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These healthy vegan Rice Crispy Treats are made with puffed 7-grain cereal, almond butter, ground cacao powder and a boatload of seeds- chia, sunflower and pumpkin. A delicious, VEGAN, chocolatey fix, full of nutritious ingredients.
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
― Joseph Campbell
Most days, I really don’t have much of a sweet tooth, that is until 9 pm rolls around! Then, all I want is chocolate. Usually, a piece of good dark chocolate will suffice, but sometimes what I really crave is a little crunch and texture. My mouth is bored and wants to crunch on something. These healthier, vegan Rice Crispy Treats are just the ticket. Not overly sweet, with the right amount of texture and crunch.
A while back my friend Jill introduced me to something similar when she made a batch of Sarah B’s Hemp Crispy Treats, and had them sitting on her kitchen counter. Oh boy! This is how it all started.
This version is made with puffed, 7 grain cereal that is toasted to make them extra crispy, then tossed with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and chia seeds and mixed with melted organic almond butter, a little sweetener and cacao powder, and voila!
The tastiest, crunchiest, cacao-infused crispy treats. And to me, one square is just the perfect amount.
How to make healthier Rice Crispy Treats?
Yes, it really is possible to make America’s favorite treat, healthier, vegan and packed full of nutrients.
- Use puffed whole-grain cereal. Today we are using 7-grain.
- Swap out butter and use coconut oil to keep it vegan.
- Add protein- add almond butter (which will reduce the glucose spike)
- Add Omega-3 rich seeds- pumpkin and sunflower seeds to help support hormones.
- Add fiber! Chia seeds are a great source of fiber.
- Add cocoa powder for a huge boost of polyphenols.
- Use maple syrup, and just a little, to lower the glycemic load.
TIP: The key to getting these nice and crispy is to toast the cereal beforehand, for added crunch.
Then pat it down firm in a baking dish and refrigerate, letting firm up.
Cut into 2 inch squares and store in the fridge for any late-night emergencies, or afternoon pick-me-ups.
These vegan Rice Crispy Treats are so nutty and crunchy… and keep for 2 weeks in the fridge!
Hope you enjoy these healthier, Vegan Rice Crispy Treats!
More recipes you may like:
- Vegan Energy Balls with Masala Spice
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies with Chai-Soaked Raisins
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cashew Ginger Chocolate Bark
- Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Hazelnuts
- The BEST Vegan Breakfast Cookies
- Chocolate Sesame Cookies
Vegan Rice Crispy Treats
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: snacks, dessert
- Method: refrigerate
- Cuisine: northwest
Description
Healthy vegan Rice Crispy Treats are made with puffed 7-grain cereal, almond butter, found cacao powder and a boatload of healthy omega 3-powered seeds- chia, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. A delicious chocolatey fix, full of nutritious ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 cup puffed cereal ( puffed brown rice or puffed 7 grain cereal)
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds ( or slivered almonds)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/8 cup chia seeds
- 1/8 cup hemp seeds (or sub other seeds like more sunflower or pumpkin)
- 1/2 cup Almond butter (or peanut butter)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup, honey (not vegan) agave or brown rice syrup
- 3 heaping tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- generous pinch salt
- 3 tablespoons Cacao powder
- pinch cinnamon
Instructions
Toast the puffed cereal, pumpkin and sunflower seeds in a 375 F oven until crispy, about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Place in a bowl along with other seeds.
Heat the almond butter, maple (or other sweetener),coconut oil, vanilla and salt in a small pot until melted and well combined. Turn heat off , then stir in cacao powder and cinnamon and quickly pour over the cereal seed mixture and mix well.
Place in a parchment-lined 8 x 8 baking dish, and press down firmly with a spatula to create a uniform thickness. Refrigerate 4-6 hours or overnight.
Flip onto a cutting board, remove parchment and cut into 16, two-inch squares. Cover and store in the fridge.
Notes
Toasting the puffed cereal beforehand ensures a nice crispy texture.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 inch square
- Calories: 156
- Sugar: 4.8 g
- Sodium: 19.9 mg
- Fat: 12.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 9.1 g
- Fiber: 2.5 g
- Protein: 4.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: rice crispy treats, healthy rice crispy treats, vegan rice crispy treats, cacao crispy treats,
I just made them and they are delicious.
Thank you Sylvia for inspiring me to cook again.
Your recipes are amazing.
★★★★★
Thanks Rani!
Wonderful healthyish treat with a caffeine jolt. Perfect!!
★★★★★
I made the cacao almond butter crisps and refrigerated them to firm them up. However, they melt at room temperature because the room was warm. So it appears this recipe works best in the winter time. Would it help to sub the coconut oil with vegetable oil, if that is what is melting at room temp? I would give this recipe 5 stars if the melting problem could be solved.
★★★
Sorry about that. I don’t recommend vegetable oil. Can you store them somewhere cool? In a lower cupboard or in the fridge?
This recipe with toasted puffed rice is so good. I have swapped hemp seeds with linseeds (what I had in the cupboard), almond butter with peanut butter. I added toasted flaked almond. I did not put any cacao or vanilla. I have put the mixture into silicon muffin moulds and they came out nicely. I liked the treats as they are still crunchy and not overly sweet. Thank you so much for this recipe, I will be making again with variations depending on my cupboard stock!
★★★★★
Oh perfect- thanks for sharing how you adapted these! Love it!
Kids LOVED these!
Yay!!! Awesome!
Delicious! I’ve been eating mine for work snacks, and I wait eagerly for 9 AM to come so I can eat a couple squares. 🙂
★★★★★
Yay!! Im so glad you like them!! The perfect work snack…energizing!
Hi Sylvia,
These bars are the best ever! I can’t say enough good things about them except they are completely yummy! I toasted all the seeds and added toasted cashews and flaked almonds and made the almond butter! I have to stop myself from nibbling away at them all day and like you wait for the late night craving, ha ha. Again thanks soo much for your wonderful recipes and the new interest your website has given me in cooking again!
Best Wishes,
Annette.
★★★★★
Thanks so much Annette! So glad you liked treats… and especially happy to hear that you are that you are finding inspiration to cook more these days. So happy you are here. Have a beautiful day!!!
these almond crispy looks so chewy and crunchy, cant wait to try it!
★★★★★