Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Bars! Perfectly chewy, crispy, caramelly, buttery, soft, and exactly as over-the-top as you need them to be.
Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Bars
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The only downside was I couldn’t stop eating these. Five stars.
Karen
This is a classic case of “it doesn’t have to be fancy to be amazing.”
In This Post: Everything You Need For Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Bars
- How These Treats Came to Be
- These Bars are Extra and Everything
- Refrigerate These Rice Krispie Treats, Please
- Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Bars: Frequently Asked Questions
The Rice Krispie Bar Love Story
I REALLY ADORE these Rice Krispie Bars.
I’ve been making them for a long time, ever since my cousin’s wife Erica brought them to us years ago and I fell absolutely in love with them.
I bothered her for the recipe, as one does, and she sent me this recipe from All Recipes.
The adjustments I’ve made over the years have mostly to do with convenience: standard-size boxes and bags rather than the hard-to-find ones, light brown sugar instead of dark, and ditching the corn syrup, since you already have the sticky caramel to hold it all together.
And also because I’m known to be a fan of short ingredient lists.
These Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Bars Aren’t For Everyone
If you’re the kind of person who likes an understated dessert, you might need to look elsewhere.
These are butter-forward, sugar-forward, and salt-forward. These are not subtle. They are simple, but they are also big, very sweet and salty, obnoxiously extra, and so deliciously life-changing.
They remind me of the Extra Good Puppy Chow – like, you’ve probably already had puppy chow, but you haven’t had AMAZING puppy chow until you’ve basically doubled the butter and chocolate and stuck the whole thing in the freezer.
That’s what’s happening here. You’ve had a Rice Krispie Bar, but you have not lived until you’ve had THIS Rice Krispie Bar. Extra butter, extra gooey goodness in the form of a quick homemade salted caramel, and extra textural goodness from a pop into the fridge. DIAL IT UP.
I won’t judge if you’re a person who takes their treats a little more restrained. But for those of us who enjoy a massively caramelly, unapologetically salty-sweet bite of a classic RKB, this one will deliver.
Please Refrigerate These Rice Krispie Bars – Yes, I Said It
Rice Krispie Bars usually aren’t refrigerated, but here is my weird secret: I really enjoy these Rice Krispie Bars cold out of the fridge.
For regular Rice Krispie Bars, that would not work. They’d dry out in two seconds.
But in this case, we have twice the butter (yay!) so the cold treatment tightens up the buttery-mallow-salty-caramel mixture into something a bit more firm, but still very soft and chewable. So what you get is a tight, tender, chewy, sweet and salty crispy-crunch that is just so ultra-satisfying.
They are a 10 in all forms, so room temp will also work for you and be nice and soft. But just try refrigerating them for a texture boost. See if I’m crazy.
Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Bars: Frequently Asked Questions
Should my caramel be firm or soft?
You’ll want soft caramel for these bars. To achieve this, avoid boiling the caramel excessively. I’d recommend just keeping the caramel over low heat and heating it just enough to get it incorporated and slightly thickened.
Flaky salt? What’s that?
Get yourself some Maldon Sea Salt Flakes (affiliate link) – just so good!
Can I store these at room temperature?
You can, but please try them in the fridge. They stay cold, crispy, buttery, and are still deliciously soft and chewy.
Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Bars
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 15–20 bars 1x
Description
Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Bars! Perfectly chewy, crispy, caramelly, buttery, soft, and exactly as over-the-top as you need them to be.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons flaky sea salt
- 10-ounce package miniature marshmallows (16 ounces for extra gooey!)
- 12-ounce box of Rice Krispies or crispy rice cereal (about 11–12 cups)
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add sugar and whipping cream; stir to incorporate. It will take a minute, but as it heats, you’ll start to see a smooth, creamy caramel mixture form. Heat over medium-low heat for 5-7 minutes, until you have a slightly thickened caramel sauce that coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and stir in the salt. Taste and adjust for more salt if you want.
- Add the marshmallows and stir until melted.
- Stir in the cereal. Press mixture into a 9×13 pan. You might have a little bit of extra that doesn’t fit in the pan – perfect for a little snack, if you ask me.
- Cool slightly, cut into squares, and enjoy! You can eat these at room temperature, but I also love them in the refrigerator! They stay excellently tight, compact, and yet still soft and chewy as they thaw. For some reason that cold, crispy, buttery texture is just really enjoyable.
Notes
You don’t want to boil the caramel mixture excessively, otherwise you’ll end up with firm caramel instead of soft caramel once the bars cool. I’d recommend just keeping the caramel over low heat and heating it just enough to get it incorporated and slightly thickened.
Personally I don’t like to store these at room temperature for more than a few hours because of the cream in the caramel sauce. You can let them hang out on the counter for a bit before you serve, but then I usually pop the leftovers into the fridge for some cold, crunchy magic.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: No-Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: rice krispie bars, salted caramel rice krispie bar, dessert bar
More Treats To Love
- Modern Scotcheroos (another take on the classic Rice Krispie Bar)
- Favorite Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (browned butter is next-level good)
- Old School Homemade Oreos (why are these so amazing??)
October 24, 2022
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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These look great! If I already have some homemade salted caramel in the fridge, could I use that? I’m wondering how much I’d need to use. Maybe microwave to melt, with a little more butter and add it to the marshmallows?
Hi, Amy! That might work. You just want the caramel to be super soft and silky, not firm.
Am I the only one wondering about adding a dark chocolate drizzle? Too much?
Oo la la! Love the way you think, Nora!
Hello! These sound delicious, but I have a 3-year-old who can’t eat dairy. Could I use your vegan caramel sauce recipe and mix and match it together with this one, so you think? Thank you!!
Hi, Stephanie! We haven’t tested out our vegan caramel sauce in this recipe yet, but it’s worth a shot! Let us know how it goes for you. Hope your 3-year-old loves these!
I can’t digest heavy cream very well, but can do half and half….would that work for this recipe?
We haven’t tested out making the caramel with half and half yet. The texture might be a bit different, but we’d love to hear how it goes!
I made them with half and half yesterday. At first they were too loose, but I pressed them down firmly in the pan and then put them in the fridge for a couple of hours and was able to cut them. Very nice flavor!!
Wonderful to hear! Thank you for sharing!
I really liked the read about the rice crispies treat. The buttery, salty, sweet taste of the rice crispies. Your way of writing is spectacular and welcoming. The rice crispies look delicious. I hope that you have much success. Please write my post sometime.
Flavor was okay but nothing special, more like a buttery flavor rather than salted caramel. The moisture from the cream also seemed to make these go stale within hours vs stay krispy, not sure if you have any tips for that.
Hi, Natalie! We’d recommend storing these in the fridge. That way, they’ll stay very crunchy. 😊
Best rice crispies I’ve ever made/had!
Seriously didn’t think anyone could improve upon my favorite brown butter rice crispies but these were beyond and so simple to make!
These are so good! I felt compelled to review after my first bite out of the fridge, so delicious and so easy to make.
I did have to keep the heat on low while mixing in the marshmallows…should they really have been able to melt off heat?
These are delicious! My sister who doesn’t usually like Rice Krispie bars really liked these. I used the larger bag of marshmallows, but personally thought that made them too gooey so I added more cereal.
These look amazing- I’m going to make them for my Halloween party!
Could I use brown butter instead of regular?
These were amazing. We could not stop eating them. I did have to keep heating once I added the marshmallows because I couldn’t get them to melt otherwise. Best Rice Krispie treats I’ve ever had.
I came here for the recipe but ended up falling in love with your writing.
Could you use salted butter and adjust for the salt u add, or does it mess with the Carmel process?
Salted butter should work and then just adjust the salt!
Followed the recipe, but mine were not crispy at all, they were chewy. My husband will not eat them, but I love the flavor.
These look amazing- I’m going to make them for my Halloween party!
Hi, Becca! They tend to stay crunchy if you keep them in the fridge. Hope this helps!
As soon as they cooled, they have been refrigerated.
Hmmm…we haven’t had this happen during testing, so it’s hard to say why this turned out this way for you. So sorry about that! If you try these out again, we’d love to hear!
Since I found out about this recipe in my family, there has never been a day that I have not eaten. My whole family is addicted to this dish. Thank you so much for sharing
These really are good out of the fridge! Agreed with other posters that I needed to keep it on low heat to melt the marshmallows, but besides that, these truly are a lovely treat! Chewy in the best way, buttery, sweet and salty… I’m always thinking about eating a square for dessert, with coffee or tea… they’re perfect!
Made these and they were a huge hit! The store sent frosted Rice Krispies, so I used browned butter to try and cover the sweetness. They ended up delicious.
Never heard of these but sounds delicious!
Thanks
Made these yesterday for a spooky movie night, and they were a big hit! Made the caramel vegan by making and using cashew cream, instead of heavy cream, and it tasted so good. Put them in the fridge as suggested overnight and they’re firm but still very chewy. Love it.
The only downside was I couldn’t stop eating these. Five stars.
Great blog thanks for this content i really like it this type of blogs.
Never really tried anything like this, only the plane ones, but I am curious, will give it a go this weekend! Thanks 🙂
Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Bars for evening snacks it was the best food with friends and family. These look amazing I’m going to make them in this family weekend party.
Love this recipe. It looks so simple and I love anything salted caramel!