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Man, oh man, was this GOOD. Coming from a cereal fanatic, it was like you read my mind with this recipe. Perfectly simple too.
Golden Grahams Bars. Plain and simple. Like, as in, let’s get retro and go back to making bars from a box of cereal because HONESTLY IT’S JUST SO GOOD.
Do you mind? I am going to go full throwback retro dessert bar on you today.
I have had a MAJOR sweet tooth in the last few weeks as you might remember from this Mocha Peanut Butter Pie and these Raspberry Crumble Bars and last week’s Cookie Dough Energy Bites which are kind of dessert masquerading as health food balls. It’s the baby, I think, right? I can put this on her.
Either way, I CANNOT BE STOPPED.
These Golden Grahams bars are batting 100% for satisfying every dessert bar desire of my heart lately: crunchy, sticky, and 15-minute easy. I also love them because I grew up eating a lot of dessert bars (Minnesota represent!) in church basements, sporting events, and slumber parties. Creme Brûlée? Cheesecake? Tiramisu? Meh, that’s nice, but just cut me a hunk of that marshmallow cereal bar, wouldya?
Reasons To Love Golden Grahams Bars:
- Crunchy. SO CRUNCHY. Crunch, crunch, crunch.
- Sweet and chocolatey.
- SMORESY.
- Just the right amount of marshmallow-sticky.
- No baking.
- Easy to make.
- Easy to cut, store, transport, and pass around to friends.
- Easy to eat 5 without realizing. Wait, that’s a good thing, right?
Okay, I’m about to get bossy with you.
STUDY UP ON THIS.
If you are not immediately entranced by the hot, gooey, chocolate-marshmallow + crispy graham cereal business that just bumped into your face, you might not be human.
At this point in the “baking” process, you will need to stop, get out a spoon, and eat hot, shapeless, melted cereal-chocolate-mallow mash-up for a few minutes.
Once you’ve cut yourself off from the depths of warm Golden Graham bar mixture, you are ready to press and cut.
And when your Golden Grahams bars have cooled (which takes roughly fifteen minutes – yet another reason I love these babies), you need to cut them into VERY LARGE pieces, which is ideal for admiring your deliciously creviced cross-section of cereal, chocolate, and mallow.
You guys, I make no apologies. This is what I love right now.
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
Watch How To Make Our Golden Grahams Bars:
Golden Grahams Bars
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 12 huge bars 1x
Description
Golden Grahams Bars! Crunchy, chocolatey, and made with just FIVE ingredients. Even better: it’s no-bake a super easy to make. Winning!
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
- one 10-oz. bag of mini marshmallows
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 12–ounce box of Golden Grahams cereal (see notes)
Instructions
- Prep: Set one cup of the mini marshmallows aside.
- Chocolate Mixture: Melt the butter, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, and vanilla in a large pot over medium heat until mostly smooth.
- Add Golden Grahams: Mix in the Golden Grahams cereal and remaining marshmallows. Stir to combine.
- Press Into Pan: Press into a 9×13 pan. Let them cool / solidify for an hour or two. Cut into 12 big bars and devour like a hungry Golden Grahams Bar wolf.
Notes
MAKE THESE ALREADY! They are so good.
Using wet hands helps to prevent sticking as you press the warm mixture into the pan.
When I made these, I added just a little less than the entire box of cereal. I would estimate 10 ounces. Here’s why: 1) I like to have a dessert bar that leans towards extra-sticky (higher goo-to-cereal ratio), and 2) it leaves me with a bowl or two of yummy cereal to eat. It should work fine with the whole box if you just want to do a clean sweep of it, but as someone who has made a lot of these, I’m just giving you my cereal pro tip.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: golden grahams bars, chocolate bars, cereal dessert bars
Note: I have an older recipe for almost-identical Golden Grahams Smores Bars that I also love. The only difference is that those ones include corn syrup, which I left out of this recipe. Doesn’t need it! They were still 100% sticky, delicious, sweet, crunchy, and summertime rockin.
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our easy chocolate desserts page. Check it out!
If I were to attempt these again, I would melt butter and marshmallows FIRST then add chocolate. My chocolate split during the heating process even on low. They were only okay as a result.
Step 1 says to mix butter, chocolate, marshmallows, and vanilla together until smooth, but step 2 says to add the remaining marshmallows? Should it just say add the cereal? Thank you for any clarification because I really want to make this haha
Hello! You set 1 cup of marshmallows aside, the rest of the bag gets melted in step 2. Then the 1 cup of marshmallows that were set aside get mixed in with the cereal in step 3.
It looks so good I have to try it now…
In less than time to brew the coffee I made these bars!!! I added peanuts cuz I wanted a peanutty chocolate crunch!!
These are beyond good!!! LOVE love love them!!!
I have made these bars multiple times and they are AMAZING, but I do have a question!
They are so good the first day, but they soften & become chewier/soggier on day 2 or 3 when there are leftovers — any storage tips? I can’t figure it out!
Hi Megan! Great question. It’s best to store in an air tight container at room temperature. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to combat the sogginess and it might just be the nature of the bars.
I just wanted to say, “I’m with you!” This does not need the corn syrup the old 1979 recipe uses!! I have been making these for almost 25 years and have never used the corn syrup. It had been a while since I made them, at least according to my family, so my youngest has not gotten to try them. I found your recipe while I was trying to remember the ratio of ingredients! As an extra option, you can also stir in about 1/2 cup chocolate chips with the cup of marshmallows at the end for that little extra ‘s’mores-y’ touch. Mine are cooling now so I wanted to leave a comment thanking you for the help.
I had a “Giant” size box of Golden Grahams (27.6 oz) so I had to guess at “a little less than half” the box. Welp, my guessing skills are way off. I added way too much, so it didn’t stick together. No worries though. I’ll be serving it to the baseball team in a bowl with a spoon. Still tastes great!
Made this recipe using cannacoconut oil and they were delicious! So in case anyone is wondering, yes, coconut oil will replace the butter just fine at 1:1 ratio. 🙂
made with 60% dark chocolate. also sprinkled more choc chips and kosher salt on at the end. so delicious, thanks!!
What size bag of mini marshmallows, please? My store has 10 oz and 16 oz. It seems other people have the same question, but it never gets answered. I think it would make a big difference in how the bars turn out.
We usually use 10 ounces!
I made these yesterday and used 10 oz of marshmallows based on the other golden graham bar recipe on your site. They came out delicious and everyone loved them.
I don’t like Rice Krispy Treats at all, but these I could shovel in my mouth all day!
A coworker brought these into work Thursday. On my, these are delicious and satisfying. Made them two days later for a family in need. Copied this down in my recipe file. Easy to make. Thanks for a yummy recipe.
Thanks for shairng
Looked for this recipe forever. Finally found it. I remembered corn syrup in it. I will try it without. Thank you!l
I just wanted to say that I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. I grabbed the bag that I usually do at the store–I didn’t even check it to see if it was milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate. They’re still cooling, but in the quick sample(s!!) that I’ve had, it’s delicious!!! 🙂 I may need to have another sample just to make sure! 😉
Yes! It’s very important to sample here. 😉
When I made this, adding so much marshmallow turned it into a big solid ball. I couldnt get anything out of it.
So sorry to hear this didn’t turn out for you, Marcus. Thanks for sharing this feedback with us!
These look great! What size bag of mini marshmallows do you use?
great recipe i really loved it..i always love to share recipe tips coz i’m a blog writer and always getting time to do cooking, share tips with others…i must say that your recipe is really great..i must try this yummyy… 🙂
wow…this is really nice..mouthwatering yeahhhh
What size of marshmellows? 10oz or 16oz?
I made these for a bachelorette weekend recently and they were devoured *very* quickly. I just finished making them a 2md time for my coworkers. They are super easy to make and SO delicious!
Glad to hear that, Jane!
What size bag of mini marshmallows? 10 or 16 ounce?
This recipe is sooooo great! I like the new version (with out corn syrup). The funny thing happened that i forgot to put sugar in the mix. When I mix “all” ingredients and pressed it to the dish I started to clean up my working space and notice 1/4 cup of sugar stays in the same place where I put it 🙂 But it turn out pretty goooooooood and sweet enough 🙂 Thank you Betty Crocker!!!
These were so good but went stale quickly in Tupperware. If you don’t wipe them out right away I recommend wrapping them up well!
I made these over the 4th of July and we snacked on them all week! DELICIOUS and so easy! I ended up using some extra marshmallows at the end because I love them and it was perfect. Thanks Lindsay!