No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 02/21/2020 - Last updated on 08/09/2023
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These no-bake peanut butter bars are easy, healthy peanut butter bars topped with a silky, luscious chocolate peanut butter ganache.
A comforting health dessert recipe ready in less than 20 minutes with a bonus!
Yes, the recipe is not only vegan but also grain-free, paleo, and keto-friendly!
I am so glad you are here today to try these easy, luscious peanut butter bars! You know my passion for peanut butter and easy vegan desserts, right?
What’s This Easy Vegan Dessert?
So this is my new creation, or should I say an improvement of my 3 ingredients peanut butter cookies, turned into no-bake peanut butter bars.
That’s pretty much what it is, but you will love the chocolate peanut butter ganache on top of those bars. It brings the previous cookie recipe to the next level of decadence.
How To Make Healthy Peanut Butter Bars
You are reading well. All you need to make this delicious no-bake vegan dessert are 5 ingredients.
Ingredients
Let’s see what you need and also how you can adapt the recipe to your taste.
- Peanut Butter – No surprise, peanut butter bars are made of peanut butter but make sure you are using the healthy kind. You need pure peanut butter here, no added oil, no added sugar or salt.
- Maple Syrup – You can replace this with any unrefined liquid sweetener like agave syrup (the bar will taste sweeter!), coconut nectar, sugar-free monk fruit syrup (the texture will be dryer), or brown rice syrup to decrease GI.
- Coconut Flour – It is a delicious grain-free, gluten-free, keto-friendly, perfect for raw baking. It is also high in fiber and perfect to stabilize blood sugar levels and create a healthy dessert. While all-purpose white wheat flour shouldn’t be eaten raw, it is safe to eat raw coconut flour. If you don’t like coconut flour, I recommend using fine oat flour in the recipe. See the variation of ratio in the recipe notes. If you are concerned about eating raw flour, read my article about the raw flours that are safe to eat.
- Dark Chocolate – most 70% cocoa chocolate is vegan-friendly. The darker, the less sugar it will have, so choose what you prefer.
- Coconut Oil – you need coconut oil for the ganache, but you can use refined coconut oil to avoid the coconut flavor or unrefined coconut oil.
Do The Bars Taste Like Coconut?
This is probably one of your main questions since the recipe uses a good amount of coconut flour.
Coconut flour is not as flavorsome as desiccated coconut because it is made from the leftovers of soaked coconut meat while making coconut milk.
As the coconut meat is soaked, then dried, the coconut flavor is washed off. So, except if you absolutely dislike coconut flavor, you won’t taste much coconut in these bars.
Storing No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars
No-bake recipes, in general, must be stored in a cool place, fridge, or freezer, in an airtight box.
You can keep these bars for up to 1 week in the fridge or freeze them for a few months.
Defrost the bars 2 hours before eating, at room temperature.
More No-Bake Vegan Dessert Recipes
No-bake vegan desserts are the easiest to indulge in a treat that is nourishing and delicious. I recommend trying:
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No-bake Peanut Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - fresh, runny, no added oil or sugar
- 1 cup Coconut Flour - see note for oat flour
- ½ cup Maple Syrup - or any liquid sweetener like brown rice syrup or agave or coconut nectar
Chocolate peanut butter ganache
- 3.5 oz Vegan Dark Chocolate - 70%-85%
- ¼ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - fresh, runny, no added oil or sugar
- 2 tablespoons Coconut Oil - melted – use refined coconut oil for no coconut flavor
Instructions
- Cover a 9-inch x 9-inch rectangle baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir peanut butter and maple syrup until evenly combined and smooth.
- Stir in coconut flour. The dough will get thick, dry, and difficult to stir with a spatula, so use your hands to knead the dough and form a ball.
- Evenly press the peanut butter dough ball all over the prepared pan. You want to fully cover the pan in an even layer of peanut butter dough. Smoothen the top of the layer using the back of a spoon.
- Freeze while you prepare the chocolate ganache.
- In a small mixing bowl, add the pieces of 70% vegan dark chocolate with melted coconut oil and peanut butter.
- Melt under bain-marie or in the microwave by 30-second bursts, stirring between to prevent the chocolate from burning. It is ready when all the chocolate is melted, and the mixture is shiny and smooth.
- Remove the baking dish from the freezer and pour the chocolate ganache over the peanut butter layer.
- Spread evenly with a spatula.
- Return the pan to the freezer for 10 minutes or until the chocolate ganache is set.
- Slice the whole batch into 16 peanut butter bars.
Storage
- Store bars in the fridge in an airtight container for 1 week or freeze. Defrost 2 hours before eating at room temperature or enjoy half frozen. Note that the peanut layer dries out slightly after freezing. The texture will be closer to a shortbread be still delicious.
Hi. Can I use almond flour instead? Thank you.
They will be too soft with almond flour and they won’t hold their shape
How come in the metric system the coconut flour is much less than the peanut butter, while in American unitd they are both a cup? I am confused.
Cups are volumes, metric are weight. Since peanut butter is way heavier then coconut flour, a cup of peanut butter has way more grams than a cup of coconut flour.
Could I use
Gluten free flour?
I didn’t try this option but the raw flours used in this recipe are gluten-free and safe to eat raw. Also, all-purpose gluten-free flour is not safe to be eaten raw, unless toasted before used.
Wonderful treat and SO easy!! Followed the recipe exactly except I added a little flakey salt on the chocolate. I love the little bit of salt. This one is a definite keeper. Thank you!!!
Made this before many times, it is so delicious. I recommend using a mini muffin tin to make cookie bar bites. Just take a small bit of dough and press it into each cup(lined with mini muffin cups) and then add and smooth out a dollop of ganache on each with a spoon. Makes about 25.
Wow yummy ideas!! I’m allergic to sesame seeds though & saw the cookies have thanini in them. Do you know what I could use as a substitute please?
Tahini can be replaced by any nut butter like almond butter or peanut butter
Can u please tell me how to divide the PB…Inotherwords~~How much peanut butter goes in BOTTOM layer and TOP layer? Thanks!!!
Scroll up for the recipe card. Enjoy
i like the this recipe. can I use almond butter instead. my husband does not like peanut butter,
Absolutely yes!
An you swap out the coconut oil for butter as I’m not concerned about it being vegan
Thanks
Butter stay softer than coconut oil at room temperature after being melted and it won’t firm up the bar as much.
Oh wow, I just made these and they were delicious. I think the coconut flour I had in my pantry had gone bad so I made my own in a blender with shredded coconut. This was really easy and so good. Thanks for an amazing recipe.
I’m checking on the size of the pan. The recipe says 9inch by 5 inch pan. How do you get 16 bars from 9×5?
I updated the pan to 9 x 9 sorry for that
Oops I was a little too late and I made in a 5×9 inch the first time. It was still delicious tho! Planning to make again today!
Great recipe! Can almond flour be used as a substitute?
You can’t replace coconut flour by almond flour or the bar will be much softer
These bars are SO delicious! Can’t wait to share them with the family at Christmas – thank you!
Hi could I mix coconut n oat flour? If yes what ratio
It will be a very different ratio and since I didn’t try this option I can’t recommend I am sorry
Any idea how many ounces each bar should be? I cut mine smaller and would love to have a little more accurate nutrition facts. They are delicious btw; especially for my extreme sweet tooth!
I didn’t weight the bars but if you are using the same tray size and cut the whole recipe into the same serving size, it will match the nutrition panel. Enjoy!
Everything looks SO Good! I can’t wait to try them
Vegan desserts for the win! Have you ever tried using almond flour instead? I have a hard time finding coconut flour and I’m hoping to something other than the oat option. TIA!
Coconut flour contains 4 time smore fiber than almond so you will need a lot more almond flour to compensate the coconut flour which will impact the texture of the bar too. I didn’t try this option yet I am sorry. Enjoy
Love that it is so sweet and delicious without processed sugars. Another great recipe!
These are great! I added brown rice crisps just because I had them around and they were great. I also made a batch of vegan miso caramel sauce last week and drizzled a little bit over the top. SO GOOD. Thank you for the recipe!
These are incredible!! So insanely good! And soooo easy! Thank you so much for the recipe. I will definitely be making them again!
You can change almond flour for coconut flour. Just use 1/4 cup of syrup to 1 cup almond four and 1 cup peanut butter…. I actually like them with almond flour more.
Thank you for this recipe! Can I use swerve powdered sweetener or Stevia Pyure granulated sweetener? I don’t have any liquid sweetener. Is there some way to make it liquid so it won’t be so dry? I will also use cocoa instead of the dark chocolate. Thank you!
It won’t work well with a granulated sweetener, it will be very dry I am sorry. Enjoy ! XOXO Carine
This was *MWAH* so good!!! I really enjoys these. They had the perfect sweetness to them and a delicious crumbly texture! I actually used almond butter instead of peanut butter. They’re extra special with a little flaky sea salt sprinkled on top!
Thank you so much for the lovely words. I agree, salt and peanut butter is the best part ! Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
These were delicious! Is there anyway to leave out the maple syrup next time ? Or would it make the mixture too dry?
Not really, the bars will be very dry without syrup but you an use sugar-free maple flavored syrup. Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
These are amazing!! Because everyone is baking these days we had limited flour at the store so I had to use cassava flour. Texture was great and the taste amazing! Perfect salty and sweet combo.
I am happy to see the recipe works with cassava flour too! Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
Thank you guys for this delicious recipe! I’ve made yesterday and I was so happy to prepare it and to enjoy it so quick. The recipe is easy to make, healthy and extremely good. Living in London in a share house, I’ve offered to my housemates and they liked it as well. I totally recommend the recipe and I’m gonna try other recipes from you. Stay safe!
Thank you a lot! I can’t wait to see which recipe you are trying next. Take care, XOXO Carine
I added corn flakes to the filling for a little crunch! It was a HUGE hit!! Thanks for the recipe!!
What a great idea!
Hello Carine, can I use regular peanut butter? Not easy to get pure peanut butter here. Thanks!!
Sure but if yours has added sugar the bars will be very sweet. Enjoy, Carine.
this is now my go-to everyday dessert. i make it ALL THE TIME. it is really good with trader joe’s cashew butter too!
Thanks for sharing your adaptation of this recipe ! Cashew butter sounds delicious too. Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
Can I use almond flour instead coconut flour ?
Yes, you can use oatmeal flour or almond flour as substitute. Have to add much, much more.
It tasted great and delicious. Both ways disappeared quick.
Thanks guys,
Unfortunately you can’t swap coconut flour for almond flour with the same ratio. They both have different fiber content and therefore, coconut flour is 4 times more liquid absorbent. You would need way more almond flour to reach the same texture, not sure how much as I didn’t try this option I am sorry. Enjoy the recipe, XOXO Carine.
Have tried few times with oat/almond flour. It’s really took me around 4 times more. But in other hand, it turned delicious as well.
You are right, it’s took me around 4 more times almond flour/oats.
But, it turned out delicious. Made twice with almond flour and once with oats.
Tips: 1. It would be nice to make holes with folk in the dough and fill it with chocolate mix.
2. It also would be nice to add some of your favorite toasted nuts on the dough or the chocolate itself.
We liked it as is or with changings.
Love how easy and tasty these peanut bars are! Back in good favor with my nephew, had to take them away after he ate 5!
Hello Carine,
What does the 3.5 g of vegan dark chocolate mean? It does say 150g in brackets which I took to be the correct weight needed of 150 grams.
Thanks for a fabulous recipe.
Regards, Mary
Hi Mary, Thanks for spotting my mistake. I meant 3.5oz so 150 g of dark chcooclate. Thanks to you the recipe is now upated 🙂 Enjoy the peanut butter bars, XOXO Carine.