Lucky Charms Treats are the more colorful, marshmallow-infused version of Rice Krispie treats. My recipe stays soft and chewy for days, and it takes just 15 minutes to make!
Lucky Charms Cereal Bars
If you’re a fan of Rice Krispie treats but want to switch things up a bit, try Lucky Charms treats! Soft, gooey, and so colorful, these cereal bars are as fun to eat as they are to make. Only 5 ingredients, 15 minutes from start to finish, and no oven required!
This is just a cute and simple recipe that I wanted to share before St. Patrick’s day, since it also serves as a subtle nod to the holiday (like my mint chocolate cookies!). I love this recipe in particular because it’s quick to make and feels so nostalgic. It would also make a perfect back to school snack!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Stays soft and chewy. While some cereal bars are prone to being stiff, dry, and stale, ours stay soft. The key to this is to not overcook the marshmallow and to gently press the cereal mixture into the pan. If you do it too firmly, your treats will be dense.
- Unlike most recipes, I use a splash of vanilla extract in my recipe. This adds an extra special touch and depth of flavor everyone loves!
- Can be made even more festive and fun with sprinkles or special edition cereals.
- Great for parties and making in advance! They stay fresh for up to five days and don’t need to be refrigerated.
What You Need
My recipe requires just four ingredients (five if you include the white chocolate drizzle!).
- Lucky Charms cereal. Obviously the classic cereal is the norm, but feel free to use the chocolate version or any other special edition cereals. Oh, and if you are making these treats for St. Patrick’s Day, the limited edition St. Patrick’s Day cereal would be adorable!
- Mini marshmallows. Use plain marshmallows (not the colored, fruity, or flavored kind). If you can only find normal sized marshmallows, they’ll work as well, they just take longer to melt.
- Butter. Make sure to use salted butter here to help balance out all the sweetness in these treats. This is a rare recipe where I prefer to use salted butter than add the salt, I just think it works best for distributing the flavor.
- Vanilla. This adds a nice depth of flavor.
- White chocolate. If you’d like, you can melt some white chocolate to drizzle over the top of your bars before cutting them. This is completely optional, but I like the extra flavor and decoration it adds!
SAM’S TIP: When it comes to recipes with so few ingredients, the quality of each one can really make a difference. Just like with my cookies and cream Rice Krispie treats, lemon meltaways, and shortbread cookies, European butter is a worthwhile splurge here. It has a richer flavor and will make your treats taste totally gourmet!
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Lucky Charms Treats
- Melt the butter over low heat.
- Stir in the marshmallows and vanilla until melted (do not crank up the temperature, this will make your cereal bars dry and crisp instead of soft and chewy!), then remove from heat.
- Add the cereal and stir to coat.
- Spread into a buttered 9×13″ pan, then gently press into the pan. Don’t be too firm with this step, or your bars will end up dense and tough.
- Let cool completely, then drizzle with white chocolate before (or after) cutting, if desired.
SAM’S TIP: Sometimes I like to fish through the box and pull out extra charm marshmallows to scatter on top the treats after I spread them into the pan (or you can buy the bags of just the charm marshmallows for this, if your store has those!). This is obviously optional, but who doesn’t love extra marshmallows? And they look pretty too!
Frequently Asked Questions
This can happen if you press the marshmallow/cereal mixture too firmly into the pan. Be gentle during this step, and you’ll have nice and chewy results!
Note this can also happen if you heat the marshmallows on too high of a heat, so keep it on low the whole time.
These treats will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for five days. I haven’t tried freezing them, but I suspect the marshmallows would not thaw well. If you do try this, then please let me know how it goes for you!
Yes! If you only want a half batch, then you can cut all ingredients in half and use a 9×9 or 8×8 pan.
Love cereal treats? Try my s’mores cereal bars or puppy chow next!
Enjoy!
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Lucky Charms Treats
Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons (85 g) salted butter
- 10 oz mini marshmallows
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 cups (296 g) Lucky Charms cereal
- 2 oz (57 g) white chocolate bar finely chopped (for topping, optional)
Recommended Equipment
- 9×13 pan (22x23cm)
Instructions
- Lightly grease a 9×13” (23x33cm) pan with butter and set aside.
- Place butter in a large pot and melt over low heat.6 Tablespoons (85 g) salted butter
- Once butter is melted, add marshmallows and vanilla extract and stir until marshmallows are melted.10 oz mini marshmallows, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Remove pot from heat, add cereal, and gently stir until all cereal is coated and evenly incorporated.8 cups (296 g) Lucky Charms cereal
- Immediately spread mixture evenly into prepared pan. Press gently, don’t pack in the cereal or it could make the end result too dense and tough.
- Allow to cool completely.
- If desired, melt white chocolate in the microwave (heat in 20-second intervals, stirring well in between) and drizzle over cooled Lucky Charms treats.2 oz (57 g) white chocolate bar
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Diane M. Mitchell
Very easy with great detailed instructions. Made these for my grand kids. Used the special edition St. Patrick’s day box. So fun. Sprinkled with ‘pearl’ dust cuz I couldn’t find my gold dust. Left out the melted chocolate that way. They are addicting! Thank you for a quick and fun goodie!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Those sound so cute, Diane! Thanks for trying our recipe and coming back to leave a review–we appreciate it!
Catherine Dobbs
hello Sam, thank you for the wonderful recipe. I’m in the midst of making these right now and I have a question. can I use the jumbo marshmallows? what would be the equation? Thank you so much!
Sam
Hi Catherine! You can use jumbo marshmallows. You will want to use the same weight here. 🙂
Chrissy
Hi. Question: if you do not have salted butter, how much salt do you recommend adding to this recipe?
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Chrissy! I would add a scant 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I actually have a post on using salted or unsalted butter for any future substitutions. 🙂
Theo Johnston
I just tried this instead of the Rice Crispy Treats I wanted to make. It is amazing!! Can you do this with other cereals as well?
Sam
Hi Theo! I’m glad you enjoyed them! You could potentially do this with other cereals but I haven’t tried it to say which ones will work best. 🙂
Sandy Mestas
cinnamon toast crunch is to die for!! I used six cups of cinnamon toast and two rice krispies, I crunched up the cinnamon toast small to look like the rice krispies !! i also drizzled salted caramel on top…