Salted Peanut Chews Candy — Salty-and-sweet with a little bit of crunchy and lots of chewy-and-gooey!! So easy and a crowd favorite!! Mmm!
Salty-and-sweet with a little bit of crunchy and a whole lot of chewy-and-gooey. That’s what I’m talking about.
I made these bars one night when I was on a pantry cleanout mission to reduce my half used boxes and bags of ingredients. Baking for a living produces some serious odd-and-ends.
It’s an easy, one-bowl, no-mixer recipe that’s faster than you’d imagine to whip together. I love it when minimal effort produces big-time oohs and ahhs.
There’s a buttery, flaky, peanut butter shortbread base, topped with marshmallows, followed by a melted peanut butter chip mixture with Rice Krispies and salted peanuts stirred in.
Biting down through all the layers is such a taste and texture treat. And quite a mouthful. These babies turned out pretty thick, courtesy of the large marshmallows.
My daughter loves marshmallows and said she’d like to take a nap on those big puffy ‘mallows.
There’s tons of peanut flavor from the peanut butter in the crust, the melted peanut butter chips, and the peanuts. Combined with texture from the cereal, I was in salty-and-sweet cereal bar heaven.
Ingredients in Peanut Chews
The peanut chews candy has three layers: the peanut butter shortbread crust, the marshmallow filling, and the chewy peanut topping. Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe:
- All-purpose flour
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Creamy peanut butter
- Unsalted butter
- Marshmallows
- Peanut butter chips
- Corn syrup
- Vanilla extract
- Rice Krispies
- Salted peanuts
How to Make Peanut Chews
Don’t let the multiple layers fool you, this is a very easy peanut butter chews recipe! Here’s a look at how the candy gets made:
- Make the Crust: In a large bowl, add the flour, confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, and cut in the butter with two forks.
- Turn mixture out into a foil-lined 8×8-inch pan, hard-packing it with your fingertips in an even, smooth, flat layer to form a crust.
- Bake just until set.
- Make the Middle: Remove pan from oven and evenly sprinkle with marshmallows.
- Return pan to oven for about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pan from oven; set aside.
- Make the Topping: In a large microwave-safe bowl, add the peanut butter chips, corn syrup, butter, and heat on high power to melt.
- Add the vanilla and stir to combine.
- Add the cereal, peanuts, and stir to combine.
- Turn mixture out on top of marshmallows, smoothing the top with a spatula and lightly smooshing it down so the layers meld together.
- Cover pan with a sheet of foil and place in the fridge until set.
Recipe Variations to Try
- Marshmallows: I used large marshmallows because that’s what I had on hand. Use minis if that’s what you have.
- Peanuts: I used Trader Joe’s honey roasted peanuts, but use your favorite.
- Cereal: If you don’t have Rice Krispies on hand, feel free to turn these into peanut butter cornflake chews.
- Peanut butter chips: Could be swapped for butterscotch chips to make PB butterscotch chews.
Can the Recipe Be Doubled?
Yes, very easily! Simply double the ingredients and use a 9×13-inch pan. The bake time should remain the same.
Tips for Making Peanut Chews Candy
Crust: Don’t overbake since the pan is going back in to melt marshmallows, or the crust will be crumbly.
Marshmallows: Cook just until puffed, don’t brown them and watch them very closely so they don’t burn! Mini marshmallows will puff quicker and turn brown faster than large ones.
Storage: The bars will last up to 5 days at room temperature, but I recommend eating them quickly as the marshmallow filling will become slightly rubbery over time.
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Salted Peanut Chews
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup confectioners sugar
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
Middle
- about 2 heaping cups marshmallows, most of one 10-ounce bag; I used large marshmallows, use mini if you prefer bars not as thick
Topping
- one 10-ounce bag peanut butter chips
- ⅓ cup light-colored corn syrup, not ‘lite’
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups Rice Krispies or similar crispy rice cereal
- 1 ½ cups salted peanuts or salted honey roasted peanuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- Crust – In a large bowl, add the flour, confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, and cut in the butter with two forks. Keep working until mixture is combined and pea-sized crumbly bits are present.
- Turn mixture out into prepared pan, hard-packing it with your fingertips in an even, smooth, flat layer to form a crust. It’s sticky and a bit challenging to work with but just take your time. Bake for about 15 to 17 minutes, or just until set. Don’t overbake since pan is going back in to melt marshmallows, or crust will be crumbly.
- Middle – Remove pan from oven and evenly sprinkle with marshmallows. Return pan to oven for about 3 to 4 minutes (but start watching closely after 2 minutes) or until mallows are puffed; don’t brown them and watch them very closely so they don’t burn. Mini marshmallows will puff quicker and turn brown faster than large ones. Remove pan from oven; set aside.
- Topping – In a large microwave-safe bowl (same one used for crust is okay, just wipe with a paper towel), add the peanut butter chips, corn syrup, butter, and heat on high power to melt, about 2 minutes total but stop to check and stir every 30 seconds and heat in short burst until mixture can be stirred smooth.
- Add the vanilla and stir to combine.
- Add the cereal, peanuts, and stir to combine.
- Turn mixture out on top of marshmallows, smoothing the top with a spatula and lightly smooshing it down so the layers meld together.
- Cover pan with a sheet of foil and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or until set, before slicing and serving. Bars will keep airtight at room temp for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Adapted from Peanut Chewy Payday Bars
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Peanut Dessert Recipes:
Peanut Butter Butterscotch Fudge — This is an easy, no-bake recipe that’s as easy as melting together butter, peanut butter, and butterscotch chips before stirring in marshmallows and refrigerating.
Peanut Chewy Payday Bars — Like the classic candy bar and with a layer of marshmallow, too! Soft and chewy, salty-and-sweet all in one easy bar!
No-Bake Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cereal Bars (GF) — Chewy, gooey, and tons of peanut butter flavor!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Kit Kat Crunch Bars (no-bake) — Love KitKats and peanut butter together!
Peanut Butter Butterscotch Bars — Soft, chewy bars loaded with butterscotch! The satiny smooth peanut butter frosting is amazing!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Bars — Can’t decide if you want PB or chocolate? Make these easy, no-bake bars! Chocolate + PB is sooo irresistible!!
These look amazing! I’m excited to try out this recipe and just wanted to check about the peanut butter. Should it be sweetened or natural? Thanks!
I use peanut butter like Jif or Skippy which is sweetened and not “natural” peanut butter or any kind of PB that can separate. You want one that you don’t have to stir like good old fashioned Jif or Skippy type PB.
So yummy and SO fast! I just happened to have all the ingredients on hand and needed two desserts fast. These were ready quickly and gobbled up quickly as well.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
I made these tonight, and they’re AWESOME! The crunchy cereal is the best part!
Oh, I spread marshmallow fluff instead of melting marshmallows, and it worked just fine for me :)
You just gave birth like last week. What are you doing cooking??! You are AMAZING!! The whole first 6-9 months I don’t think I ever ‘cooked’ more than like salad? So impressed and your little bundle of joy is precious. And those coconut water slushies have been pinned!
My grandmother used to make these all the time. She used a yellow cake boxed mix as the base mixed with an egg and a stick of butter, and used peanut butter instead of peanut butter chips when she made the topping. This recipe brings back a lot of memories–I’m glad I ran into this recipe!
Great story and glad you found the recipe!
I totally screwed these up tonight! I know it must have been something I did, because your recipes are always spot on. The crust turned into pure crumbs – more like dust instead of crust! I cooked it per the directions, but I’m thinking the mini-marshmallows I used took a bit longer than expected to plump up. I suspect the PB chips seized while being heated as well…unfortunately, while the top and middle taste great, the bars just didn’t hold up so I tossed them. Will try, try again!
Eeek so sorry that it was one thing after the other for a seemingly ‘simple’ recipe. With the crust, if you felt it needed to have less baking time, that’s possible given oven variance. Now this crust was a more crumbly crust for me too. But it held together for me. And then the PB chips seizing, sounds like less time for those too. Thanks for trying the recipe and sorry it gave you trouble!
Hi Averie, what do you think could be subbed for the rice krispies?
It would depend on what/why you need to sub them. If it’s a taste/texture issue, not sure what you don’t care for in them, so not sure what to suggest in place of that wouldn’t be equally as aversive.
If it’s an allergen issue, I would say find something that’s similar that will work.
I love peanuts in any combination, and this that we present to you is very good, my mouth is drooling. I can not taste because they are on a diet, but that all watch different recipes for sweets, I guess I like to torture myself. :)
I love peanuts in desserts and love pay days…which one do you like better? This recipe or the other pay day recipe?
I’d probably say this one because the topping on this one is just so good b/c it’s right up my alley of what I tend to love. But you really can’t go wrong with either!
I love pantry clean-out recipes! And I totally would have instinctively used mini marshmallows but seeing the large ones – that was definitely the way to go. Love that topping the BEST! Pinned!
I had bough large marshmallows around the 4th of July thinking I was going to make indoor smores. Well, that never happened and those things needed to go :)
Thanks for pinning Trish!
I want these in my life NOW! I would love the texture combination!