The Best Rice Krispie Treats Recipe | Beyond the Butter (2024)

Ingredients Needed

Making this rice krispy treats recipe is super easy, but it's still good to know what tools and ingredients you'll need to make them! You'll need the following five items:

• Unsalted Butter. I prefer to use unsalted butter, but if you only have salted butter on hand, omit the pinch of salt (or ⅛ teaspoon) mentioned below.
• Vanilla Extract. I absolutely love adding vanilla extract to my rice krispie treats! It gives it such a nice flavor! I've also added in a ¼ teaspoon of almond extract, but this is totally optional!
• Pinch of Salt or ⅛ teaspoon. This helps a little to balance out the sweetness. Like I mentioned above, if you use salted butter, you can skip this part.
• Mini Marshmallows. This probably goes without saying, but make sure the bags of mini marshmallows you use are fresh. Stale mini marshmallows won't melt as well. You can tell if the mini marshmallows are stale if their exterior feels thick and dry. I've always stuck with the mini marshmallows as well over using the large marshmallows.
• Rice Krispies Cereal. I've used both name-brand Rice Krispies cereal and generic—both are fine! I usually like to get whatever is on sale at my grocery store that week.

These are the tools I swear by whenever I make my rice krispie treats recipe!

• 9" x 13" Rectangular Baking Pan. I have a few rectangular baking pans, but my favorite one to use is my Nordic Ware pan. It's inexpensive, durable, it comes with a lid (that also acts as a small cookie sheet if you need one), and it just looks vintage to me.
• Aluminum Foil / Parchment Paper/ or Wax Paper. Lately, I have preferred placing overlapping sheets of aluminum foil inside my 9" x 13" pan when making this recipe, but you can also line the pan with parchment paper or wax paper. Whatever you decide to use, it will help later with removing them from the pan to cut the rice krispies into squares.
• Large-size Pot or Sauce Pan. You'll need something that will be able to hold a good amount of rice krispie treats!
• Wooden Spoon. Using a wooden spoon is just my preference when mixing all of the ingredients together. If you don't have one, it's totally okay!
• Spatula. After I've mixed everything together and scooped it into the foil-lined rectangular pan, I like to use a spatula to press the rice krispie treats mixture down and level everything out. Make sure to read my quick tips below for how to do this without getting the mixture stuck all over the spatula!

Recommended Tools for Making Bars and Brownies

Helpful Tips

This list of how to make the best rice krispie treats is a short one, but they really help!

• After placing the aluminum foil, parchment paper, or wax paper along the inside of the pan, you can lightly spray the inside with some baking spray. You don't have to go crazy; you want enough that it will allow the aluminum foil to come off easier later after you've lifted the rice krispies from the pan. You can also use non-stick aluminum foil!
• To keep the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the spatula you use while pressing the mixture down into the rectangular pan, spray the bottom of it with a little flour-based baking spray. Using the spray keeps all that ooey-gooeyness in the pan and not all over your spatula! If you don’t have any baking spray, rubbing some butter along the bottom of the spatula will work too.
• Let the rice krispie treats sit at room temperature for a minimum of one hour before removing them from the pan to cut them into squares.
• Keep the rice krispie treats stored in an airtight container after making them. They'll last a few days sitting out at room temperature. I don't recommend refrigerating or freezing them because they'll get rock-hard.

Alternative Holiday Version

You can swap out the original Rice Krispies cereal for any of their holiday-themed versions to make this recipe, like their 4th of July red, white, and blue cereal! Don't forget to add the extra mini marshmallows!

Perfect Rice Krispie Treats

Author: Jennifer

This is the BEST Rice Krispie Treats recipe you will ever need! They are ooey-gooey with just the right amount of butter and loaded with lots of marshmallowy goodness! They take less than 20 minutes to whip up, with a minimum of 1 hour to set, then it's time to eat!

Nutrition

Calories: 153kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 88mg | Potassium: 16mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 815IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 3mg

Nutritonal information provided above is an estimate only and will vary based on specific ingredients used.

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