Ooey gooey chocolate chip peanut butter bars…
The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
These chocolate chip peanut butter bars are one of the top most popular recipes on my blog – and for very good reason!
When you need a recipe that both meat eaters and vegans love, these bars are an absolute must-try, because they will never let you down.
Of every dessert I’ve ever made, these peanut butter bars are still one of my go-to recipes for parties, because they’re easy to transport, get rave reviews even from guests who aren’t into healthy eating, and you’re pretty much guaranteed no leftovers by the end of the night.
People go crazy for the soft, gooey, peanut buttery texture and melty chocolate in each delicious bite, and they taste like the lovechild of a chocolate chip cookie and a Reeses peanut butter cup!
*There’s now also a chocolate brownie version, so be sure to try the Brownie Batter Bars!
Above – watch the video of making the peanut butter bars!
The peanut butter bars can be:
Vegan
Keto
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Sugar Free
Egg Free
Grain Free
Soy Free
Paleo
And Oil Free
(For high-protein peanut butter bars, make these Protein Bars.)
Homemade Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
With chocolate and peanut butter, is it any surprise how good these are?
If Nestlé and Hersheys were to collaborate on a dessert, I’m pretty sure they’d come up with something along the lines of these gooeylicious chocolate chip peanut butter bars.
The recipe was originally adapted from my Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies, and I’ve changed it over the years to make it even better (which I didn’t think was possible, because the original was so good!).
Below is the newest version, which now includes a keto friendly option for those who need it. Everyone should be able to enjoy these crazy delicious peanut butter bars!
(Above, bringing the bars to a party earlier this year. They did not last long!)
If you want a bigger batch, try the popular Ryan Reynolds Blondie Bars.
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup applesauce, or yogurt such as coconutmilk yogurt
- 1 cup peanut butter OR allergy-friendly alternative – nut-free recipe here
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp flour – you can use spelt, white, sorghum, oat, almond, even or buckwheat (50g)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar of choice or xylitol
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips, optional
- up to 2 tbsp milk of choice, only if needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch pan, or line with parchment. Gently heat nut butter if not already stir-able, then stir in the applesauce and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, stir baking soda, salt, flour, sugar, and chocolate chips. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and keep stirring—it will seem very dry at first, so you’ll need to break up the nut butter and stop occasionally to scrape it off your spoon. If needed, slowly add up to 2 tbsp milk of choice as you stir. Don’t add more milk; it will eventually get gooey like cookie dough. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Smooth down evenly. (I press a second sheet of parchment on top to smooth, then remove this sheet.) Press some chocolate chips into the top if desired. Bake 10 minutes. When you take the peanut butter bars out, the top will look set but they will still be very undercooked underneath. This is okay! Leave them to cool for at least 20 minutes, during which time they will firm up. (They also firm up even more overnight.)View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
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Oh my goodness!! Those look so good. I’ll try them for sure!
I wonder how one would go about making this with coconut flour..probably not that much of an easy substitution. Still going to try this though!
Katie- thank you for an egg-free, paleo friendly recipe! These looked so amazing to me, that I made them last night with almond/cashew butter instead of the peanut, almond flour, and 1/3 c. coconut sugar/1/3 c. xylitol. The issues I had were that they didn’t set, and they are too sweet. I was thinking of using 1/4 c. almond flour and 2 tbsp. coconut flour next time, and reducing the sweetener to just 1/3 c. coconut sugar. Has anyone tried this with any amount of coconut flour? Also, should I bake them longer than 10 minutes? Thanks!
Hi! I just saw your comment about trying out coconut flour in these Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Brownies. Did you ever give it a try? If so, how did they turn out? I was hoping to find a way to use coconut flour in these also. Would love your insight. Thank you.
I made these with almond flour and they fall apart; they crumble.
Because coconut is very absorbent, I think they may help bind the ingredients. I am going to re-do this recipe (ONE more time) and let you know what happens!
These look amazing! I love how healthy they are, especially the use of applesauce 🙂
Applesauce is not really a healthy alternative, as a half cup of unsweetened still has the equivalent of three teaspoons of sugar! Double that if it’s sweetened. That said, I’d like to try these using low carb ingredients. Not holding out much hope, as other recipes I’ve tried just end up gooey, crumbly messes. Will comment later if it turns out okay.
Just made these, and wow are they great! Thanks for sharing Katie!
My bars never really “firmed up.” However, I don’t care. I ate the peanut buttery, melty chocolatey goodness with a spoon!
If you put them in the fridge overnight (or even if you leave them out), they firm up even more! 🙂
WOW this is literally amazing I’ve probably read this post five times as I am a big fan of your blog it’s so cool!!!! I was just wondering if I could somehow sub in a liquid sweetener or blend some dates instead of granulated as I really prefer more natural sweeteners,thanks!!!
I had the SAME issue. They completely fall apart; they crumble.
I think they need more binding agent – maybe flaxmeal with water or something else.
They tasted good though…
I had the same experience. Alrhoufj they’re great tasting, they did crumble. Did you ever get feedback on this?
Mine didn’t firm up either they are way too mushy.
I’m going to try putting them back in the over?
Just stick them in the fridge overnight and they are fine the next day, no need to bake longer, which could risk drying them out!
Hello,
i just made these with fresh ground peanut butter. They came out really well but a bit gooey. We waited well over 20 minutes to try them. Cant wait to try them tomorrow.
They were bit too sweet for me. If i made them again i would not use as much sugar.
I used 6 grain flour which worked well. I was wondering if you actually have tried using all the different flours you mention in the recipe?
Thanks and enjoy….robin
Between the zucchini bars (same base recipe) and these, I’ve tried all the flours listed. I will never list a flour as an option in a recipe unless I’ve tried it or had someone try it for me.
I just made these and they are possibly the BEST recipe I’ve ever made from a blog. The peanut butteriness is so yum. The only problem is that I’ve already eaten two and the rest are calling to me. Next time I should wait until someone else is around to make them! 🙂 🙂
Also you look beautiful in that picture and I love your shirt!
Thank you!!
These look perfectly chewy and soft, yummers 😀
I hope you had a lovely St. Patrick’s Day yesterday and a good Wednesday 😀 x
YUM – I love peanut butter and chocolate! Can’t wait to try these…I may need to halve the recipe because I’ve been known to down the whole pan before, especially after a long run.
I love that these are healthy! I will definitely have to make them the next time I am craving something sweet! Which will probably be in twenty minutes.
I made this recipe with oat flour I ground myself in the blender. It turned out great!!!! Thank you!!!!
This isn’t exactly new although I am sure it is delicious, the recipe IS the zucchini bar one just without the zucchini (applesauce instead)…
Ok?
These were so easy!
With so many of your recipes, I want to make them as soon as I see them but I usually am missing at least one ingredient. But this time I had everything I needed, so clearly that was someone telling me I had to make them 😉
They are delicious and I can’t believe they are gluten free!
Which flour did you use to make them GF? Thanks
Just made this with maple syrup instead of granulated sugar. Omitted milk. Also, I used 1 cup of chocolate chip instead of a quarter. Took a bite and now I’m in paradise~~~
This is the comment I was looking for because I wanted to sub with maple syrup. Thank you!🤗
Hi – loved the picture, and wil try to make these 🙂 Two questions only: you use the same amount of xylitol as you do with sugar? (I thought xylitol was way sweeter than sugar) And other question; in Norway we do not have “apple sauce” – can I use apple jam? Is the product supposed to be sweet or not? (we have natural apple jam, this is sweetened)
Hi Anett, apple jam is sweeter than applesauce. f you want to make your own and save some for other recipes, you can cut up apples and cook them in a pot over low heat until they break down, then blend them into a sauce or mash them like you would with potatoes. I did this all the time in college when I couldn’t go through a bag of apples before some of them went spotty.
Hi Anett,
I am in Norway too and Helios makes some unsweetend eplemos that you can buy here. Not sure what part of the country you live in, but I bought it at Meny. I think they sell the Helios brand in the health stores like Life. Just took a batch of these bars out of the oven and can’t wait to taste them later!
I really like having the metric weights added to your recipes. As a UK reader I am unfamiliar with using cups as a measurement and where there are no equivalents I shy away from using what look like amazing recipes.
Thanks for offering a better option to less healthy sweets
Flour grams are listed in the recipe. For everything else, such as peanut butter etc, just look on the label and it should say!
I think that’s what Kim was thanking Katie for – having the metric measurements.
Hi Katie! I’ve been following the blog and happily baking for a while now, but never commented because I was too chicken…anyway, I made these lovely peanut butter bars, and they turned out SO TASTEY, but a bit too gooey. I think it might be that I converted measurements to grams wrong. So I was hoping you might be able to add grams to the recipe?
Thanks for all the awesome food!
Flour grams are listed in the recipe. For everything else, such as peanut butter etc, just look on the label and it should say 🙂