The best vegan peanut butter bars are rich and delicious and made with 5 easy ingredients. They also only take 10 minutes to make.
I so love it when recipes are simple. And these no bake vegan peanut butter bars are so perfectly simple.
The actual bars are literally just 4-ingredients, and then you top it with melted chocolate for a total of 5-ingredients. It couldn’t be easier.
And since I just went ahead and bought some cookies to crush up here, I didn’t have to bake anything from scratch. Too easy.
You’ll also love our vegan millionaire bars and vegan bounty bars, and our vegan peanut butter brownies are out of this world!
How To Make Vegan Peanut Butter Bars
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Crush vegan cookies so that you have cookie crumbs. Measure out the right amount and add to a mixing bowl with powdered sugar.
- Add melted vegan butter and peanut butter and mix into a thick batter.
- Spread this down into a parchment lined 9×9 square dish.
- Melt vegan chocolate and pour it over the top and spread it down evenly. Chill in the fridge to set before cutting into squares.
Top Tip: You can use any vegan cookie that crumbles up nicely and is quite dry. Golden Oreos are a good option, as are Digestives (if you’re in the UK) or Graham Crackers if you’re in the US (just look for ones that don’t contain honey).
Make Them Gluten Free
If you can get a gluten free cookie that crumbles up nicely then you can definitely make these vegan peanut butter bars gluten-free.
Storing and Freezing
Keep them stored in the fridge where they will stay good for at least a week!
They also freeze very well for up to 3 months!
More Vegan Bars and Slices
- Vegan Twix Bars
- Vegan Snickers
- Vegan Lemon Bars
- Vegan Rice Krispie Treats
- Vegan Chocolate Brownies
- Vegan Blondies
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Peanut Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Cookie Crumbs
- 1 ½ cups Powdered Sugar 180g
- 1 cup Creamy Salted Peanut Butter (250g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g) Melted
- 2 cups Vegan Chocolate Chips (350g)
Instructions
- Add your cookie of choice (see notes) to a blender or food processor and process into crumbs. Measure out 1 and ½ cups and add to a mixing bowl. Add in the powdered sugar and mix together.
- Melt the vegan butter and add it in to the mixing bowl along with the peanut butter and mix in with a spoon until properly mixed. It will be very thick.
- Line a 9×9 square dish with parchment paper so that there is overhang on the sides (making it easy to lift out). Transfer the cookie mix to the square dish and smooth it down into an even layer. Place into the freezer while you work on your chocolate topping.
- Add the chocolate chips to a microwave safe dish and then melt by microwaving for 30 second intervals, bringing it out to stir every 30 seconds until melted. Pour over the top of the peanut butter layer and smooth down evenly. Place into the fridge to set. It will take around 2 hours to set properly.
- When set, cut into squares. To prevent cracks in the chocolate when you are cutting into squares, dip your knife into hot water, dry it off and then cut. Then dip it again, dry it off again and cut again.
Notes
- You can use any cookie here, like Digestives or Golden Oreos or Vegan Graham Crackers.
- Commercial brands of peanut butter work best in this dessert rather than natural style peanut butters.
- Keep leftovers refrigerated and enjoy within a week. They are also very freezer friendly.
- This recipe was originally published in 2017, now updated with clearer text and instructions.
I used belvita breakfast cookies (toasted coconut flavor) because that was all I had on hand. Turned out super tasty, nice crunch from the cookie crumbs. Thinking about trying with crushed pretzels next time.
Awesome! And I think it would also be delish with pretzels!
How will these do w/o the chocolate layer – do you recommend leaving off or do you have a different recipe for peanut bars without any chocolate in them?
You can leave off the chocolate. 🙂
Ok these are ridiculously delicious, the combination of sweet/salty flavours and crunchy/smooth textures is next level. Plus the ratio of chocolate to peanut base is perfect. Thank you for making my day a million times better with these bars! Your recipes are the only ones I get consistently amazing results from. Also they are so accessible for people on a budget and very well explained. You are a gift to the vegan community!
Thank you so much Niamh, that’s so kind of you! And so happy you loved the bars! 🙂
When I make the cookie crumbs do I blend the Oreos with filling?? Excited to make this!
Hi Stephanie, you just use the whole cookie, filling and all! Enjoy! 🙂
I will try this soon for sure! Thanks a lot! Just one question: for the nutritional values you calculate 1 bar, if you used a 9×9 square dish, do you cut that in 3 bars and then in 3 again to do the squares? I would like to calculate the appropiate portion. Thanks again!
Hi there, we cut it into 24 squares, I think it was 6×4 but I’m not entirely sure. Just see how many squares you naturally get. If it’s a different amount, then you could recalculate it. Our nutritional info is just an estimate, and if you want it to be exactly accurate it’s always best to recalculate using the exact ingredients you used. 🙂
Thanks a ton!!
Made today. Realized I used 1.5 cups of peanut butter instead of 1 so the mix was runny. Ughhh. Didn’t want to waste all that butter so I tried adding more crumbs, still runny. Tossed it in the freezer anyway. We shall see what happens in 2 hours!
Hi Lynn! Hope it worked out! I think you may have needed to add more powdered sugar as well to compensate but I hope they’ll still set okay, though they will definitely still be tasty even if not properly set.
These look yummy! If I use Oreos, would it be safe to reduce the sugar since they are already a pretty sweet cookie? Also, is there any reason why they can’t be stored at room temp? Thanks.
Hi Aimee, I’m not sure about reducing the sugar, because you’re also trying to get the right texture here so they set. If you were reducing the powdered sugar I’d probably say you’d need to increase the cookie crumbs, but safest would be to stick to the ratios so that it sets properly. Once they are set, the only real issue is the chocolate topping that may melt if it’s warmer temperatures outside the fridge. But if the temperature is a bit cooler then probably fine outside the fridge. 🙂
Ah, O.K., that makes perfect sense. Thank you. 🙂
Just made these today for our dessert tonight and 1. It was very easy and 2. They were super yummy! I used the golden Oreos, the crust was great , crunchy and flavorful. Vegan chocolate tastes the same as any other chocolate. These are so good you only need one to satisfy your sweet tooth . My husband is not vegan and loved them as much as I did.
Fantastic to hear! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
What size pan do you recommend?
9×9 inch square dish will do great!
Thanks!
Peanut buttery and crunchy and full of flavour