One of the best bar recipes you’ll ever try!! These M&M Chocolate Oat bars have layers of oats, a sweetened condensed milk and chocolate center topped with more oats and M&Ms.
We LOVE Baking with M&Ms – from M&M cookies to M&M cake mix cookie bars, M&M cookie cake– they’re the perfect addition to so many desserts. They’re also great to change up for holidays.
M&M Bars
I’ll pretty much take any excuse I can get to try out a new dessert. Recently, I decided to make some M&M Chocolate Oat Bars, which was a recipe from Betty Crocker, and they were a hit!! My husband took them to co-workers and he said they were gone in minutes.
Because they were so good and easy to make, they’ve now become one of our go-to desserts (along with our sheet cake and cookie bars). We love changing them up with different M&Ms and almost always serve them warm with ice cream!
They’re simple – they get rave reviews and they’re fun to change out with the holidays.
How to Make M&M Chocolate Oat Bars
Since these have become go-to treats, we can literally make these with our eyes closed. They’re so easy!
Begin by preheating the oven to 350.
In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, salt and 1 cup softened butter with a spoon. Remove 1 cup of this mixture and set it aside. Press the remaining mixture into a greased 9×13 dish.
In a small pot, melt sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of butter over low-medium heat. Stir constantly until chips are melted and everything is smooth.
Pour this mixture over the oats and spread evenly. Sprinkle reserve oat mixture over the top along with the M&Ms. Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.
Storing + Toppings
To STORE these bars, just cover tightly with Saran wrap and place on the counter for up to 3 days. If needing to reheat, just do so in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
Other Bar Toppings. We think M&Ms are the perfect addition to these bars. There are other candies that work well including:
- Toffee Bits
- Other chocolate chips (white chocolate and butterscotch are great)
- Reese’s Pieces
- Sprinkles
more Variations
These bars are so easy to change up with the different toppings listed above, but also with the M&Ms. There are now so many different varieties and colors, that you can create custom M&M bars for every holiday. You can also change up the flavor based on the M&M used.
You can even use Peanut Butter M&Ms, and if you think they are too big you can crush them to add on top. In the picture above, you can see how we’ve made Valentine, Christmas and Easter M&M bars just by changing up the candy on top.
Let us know if you give these a try, and if you love them. We have a feeling you will. ๐
For more bar desserts, check out:
M&M Bars Recipe
One of the best bar recipes you'll ever try!! These M&M Chocolate Oat bars have layers of oats, a sweetened condensed milk and chocolate center topped with more oats and M&Ms.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups quick oats
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter softened
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1 bag milk chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp butter softened
- 1 cup M&Ms
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.
- In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, salt and 1 cup softened butter with a spoon. Remove 1 cup and set aside.
- Press remaining mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan.
- In a small pot, melt condensed milk, chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of butter over low-medium heat. Stir constantly until chips are melted and everything is mixed well.
- Pour chocolate chip mixture over the bottom layer and spread evenly. Sprinkle leftover cup of oat mixture over the chocolate.
Top with M&Ms and bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting. ENJOY
Oh these look so good Kristyn!
Ha! I love the “behind the scene’s photo”! I feel like we are sisters–that is totally something I would have done. I liked you before, but now I might be in love! Oh, and holy yum, MAKING THIS!
LOL! Too funny!! So glad there is someone who would have done the same thing and not thought I was absolutely crazy. I had to laugh though cuz I’m sure my hubby’s students were questioning if it was a Christmas, Fall or Regular dessert when he brought them to school the next day – ha!
Hi Lil’ Luna. These look amazing. I have special occasion coming up and I have to bring something. These are perfect. I was wondering if I can substitute milk chocolate chips with semi sweet chocolate chips. Also you say in the recipe one cup of melted butter but ask to blend the soft butter……..Is this butter meant to be melted or just softened. Thank you for your help. I am looking forward to making them….
Lynn
These look quite amazing. I love me some m&ms too.
The M&Ms are the perfect topping for these oat bars. Hope you like them! ๐
They look really super delicious ๐
And they taste super delicious too!! I promise you’ll love them if you try them. ๐
I made these last night for a get together we had with old high school friends. I’m more of a peanut butter person, so I replaced 1/2 the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips (though normal PB probably would have worked just as well) and instead of M&Ms used Reese’s Pieces. They were a huge hit! The whole pan was gone within the hour. Definitely making these, again. Thanks so much for the fantastic recipe!
So glad you liked them, Erica! Reeses Pieces sounds like a great idea… I think I’ll have to try that next for Lorin. I think all Merkleys like PB. ๐
These look so good! I’d love for you to join the Pinworthy Projects party! http://www.atkinsondrive.com/pinworthy-projects-link-party-12/
YUM! These look so good! My mom makes a similar recipe and it is one of my faves!
This was my first time trying a recipe that had these kinds of ingredients, and it was obviously a hit!! Will need to try out your mom’s recipe one of these days. ๐
You had me at M&M ๐
LOL!!! You have to try these, Des – they are SOO good!! ๐
Yummy! Can’t wait to try them!
xoxo
Thanks, Jen!! I think you’ll LOVE them… and so will your kiddos!! XO
These are like the ones I’ve made for years. Love them! In place of step #4 I use 32 unwrapped caramels and 1/2 cup condensed (not sweetened). Melt in heavy sauce pan over low heat till melted. I also add 1 cup chopped nuts on top with the m&ms. Love my caramel and chocolate. ๐
Oh man – CARAMELS would be amazing!! Will try that next time I’m making these – thanks for the tip!! ๐
I made these this week.
I ADORED them.
As did my husband and five of our children and all of my friends at our co-op where I shared them.
I replaced the m&m’s with chocolate covered sunflower seeds.
These are definitely on my go-to list now as well.
(And I’m sharing your link on my blog this week and sending people to YOU!)
Thank you so much for sharing.
Oh man, I would have never thought to try Chocolate Covered sunflowers seeds. They would be delicious! Thank you so much for the tip. I will try that next time I’m making them. ๐
Love bars like this! Chewy, with sweet. cond milk, the M&Ms, mmm! Right up my alley & pinned!
Can these be frozen, if I make them ahead of time?
Hi Dawn. Unfortunately, I haven’t tried to freeze them. If you try, let me know, and I’ll be sure to make a note of it so others can know if it does work. ๐
Great Treat! I’m making these for After School Treats with GF Flour!
Let me know what your kids think. They are one of our FAVORITE treats. ๐
These look amazing. I’m so trying these this week! Your desserts always look so good….and no, you are not crazy–it’s the life of a blogger!
I cannot wait to make these!! Is it melted butter or softened butter? I see both in different places!
These bars are amazing!!!! The melted butter actually goes in the flour/oatmeal mixture and the 2 Tbsp of butter (doesnt need to be softened) goes in the sweetened cond milk mixture. Yum! I could eat the whole pan!
Hi, these look great! The only quick oats I have are the premade packets of brown sugar maple oatmeal from Quakers. Can I use this as the quick oats?
I would definitely try to buy some. Have never used the oatmeal packet oats and to ensure they turn out I’d use the package of quick oats you get at the store. ๐
….. NO !!! …..
Ok so I am not sure what went wrong here but I made these last night and was so excited because they looked so good, but they were terrible all I could take was flour! I followed recipe exactly as stated.
Hi Lacey. I’m sorry you had problems making this. We’ve made these half a dozen times in the last few months and never had problems, nor have any other readers that I know of so I’m not sure what went wrong. :/
These were a huge hit, but all of my m&ms fell off. Maybe next time I should put them on before the crumb mixture?
I would maybe also trying pushing them in just a bit before sticking them in the oven. ๐
Can i use regular chocolate milk bar instead of chips?
Do you know how big the bag of chocolate chips is that you used? I’m in England and ours are probably a size? I can’t Wait to make these!
hannah – a bag of chips in the US is equiv to approx 2 cups of chips. hope that helps.
Do you know how many ounces in the bag of chocolate chips? I’m in England and would guess our bags are different sizes? can’t wait to make these!
Hannah, a bag of chocolate chips is usually 12 oz. (sometimes 11oz.) in the US. That’s 2 cups of chocolate chips. How big are they in England?
Thanks both! They are only 4oz over here so I’m glad I checked!
Thanks for helping Hannah out!! I hope you can enjoy them in England. ๐
Thanks for the choco-chip info, I was just going to ask about it myself. We don’t really have chocolate chips, as such, here in Finland, but it is easy enough to chop up chocolate bars.
Great looking – planning to make this week…just two questions …
2 sticks of melted butter in the crust? That seems like A LOT
Are the M&M minis or regular size?
I plan to make a 2nd batch w/banana chips replacing the M&Ms… thoughts anyone?
Yes – 2 sticks of butter… never said they were healthy. ๐ You can always try reducing the amount of butter if you don’t want to use that much. Also, I used Regular M&Ms but mini M&Ms work well too. ๐
Hi Kristyn: I have just came across your recipe for m&m chocolate oat bars, they look so yummy, could you please send me back an e-mail telling me if I add 1 cup or 2 cups of chocolate chips, it says in the recipe 1 bag. Thanking you in advance for your reply.
I’ve made these twice now and added about 1.5 cups (400 grams) of choc chips. A bag of chips is typically 12 oz, I believe.
Did you like them?
Yes!! My whole family loves them, and they will be my new school bake sale go-to ๐
Delicious recipe!! One question – in the ingredients list, it states melted butter. But then in the directions, it states softened butter. I’ve now made it both ways accidentally. With melted butter, it came out great, for sure. I’m waiting for the softened butter batch to cool currently ๐ Just wondering -thx!!
Thanks for the heads up. Melted butter works, but I usually just use softened butter. I changed the recipe to that. Hope you like them! ๐
In my opinion, they taste the same using either melted or softened butter. But I did find that the oat mixture was more crumbly with the softened butter, which made it easier to sprinkle the reserved part on top. Just delicious!!
Good to know! Glad they were both yummy. ๐
OMG these were so good! My husband who is not a sweets person loved them and requested I make more!! I decided to freeze them to hide them from the kids and the sneaky goobers would just go in and grab them! New family favorite in our household. Going to try skor ones tonight!
YAY!! I LOVE hearing this. It’s one of our favorite treats too and we love switching out the M&Ms for the different holidays. I’ll have to try SKOR next time too – sounds delicious!
I refer to these as “Crack Bars”. They are incredible & so addicting. I don’t have any experience with the drug but I couldn’t resist giving them a funny name that could reference their addictivness. : )
LOL! I admit that it’s hard to eat just one. I find myself cutting off little squares of it all day long. ๐
Forgot my rating.
Wow!! These are sooo good!!
SO glad you like them. They’re definitely one of my “go-to” recipes!! Always a hit with any crowd. ๐
I just made this recipe and it was awesome! I made a couple modifications and used Reese’s Pieces instead.
http://www.theweekdaygourmet.com/reeses-pieces-chocolate-oat-bars/
Oooh – Reese’s Pieces would be a great addition!! So glad you liked it! ๐
I made these for a holiday party last weekend. I knew they would be amazing just by looking at the ingredients…. but they exceeded my expectations! They are SO good! I must say, a little bar goes a looooong way. They make a rich and dense bar. So easy to make, and a new party favorite. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I made these and added a layer of PB on top of the oat before the chocolate, then topped with mini Reese’s Pieces-delicious for a PB fan. I’ve made them both ways, and with the PB layer & M&Ms on top, anyway they are YUMMY!
Oh, those sound delicious!! Thanks for sharing those ideas!
This is the perfect one for upcoming sunday :). Thank you Admin
Yes, or for me..anytime during the week ๐ Thanks and I hope you like them!
These look great, but how big is a bag chocolate chips? They come in different size packets! What weight did you use?
I don’t have to ounces in front of me, but it’s just the regular size bag. It’s not tiny, but it’s not the largest one. You can’t go wrong with chocolate chips, so It doesn’t have to be exact. It’s as little or as much as you like ๐ Hope that helps!!
I made the for all of the cousins tonight. These are so easy, and so delicious! Thanks!
I’m glad they liked them!! Thanks so much!
Canโt stop eating these!! So yuMmy! I had to send half the pan with my husband to work so that i WOULDN’T eat anymore. He told me that people were calling them โcrackโ bars becuase they were so Addicting! Lol will definitely be making these again! But only when i have lots of people coming over ๐ thanks for the recipe!
LOL!! I know what you mean!! Thank you for sharing the recipe ๐
Holy deliciousness- I could eat the whole pan!
These were scary good with M&M’s! Next time I’m going to try toffee bits. I may be in big trouble. ๐
Such a quick and delicious dessert to take to a get together! Thanks!
GreaT recipe. Family loves this. I add a teaspoon of vanilla to the choc. Mixture.
Thank you!
Sounds great! I am glad your family loves them! Thank you ๐
Easy Delicious treats!
So glad you think so!! Thank you ๐
Melt in your mouth delicious! I w I was looking for an easy recipe for my kids to help me make for Fatherโs Day for my husband. This was the pefect one! Great tasting, simple directions and wonderful website!
Glad you found this one! We make these quite a bit for those reasons! Thank you!