These Chewy Special K Bars are tasty, peanut butter goodness. This is a simple no-bake recipe that makes delicious bars with crunchy cereal, chocolate, and butterscotch chips.
Table Of Contents
Recipe Details
I love these Chewy Special K Bars because they are the best of both worlds: crunchy AND chewy, sweet AND salty. They are addictively good. They’re perfect for a sweet snack in the afternoon or laid out on a dessert table for guests. You’re going to love them!
- TASTE: These Special K Bars are packed with salty-sweet flavor, from the chocolate to the butterscotch, and especially the peanut butter.
- TEXTURE: This dessert is wonderfully crunchy from the cereal. It’s also plenty chewy from the melted chocolate and gooey peanut butter.
- TIME: This recipe takes less than 20 minutes to make.
- EASE: Simple and quick, this no-bake recipe is a breeze. You’ll have no trouble whipping these bars up anytime you get a craving.
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes
- Light corn syrup– This thick sweetener helps hold the bars together as it cools.
- Granulated sugar– Melted into a syrup, this adds sweetness to the bars.
- Special K cereal– This is the base for this dessert and the flakes give it flavor and crunch.
- Unsalted butter- This is used for greasing the pan.
- Creamy peanut butter– Creamy is best here because its smoother and holds together better than crunchy, but you can use crunchy PB if you like more texture.
- Semisweet chocolate chips– These chips have a mix of bitter and sweet chocolate.
- Butterscotch chips– These taste like rich and buttery caramel with hints of toffee.
- Coarse sea salt- For topping, if you like. This flaky sea salt adds a hit of salty flavor with each bite.
Add-ins and Substitutions
- Substitute another cereal- Try making these bars with a different cereal, like Fruity Pebbles or Cocoa Pebbles.
- Make it gluten-free- If you want to make this without gluten, substitute a rice or corn based cereal, like Rice Krispies or Corn Flakes.
- Substitute the chocolate chips- Make this with other chips, such as dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate chips. You can also use peanut butter chips.
- Make them dairy-free- Substitute dairy-free chocolate chips and use oil in place of the butter to keep dairy out of these Special K Bars.
How to Make Chewy Special K Bars
- Boil the sweeteners. Place the granulated sugar and the light corn syrup into a saucepan over medium-high heat and stir. Let it come to a boil and then remove it from the heat
- Add the peanut butter. Stir in the peanut butter thoroughly.
Pro Tip: Make sure the peanut butter is room temperature so it is gooey and soft enough to stir in. Cold from the fridge peanut butter will be hard and clumpy.
- Combine with the Special K cereal. Now pour the cereal into a large bowl and then add the peanut butter mixture to it. Stir everything with a large spoon, working fast before the cooling sugars firm up.
- Press the cereal mixture into the pan. Once everything is combined, press the cereal mixture into a buttered 9×13-inch deep baking dish with a spatula.
- Melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate chips and the butterscotch chips. Do not rush this process or the chocolate might burn or seize up.
- Top the cereal mixture with it. Once the chocolate has melted, pour it over the baking dish and smooth it out. Top it with some coarse sea salt, if you like. Let it set for about 2 hours before cutting and serving.
Recipe Tips
- Use room temperature peanut butter– The peanut butter should be room temperature so it can better mix with the sugars and not clump or cool the liquified sugars when mixing with them.
- Choose creamy emulsified peanut butter- While natural peanut butter (the kind that needs stirring before use) is good, for this recipe, an emulsified brand will mix more easily into the sugars. Also, creamy mixes more smoothly.
- Work fast once the peanut butter mixture is added to the cereal- Since the sugars are beginning to cool down, you will need to mix everything together quickly and press it into the baking dish before it firms up too much.
- Don’t rush melting the chocolate- Melting the chocolate and butterscotch over low heat is important to avoid it either burning or seizing up. Try to be patient and you’ll be rewarded!
FAQs
If your Special K bars are hard, it’s likely you overcooked the sugar and corn syrup. When this happens, the sugar hardens and crystallizes, making the bars hard instead of chewy. Make sure to only bring the sugars to a boil before taking them off the heat and adding the peanut butter.
Special K bars and scotcheroos are nearly identical except for the cereal used. Scotcheroos usually use Rice Krispies, while Special K bars use Special K cereal. Otherwise, they both use sugar, chocolate, peanut butter, and butterscotch to flavor them.
Serving Suggestions
These homemade Special K Bars are a scrumptious dessert that can be served with other sweet treats or drinks. Serve them with your favorites for the best dessert buffet.
- Chocolate treats: Pair these cereal bars with some Chocolate Brandy Fig Bonbons, Chocolate Bark, Chocolate Covered Dates, or Paleo Chocolate Fudge.
- Cookies: Serve them with some Chocolate Macarons, Pecan Shortbread Cookies, Cookies And Cream Cookies, or Monster Cookies.
- Cakes: Enjoy these Chewy Special K Bars with some Tiramisu Cake (VIDEO), Chocolate Mousse Cake, No Bake Mini Cheesecakes (VIDEO), or Nutella Cake.
- Beverages: Serve these sweets with a Hot Chocolate, Caramel Frappuccino (Starbucks Copycat), Pumpkin Spice Latte, or Iced Caramel Macchiato.
Make This Recipe in Advance
Make ahead: It’s pretty quick to make this recipe, but if you want to get a head start, you can mix the bar ingredients together and press them into the baking dish, then store them covered with plastic wrap at room temperature. Later, you can melt the chocolate and add it.
Storing: Store these chewy Special K bars at room temperature in an airtight container. They will last for about 4 days.
Freeze: Wait for the bars to cool completely before cutting and then lay them in an airtight container or ziplock bag. Place wax or parchment paper in between if you need to make another layer. These will last in the freezer for 3-4 months.
More Tasty No-Bake Desserts!
Full Recipe Instructions
Chewy Special K Bars
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 6 cups Special K cereal
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter for greasing the pan
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- Coarse sea salt for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Place 1 cup granulated sugar and 3/4 cup light corn syrup in a saucepan.
- Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and begin stirring the sugar in. Let it come to a boil and remove from heat and stir 1 cup of creamy peanut butter. Make sure your peanut butter is at room temperature.
- Add 6 cups of original special K cereal into a large bowl. Then pour in the melted peanut butter mixture.
- Now stir everything together using a large spoon. Since the sugars are now beginning to cool down, you will need to work fast before it firms up too much.
- Once everything is well combined, press the cereal mixture into a buttered 9×13 inch deep baking dish.
- Then melt 1 cup of semisweet and 1 cup of butterscotch chips in a saucepan over low heat. Do not use high heat to speed this up. It will burn the chocolate and possibly seize it up
- After the chocolate has melted, pour it over the baking dish and smooth it out. Top with a little bit of course sea salt to balance out all the sweetness of the special k bars. Let it set for about 2 hours before cutting and serving.
Notes
- Use room temperature peanut butter– The peanut butter should be room temperature so it can better mix with the sugars and not clump or cool the liquified sugars when mixing with them.
- Choose creamy emulsified peanut butter- While natural peanut butter (the kind that needs stirring before use) is good, for this recipe, an emulsified brand will mix more easily into the sugars. Also, creamy mixes more smoothly.
- Work fast once the peanut butter mixture is added to the cereal- Since the sugars are beginning to cool down, you will need to mix everything together quickly and press it into the baking dish before it firms up too much.
- Don’t rush melting the chocolate- Melting the chocolate and butterscotch over low heat is important to avoid it either burning or seizing up. Try to be patient and you’ll be rewarded!
Nutrition
- BBQ Chicken Thighs - June 16, 2025
- Bang Bang Chicken Skewers - June 9, 2025
- California Roll Sushi Bowls - June 4, 2025
Debbie Wolf says
Could you sub the corn syrup with pure maple syrup?
Dina says
Hi Debbie, I have never tried to substitute this ingredient so I can’t say without testing it out myself. Next time I make these, I will give it a try!