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. 😉
For more bar desserts, check out:
- Cookie Bars aka Pan Chewies
- Cake Mix Cookie Bars
- Sugar Cookie Bars
- Magic Bars
- Millionaire Bars
- Oh Henry Bars
M&M Chocolate Oat Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups quick-cooking rolled oats
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, divided
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 (11.5-ounce) bag milk chocolate chips
- 1 cup plain M&M’s
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-x-13-inch baking dish and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and 1 cup butter with a spoon. Remove 1 cup of the mixture and set aside.
- Press remaining mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- In a medium pot, combine condensed milk, chocolate chips and remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until chips are melted and everything is mixed well.
- Pour chocolate mixture over oat layer and spread evenly. Sprinkle reserved oat mixture over the chocolate.
- Top with M&M’s and bake for 25–30 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan before cutting.
Video
Notes
Variations: Easily change up these bars with different types of M&M’s, such as white chocolate or peanut butter M&M’s. This is not only a great way to change the flavor, but also to customize the bars for holidays by using the fun holiday-colored candies.
These are delicious! And incredibly easy to make. An easy way to get the caramel taste!
Love these so much. My go to dessert went I head to friends or families houses. So easy and yummy.
Love this recipe. It’s simple and so yummy and I love that I can use different m&ms for the holidays
Delicious!! Made these for my kids last night and they were a huge hit. Definitely will be making these more often. So good and easy.
Oh yay! Glad to hear the bars were a hit with your family!
These look awesome! I’m baking treats to include in our free lunch summer program and I know the kids will love them! The question I have is if the chocolate layer solidifies or stays gooey. These need to be packed in the lunches to send home to the families we serve so gooey isn’t an option. Thanks so much for such yummy recipes! Can’t wait to hear from you!
Oh how fun!! I’m so glad you are able to use this recipe for something like that. Yes, the chocolate solidifies a bit, but it’s a soft solid… if that makes sense. 😉 It solidifies enough so when it is cut into a bar, it keeps its shape and the chocolate doesn’t ooze out. You can also freeze the bars before which will help them stay solid and nice for packing into lunches. Best of luck!
Thank you so much! Can’t wait to make them:)
Karen
Delicious and so fun!
These are always gone quickly. So delicious, and quick fix for your chocolate cravings. I switch back and forth between milk chocolate and semi sweet.
Ooh yes, both milk and semi sweet are so tasty. I’m glad you love the bars!!
Absolutely one of my favorite recipe to make for the kids. They would gobble up the entire batch if I let them. So easy to make.