Rice krispie treats with peanut butter and marshmallow

These salted peanut butter rice krispy treats are one of our favorite treats! Extra chewy and filled with marshmallows and flaky salt.

We’re throwing it back today for Thursday with an embarrassingly easy snack! 

If you’re looking for back-to-schoool treats, I have the most perfect one! These salted rice krispy treats are so simple and a classic, but a few tweaks to the traditional recipe makes them a showstopper.

Everyone goes crazy over them! 

I know you don’t reeeeeally technically need a recipe for these. It’s probably still on the box (I think?) and they’ve been around for a mill years. But there are a few special things I do to mine that make them extra EXTRA. Like, share worthy. 

I always forget how much I love rice krispy treats. It’s like we make a batch, all love them, then totally forget about them for a few months! Or even a year. 

Anyone else?

And then I make them again and we’re all “whyyyyy don’t we have these more often?!” 

It’s a vicious, delicious cycle.

So today, I’m sharing my favorite version!

These are my absolute FAVORITE variety of rice krispy treats. There’s just something incredible about creamy peanut butter flavor in the treats – I adore it. It adds a richness and decadence to the squares, without adding TOO much peanut butter flavor. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true.

P.S. I also really love cashew butter in my rice krispy treats! They make them super buttery. Try it! 

And of course, I start ALL rice krispy treats with brown butter. It’s just the way to go! There is no other option. Since we’re starting with so much butter anyway, why not take a few more minutes and brown that butter? The delish flavor bits make a huge difference.

The other thing I do is use more marshmallows than is usually called for. Aside from just using the marshmallows to make the binding base, I like to throw a bunch in while stirring the treats. This ensures that there are bites of gooey, chewy marshmallow throughout the bars and makes them extra good. After all, you can never have enough vanilla flavor!  

In my other weird rice krispy treat quirks, I prefer to have smaller, taller rice krispy bites over shorter, bigger but thinner squares. Does that make sense? 

It must have something to do with the perfect texture and taking those crispy bites. I love a gooey tall square instead of a thin rectangle. The good news is that you can cut these however YOU like, meaning the servings in the 9×13 inch dish are up to you!

There could not be a more perfect treat.

Salted Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

Salted Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

Yield: 12 people

Prep Time: 30 mins

Set Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 1 hr

These salted peanut butter rice krispy treats are one of our favorite treats! Extra chewy and filled with marshmallows and flaky salt.

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 20 ounces mini marshmallows, this is usually 2 bags worth
• ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extra
• 8 cups crisped rice cereal
• flaky salt, for topping

• Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with nonstick baking spray.

• Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Continue to cook it without stirring, watching it constantly, until brown bits begin to form on the bottom. Reduce the heat to low and stir in 15 ounces of the marshmallows. Stir in the peanut butter.

• Stir the mixture with a spatula continuously until the marshmallows and peanut butter melt completely. Stir in the vanilla extract.

• Pour in the cereal. Stir until it’s about halfway mixed, then stir in the remaining marshmallows. Mix until the marshmallows are evenly distributed.

• Press the mixture into the 9x13 dish. Sprinkle the top with flaky salt. Let the bars set and cool for 30 minutes before cutting. Slice them as small or as large as you’d like.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

OMG that chew.