Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars are made with a crispy, sweet, and salty peanut butter and graham cracker base with chocolate melted over the top.
This is the perfect Bar Recipe that you can prep in just a few minutes then bring to a bake sale, potluck, or serve after dinner. For more easy bar desserts try our Carmel Nut Crumb Bars and Turtle Bars next.
Crunchy Peanut Butter Bars are the perfect recipe for the next time you want a quick and easy treat. You only need a handful of ingredients that are probably already in your pantry like peanut butter, graham crackers, powdered sugar, and chocolate chips.
It only takes about 5 minutes to prep this 5-ingredient dessert recipe with a layer of crunchy peanut butter topped with rich chocolate. Once you’ve prepped the layers, all you have to do is pop the Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars in the fridge. Then enjoy the no-bake squares as soon as they’ve hardened!
This recipe is perfect for getting the kids involved because you won’t need to turn on the oven. They can help with measuring, scooping and stirring. Just make sure to supervise them when pulling the hot butter and chocolate out of the microwave. You can even let them decorate the chocolate layer with their favorite sprinkles or candy pieces before refrigerating.
Crunchy and sweet Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars are the ultimate treat for chocolate peanut butter lovers (and honestly who doesn’t love chocolate and peanut butter?). If you want more recipes with the same flavor combo, try Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Bars, Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, or even Peanut Butter Cups. There’s no end to the amazing desserts you can make with these two flavors.
Delicious Bar Recipes
Caramel Chocolate Bars
Apricot Shortbread Bars
Chocolate Cheesecake Bars
Peanut Fritos Bars
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s best to use a regular type of chunky peanut butter for these bars. Natural peanut butter will not have the best consistency for dessert recipes.
Absolutely! Swap the chunky peanut butter for your favorite spread such as almond butter, cashew butter, or create a mix. Stir in chopped nuts if you can only find the smooth variety.
Simply substitute the graham crackers for any gluten free version of your favorite cookie or cracker. You can even use a savory gluten free cracker for a sweet & salty combo.
Only microwave your chocolate chips in 30 second increments, stirring between. Once the chips are almost all melted, keep stirring until smooth. If you over cook the chocolate, moisture will cause it to seize up and it cannot be salvaged.
Key Ingredients in Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
- Graham crackers: You only need a few simple ingredients to make these Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars. Using graham cracker crumbs is an easy way to make a sweet and crispy base without having to make your own dough or crumb recipe.
- Peanut butter: Then peanut butter is mixed in with the crumb mixture to make the rich, peanut buttery base. Use your favorite brand of chunky peanut butter to make the easy combo. Natural peanut butter will not work as well as the traditional kind in this recipe.
- Sugar: Give the cracker and peanut butter crust an extra kick of sweetness from 2 cups of powdered sugar. Sugar also helps to thicken and solidify the mixture.
- Chocolate: Then finish peanut bars with a layer of chocolate. All you need to make the layer is melted chocolate chips. Then just spread it over the top and let the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars harden before serving.
Tips for Making Crunchy Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
- Graham cracker base: Add graham crackers to your food processor and pulse until they’re broken into crumbs. Then add the crumbs to a medium bowl along with the butter, and stir to coat the crumbs in butter. Add the powdered sugar, and creamy peanut butter to the same bowl. Then stir until well mixed.
- Melted chocolate: Add chocolate chips to a separate clean bowl. Put the bowl in the microwave. Then melt in 30-second increments until smooth.
- Assemble: Grease a square baking tray before you add the peanut butter mixture. Then use a rubber spatula to spread the peanut butter layer out evenly. Pour the melted chocolate on top and use a rubber spatula to spread it out smoothly.
- Chilling time: Put the dish in the fridge until the chocolate is set. Then cut the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars into squares to serve.
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Variations on Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
- Chocolate chips: Instead of using semi-sweet chocolate chips, you can change up the recipe slightly with milk chocolate or dark chocolate chips. Or, add a little more peanut butter flavor by sprinkling peanut butter chips on top of the chocolate layer.
- Nuts: For some extra crunch, sprinkle chopped nuts over the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars. Of course, you can use chopped peanuts to stick with the same flavors, but almonds, cashews, and pecans would also taste great.
- Oreo crust: For more chocolatey flavor, you can break apart Oreo cookies into crumbs. Then mix them with the crust ingredients instead of the graham crackers for a chocolate, peanut butter base.
- Biscoff crust: Digestive biscuits have a spiced caramel flavor that would be delicious with the peanut butter and chocolate in this recipe. Use them in place of the graham crackers for a delicious twist.
- Fruit: Add a swirl of strawberry, raspberry, or grape jelly to these bars for a fun peanut butter and jelly version. Place teaspoon size dots of preserves onto the cookie crust layer and use a knife to swirl it around before adding the chocolate layer.
More Easy No-Bake Desserts
Avalanche Cookies (No Bake)
No-Bake Cheesecake
No-Bake S’mores Cookies
No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
How to Store Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
- Serve: Make sure you let the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars cool completely before you slice them into squares and serve them.
- Store: To store any leftovers, you can cover them in aluminum foil or put them in an airtight container. Then put them in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- Freeze: To easily freeze the bars, put them in an airtight container with parchment paper separating the layers of bars so they don’t freeze together. Then keep them fresh in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , melted
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl add the graham cracker crumbs and butter, stirring well.
- Add in the sugar and peanut butter and stir well.
- In a small microwave safe bowl add the chocolate chips.
- In a greased 8x8 baking pan add the mixture and spread evenly.
- Melt in 30 second increments until melted and smooth.
- Spread over the peanut butter bars.
- Chill completely until the chocolate has firmed.
- Cut into 16 pieces.
Nutrition
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Made these 2X in 1 week. First for friends and another batch for my family since we had to share the first batch. Ha! Thanks for an easy summer dessert recipe!