Healthier Vegan Snickers Bars (Easy!)
These vegan Snickers bars taste just like the classic! So easy to make, fruit sweetened, healthy, and made with only 6 ingredients! These healthy snickers are the best homemade Halloween candy!
Think that snickers bars can’t be made healthy, vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free (heck even no sugar added), and still taste like your classic favorite candy bar?!
Then you, my friend, don’t know that all possibilities exist, and you’re about to experience one of those possibilities right now 😉
I’m serious! These healthy homemade snickers bars are undetectably healthy, yet deliciously sweet. In fact, one of my taste testers, who is a candy connoisseur I might add, said that if I told him I had purchased these, he wouldn’t have second guessed me.
Yep, they’re that good.
Andddd there’s no catch here- they’re so easy!
What makes these vegan snickers bars healthier?
Unlike other homemade snickers bars, this vegan version is highly minimal in terms of ingredients, plant based, and uses only dates as the sweetener (making them much lower in sugar as well!).
In fact, many don’t know that the snickers bars you find in a wrapper are not vegan.
You won’t find any funky ingredients or highly processed foods within these snickers bars. In fact, they’re no sugar added, yet soooo sweet thanks to the dates.
- The nougat layer is comprised coconut cream, coconut flour, and peanut butter.
- The caramel layer is made up of dates, peanut butter, and peanuts.
- And the rest is coated in a 100% dark chocolate (aka just raw biter cacao! But don’t worry! It’s not bitter in the slightest, thanks to the dates).
Ingredients for healthy vegan snickers bars
- 100% Dark Chocolate: personally, I absolutely love 100% dark chocolate, and it happens to then be vegan, Paleo, and sugar free. I recommend Pascha Chocolate. However, if you’re not ready to go 100%, you can use your favorite vegan chocolate (like a stevia sweetened version by Pascha Chocolate, or Hu Kitchen’s refined sugar free chocolate).
- Coconut Cream & Flour: I highly recommend the coconut cream at Edward & Sons, but I know that many grocery stores, like Trader Joe’s, carry a similar version. Definitely don’t swap coconut flour here, as it helps to absorb some liquid from the coconut cream and keeps the nougat layer light and airy without any oven needed.
- Peanut Butter & Peanuts: we use peanut butter for the nougat layer, and obviously some peanuts to top on the caramel date sauce! This gives it that classic snickers bar feel, while also being healthy and vegan! For a Paleo version, simply swap out all peanut ingredients for almond butter and almonds.
- Dates: yep, this is the single ingredient you need for the vegan date caramel sauce. It’s insanely easy, and I think I’ll do a whole separate post for how to make a date caramel sauce because this sauce is just incredible.
Additional flavor additives you can use are vanilla and sea salt. Just a touch of both in the date “caramel” or in the peanut butter nougat layer are amazing!
And that’s all you need for the easiest and most delicious vegan snickers bars that are undetectably healthy!
Overview: How to make Homemade Vegan Snickers Bars
Now, to make these healthy snickers bars, we’ll start with the easy nougat layer.
Vegan peanut butter nougat layer
Simply pour about 3/4 of the coconut cream can into a large bowl, and add in the coconut flour and peanut butter.
Next, mix until it’s nice and fluffy. Pour the nougat batter into a parchment lined 8×8″ square pan and freeze for about 20 minutes.
How to make vegan caramel sauce
So for the vegan caramel sauce to these healthy snickers bars, you’ll just need dates and a little bit of water.
Soak the dates in hot water for up to 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, place the dates into a food processor.
Blend until smooth, which is pretty quick. It’ll become creamy in a nano second!
Assembling the homemade snickers
Remove the nougat layer from the freezer, and then you can either spread on the caramel sauce and then sprinkle on the peanuts- or vise versa.
Place the pan back into the freezer to chill for an hour.
After an hour, remove from the freezer and slice into 12 bars.
Melt the chocolate and carefully dip each bar into chocolate, placing back onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and set in the fridge.
After about 15 minutes, remove from the fridge and then enjoy!
You now have a completely no added sugar, healthy snickers bar that’s completely gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free and a pretty fair competitor to its original candy creation!
Can I use another nut besides peanuts and peanut butter?
Absolutely! You can swap in almonds and almond butter for a Paleo vegan snickers bar, or just about any nut or seed and nut/seed butter.
Cashew butter is amazing, and is actually another great addition to the caramel sauce (like in our vegan Twix bars!).
How to store homemade vegan snickers bars
I like to store my bars in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze them in an airtight container, and they’re actually really amazing to eat frozen!
DIY Homemade Halloween Candy
If you’re like me, and you want to give your kids a bit if a healthier and vegan candy bar during Halloween instead of the processed version, then these are a wonderful option.
You can wrap these in some parchment paper or gold paper found at a craft store for a fun DIY homemade Halloween candy so that you don’t feel left out of the unwrapping!
You are just going to LOVE these homemade vegan snickers! If you make them, let me know down below in the comments section, and give them rating so that others know to make them!
As always, I love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy homemade vegan candy making!
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
PrintHomemade Healthy Snickers Bars (Vegan)
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: freezing
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
The BEST homemade vegan Snickers bars that are easy, sugar free, healthy, and made with only 6 ingredients! These healthy snickers are the best homemade Halloween candy!
Ingredients
Nougat Layer:
- 1 13.5 ounce can coconut cream
- 1/2 cup (58 g) coconut flour
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted unsweetened peanut butter
Date Caramel Sauce Layer:
- 1 1/2 cups (about 12 dates, or 250 g) pitted dates, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes
- 1 cup (125 g) peanuts
Chocolate coating:
- 13.5 ounces vegan dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line an 8×8″ baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, pour in coconut flour, peanut butter, and about 3/4 of the coconut cream can.
- Fold together coconut cream, coconut flour, and peanut butter until fluffy.
- Pour mixture into the baking dish and place in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, until solid.
- While the nougat is chilling, prepare the caramel sauce: in a food processor, blend together the dates until creamy and smooth.
- Once the nougat layer is frozen, remove from the freezer and sprinkle the peanuts on top. Then spread the date caramel sauce over the peanuts (it might be sticky- not a problem! Just continue smearing!).
- Place the pan back into the freezer to chill for 1 hour.
- After an hour, heat the chocolate until melted, either in a double boiler or carefully microwaving in increments.If microwaving, be careful to not fully melt the chocolate in the microwave, or else it will burn. After it’s halfway melted, remove from the microwave and stir until fully melted. Set aside. You don’t want it too hot, but warm so that the nougat can go in without melting.
- Remove the pan from the freezer and slice the caramel nougat layer into 12 equal sized bars.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use 2 forks to carefully take one bar and dip it into the chocolate, flipping it over until fully melted. Remove carefully and place onto the parchment paper.
- Repeat for the remaining bars. Drizzle any leftover chocolate onto the tops of the bars. Place the sheet in the fridge to set the bars for 12-15 minutes.
- Remove and enjoy! Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
For the Paleo version: swap in almonds and almond butter for the peanut butter and peanuts, equal ratios.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 snicker bar
- Calories: 238
- Sugar: 4.7 g
- Sodium: 57.4 mg
- Fat: 13.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 12.4 g
- Fiber: 5.2 g
- Protein: 6.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: vegan snickers, homemade snickers, healthy snickers, healthy vegan candy, vegan candy recipe, vegan candy bar, homemade candy bar
WOW – you better believe these snickers are going to go in rotation for me! Well done, Britt!! You are a genius in the kitchen.
★★★★★
You are the sweetest!! I hope you love them buddy 🙂
OH MY GOODNESS 🤤🤤 This is genius!! You deserve a Nobel prize for this one 😂 Snickers were my favorite candy as a kid and I haven’t had one in ages. Honestly this one is better than the original!! Thank you for this beautiful, magical, delicious creation
★★★★★
You are too sweet!! I hope you love them! They are definitely one of mine as well 🙂
How big is a can of coconut milk? I know there are different sizes I have 400 ml
Hi there! 400 ml works perfect! 🙂
Hi. love the pictures and recipe looks pretty easy.
Just wanted to know, can we use cacao nibs to cover. Would that work?
Aw thank you!! And absolutely! You can sprinkle some cacao nibs on top of the setting chocolate for extra crunch 🙂
I have a question: you mention to soak the dates in water. how much water? Must it cover them completely? And then do you drain the dates or add them to the processor with the water? I tried draining the dates as it didn’t say, added them to my processor and blitzed them. It was very thick, so I added about a tablespoon or two of the water back in and tried again and it looked more “saucy” and was spreadable. Just wanted to check. Thanks for the recipe
Hi Bonnie!
For the dates: cover them completely in water! Then drain them completely before adding them! If it’s too thick for your food processor, you can always add in a bit of water, so what you did was correct!