Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats take the classic childhood treat and upgrade it! Using browned butter provides a richer, slightly nutty flavor that is amazing and will be loved by both adults and kids alike. Never browned butter before? Check out the tips and tricks below!
Adding brown butter to desserts really takes them over the top! Some other favorite brown butter sweets worth trying are these Brown Butter Sugar Cookies, Brown Butter Pecan Blondies, and Brown Butter Almond Shortbread Cookies.
Jump to:
⭐Why I Love It:
- Browned Butter - Don't be scared if you've never browned butter, I include lots of top tips below. It is a magical ingredient! You'll also want to try this recipe for Single Serve Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!
- Kid and Adult Favorite - I promise this tray of treats will go fast at the party!
🥘Ingredients:
- Butter - you can use salted or unsalted butter. You'll want extra to grease the pan
- Marshmallows - either mini marshmallows or regular marshmallows work.
- Rice Krispie Cereal - or other crispy rice cereal.
- Vanilla
- Salt - A little bit of salt is crucial in sweet recipes to balance the flavor.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
📖Variations:
- Other Cereal - Instead of a crispy rice cereal, try using another favorite cereal like Chex, Golden Grahams, Cheerios, or even a fruity cereal like Fruit Loops.
- Popcorn - Make Brown Butter Popcorn Bars by swapping in cooked popcorn.
- Add Chocolate for a S'Mores Spin - Like in this recipe for Cereal S'Mores Bars, try stirring in some chocolate chips when you add the cereal to give a s'mores flavor.
🔪Step by Step Instructions:
Making Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats is easy and can even be done in advance!
Photo 1 - Heat a large pot over medium-low heat and melt the butter, whisking occasionally. After 5-8 minutes, the butter will start foam and then brown. You’ll start to see brown specks on the bottom and it will have a nutty aroma. When finished the butter will be an amber, golden brown and the specks will be brown.
Photo 2 - Lower the heat and add the marshmallows. Stir to combine and melt the marshmallows into the butter. The color will be a light brown with flecks from the brown butter. Stir in the salt and vanilla and turn off the heat.
Photo 3 - Stir in the cereal, folding to combine well. You can adjust the amount of cereal added to make the bars more or less gooey.
Photo 4 - Working quickly, scrape the mixture into the lined and greased pan. Press down lightly. I like to use the butter wrapper to do this.
Photo 5 - Allow the bars to cool for at least an hour before cutting and serving.
Photo 6 - You can enjoy immediately or store bars in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.
💭Recipe Tips
- Use Butter Wrapper to Press - You can use the butter wrapper to easily press down the sticky cereal mixture into the pan.
- Foil and Well Grease Pan - To easily remove the Rice Krispie bars from the pan, line the pan with foil then well grease with softened butter.
🍽Storage and Freezing
- Storage - Cut Rice Krispie bars will keep fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days. Overtime they will start to dry out, so enjoying the day of or day after making them is best.
- Freezing - Rice Krispie Treats even freeze well! I like to freeze the bars separated by wax or parchment paper in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Let the frozen bars sit at room temperature for a couple of hours to thaw before serving.
🧈Tips to Make Brown Butter
- The #1 tip is to watch the butter closely! It can go from perfectly browned to burnt quickly.
- Use a light colored pan! This makes it easier to see the color.
- Chop your butter into chunks. This aids in even melting.
- Have a bowl ready to transfer the butter from the skillet. This will stop the butter from continuing to cook in the hot skillet.
- When in doubt, stop browning a few seconds early than late. It's better to have butter that is amber and shy of peak browning than to have it burn.
- Finally, Keep extra butter on hand! (just in case your batch burns.) If you think your butter is burnt (some of the specks will be black and it will have a slightly burnt smell), then start over. Seriously. It will give your bars an off flavor.
👩🍳Recipe FAQs
Brown butter is a staple in French cooking and for good reason. It’s made by melting butter and cooking until it is browned and the milk solids are toasted. It has a rich, nutty flavor that is an amazing addition to both sweet and savory recipes.
The brown specks are the toasted milk solids. They are very important and loaded with flavor, so make sure to scrape them from the pan. If your specks become black, they are burnt and will make it taste bitter - I recommend starting a new batch.
You can substitute brown butter for melted butter in most recipes. But be aware that there is a loss of moisture in the browning process, so you’ll want to measure the brown butter after making it.
For example - you will likely need to brown 9 tablespoons of butter to get 8 tablespoons of browned butter. If the recipe calls for cold butter or even room temperature, softened butter then substituting brown butter will not be an even 1:1 swap and recipe testing will be needed.
When you make Rice Krispie treats with browned butter, you're going to have those little specks of toasted milk solids.
Instead of Rice Krispie brand cereal, you can swap in any crispy rice cereal or another cereal like Chex cereal, Golden Grahams, even cheerios. Or you can also use popped popcorn!
🍪Related Dessert Recipes:
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PrintRecipe
Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats
Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats take the classic childhood treat and upgrade it! Using browned butter provides a richer, slightly nutty flavor that is amazing and will be loved by both adults and kids alike.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 large bars
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter, unsalted or salted plus extra for greasing pan
- 20-24 ounces marshmallows
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8-9 cups Rice Krispies Cereal
Instructions
- Prepare Pan - Line a 9x13inch baking pan with foil and grease with extra butter.
- Brown Butter - Chop up the ¾ cup of butter into. Heat a large pot over medium-low heat and melt the butter, whisking occasionally. After 5-8 minutes, the butter will start foam and then brown. You’ll start to see brown specks on the bottom and it will have a nutty aroma. When finished the butter will be an amber, golden brown and the specks will be brown. Be careful not to burn! The specks can go from brown to black very quickly which means the butter is burnt. Better to stop a few seconds too early than too late.
- Melt Marshmallows - Lower the heat to low and add the marshmallows. Stir to combine and melt the marshmallows into the butter. The color will be a light brown with flecks from the brown butter. Stir in the salt and vanilla and turn off the heat.
- Add Cereal - Stir in the cereal, folding to combine well. You can adjust the amount of cereal added to make the bars more or less gooey.
- Press into Pan - Working quickly, scrape the mixture into the prepared pan. Press down lightly. I like to use the butter wrapper to do this.
- Cool and Cut - Allow the bars to cool for at least an hour before cutting and serving.
Notes
Cut Rice Krispie bars will keep fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days. Over time they will start to dry out, so enjoying the day of or day after making them is best.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 large bar
- Calories: 327
- Sugar: 29.2 g
- Sodium: 192.9 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Carbohydrates: 54.9 g
- Protein: 2.3 g
- Cholesterol: 30.5 mg
Katie says
The addition of brown butter was amazing!