Chocolate Crunch Bars – Vegan
Make your favorite crispy chocolate candy bar at home! It’s easier than you think to make your own Chocolate Crunch Bars – Vegan and gluten-free friendly, too!
Do you have a candy from your childhood? Crunch Bars are definitely one of mine as they were one of my dad’s favorites and so when we started this blog it was one of the very first candies we ever made after being inspired by Oh She Glows. Since then it has been made and shared and tweaked and the Chocolate Crunch Bars – Vegan, are still one of our favorite candies to make and one of my favorites to make for my girls. Not only are they made with all natural sweeteners, but also super healthy coconut oil, and the superfood, cacao!
Ingredients Needed
- Rice Cereal – To make them gluten free, we love this cereal, but you could also use your favorite gluten filled crispy rice cereal, too.
- Coconut Oil – This keeps it’s vegan, but you could use butter.
- Chocolate Powders – We prefer a mixture of Cocoa and Cacao because of the super food power of cacao, but without being too overwhelmingly rich.
- Maple Syrup – Our all natural sweetener of choice, but you could also use honey.
- Vanilla Extract – Have you made your own, yet?
- Salt – Just a pinch!
Tip: Control the crunch! We love these crunch bars packed with rice cereal, but if you want a lower to chocolate to crisp ratio and crunch, you can definitely reduce the amount.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Even better than the simple, healthy, ingredients – these bars are so easy to make!
Step 1: Heat everything in a saucepan.
Step 2: Add chocolate mixture to rice cereal.
Step 3: Give it all a good mix and then add it to a parchment-lined loaf pan, or baking pan.
Step 4: Spread it into an even layer and then pop in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes.
Step 5: Once it has all set, then thanks to the parchment paper all you need to do is lift it out of the pan (easy – cleany) and then slice!
How delicious do these look?? They are SO GOOD.
These are packed with rice cereal, just the way we like it! But you can definitely reduce the amount of rice cereal, too.
Hands down one of our favorite candies – and so healthy!
Other Favorite Candies
- Copycat Butterfinger Candy Bites
- Homemade Peppermint Patties
- Homemade Mini Almond Joys
- Homemade Andes Mints
- Corn Syrup Free Peanut Brittle
- Easy Pecan Toffee
- Peanut Butter Pecan Crunch Bars
These do not last long in our house!
FAQs
Yup! They of course won’t be vegan, but also delicious!
No, you will need to use something that will solidify so vegetable oil and olive oil won’t work.
In the fridge or freezer. At room temp / warm they will get a little melty and may melt a little in your hands if you take your time eating them. That’s why sometimes we cut them into true little bite-sized pieces.
Yup! Honey or agave works great.
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
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Chocolate Crunch Bars – Vegan
Equipment
- loaf pan or baking pan
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup cacao powder
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup gluten free rice cereal or regular if gluten free isn't needed
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Melt coconut oil with cacao powder in small saucepan on low heat. Add maple syrup, vanilla, and a pinch of salt and mix well.
- Add rice cereal to a bowl and then add the chocolate mixture and mix well so that the cereal is completely covered.
- Line a loaf pan or a square baking pan with parchment paper. Pour in rice cereal and chocolate mixture and flatten into an even level.
- Place in freezer for 20-30 minutes or until it is completely set.
- Lift parchment paper out of pan and separate the bar from paper. Cut into bars (of your choice of size) and enjoy!
- Keep in freezer or fridge until ready to serve.
Do you think these would work if I added natural peanut butter?
Oh totally! It’ll still freeze the same and I think it’ll add a nice flavor!! Let me know how they turn out!
Made these today – they are delicious (and SUPER easy to make)!! Definitely saving this recipe and making it often. The only thing I changed was I added way more rice crispies (like roughly 1-2 more cups) as I found the mixture too runny. Evidently it took longer to set in the freezer because it was thicker so I might use a different pan (like an 8×8) next time. Thank you!
That’s so great to hear, Anisa!! That’s a GREAT idea adding more rice crispies – I bet they added a super delicious extra crunch! 😀
My Husband will be begging me for these on a regular basis! Yum. and good for you! Pinned
mmmh! a great classic! I often make a cake with rice and chocolate instead of the bars … but also these are so cute 🙂
Thanks!! And what a great idea for cake!!
Oh wow! These look amazing! Thanks for sharing 🙂
These are one of my favorite candy bars to buy. I can’t believe how easy they are to make. So impressive! I never would have guessed you could just combine such a small amount of ingredients to make these. Thanks for sharing this. I hope you have a great birthday, Tracy!
I’d choose these any day over something that comes pre-packaged – so easy to make too
Thanks! They’re super easy and so much better for you 🙂
These look decadent. I am almost afraid to make them—because I know I won’t be able to stop eating them 🙂
Haha! We’re having the same problem! 😉
These look amazing!!! <3 Happy birthday in advance!
Aw thank you!! 😀
Yum! These chocolate bars are, like, my IDEAL snack!! 🙂
XOXO,
<3 Isabella
Oooh Isabella they’re an amazing snack- and not nearly as bad as the “real” thing! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂