 🙂
Courtney says
I love this recipe! It is absolutely delicious! I added a dash of cinnamon, 1/4 cup of toasted sunflower seeds, and bout 1/4 cup of hemp seeds to my second batch - delicious! The possibilities are endless!! You're amazing. Thank you for sharing!
Karielyn says
Hi there Courtney! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe and I ~love~ the additions of sunflower seeds and hemp seeds...great idea to add extra nutrition!
Thanks for trying out the recipe and for taking the time to let me know you liked it...I really appreciate it 😉
lori says
Hello! I made this to surprise my family and they LOVED it! RIce Crispy treats have always been one of our favorites at our house before I knew about some of the disgusting ingredients! So they have not made an appearance for a very long time around here. I shudder thinking how many times we ate those now, though. Thanks for the healthy recipe!
Karielyn says
Hi there Lori! Don't worry...I've eaten my share of the bad ones back in the day too. The good news is now we know to avoid the S.A.D. ingredients and products and can make our own healthier versions!
Thanks for trying out the recipe and letting me know how much you liked it 🙂
Yanic says
So good!!! I didn't have enough peanut butter so I did 1/4 peanut butter, 1/4 almond butter and 1/4 cup sun butter! We added raw brown rice protein powder. Just delicious. 🙂
Karielyn says
Hi there Yanic! Oh yum!! I love the combination of nut/seed butters you used...what a great idea!
Thanks so much for trying out the recipe and for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed it...I really appreciate it 🙂
Keri says
Thanks Karielyn! This is another yummy recipe. I have also made these with raw coconut nectar...very good! I did find organic brown rice crispies (by Edison Grainery) through Azure standard. They are 100% brown rice, that's it. These only last about a half hour at my house...a little longer if I don't share! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing all of these yummy healthy recipes with us!
Karielyn says
Hi Keri! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed them! I love your idea of using the raw coconut nectar...I just recently started buying raw coconut nectar to alternate with maple syrup but haven't tried it yet with this recipe.
Thanks so much for trying out the recipe and for taking the time to let me know you like them, it really means a lot to me 😉
Kimberlee says
I grew up with Peanut Butter and Butterscotch rice krispie treats so I knew I had to try your healthier recipe. The only thing I changed was I used GF Rice Krispies and they are turned out pretty darn good.
These are now one of my favorite treats! Thanks
Karielyn says
Hi Kimberlee! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe...thanks for letting me know 🙂
Jordan R. says
These were soooo delicious! I went to Whole Foods but they didn't have regular plain brown rice cereal so I go the cocoa flavor and it tasted awesome!
Karielyn says
Hi there Jordan! Ohhhh...I think I love the idea of chocolate crispy treats and I'm glad you were able to make a substitution that worked out for the better!
Thank you for trying out my recipe and for letting me know you liked it 🙂
Jessica says
These are AMAZING and taste just like the ones in the store, if not better! Thanks for a great recipe!!!
Karielyn says
Hi there Jessica! I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the recipe!
Thank you for trying it out and for letting me know how much you liked it 🙂
Teresa says
Just now getting into raw foods and You have so many great ideas on your website!
Even though these aren't a raw food, I must say these were incredible! My little one couldn't even tell the difference. Thank you so much for the fab recipe Karielyn!
Karielyn says
Hi Teresa! Yay for more raw foods! I'm so glad your little one liked the recipe - I guess that means they're officially kid-approved 🙂
Thanks for trying out the recipe and for letting me know you liked it!
Brooke Schwartz says
Yum these were devine! So much better then store bought with all the nasties added. And love your website too 🙂
Karielyn says
Hi Brooke! Oh yes...so much better!
Thanks for trying out my recipe and for stopping by 😉
Abby says
Some of those processed treats are downright scary in terms of ingredients! Loved your version, so simple and easy : )
Karielyn says
Hi Abby! Not only do the processed treats have horrible ingredients, but it makes me so mad that they put these foods out there knowing parents are buying them for their children and who may not know they have healthier options 🙁
Thanks for trying out my recipe and for letting me know you liked it!