Muddy Buddy Bars
These tasty Muddy Buddy Bars are a fun twist on the classic snack mix. Crunchy cereal is surrounded by sweet marshmallows, chocolate, and peanut butter. These bars are a fun new way to enjoy this classic flavor combination.
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy to Make: These fun treats come together easily. You heat everything up in a microwave, so it’s ready in a snap. The hardest part is waiting for it to set up!
Kid-Friendly: Your kids are going to go nuts for these! If they like the classic muddy buddy mix, they are going to love these bars!
Flavor Combination: I am a huge fan of mixing chocolate and peanut butter! If you are as well, try out my chocolate peanut butter pie, buckeye brownies, or Reeses no-bake bars!
Muddy Buddy Bars Ingredients
When my sweet tooth hits, I love making muddy buddies. So when I saw these muddy buddy bars, I knew I had to make them. They use simple ingredients you probably already have, and they come together easily. For exact measurements, scroll to the bottom of the post.
Rice Chex Cereal: The base of the bars adds a crunchy texture and all the peanut butter chocolate goodness fills in all the cracks.
Mini Marshmallows: Similar to rice krispie treats, the marshmallows hold everything together.
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: I like using semi-sweet chocolate to tame the sweetness you get from the marshmallows and powdered sugar.
Peanut Butter: Adds a decadent rich flavor that goes so well with chocolate.
Salted Butter: Gives the bars rich flavor and keeps the chocolate peanut butter mixture smooth.
Vanilla Extract: Adds a bit of warmth and flavor to the bars.
Powdered Sugar: The classic dusting of powdered sugar is nostalgic and adds a hint of sweetness.
How to Make Muddy Buddy Bars
This recipe couldn’t be easier. I love heating up my mixture in the microwave. It makes it so simple and keeps everything soft and delicious.
Prep: Line a 9×9-inch pan with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on either side. Add the Chex cereal to a large bowl.
Warm: Add the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter to a medium microwave-safe bowl and heat in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring between each increment, until everything is smooth and completely melted.
Melt: Stir in the marshmallows and heat for another 45-60 seconds and stir until the marshmallows are fully melted.
Stir: Once the marshmallows are fully melted, stir in the vanilla.
Combine: Pour the chocolate mixture over the cereal.
Coat: Stir until the cereal is evenly coated.
Chill: Transfer the cereal mixture to the prepared pan and even it out as much as you can. Let the bars chill in the fridge for at least an hour until the bars are firm.
Dust: Before serving, remove the bars from the pan, dust with powdered sugar, and slice.
Muddy Buddy Bars Tips and Variations
The great thing about this recipe is it is easy to change things up to be able to use what you have or what you prefer. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Cereal: I used Rice Chex cereal in this recipe, but you can use any Chex cereal.
Go Slow! Don’t overheat the chocolate or the marshmallows! When melting chocolate, it’s best to set your microwave to 50% power. Heat in 20-30 increments, stirring thoroughly between.
Peanut Butter: I prefer to use smooth peanut butter for these bars. You can use chunky if you like the extra crunch the peanuts add!
Marshmallow Fluff: If you would like to use marshmallow fluff instead of mini ones. Replace the 4 cups of mini marshmallows with one 7.25-ounce jar of fluff.
Be Gentle! Don’t pack the muddy buddies down in the pan too hard! This will crush the cereal and make the bars end up extremely dense.
How to Store Puppy Chow Bars
Room Temperature: Store Muddy Buddy Bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Fridge: You can refrigerate or freeze these bars. Chilling or freezing them longer than the initial hour hardens the texture and makes it chewy.