These delicious and healthy recipe for rice crispy treats (or squares) is given a delicious chocolate twist with cocoa powder, natural sweetener (no sugar!) and they are gluten free and dairy free giving the classic Kellogs treat a run for its money!!
A Healthy Rice Crispy Treats Recipe…with Cocoa!
When life gives you brown rice cereal… you make a delicious healthy rice crispy/krispie treats recipe with cocoa! I’m revamping this delicious and popular recipe from the blog as I noticed it still gets a decent amount of traffic and it was time to whip up this recipe again. It’s just so delicious!
I wanted to make a healthier treat/snack for Hemsley (my 20-month old daughter) to enjoy so this recipe fit the bill.
Hemsley is a huge fan of brown rice cereal in general, the completely natural, one-ingredient-only (brown rice) cereal, so I figured she would love these naturally sweetened rice crispy treats too. We are at the stage where I am giving her some “sweet” treats now and then as I honestly want her to enjoy all kinds of food; the healthy, the savoury, the naturally sweet, and even a few baby burgers here and there!
Making Healthy Rice Crispy Treats
Typical rice crispy squares are made with rice krispie cereal, which is pretty much puffed refined rice, stuck together with melted butter and marshmallows (ahem, refined sugar bombs) so they aren’t the healthiest treat in the bunch.
My challenge with this healthy and dairy free rice crispy treats recipe was to keep my version tasting just as delicious while keeping the refined sugars and dairy out. The brown rice cereal I use for this recipe is from Nature’s Path and it really is just whole grain brown rice, puffed, and doesn’t have any sweeteners, preservatives, or any other odd ingredients.
Healthier Sweeteners For Rice Crispy Treats
To bind the brown rice puffs I used a mixture of unpasteurized honey, natural almond butter, and Earth Balance soy-free vegan butter which is a mixture of oils (palm, canola, safflower, flax, and olive), then I added some raw cocoa powder and shredded coconut for even more flavour and texture.
Instead of honey you could use any of the following unrefined liquid sweeteners:
- Brown rice syrup
- Coconut nectar
- Barley malt syrup
- Maple syrup (mixed with brown rice syrup as maple syrup is a bit too thin on it’s own)
This healthy rice crispy squares recipe contains an ample amount of fibre, energy boosting complex carbohydrates, natural sweetness, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats so they truly are the perfect sweet treat for you, your little ones, or really anyone else in your family.
I also feel confident they are healthy snacks for kids lunch boxes (as long as they can have almond butter at school) and it’s a great recipe to bring to a party or gathering any time of year.
If your child’s school has a nut free policy you could swap out the almond butter for a seed butter such as sunflower seed butter or even pumpkin seed butter. While this will change the taste a bit, the texture will still be good and the flavour still delicious!
Have you ever created a healthier version of Rice Crispy/Krispie Treats? I’d love to hear what ingredients you used. Let me know in the comments section and be sure to pin the photo below the recipe to save this one for later!
Whether it’s a birthday party, weekend treats, or something you want to bring on-the-go for road trip snacking or even camping, these delicious treats are a great option to try!
Healthy Rice Crispy Squares
These delicious and healthy recipe for rice crispy treats is given a delicious chocolate twist with cocoa powder, natural sweetener (no sugar!) and they are gluten free and dairy free giving the classic treat a run for its money!
Ingredients
- 4 cups brown rice crisps cereal (Nature's Path is great, but you can use any brand)
- 1/4 cup natural almond butter
- 1/3 cup raw honey
- 1/4 cup Earth Balance vegan butter or regular organic butter if you prefer
- 3 tablespoons raw or regular cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
Instructions
- In a pan over low heat melt the vegan butter, almond butter, and honey and stir until well combined.
- In a large bowl add the rice crisps cereal, coconut, and cocoa powder.
- Pour the melted almond butter mixture over the cereal mixture and stir until well combined.
- Press the mixture into a 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper (the smaller the pan the thicker the squares).
- Top with another piece of parchment paper and press the mixture firmly into the pan. Very firmly.
- Place the pan in the freezer for 1 hour and move to the fridge and leave overnight.
- In the morning cut into squares and enjoy!
- Store the remaining bars in the fridge.
Be sure to pin the photo below to save this recipe for later and of course, share the love!
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Have a lovely Sunday,
Hello, every time try to make this sort of treat, they never turn out crunchy – the brown rice puffs don’t crisp up and always end up soggy/soft. Do you have any idea what I’m doing wrong? I even tried putting the rice puffs in the oven to start with, but they still went soft. I used a combo of brown rice puffs, peanut butter, maple syrup and hemp seeds. Thank you! 🙂
hi
can i use date spread instead of honey?
what are the measurements in grams for the almond butter honey etc?
Hi Harry, you could try date paste, but it might be a bit too thick to be honest. I do not have the gram amounts, sorry!
Hi, Thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to try them! I was just wondering if I could substitute honey for Maple Syrup? Thanks.
Hi Amanda, I don’t think maple syrup will work simply because it’s such a thin and not as sticky consistency, they might end up being crumbly!
Hi, do these freeze well?
Hi May, I’m not sure the rice puffs will stay crispy once thawed if you freeze them!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Hi Vanessa, they are best enjoyed within 5 days otherwise they get a bit too dry for my liking!
This looks so good! Can I leave out the chocolate to make it a plain rice crispy recipe?
Hi Suzanne, thank you! I have not tried these without the chocolate, so I’m not sure how they would turn out. But stay tuned as I have a regular rice crispy recipe coming soon!
I made these last night and OMG soo good!!! I took them to work and everyone asked for the recipe…I used PB instead of almond butter and coconut oil instead of vegan butter. I also sprinkled the coconut o top as well…PERFECT thank you so much!
Yay! So happy to hear this Michelle, and thank you so much for sharing!
Can I replace the butter with coconut oil? Will it change the end result? I’m not a fan of vegan butter.
Yes you can, the end result should still work in terms of texture but flavour will be much more coconut forward! 🙂
I loved the taste but it was very crumbly. And not very crispy. I left it overnight in the fridge. So you have any tips for me? Thanks
Hi Melanie! Did you press down the mixture firmly in the pan? Sometimes if it is not pressed down hard enough it won’t bond as well! Another thing is if you made any ingredient substitutions, that can change the texture as well!
Oof, another healthy chocolate treat with a decadent crunch?! Sign me up! I used to enjoy rice crispy treats more than the actual cereal. Hey, I’m not complaining about that at all since the rice crispy cereal is bland and you can totally have fun making these desserts!
Lol! Agreed, much more enjoyable than the actual cereal!!