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

By Helen Schofield

on Aug 25, 2020, Updated Sep 23, 2022

46 Comments

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!

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4.73 from 18 votes

Sweet and salty peanut butter granola bars

By: Helen Schofield

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!

Prep: 35 minutes mins

Total: 35 minutes mins

Servings: 10

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Equipment

• 8×8 inch cake pan

Ingredients 

cups/ouncesgrams/ml

 

1x2x3x

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

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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: 365kcal, Carbohydrates: 37g, Protein: 11g, Fat: 21g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 2mg, Sodium: 185mg, Potassium: 317mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 23g, Vitamin A: 186IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 45mg, Iron: 2mg

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