Made with a cake mix short-cut, Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars is an easy crumb bar dessert recipe with a creamy peanut butter and chocolate mixture sandwiched between a cake mix base and topping.

This dessert snack is ooey, gooey, decadent, and incredibly simple to make.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Something magical happens when you mix peanut butter and chocolate together. Combine that with just enough crunch and these Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars are drool-worthy, crave-worthy, and completely addictive!

Please tell me if you can eat just! I can’t.

Just look at that thick ribbon of chocolate. And, the crust is buttery with a little crunch and texture.

Stack of 3 chocolate bars on a saucer. — Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars recipe

If you’ve been following me, you know I’m all about quick and easy! Using a cake mix for the crust and topping makes the prep time for these bars very quick. Furthermore, the hardest part is waiting for them to cook.

If you want really pretty squares, you’ll need to wait until they cool completely or even chill them in the refrigerator to get those perfect, bakery-style cuts. However, if that isn’t a priority to you, dive right in as soon as they’re cool enough to handle!

How to Make Peanut Butter Bars with Cake Mix

jar of peanut butter, stick of butter, chocolate chips, and cake mix on a countertop

Gather your ingredients. This easy peanut butter bars recipe starts with a chocolate cake mix! If you want to use a vanilla cake mix, that will work as well.
Melt butter and combine with the cake mix.

adding melted butter to peanut butter bars batter

Add peanut butter. Any creamy, non-stir variety is best.

adding peanut butter to a mixing bowl with cake mix.

Add the eggs. Crack the eggs into a bowl before adding them to the batter. This way, if you have broken egg shells, they won’t end up in the batter.

making chocolate peanut butter bars in a mixing bowl.

Melt the chocolate. I usually microwave the chocolate chips in 30 second bursts at high power, stirring in between each burst.
Add sweetened condensed milk and stir.

Bake! Pour batter over the crust mixture in the pan, add the topping, and bake in a preheated 350° oven.

unbaked chocolate peanut butter bars in a baking pan.

scoops of peanut butter on chocolate cake batter in a baking pan.

Stack of two chocolate bars on a saucer.

Other Dessert Bars to Make

Peanut Butter Cookies and Cream Bars — Peanut Butter Cookies & Cream Bars

Pecan Shortbread Toffee Magic Cookie Bars — Peanut Butter Cookies & Cream Bars

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Made with a cake mix short-cut, Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars is an easy crumb bar dessert recipe with a creamy peanut butter and chocolate mixture sandwiched between a cake mix base and topping.

Author: Paula

5 from 13 votes

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Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 40

Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients

15.25 -ounce package yellow cake mix
6 Tablespoons butter melted
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 large eggs
12 ounce pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Combine cake mix, butter, peanut butter, and eggs in a large bowl. Press into a 9×13 cake pan reserving 1 cup to crumble on top.
In a small saucepan, melt chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter. Stir until smooth, remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over cake mixture in pan. Spread evenly. Crumble remaining cake mixture over top.
Bake 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting into bars.

Nutrition

Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.

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24 Comments

Delicious! I like recipes that start with a cake mix because I am all about shortcuts.

I love the chocolate and peanut butter combination! One of my all time favorites. These are putting me in the frame of mind to think about holiday cookie trays!

The flavor of these bars is OUT of the this world, truly delicious!!

These look amazing! Can’t wait to try this recipe. I love chocolate and peanut butter together.

In your write up, you mention oatmeal. I don’t see oatmeal in the ingredients or the picture instructions, Is oatmeal in these bars? I’d add that the crumble topping is easier to do if yor refrigerate the reserved cup of crust while you prepare the rest of the layers. These are scrumptious without oatmeal when the recipe is followed as written!

Paula says:

06.23.19 at 1:09 pm

That was an error, there is not oatmeal. Thanks for letting me know.

Reply

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Chocolate and peanut butter – yum!

I host a weekly party called Seasonal Sundays. Perhaps this Sunday you'd like to link one of your seasonal recipes or your tail gating post.

– The Tablescaper

This recipe is one I have to pin to my sweet treats board. There is no competition when it comes to goodies containing PB&Chocolate!

Your chocolate peanut butter bars are to die for! They look so delicious! We appreciate you linking up to our Strut Your Stuff Saturday link party! Please come back again soon! -The Sisters

Yum! Thanks for sharing this on Saturday Show and Tell. I hope you’ll be back again this week with some more great ideas!
-Mackenzie
http://www.cheeriosandlattes.com