Potato Chip and Caramel Rice Krispies Treats
These rice krispies treats have a few surprises, like caramel, brown butter, m&m’s, and crushed up potato chips! We all know salted caramel is a fantastic dessert, but when you use potato chips for the salt part of the equation, it brings it to the next level! using kettle chips keeps everything super crispy and so delicious!
The inspiration for this recipe
I cooked a whole cake for this wedding, but I think that these potato chip and caramel rice krispies treats were actually the biggest hit of the night. At least they were amongst my drunk friends as we were all leaving! They were also the easiest thing there. I initially did 2 test runs of these with homemade marshmallow and caramel, and failed both times. Finally for the wedding I gave up and used store bought and they came out amazing.
Preparing the potato chips
I like to crush the chips right in the bag, then add them to the rice krispies. Mix it all together first so it is ready when the marshmallow sauce is hot. I used a cup less of the cereal and about two cups of the chips. This means there is about 1 cup of extra solids to the ratio of marshmallows, but that is OK because the caramel balances it all out.
Make the caramel marshmallow sauce
Start with the butter and let it brown lightly. Then add the caramel and let it mostly melt. Then finally the marshmallows! You can see the middle photo here, the butter is only lightly brown, no need to fully caramelize it. We are getting some of the caramel flavors from the caramel itself.
Let it all get soft and gooey.
Form the potato chip and caramel rice krispies treats
Pour the marshmallow caramel sauce over the potato chip and rice krispies mixture. Mix it all together really well.
I like to form the potato chip and caramel rice krispies treats by laying the mixture out on parchment paper, and using more parchment paper to flatten the whole thing. Add the m&ms towards the end of the process so they don’t fully melt. Most of mine still broke though.
Slice the potato chip and caramel rice krispies treats
After it fully cools, slice the potato chip rice krispies into squares and serve!
The first time I made these, I didn’t brown the butter, and didn’t add the m&ms. Those two little touches made these potato chip and caramel rice krispies treats truly amazing!
Because of the broken m&ms, I was going to try and make these again, but I decided that the broken m&ms were fine. Also I didn’t want another batch of these laying around in my house. They are too good!
Twists on this recipe
Of course you could skip the brown butter. You could skip the m&ms too. If you wanted you could even skip the caramel, and just do potato chip rice krispies. A lot of people online seem to make these with ruffles. I use the kettle chips because I think they stay crunchier for longer.
Speaking of how long they last, I would say about 5 days but I have never had them longer than that because they get eaten quick.
For more tips on how to make rice krispies treats better than average, check out this post.
Potato Chip and Caramel Rice Krispies Treats
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 cups puffed rice cereal
- 8 ounces kettle chips crushed
- 1/2 stick butter
- 5 ounces caramel squares about half a bag
- 10 ounces marshmallows
- 1/2 cup mini m&m candies
Instructions
- Crunch up the chips and mix them with the cereal in a large bowl.
- Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Cook the butter about 8 minutes until it reaches a golden brown hue.
- Reduce heat to low and add in the caramels. Cook 5 minutes until half way melted.
- Add in the marshmallows. Cook and stir about 5 minutes until the whole mixture is fully melted and combined.
- Pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal and chip mixture. Stir to combine.
- Spread the mixture onto a piece of parchment paper to cool slightly. After a few minutes, add on the m&ms and flatten the mixture more, using another piece of parchment on top.
- Allow to cool 2 hours. Cut and serve.
We’re going on a houseboat trip this weekend and these would definitely go over extremely well with my drunken crowd!
I have to know how you melt marshmallows into a liquid like that. My son and I attempted to make rice krispy treats, and we just ended up with a giant marshmallow ball in the saucepan.
What was the weight of the Rice Krispies box you used?
Wow!
I made these last weekend and just called them “salty caramel treats” – they were AWESOME! I wanted a little extra caramel taste so I drizzled some on top and sprinkled with a little sea salt. No one knew the secret ingredient but they all loved them! Only person requested I never make them again – because he ate about half and knew he’d do it again. =) Thanks! This was my first recipe of yours and it was a hit!
I made these for a Halloween party and they turned out great, everyone loved them! A nice spin on regular rice krispy treats. You have the coolest recipe ideas. I am still talking about the mac and cheese sausage. Thanks for sharing!