How do you make rice crispy cereal

Here's how to make TRUE Rice Krispies Cereal instead of the sham Kellogg's sells now.

Published on February 8, 2021

Rice Krispies Treats are one of the easiest desserts to whip up of all time. There's no oven required, just a little bit of melting, mixing, and patience. Back in the 90s, Rice Krispies Treats could even count as the most important meal of the day through Rice Krispies Treats Cereal. These days, however, Rice Krispies Treats Cereal is hard to find, and according to lots of product reviews, Kellogg's altered the ingredients and created a completely different cereal.

When we say we want Rice Krispies Treats Cereal, we want the real thing, not some Rice Krispies and mini marshmallows thrown in a box. So we made our own version that sticks to the original recipe with some help from Stefan Johnson.

The first step for making Rice Krispies Treats Cereal, of course, is making Rice Krispies Treats that can then be turned into cereal. So this is gonna feel a bit familiar. Before you melt any marshmallows, take a stick of butter and grease a baking pan up — this will prevent the treats from sticking to the pan and give you as much product as possible. Next, take the remaining butter and put it in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Once the butter is thoroughly melted, add four cups of mini marshmallows — Stefan also recommends adding a bit of milk — and keep stirring until you have a luscious creamy mixture, about two minutes.

Remove your marshmallow mixture from the heat and stir in 5 cups of Rice Krispies cereal, folding repeatedly until every last puff is incorporated. Once that's done, using a rubber spatula, spread the marshmallow-cereal mixture in your greased baking pan as evenly as possible. Let the mixture rest for 30 minutes so the treats have enough time to get nice and crisp.

Now comes the fun part: Break up the treats with a spoon, and don't worry about how they look because you're going to put them in milk anyway. As long as they're bite-sized pieces, they're perfect. Stefan recommends pouring the milk first and then adding the cereal treats, but you can do whatever you want because we can't stop you. Add a few mini treats to the bowl and your Rice Krispies Treats Cereal experience can finally begin.

Related:

• 10 Ways to Make Crispy Rice Treats More Fun
• 14 Desserts That Start With Cereal
• A Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies Cereal Is Coming to Stores This Spring

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A few tweaks to the back-of-the-box recipe make these the best Rice Krispie Treats ever.

I’m always hesitant to say a recipe is the “best ever,” especially for a dessert like Rice Krispie Treats that everyone knows and loves. But once you’ve tinkered around with a recipe for weeks — asking your kids, their friends, and anyone who passes through your house to sample different versions — you can say it’s the best with some confidence. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the original back-of-the-box Rice Krispie treat recipe, but it can be made so much better with almost no effort. Here’s how:

• Use more butter (lots more) and brown it
• Increase the marshmallows and stir in some at the end for extra gooeyness
• Add vanilla extract for flavor
• Add salt because a little salt makes anything sweet taste so much better

What You’ll Need To Make The Best-Ever Rice Krispie Treats

• 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
• Two 10-oz bags mini marshmallows, divided
• ¾ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 8½ cups Rice Krispies or crispy rice cereal

Step-by-Step Instructions

Begin by melting the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Save the wrappers – you’ll use them later.

After the butter melts, it will begin to bubble, foam, and turn golden around the edges. Eventually it will turn a dark golden color and smell nutty – watch carefully, it will go from golden brown to burned quickly.

Add all but 2 cups of the marshmallows, the vanilla, and salt.

Place the pot over medium heat and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until the marshmallows are completely melted.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the cereal.

Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir until evenly combined.

Stir until they are softened and partially melted. Don’t overmix – you want pockets of goo.

Transfer the mixture to a foil-lined 9×13-in baking dish.

Use a serrated knife to cut into squares. Store the treats in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Enjoy!

Video Tutorial

How To Freeze Rice Krispie Treats

Rice Krispie treats freeze well. Place the treats in layers separated by wax paper in an airtight container; freeze for up to 6 weeks. Let the treats stand at room temperature for about an hour before serving.

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A few tweaks to the back-of-the-box recipe make these the best Rice Krispie Treats ever.

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
• Two 10-oz bags mini marshmallows, divided
• ¾ teaspoons vanilla extract

• ½ teaspoon salt
• 8½ cups Rice Krispies or crispy rice cereal (see note)

Instructions

1. Line a 9 x 13-in pan with heavy duty aluminum foil and lightly grease with softened butter. Set aside 2 cups of the marshmallows.
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven, preferably with a light bottom so you can monitor the color, melt the butter over medium heat (save the butter wrappers; you'll use them later for pressing the mixture into the pan). Swirl the pan occasionally to be sure the butter is cooking evenly.
3. As the butter melts, it will begin to bubble and foam, and the color will progress from bright yellow to golden to, finally, a toasty-brown. Once you smell that nutty brown butter aroma, take the pan off the heat. (You'll see little bits of golden brown sediment forming; that's okay. However, if the sediment looks almost black, go ahead and pass the butter through a fine sieve to strain it out, then return the brown butter to the pan.)
4. Off the heat, add the remaining marshmallows, vanilla, and salt.
5. Place the pot back over medium heat and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until the marshmallows are completely melted. Remove the pan from the heat and add the cereal. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir until evenly combined.
6. Add the reserved marshmallows and stir until they are softened and partially melted. Don't overmix; you want pockets of goo. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and, using the butter wrapper or damp fingers, press the mixture gently into an even layer in the prepared baking pan. Let cool at room temperature for at least an hour.
7. Use the foil overhang to lift the treats onto a cutting board, then use a serrated bread knife to cut into squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
8. Note: Kellogg's no longer makes a gluten-free version of Rice Krispies, so if you have a gluten-sensitivity, make sure the cereal you purchase is certified gluten-free.
9. Freezer-Friendly Instructions: To freeze, place in layers separated by wax paper in airtight container. Freeze for up to 6 weeks. Let stand at room temperature for about an hour before serving.

Nutrition Information

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• Per serving (24 servings)
• Calories: 162
• Fat: 6 g
• Saturated fat: 4 g
• Carbohydrates: 27 g
• Sugar: 15 g
• Fiber: 0 g
• Protein: 1 g
• Sodium: 93 mg
• Cholesterol: 15 mg

This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

Gluten-Free Adaptable Note

To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.

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July 29, 2022