Healthy Cereal Bars are made with fluffy cereal, peanut butter, honey, and chocolate chips. They're chewy, delicious, and perfect for eating as a grab-and-go morning meal!

A Quick Look

Recipe Name: Healthy Cereal Bars
Ready In: 40 minutes
Serves: 12 bars
Main Ingredients: cereal, natural peanut butter, honey, coconut oil, salt if peanut butter isn't salted, vanilla, chocolate chips melted with 1 teaspoon coconut oil.
Why You'll Love It: Healthy Cereal Bars are made with fluffy cereal, peanut butter, honey, and chocolate chips. They're chewy, delicious, and perfect for eating as a grab-and-go morning meal!

A tasty morning bite

I'm not a huge breakfast gal, but I also have a love for chocolate that's like no other. If I want to stay on my breakfast game and start my day feeling fueled and ready to tackle what life throws at me, having a chocolate breakfast at my disposal is key.

I was tired of the savory egg-based breakfasts and decided to go after what I really wanted - chocolate! I wound up creating these healthy cereal bars that are sort of like granola bars, but better. They don't contain the gross ingredients present in so many granola bar brands, and they do pretty well when it comes to nutrition!

If you like chocolate, you'll like these breakfast bars. Eat them as morning fuel or as a snack between meals for a satisfying bite! I like to whip up a batch and keep them in my freezer for enjoying in mornings or whenever a craving hits.

What's a cereal bar?

A cereal bar is just what it sounds like. It's a yummy bar made with cereal and chocolatey ingredients that's perfect for grabbing as a quick breakfast! It's essentially a granola bar that's acceptable to eat first thing in the AM when you're running out the door. These tasty bars are totally kid friendly, but adults will definitely love them too.

Ingredients used to make healthy cereal bars

These healthy breakfast bars are made with a handful of yummy, kid (and adult)-approved ingredients. Start with a cereal, and then grab your favorite peanut butter, some honey, and a few other items. Nothing questionable here - you're going to love everything that's included!

Cereal*
Natural peanut butter
Honey
Coconut oil
Salt**
Vanilla
Chocolate chips melted with 1 teaspoon coconut oil

*I used One Degree Organics Sprouted Honey O's, but you can use puffeed rice, cheerios, or any somewhat puffed cereal.

**Add salt only if peanut butter is unsalted.

Tools used to make this recipe

You'll need a small list of kitchen tools for this recipe. Grab a large mixing bowl, a sauce pan, a baking dish, and a stirring utensil, and let's get started!

For measuring, you'll need the following sizes: 1 tsp, ¼ tsp, ¼ cup, ½ cup, and 1 cup.

How to make healthy cereal bars

Healthy cereal bars are a no-bake treat made by melting ingredients on the stove and mixing them with the fluffy cereal. It's an easy recipe that should require 15 minutes or less of prep time!

Pour the cereal into a large mixing bowl.

Next, add the peanut butter, honey, coconut oil, and salt to a sauce pan. Heat over medium until everything is warmed through, about two minutes.

Turn off the heat and add the vanilla.

Then, pour the mix over the top of the cereal and mix until everything is very well coated.

Press the coated cereal into an 8x8 pan VERY tightly. Wet your hand and press down until it is compacted completely.

Drizzled melted chocolate over the top and place in the freezer for at least 1 hour before eating.

Let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before cutting, and enjoy!

Keep stored in the freezer.

A healthier granola bar alternative

After hearing the words "cereal bar," people are often surprised that these don't contain granola! As it turns out, cereal works quite well when mixed with ingredients like chocolate and coconut oil, much like granola itself. It mixes and binds together to create chewy pull-apart style treats.

Apart from the cereal, another thing that sets this recipe apart is the fact that it's made with healthier ingredients. Everything was chosen to provide as much nutrition as possible. You'll see many healthy alternatives to common granola bar ingredients!

Natural peanut butter
I keep it as natural as possible with my nut butter, always. Processed versions are filled with chemicals and preservatives, two things I like to stay away from. The more natural, the better!

Honey
Honey is a wonderful alternative to granulated sugar! It's perfectly sweet and fulfills my all-natural guidelines. I recommend using this in any baked good that you make!

Coconut oil
Like with honey, coconut oil is a direct swap that I use in place of vegetable or canola oil. It is more nutritious and is a better healthy fat option. Plus, it helps give the chocolate in this recipe the perfect consistency!

Try these breakfast recipes next

Need more breakfast ideas? Here are some of my favorites! Try the chocolate peanut butter granola for another sweet morning meal!

If you tried this recipe or any other recipes on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Follow @erinliveswhole on Instagram and tag me in any of the recipes you make so I can repost them!

Erin Antoniak