These No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars are easy, healthy peanut butter bars topped with a silky, luscious chocolate peanut butter ganache. It’s a comforting, healthy vegan 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? I’ve made Perfect Bars, 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Oatmeal Balls, or No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars to fill your vegan dessert platters.
So this is my new creation, or should I say an improvement of my 3-ingredient 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 these bars. It brings the previous cookie recipe to the next level of decadence.
Ingredients and Substitutions
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.
How To Make Healthy Peanut Butter Bars
All you need to make this delicious healthy vegan dessert are 5 ingredients.
- Line a 9×9-inch baking dish with parchment paper and oil it with coconut oil to make it easier to unmold the bars.
- In a medium bowl, stir peanut butter and maple syrup until combined and smooth.
- Add coconut flour and stir until fully incorporated. The dough will be thick and dry.
- Use your hands to knead the dough into a ball and press it evenly into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Freeze the base while you prepare the ganache.
- In a small bowl, combine chopped dark chocolate with melted coconut oil and peanut butter. Melt using a bain-marie or microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each cycle to prevent burning. Continue until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is shiny and smooth.
- Remove the frozen base from the freezer and pour the ganache over it. Spread the ganache evenly with a spatula. Return the pan to the freezer for 10 minutes or until the ganache is set.
- Slice the frozen bars into 16 squares. Let the bars thaw slightly at room temperature before serving for easier cutting.
Watch How I Make It
Tips for the Best Peanut Butter Desserts
- Use 70% or higher dark chocolate for a richer flavor and firmer ganache.
- Substitute refined coconut oil with melted cacao butter for a different flavor profile.
- Add a sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top of the set ganache for an extra flavor dimension.
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
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 Chips - 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.
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!