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These Healthy Chocolate Scotcheroos are a light and crispy take on the classic dessert. Made with brown rice syrup, peanut butter and dark chocolate, they’re like peanut butter Rice Krispie treats!
I’m SO excited for today’s recipe. Because today’s recipe is for Healthy Chocolate Scotcheroos. Think healthy peanut butter rice Krispie bars that are light, crispy and seriously delicious.. (like..I’m talking SERIOUSLY delicious like these Healthy Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats!)
This scotcheroos are also vegan and gluten-free, so they make the perfect crowd-pleasing dessert!
What are scotcheroos?
Traditional scotcheroos are peanut butter rice krispie bars topped with a layer of chocolate and butterscotch chips mixed together. They’re also traditionally made with corn syrup, which is not the best for you when it comes to your health.
For this recipe, we’re swapping corn syrup for brown rice syrup, which is low glycemic, and won’t spike your blood sugar. We’re also swapping the sugary chocolate chips for a 70% dark chocolate, and traditional white rice crisps for brown rice crisps.
How to make scotcheroos
These healthy chocolate scotcheroos are a no-bake recipe, which makes them super quick and easy to make! Here’s how they come together:
- Melt the brown rice syrup, peanut butter, vanilla and salt together in a small pot or in the microwave.
- Pour the rice crisps into the wet ingredients
- Press into a pan
- Melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil then pour on top of the pan
- Let sit in the fridge for 1-2 hours to set.
That’s it! Don’t you love a good no bake recipe?
Recipe variations
There are so many variations you can make to these healthy chocolate scotcheroos. The first swap you can make is the to make the scotcheroos without peanut butter. Some other options you can use instead:
- Any other nut butter (almond butter, cashew butter)
- Chocolate hazelnut spread
- Sunflower butter
- Soy nut butter
You can also add any mix-ins to this recipe if you like any additional flavours. I’d stick to about a maximum of 1/2 cup of mix-ins (otherwise you may need to adjust your liquid ingredients.) Here are some mix-in options that would be delicious in this recipe:
- Shredded coconut
- Chocolate chips
- Chopped nuts
- Cacao nibs
- Chopped dates
- Crushed pretzels
More healthy dessert recipes to try
Healthy Chocolate Scotcheroos
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 15 bars
- Category: desset
- Method: mix
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Healthy Chocolate Scotcheroos are light, crispy and require no baking. These bars are easy to make and a crowd pleaser!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup brown rice syrup (can sub honey)
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (I use natural creamy peanut butter)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 1/2 cups brown rice crisps (can sub regular rice crisps)
- 1 1/2 cups 70% dark chocolate
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
- Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl melt the brown rice syrup, peanut butter, vanilla extract and salt together in a small pot on medium heat or in the microwave. Mix together until well combined.
- Mix the brown rice crisps into the syrup mixture until combined.
- Pour the mixture into the pan and press down
- To make the chocolate topping, melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil together in a double boiler or microwave until melted then pour and spread evenly over the bars.
- Place in the fridge for an hour to set then cut into even squares.
Notes
Substitute peanut butter with any type of nut butter, sunflower butter or soynut butter!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 205
- Sugar: 19.5 g
- Sodium: 134.2 mg
- Fat: 10.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 27.4 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 3.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
If you tried these Healthy Chocolate Scotcheroos or any other recipe on the blog let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment/rating below! Be sure to follow along on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook for even more deliciousness!
Great recipe!!! I like to cut the chocolate by half for a softer chewier texture. Yum!
So happy you enjoyed them! 🙂
Hi, do you think maple syrup or date syrup would work in the place of brown rice syrup?
Hi Laura, date syrup or honey should work! Maple syrup may be a bit too thin.
My GOODNESS!!!! I cannot believe how such simple staple kitchen pantry items can make up such a deliciously healthy snack! I think i ate about 10 in one day. DELICIOUS!!!
Thank you Tijana! I also eat about 10 in a day when I make these in my home!
Can I use maple syrup instead of rice malt syrup for this recipe or will that affect how it sticks?
Hi Joyce! I haven’t tested the recipe with maple syrup so I can’t say for sure, I think honey may work better since maple syrup has a bit of a thinner texture. Another option I’m thinking could be to boil down the maple syrup a bit to thicken it up just to make sure everything sticks together!
These are so addicting! Can’t believe how easy they were to make. Brought them to a dinner and everyone loved them.
Rarely have I ever eaten Scotcheroos, but I’m sure that I was missing out immensely. To be totally honest, I just might make the chocolate layer recipe and slather that all over strawberries or make a sea salt almond bark with it!
Sounds like a delicious idea Cassie!
How do you keep them crunchy???
Hi Libby, these bars aren’t particularly crunchy they are a bit more of a chewy texture like a rice krispy treat!
Such a Delicious Recipe! Would love to try these because they look so yummy ?❤️
Thank you so much Bianca!