Bigly Rice Krispie Treats
Prep
5m
Cook
8m
Total
13m
Bigly says
Sit down for this one. Rice Krispie treats. We're doing Rice Krispie treats. And I know what you're thinking — Bigly, you're a serious chef, why are you doing Rice Krispie treats? Let me tell you something. Rice Krispie treats are SERIOUS. Rice Krispie treats are the most underrated dessert in the entire western hemisphere and it's NOT EVEN CLOSE. Three ingredients. Three. And what comes out is the greatest snap-crackle-pop experience known to humanity. Engineers couldn't design this. Scientists tried. It's better than science.
Now most Rice Krispie treats — and I'm just gonna say it, somebody has to say it — are GARBAGE. Dry. Hard. Sad little bricks that crack your teeth and make you sad. Why? Because people are stingy with the butter. People are stingy with the marshmallows. People treat the marshmallow-to-cereal ratio like it's a math problem. IT'S NOT A MATH PROBLEM. It's a feelings problem. You need MORE marshmallow than you think. You need MORE butter than the box tells you. The box is LYING to you. The box wants you to buy more cereal. The box has motives. It's a scandal.
These are different. These are the BIGLY treats. Brown butter. Vanilla. A little flaky salt on top. Extra marshmallows folded in at the end, whole ones, so when you bite in you get little soft marshmallow surprises. And I'm giving you the recipe right now, FREE — no popup, no 'sign up for our weekly newsletter' modal, no cookie banner with 18 toggles you have to click through, no auto-play video that follows you down the page like it OWES you something, no banner ad for car insurance interrupting the recipe halfway through. The other sites bury this stuff behind 47 popups. We don't do that here. Recipe at the top. Like civilized people.
Ingredients
- 10 tbspunsalted butter(more than the box says, the box is wrong)
- 16 oz (one big bag)mini marshmallows(fresh, not the bag that has been in your pantry since 2019)
- 2 cupsmini marshmallows (reserved)(stirred in at the end for pockets)
- 1 tsppure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tspkosher salt
- 6 cupscrisped rice cereal
- 1/2 tspflaky sea salt (for finishing)
Steps
- 1
Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on two sides. Lightly butter the parchment.
- 2
Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Continue cooking, swirling occasionally, until the butter turns deep golden brown and smells nutty, 4-5 minutes. Watch carefully — it goes from brown to burnt fast.
- 3
Reduce heat to low. Add the 16 oz bag of mini marshmallows and stir constantly until completely melted and smooth, 2-3 minutes.
- 4
Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and kosher salt.
- 5
Add the crisped rice cereal and fold gently with a silicone spatula until evenly coated.
- 6
Fold in the reserved 2 cups of mini marshmallows quickly — you want them to stay mostly whole, not melt in.
- 7
Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan. Lightly butter your hands or a piece of parchment and gently press the mixture into the pan — gently, do not pack it down hard or the treats will be dense.
- 8
Sprinkle flaky sea salt evenly across the top. Cool at room temperature 30 minutes before lifting out and cutting into 16 squares with a buttered knife.
One more thing
That's it. Eight minutes on the stove, thirty minutes to cool, and you've got the greatest Rice Krispie treats in the history of crisped rice and that's a long history, people don't know how long, they don't teach it in schools anymore, sad. Pack one in a kid's lunch — the kid becomes the most popular kid in the cafeteria. Pack one in your own lunch — you become the most popular adult in the office break room. They'll ask. You won't tell. Or you'll tell. Either way you win. You're welcome.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Bigly Rice Krispie Treats.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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