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.
I just made these and totally wish I had seen this recipe sooner! I have been making chocolate with the same ingredients for a year or so and never though to add the veganic rice krispies! My 4 year old and I loved them. I could have eaten the whole pan if I didn’t force myself to stop. Next time I am going to double or tripe the recipe. That’s probably not a good idea… :-0
Hi Brianna! That’s so great!! The best part about these crunch bars- they’re not full of all that other junk so doubling or tripling the recipe- no problem! 😉 So glad you enjoyed them!
I wonder if there is a way to add almond butter or peanut butter to these so there is some protein. Maybe melting a little less chocolate and putting nut butter in?
That’s a great idea, Laura! Adding in some nut butter to the mixture would definitely work and be delicious. I’ll have to experiment with that next time I make them 🙂
The ingredient list says cocoa powder but the instructions say cacao powder. Which one should I use?
Hi Keisha- thanks for letting me know about the typo! You can use either- they’re interchangeable. Cocao is healthier, but more expensive. Totally up to you!
I can’t have fat of any kind, how would this be without the coconut oil?? I want to try them, they sound so good
Hi Kristin, hmmm I’m sure they’ll work, but “won’t” quite taste the same. Also, cocoa powder still has a little fat in it too, so be careful there! Good luck!
My son is allergic to coconut any substitute you think I could use?
If you don’t need to keep it vegan, you could use butter. Or vegetable oil would probably work as well!
These are GREAT. I used Kashi Vanila Pepita cereal and it was amazing. Gives you that chocolate fix when you need one.
Oooh Kashi vanilla pepita sounds AWESOME – I’ll have to try that in my next batch! Thanks for the tip, Kathy! 😀
I would use next time milk chocolate instead of cocoa. My preference. It was too bitter for my taste.
Great tip, Adisa! I use that when I don’t want it to be vegan 🙂
EnjSuoy Life makes a rice milk chocolate that is sweet and not bitter at all. It may work for you if you want the candy to remain vegan. Susan
Freezer definitely seems faster– but could you also put them in the fridge (if you don’t have a freezer)? If so, do you have a guess for how long for them to set?
Thanks! These look awesome!
Hi! Hmmm I’d guess maybe an hour? You really just want to set the chocolate so an hour should be plenty! Let me know how it goes!
Made these today, they’re great! My son gobbled them up 🙂
Oh yay!! Aren’t they super fun?!
These look so good. Do you think I could double the recipe and put it in 9 x13 pan?
Totally! They may be a little bit thicker, but they’ll still be just as delicious!