Until recently, I wasn’t a fan of peanut butter desserts or candy.

And that includes Reese’s.

Most of my friends and family went crazy over the peanut butter/chocolate combo, but for some reason, I could never get on board.

I honestly don’t know what changed.  But now, I’m 100 percent a fan of peanut butter desserts, particularly when they include chocolate.

And yes, that includes Reese’s.

My Favorite Peanut Butter Dessert

My Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Bars are my absolute favorite peanut butter dessert.  There are some desserts that my family craves often enough—and devours rapidly enough—for it to be necessary for me to have the recipe ingredients on hand at all times.

These peanut butter bars are one of those desserts.

Moist, peanut buttery, and studded with chocolate chunks, you’d never guess these decadent peanut butter bars are a vegan one-bowl recipe.

And since they’re vegan, with no eggs or butter, it’s incredibly  easy to have the ingredients for these bars always well-stocked in the pantry.

Vegan Peanut Butter Bars: A Pantry Dessert

You could say that these bars got us through the early months of COVID lockdowns: it didn’t matter that I hadn’t gone to the grocery store in months—all the ingredients for these bars were already in the pantry.  And having this delicious treat to look forward to at the end of the day made our evenings special.

Make These Vegan Peanut Butter Bars!

Make my Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Bars next time the craving for a peanut butter dessert hits.  Or even just the next time you want something sweet that requires almost zero effort.  I can just about guarantee you’ll already have all the ingredients on hand.

One Thing!

There is a flaxseed meal “egg” in this recipe. Flaxseed meal is no longer the unique ingredient, or egg replacement, it was just a few years ago.  You probably have some in your pantry already.  But if you don’t, here’s my favorite on Amazon [aff. link].

My flaxseed meal egg recipe is a little different than most, so if you’re a regular flaxseed meal egg user, keep this in mind.  Most flaxseed egg recipes call for 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal and 3 Tbsp water.  I use 2 Tbsp flaxseed meal and 3 Tbsp water.

5 from 3 votes

Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Bars

Moist, peanut buttery, and chocolately, you’d never guess these decadent peanut butter bars are a vegan one-bowl recipe!

Prep Time12 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time52 minutes mins

Servings: 5

Print Recipe

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

For the wet ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut butter, use smooth, regular peanut butter, not chunky or natural
• ⅓ cup canola oil
• ½ cup almond milk
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 flaxseed egg (2 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 3 Tbsp water)

For the dry ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cup flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• 8 oz chocolate, roughly chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If you haven’t already, now is a good time to chop the chocolate.

Make the flaxseed “egg”

• In a small bowl, whisk together the flaxseed meal and water. Let sit for about five minutes, until a thick, “goopy” mixture forms. Flaxseed egg is done.

Mix the wet ingredients

• In a large mixing bowl, add the peanut butter, oil, milk, sugar, vanilla, and flaxseed egg. Whisk vigorously until all the ingredients have come together, and a thick mixture forms.

Add the dry ingredients

• Now add the flour, salt, and baking soda to the mixing bowl. Mix until the dry ingredients are mostly incorporated, then add the chopped chocolate to the bowl. Mix until the chocolate is evenly distributed, and the dry ingredients are incorporated. Be careful not to overmix!

Bake the peanut butter bars

• Grease a 9 inch round metal cake pan, and pour the batter into the pan.
• The batter is thick, so use an offset spatula to help spread the batter out evenly into the dish.
• Bake the bars at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, until the top is set and a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean.
• Let the bars cool for AT LEAST 45 minutes before serving. The bars need time to set. Cutting them too early will ruin the crumb.

Serve and enjoy!

• Serve with a glass of almond milk and enjoy!

Notes

These peanut butter bars are vegan.

These peanut butter bars can be made gluten-free by substituting a gluten-free flour blend, like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, for the flour in the recipe.  If you use a gluten-free flour, check on the bars after baking for 40 minutes.  If the top is still not set, bake the bars for an additional 5 minutes.

Let the bars cool for AT LEAST 45 minutes before serving. The bars need time to set. Cutting them too early will ruin the crumb.