These Brown Rice Crispy Treats are a healthier version of the popular snack and one of our family’s favorites! They’re super easy to make and actually packed with protein. Plus they’re a great recipe for getting kids involved in kitchen!
Eating and making Rice Krispy treats are a cooking right of passage for all kids — even the ones who don’t like to cook. It’s a lot of fun to do and making sweet, gooey goodies doesn’t get much easier than the that.
Still, just take a minute to look at what’s in a regular Rice Krispy treat and your head will spin. Don’t get me wrong, I love the old fashioned kind, but the thought of marshmallows made with cups of corn syrup made me think twice about making them for my little ones.
Still, the thought of them missing out on this kids classic broke my heart, so we came up with a version that’s actually healthy without giving up any of the flavor of the original. Recently, I brought a batch of the weelicious version for Gemma and her friends to test out. Normally I would feel guilty about showing up so late in the afternoon with sweet treats for the kids (I hate getting the evil eye from other moms), but these snacks are different.
Since they’re made with peanut butter (or almond butter) and brown rice, that means they’re packed with protein and a healthy carbohydrate. So, the next time you want a sweet treat that you secretly know is good for your kids, try making these and watch the huge smiles all over everyone’s faces!
And if you’re looking for more healthy sweet treats try out my Flourless Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins, Watermelon Slushie, or Frozen Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites.
Brown Rice Crispy Treats
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup rice syrup
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup almond butter
- 3 1/2 cups organic crispy brown rice cereal
Instructions
- In a large sauce pan, heat brown rice syrup, almond and peanut butter over low heat and whisk until melted and combined, about 2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and pour over rice crispies in a large bowl.
- Stir with a plastic spatula until completely combined.
- Pour into a greased 8 x 8 inch pan and press down to flatten the top (sometimes I put a zip lock bag on my hand like a glove, to press into the pan and flatten the treats).
- Cool for 5 minutes and cut into bars.
- Serve.
What would be some good add-ins that would stand up to the process? I see a few folks added chocolate chips – how about dried fruit? Anything to make them seasonal/for holidays? (i guess dried apricots and choc chips would be good for halloween? dried cranberries and marshmallows for christmas?..?)
Delicious! Made these today! Used honey instead of rice syrup. Another Weelicious success! Thank you!
I made these first with arrowhead Mills rice cereal. They were bad. Yuck! Then, I made them with the Koala Crisp which is chocolate. It added more sugar, but they were fantastic!
They should last up to 4 months in the freezer! If you haven’t already, transfer them to a freezer bag to keep them fresh!
I made these for the second time today. I used PB and cashew butter. Instead of pressing them into a pan, I rolled them into balls and put them in the freezer… How long do you think they will last in the freezer? We have a 3 week long RV trip coming up and I’m already precooking and freezing for easy snacking and cooking 🙂
This was my first Wee-Licious Recipe ever, and I proved you can’t go wrong! I didn’t feel like tracking down the rice syrup that my usual store didn’t sell, so used honey. Then I THOUGHT I bought organic almond butter, which I have never purchased, and I accidentally bought organic peanut butter. So with pure peanut butter and honey (I did get the brown rice krispies right!) my kids loved these! YES! WINNING! They even asked to have one for breakfast, and I almost considered it 🙂 I will be trying many, many more of your recipes. Thank you, thank you, thank you! (I’m trying to cut out processed foods without depriving my kids too much, so this was perfect!)
No. Agave is not sticky like rice syrup and will not hold these together!
Could I sub agave for the rice syrup?
Made these this weekend with my 5-yr old. We used rice bran syrup, PB, sunbutter, and organic cocoa crispies, and they turned out so yummy. Had no problem with the bars sticking together, but I made sure they were completely cooled and used a large, sharp knife. A tad on the sweet side, will probably use a little less syrup next time. And there will definitely be a next time!
Brilliant AND WELL PRESENTED vidS how to make our own food. These free from the mass produced chclieams that are not good to eat long term. Thank you for these vids. I will certainly be trying to encourage my family to do what you have taught us, in your facinating vids to date. My REGARDS
I just made these today, mmmmmm mmmmmm! I think I might melt dairy free chocolate and drizzle on top for a little extra oh la la presentation! Another great and easy recipe, thanks so much Catherine 🙂
Try cooking the ingredients a little longer. I think it will give the sryup time to thicken and get sticky. I used a potato masher to flatten in the pan and it worked great!
Yes, I think it would!
Do you think these would work with puffed wheat? I have a whole bag I need to use up!
add vegan chocolate chips to these! it says 1 cup on my recipe but i add a bag!!!! addicted to these treats!
Made these this am for afterschool snack. My son is allergic to nuts, so I subbed in all soynut butter and added a heaping tablespoon of hot fudge to the mix. YUM! They stayed together just fine! My 2 year old keeps asking for ‘mo’………