No Bake Cereal Bars Without Marshmallows
Satisfy your sweet tooth with these vegan AND gluten-free no-bake cereal bars! I opted for Cheerios and Rice Krispies to keep these treats whole grain and low in sugar. But feel free to use whichever cereals you like!
If you didn’t know already, I LOVE to make copycat recipes, especially for foods from my childhood. There’s something so satisfying about recreating kid food for adults (like Dunkaroos or Cosmic Brownies!).
Childhood Copycat Recipes
I love the challenge of creating recipes that are not only nostalgic but are also friendly to a wider range of dietary preferences, which is how I landed on these vegan-friendly cereal bars!
The most popular cereal bar recipe is a Rice Krispy treat, and yes, it’s an extraordinarily simple recipe. It’s just Rice Krispies and marshmallows! But did you know that marshmallows contain gelatin which is NOT vegan?
So I decided to take on the challenge of making a cereal bar that is vegan friendly, and even adds a bit of nutrition! I’m switching things up from most traditional cereal bars recipes by using sticky brown rice syrup and almond butter to make these no bake cereal bars without marshmallows.
I’m also using plain Cheerios in addition to Rice Krispies to makes these treats more filling and satisfyingly crunchy.
Gluten Free Cereal Bar Ingredients
Cereal. Obviously! Like I said, I went with Cheerios and Rice Krispies. I know the most popular and traditional cereal bar recipe is a Rice Krispie Treat which uses rice krispies and marshmallows. But since this recipe uses almond butter in place of marshmallows, I found that adding Cheerios makes this treat much more satisfying and crunchy!
Almond Butter. This is the main binder we’re using here in place of marshmallows. It’s a great vegan alternative, and not to mention tastes delicious! Peanut butter will also work just as well here if you or your little ones prefer it.
Brown Rice Syrup. Brown rice syrup is a fantastically sticky addition that really helps hold this recipe together. I know it can be a bit difficult to find at your regular grocery store, so you may have to hunt it down, or get brown rice syrup online. Honey or agave will also work well here, they’re just not quite as thick and sticky, so your treats may end up with a slightly lighter or fluffier texture. Also, bear in mind that honey is not vegan, so if that’s part of your lifestyle, you’ll want to consider that!
How to Make Homemade Rice Krispie Treats
1 Mix your Cereals
To a large mixing bowl, add cereal and mix to combine.
2 Melt your Almond Butter and Syrup
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt almond butter and brown rice syrup until integrated.
3 Add your Cereal into the Pan
Pour cereal into pan and mix well to coat completely.
4 Transfer your Mixture to a Baking Dish and Refrigerate
Transfer to a baking dish (I used 6×8-inch) lined with foil or parchment. Refrigerate 45 minutes-1 hour to firm.
5 Slice and Enjoy!
Slice into bars, serve, and enjoy!
Packing More Fuel into Homemade Sweet Treats
I have not kept my love of cereal a secret, especially the kind that’s packed with sugary goodness and sends me on a nostalgia trip with every bite, and Rice Krispy treats are no exception!
It was so much fun to turn that childhood treat into a gluten-free and vegan friendly alternative, but it’s important to keep in mind that brown rice syrup (or agave, or honey) is still high in sugar, and even though this recipe is cleaner than the store-bought alternative, it’s important to still enjoy these tasty treats in moderation!
Looking for more vegan sweets?
I have SO many delicious vegan treats, including my Eggless Peanut Butter Cookies, Puff-Pastry Palmiers, and even my 5-Ingredient Fluffy Vegan Pancakes! In fact, if you’re a cookie freak, I’ve got SO many Eggless Cookies recipes!
Easy AND No-Bake!
So, whether you’re looking for a vegan sweet treat, or you just want a cleaner alternative to traditional Rice Krispy treats, these homemade cereal bars are guaranteed to hit the spot. Not only are they so good they’re hard to put down, but they’re also SO easy to make, no baking required!
If you make this recipe, please leave a comment to let me know what you thought! Happy no-baking!
No Bake Cereal Bars Without Marshmallows
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain Cheerios cereal
- 1 cup Rice Krispies cereal
- ½ cup almond butter, or peanut butter
- ½ cup brown rice syrup, or honey/agave syrup, but brown rice is the stickiest and will work the best
Instructions
- To a large mixing bowl, add cereal and mix to combine.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt almond butter and brown rice syrup until integrated. Pour cereal into pan and mix well to coat completely.
- Transfer to a baking dish (I used 6×8-inch) lined with foil or parchment. Refrigerate 45 minutes-1 hour to firm.
- Slice into bars, serve, and enjoy!
- Yields 10 no bake cereal bars.
6 Comments on “No Bake Cereal Bars Without Marshmallows”
xxouls I use caemels with this instead the syrup
Hi Rose, I apologize that I’m not sure what you mean here! If you’d like to replace the syrup, you’ll need a suitable sticky alternative. Typically, cereal bars like this (like rice krispy treats) are made with melted marshmallows. Instead, we’ve used brown rice syrup, but agave should work as well, or honey. If you’re wondering about using melted caramels as a binding agent instead of syrup, that might work but I can’t be sure! I hope this helps somewhat 🙂
Hi Nadia,
Thanks for your reply. I will be trying this recipe with light corn syrup as I saw elsewhere that that can hold it together too. Is light corn syrup the same as brown rice syrup? Have you tried these with honey? Do they actually hold?
Hi Ayesha, light corn syrup isn’t exactly the same as brown rice syrup (it’s made of corn, rather than brown rice). But, corny syrup does have a texture/consistency that’s similar in stickiness to brown rice syrup! It should work just fine in this recipe.
We have only made this specific recipe with brown rice syrup, but we’ve made other no bake breakfast bars using honey and they’ve turned out well! 🙂
https://mindovermunch.com/recipes/peanut-butter-oatmeal-bars/
I tried this recipe With peanut butter and maple syrup and the cereal did not stick together and it was very sweet. Why is that? Wonder how it can be fixed?
Hi Ayesha, thanks for trying out the recipe, though I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work out as well as you expected! This is a sweet treat, similar to rice krispies but healthified, so some sweetness is to be expected. However, if you’re finding it to be too sweet AND not sticky enough, I’d wager the main issue is using maple syrup instead of brown rice syrup.
Brown rice syrup tends to be VERY sticky, much stickier than a traditional maple syrup, and it’s flavor is a bit different than maple syrup. That might explain the failures in texture and the hyper-sweetness? I apologize for maple syrup being listed as an alternative on the recipe and I will adjust that straight away, I think it may just not be as effective or sticky enough to hold this recipe together.
I do think brown rice syrup is the best bet for this kind of recipe, but I know many people don’t keep brown rice syrup on hand in their pantry! So I’d say, if you try this recipe again, honey or even agave syrup might be better choices than maple syrup for your sticky sweetener. I hope this can help some! Thanks so much for your feedback and for giving the recipe a try.