Sweet And Salty Peanut Butter Granola Bars (Nature Valley Copycat)
on Aug 25, 2020, Updated Sep 23, 2022
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.
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?
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!)
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.
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! 🙂
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!
IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE, LET ME KNOW HOW YOU GET ON BY LEAVING A COMMENT AND RATING BELOW… AND DON’T FORGET TO SIGN UP TO RECEIVE ALL MY NEW RECIPES BY EMAIL!
FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST AND YOUTUBE.
Sweet and salty peanut butter granola bars
Equipment
Ingredients
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
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.
I substituted maple syrup for the honey and they were SO YUMMY! Everyone loved them!
Will be making again and again.
Hello Josie, so happy to hear this, and good to hear they work just as well with maple syrup! Thank you so much for the feedback and hope you enjoy them many times more! 🙂
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!
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!
Hi is this product kosher ?
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!
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!
So glad you like them, Linda!
Such a brilliant idea to melt a little bit of peanut butter in with the white chocolate!! LOVE this recipe!
Thanks Renee! It works really well!
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…
Oh yes absolutely! That would work out fine! Good luck! 🙂
Nature Valley makes a cashew and an almond one as well
Oh really? Thanks for the heads-up, Bridget – I’ll look out for those!
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!!
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!
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 🙂
Good thinking, Ann! I’m glad you found a solution!
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!!!
Hi Ann! Wow, that sounds amazing! Heavenly, actually 😉 Fingers crossed they go down well. Thanks so much for reporting back!
Is there a difference between using instant oats vs. rolled oats? Or is there a difference at all? THanks!
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.
Mine completely crumbled and fell apart, wouldn’t stay in bar form, especially when I tried to dip them. Just completely crumbled apart into the topping mixture. What might’ve went wrong? Put them in the freezer for a couple hours as well.
Hello! I’m so happy you still enjoyed them, but I do think a few tweaks will stop them crumbling next time. Try adding slightly more peanut butter and/or honey, and make sure you mix really well. Press down firmly into the pan and make sure you freeze for at least 30 minutes, preferably a bit longer. To be absolutely sure, try dipping in a bit more white chocolate mixture. I think by doing all these things you’ll cover all the bases haha! I’d love to know how you get on if you do give them a go again!
Thank you for the tips!!! They definitely still taste AMAZING! I ended up folding all the bars back together and readding a bit more honey and I actually ended up mixing in the topping mixture as well instead of dipping them and they turned out so good. But next time I’ll definitely follow your tips and hopefully I can dip them!
That is wonderful – I’m so glad you were able to make them work this time in the end and thanks so much for letting me know.