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Home » snacks » Sweet And Salty Peanut Butter Granola Bars (Nature Valley Copycat)

Sweet And Salty Peanut Butter Granola Bars (Nature Valley Copycat)

Posted Aug 25, 2020 | Updated Sep 23, 2022 by Helen | 40 Comments |

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A close up of a stack of sweet and salty peanut butter granola bars with a title on it for Pinterest
Sweet and salty peanut butter granola bars

Ever tried Nature Valley peanut butter bars? They’re quite similar to these homemade peanut butter granola bars. They’re no bake, and made with just 6 simple ingredients. Are these yummy oat snacks really granola bars… or something a little more decadent? 

A stack of homemade sweet and salty peanut granola bars with ingredients in the background

I’ve had it in mind to make something like these sweet and salty peanut butter granola bars ever since I tried Nature Valley Sweet and Salty granola bars on a hike.

Because, you know, hikes equal perfect opportunity to stuff one’s face with granola bars – especially of the smug homemade variety! (Fan of healthy bars in general? Give these 5-ingredient healthy chocolate orange date bars a try too!)

Jump to

  • Peanut butter lover… or hater?
  • About the ingredients
  • How to make sweet and salty peanut butter granola bars
  • Pro tips
  • Variations to try
  • Healthy snack box subscriptions
  • More healthy snack recipes
  • Recipe

Peanut butter lover… or hater?

Before I go any further, I’d better just say this: peanut butter haters stop right here, because there’s quite a bit of it hanging out in these sweet and salty bars! Not only do you use peanut butter (and honey) to bind together the oats, rice krispies and peanuts, but you use it to make a chocolate coating to dip the bars into.

On the other hand, if you happen to be a peanut butter lover, may I also suggest you try these addictive peanut butter cheerio bars and these yummy banana bars with peanut butter fudge frosting, too?

About the ingredients

  • rolled oats: You’ll need just regular rolled oats for your yummy peanut oatmeal bars. No quick cooking or other fancy pants versions.
  • rice Krispies: Just your regular brand.
  • salted peanuts: Make sure they are indeed salted, since we’re emphasizing the sweet and salty bar part here.
  • peanut butter: I go for smooth, as this is what works best in the coating. Almond butter works as well!
  • honey: Just to keep things on the healthier side!
  • white chocolate: To make the yummy peanut butter coating. They wouldn’t be a very good Nature Valley copycat without this part!

How to make sweet and salty peanut butter granola bars

As these peanut butter oat bars are no bake, and contain just six ingredients (see above!), they’re ridiculously easy to make.

In fact there are just 4 simple main steps.

Step 1: Simply warm the peanut butter with the honey, then pour onto oats, rice krispies and peanuts.

Step 2: Mix well, press into a tin, and freeze for half an hour before cutting up into bars.

A collage of 4 images showing how to make homemade sweet and salty peanut granola bars
Mix up the ingredients, then press into a pan!
Homemade sweet and salty peanut granola bars on baking paper without the topping

Step 3: Now comes the fun part. Melt a bit of peanut butter into white chocolate, then dip the bars into the mixture so that half of them are coated.

Step 4: Let set in the fridge. Then wrap individually and store in the freezer until ready to enjoy! 🙂

sweet and salty peanut butter granola bars on a piece of baking paper
With or without the peanut butter coating? Your choice!

Pro tips

  • As no bake granola bars go, these are a bit sweeter and richer than the average. They almost taste like some kind of peanut butter cookie bar. If you’d rather make them a bit lighter, feel absolutely free to skip the white chocolate and peanut butter coating.
  • Make sure you melt the white chocolate in a bowl or dish that’s small enough so that the white chocolate is deep enough to dip into but big enough so that you can dip the whole of the bar in it. If you only have a bigger bowl, just use a bit more chocolate – I’m sure you’ll be able to cope with licking out the bowl afterwards!
  • I like to wrap these up individually in greaseproof or baking paper and store them in the freezer until ready to eat. This isn’t essential, and don’t worry, it doesn’t actually ‘freeze’ them – it just keeps them nice and fresh and chewy.

Whether you decide to go with the coating or not (I say yes!), you’ll still end up with that irresistible ‘sweet and salty’ quality from the combination of salted peanuts and honey.

So now next time you go on a hike, or get hangry at work, or just need an emergency healthy snack, you’ve got yourself covered.

Variations to try

  • Almond butter instead of peanut butter and almonds instead of peanuts.
  • Swap Rice Krispies for Corn Flakes, Cheerios, or another favourite cereal.
  • Swap a few of the oats for some shredded coconut.
  • Add chopped dried fruit.

Healthy snack box subscriptions

So… you love these and will try them soon, but… you’d also like to have some awesome pre-packaged snacks on hand. I get it. Sometimes I just want to grab something yummy and healthy that someone ELSE has prepared.

The solution? Get healthy (and exciting!) ready-to-eat snacks delivered to you with Urthbox! They have Classic, Gluten free, Vegan or Diet box options, and a bonus free snack box offer, too.

Or browse more snack subscription boxes at Cratejoy to choose your own.

In love with smoothies? You can get read-to-blend organic smoothie packs delivered to your door from Smoothie Box , with $22 off your first order! (These are affiliate links!)

More healthy snack recipes

  • These 5-ingredient healthy chocolate orange truffles are so easy to make, and perfect for keeping in the freezer for healthy snack ’emergencies’. Prefer to make bars instead? These healthy chocolate orange date bars are a Nakd bar copycat!
  • Dessert ’emergency’? Give this popular 2-minute healthy peanut butter mug cake a try.
  • Homemade granola: Tropical chocolate granola, or check out this homemade low sugar granola recipe.
  • You literally can’t go wrong with these Greek yogurt blueberry muffins (low sugar recipe). They have so many 5-star reviews! More in the mood for banana? These similar Greek yogurt banana muffins are delicious, too.
  • These healthy homemade granola bars with white chocolate and pecans are simple and delicious.

Or check out this list of 50+ healthy sweet snacks that don’t taste boring!

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sweet and salty peanut butter granola bars on a piece of baking paper

Sweet and salty peanut butter granola bars

If you’re a fan of the sweet and salty combo, and a fan of granola bars, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to love these sweet and salty peanut granola bars!
4.60 from 10 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe SaveSaved!
Prep Time 35 mins
Cuisine American
Servings (click to change) 10
Author Helen

Equipment (affiliate links)

  • 8×8 inch cake pan

Ingredients (UK/Australia? Click below for grams/ml)

cups/ounces – grams/ml

For the bars

  • 1½ cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup rice Krispies
  • ½ cup salted peanuts
  • 1 cup peanut butter (smooth – almond butter works too)
  • ½ cup honey

For the coating

  • 3½ ounces white chocolate
  • 1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions
 

  • Combine the rolled oats, rice Krispies and peanuts in a bowl.
  • Heat the peanut butter and honey together slightly in a smaller bowl (I did this by microwaving for 20 or 30 seconds*).
  • Pour the peanut butter and honey mixture over the oats and peanuts, and mix until the dry ingredients are well combined.
  • Press into a 9 x 9 inch (or similar) tin or dish (press down and right into the corners!), then freeze for around 30 minutes before cutting into about 10 bars.
  • Melt the white chocolate and peanut butter together in a small(ish) flat bowl or dish, then dip the top side of each bar into it. Place the bars non-coated-side-down to set.
  • If you like, wrap bars individually in baking or greaseproof paper and freeze until ready to eat.

Notes

Don’t have a microwave?
If you don’t have a microwave, heat the peanut butter and honey together slightly over a bowl of simmering water (taking care not to let the bowl touch the water). You don’t really have to heat it, but it just makes it a bit easier to mix into the dry ingredients.

Nutrition

Calories: 365kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 11gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 185mgPotassium: 317mgFiber: 4gSugar: 23gVitamin A: 186IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 45mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let me know if you liked it!

Comments

  1. Candice says

    05 Jun 20 at 3:20 am

    5 stars
    I’ve made this recipe for a couple of years. It’s my absolute favorite! Today, I made it as a special treat for my husband’s birthday. Didn’t have white chocolate so I had to improvise. Used 2 tbsp PB, 1 tbsp PB flour and 1 tbsp coconut oil. Turned out delicious!

    Reply
    • Helen says

      06 Jun 20 at 11:08 am

      Really Candice? Oh thank you so much for letting me know! I actually haven’t made these for a while but now you have me craving them again! Great to know the coating works with coconut oil too. Thank you!

      Reply
    • Esther Berns says

      01 Jul 20 at 9:36 am

      Hi is this product kosher ?

      Reply
      • Helen says

        01 Jul 20 at 3:05 pm

        Hi Esther! I’m afraid I don’t know an awful lot about kosher foods, but the coating on this is made of white chocolate mixed with peanut butter. So if you get a kosher white chocolate then I think it should be OK. I hope you enjoy them!

  2. Linda says

    01 Aug 19 at 8:55 pm

    5 stars
    I love the sweet and salty combo and am always looking for new granola bars to stuff my face with. These look like an absolute must for a peanut butter lover like me. Can’t wait to give them a try!

    Reply
    • Helen says

      02 Aug 19 at 5:40 pm

      So glad you like them, Linda!

      Reply
  3. Renee Goerger says

    01 Aug 19 at 8:36 pm

    5 stars
    Such a brilliant idea to melt a little bit of peanut butter in with the white chocolate!! LOVE this recipe!

    Reply
    • Helen says

      01 Aug 19 at 8:50 pm

      Thanks Renee! It works really well!

      Reply
    • Jessica says

      15 Nov 20 at 9:17 am

      I like the Nature Valley sweet and salty cashew bars. I wonder if I could sub the peanuts for cashews and possibly use almond/cashew butter…

      Reply
      • Helen says

        16 Nov 20 at 2:02 pm

        Oh yes absolutely! That would work out fine! Good luck! 🙂

      • Bridget says

        26 Aug 22 at 1:48 pm

        Nature Valley makes a cashew and an almond one as well

      • Helen says

        30 Aug 22 at 11:28 am

        Oh really? Thanks for the heads-up, Bridget – I’ll look out for those!

  4. Ann Fitzjohn says

    31 Jul 19 at 8:48 pm

    4 stars
    Hi Helen – I love this recipe and have just made it for my husband’s daily snack bar. I wonder what your calorie count of 213 kcal refers to? I have just added up the calories for all the ingredients and if I cut into 10 bars they will be approx 325 calories each before adding the topping. Maybe i’ll have to cut into smaller pieces!!

    Reply
    • Helen says

      01 Aug 19 at 2:44 pm

      Hi Ann! Oooh, well spotted! You’re absolutely right – the calorie count was wrong. I’d forgotten to include the peanut butter in my calculation, which is a pretty important thing to miss out! I’ve updated the post with the correct calorie count. I actually got something like 365 calories – sorry it’s a bit more than you thought!

      Reply
    • Ann says

      02 Aug 19 at 4:13 pm

      I decided to cut into 20 pieces and with the topping came out at a respectable 187 calories each, My hubby loves them in his lunchbox 🙂

      Reply
      • Helen says

        02 Aug 19 at 5:38 pm

        Good thinking, Ann! I’m glad you found a solution!

      • Ann says

        04 Sep 19 at 11:05 pm

        I have just made a version using choco rice krispies and chocolate/coconut/honey flavoured peanut butter. I’m going to top with milk chocolate and honey! Lets see if they are nutty enough for my nut mad hubby!!!

      • Helen says

        05 Sep 19 at 10:03 am

        Hi Ann! Wow, that sounds amazing! Heavenly, actually 😉 Fingers crossed they go down well. Thanks so much for reporting back!

  5. Kenna says

    08 Aug 17 at 2:43 am

    Is there a difference between using instant oats vs. rolled oats? Or is there a difference at all? THanks!

    Reply
    • Helen says

      08 Aug 17 at 9:53 pm

      Hi Kenna. You can use instant oats in this recipe if you like – they are just a ground-up version of the bigger rolled oats.

      Reply
  6. Korey says

    22 Jul 17 at 3:11 am

    Do you know the shelf life for these bars? I’d like to make a big batch but wouldn’t want them to go bad.

    Reply
    • Helen says

      23 Jul 17 at 3:44 pm

      Hi Korey! Really happy you’re going to give these a go. I always keep mine wrapped individually in the freezer – they stay lovely and fresh that way. They don’t seem at all frozen when you take them out, just cold and firmer. I’m afraid I’m not too sure exactly how long they last out of the freezer, but I’d say you’d be absolutely fine with at least a week. Good luck!

      Reply
  7. Lisa C says

    14 Apr 17 at 12:16 am

    Yummy!! Thanks, Helen, for sharing this a recipe, we all love the store bought sweet and salty and this is so much better, I know everything that’s in it!

    Reply
    • Helen says

      15 Apr 17 at 2:18 pm

      Hi Lisa, and you’re welcome! I’m really glad you like these. They really do taste like the store-bought ones!

      Reply
  8. Jess @ What Jessica Baked Next says

    13 Jul 16 at 9:47 am

    These granola bars look delicious, Helen! Love the sweet and salty flavours – so good. Loving the sound of the white chocolate peanut icing too. Can’t wait to give the recipe a try sometime! 🙂

    Reply
    • Helen says

      13 Jul 16 at 6:39 pm

      Hi Jess! Do give these a try – you’ll love them!

      Reply
  9. Denise | Sweet Peas & Saffron says

    12 Jul 16 at 2:32 am

    I will never ever complain about too much peanut butter, you can be sure of that 😉 These look absolutely delicious!

    Reply
    • Helen says

      13 Jul 16 at 6:41 pm

      Thanks Denise! I agree – let’s pile in that PB!

      Reply
  10. Kathleen | Hapa Nom Nom says

    12 Jul 16 at 5:17 am

    I am no joke, eating a granola bar as I read this. Unfortunately it’s the supermarket variety and not one of these awesome homemade delights! I LOVE sweet and salty desserts/snacks – best combo EVER! And I love that they’re no bake! Great for someone like me who doesn’t have AC. Can’t wait to take these on our next hike!

    Reply
    • Helen says

      13 Jul 16 at 6:41 pm

      Ha – I just can’t imagine needing AC right now, Kathleen. It’s actually cold here! No summer at all so far… 🙂

      Reply
  11. Eva says

    09 Jul 16 at 11:09 pm

    Elles sont carrément irrésistibles ces petites barres de céréales ! eh oui, comme je suis gourmand je le préfère recouvertes ! Bon weekend Helen 😉

    Reply
    • Helen says

      13 Jul 16 at 6:45 pm

      🙂

      Reply
  12. [email protected] says

    08 Jul 16 at 2:44 pm

    You had me at melted white chocolate and peanut butter. These granola bars are peanut heaven and I can’t wait to try them

    Reply
    • Helen says

      13 Jul 16 at 6:45 pm

      Hope you do, Janette!

      Reply
  13. mira says

    08 Jul 16 at 6:37 am

    So creative, love these bars! Peanut butter is my favorite! Pinning to try them!

    Reply
    • Helen says

      13 Jul 16 at 6:45 pm

      Thanks, dear Mira. Hope you’re doing well! 🙂

      Reply
  14. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says

    08 Jul 16 at 6:11 am

    Ooh have I mentioned how much I love peanut butter and drippy icing Helen? 😀

    Reply
    • Helen says

      13 Jul 16 at 6:46 pm

      Yay for PB and drippy coatings!

      Reply
  15. Samina - The Cupcake Confession says

    08 Jul 16 at 5:00 am

    I love peanut butter, Helen! I love how it is included in the bars and the chocolate coating on the top! These would be so perfect for breakfast on the go or snack – time. Love this!!!!!!

    Reply
    • Helen says

      13 Jul 16 at 6:47 pm

      Hello Samina! Isn’t this just the perfect excuse to eat chocolate and peanut butter for breakfast?

      Reply

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