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These M&M Chocolate 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.

M&M Chocolate Bars stacked on each other.

Our go-to Dessert

We make dessert all the time, but one of our go-to’s (along with our sheet cake and cookie bars) are these M&M Chocolate Bars. We love them because:

  • So Easy – So Yummy! They are so simple and delicious. Everyone asks for the recipe. They’re also great with ice cream.
  • The perfect treat to change up. Because of the M&Ms, we love to make this for different holidays using the different holiday candies.
  • Make Ahead. This treat can easily be made in advance which is great for busy days.

Even our local firefighters love this treat and request it each year!

How to Make M&M Chocolate Bars

  1. PREHEAT. Preheat the oven to 350.
  2. BASE. 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.
  3. CHOCOLATE LAYER. 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.
  4. TOPPING. Pour this mixture over the oats and spread evenly. Sprinkle reserve oat mixture over the top along with the M&Ms.
  5. BAKE. Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.
M&M Chocolate Bars Variations gallery.

more Variations

M&Ms now have so many different varieties and colors, that you can create custom M&M bars for every holiday.

  • Use Holiday M&Ms for different holidays.
  • Use Different flavors of M&Ms to change up the flavor (for example: Peanut Butter M&Ms – even add a few PB chips too!)
  • Add other toppings.
    • crushed Oreos
    • Toffee Bits
    • Other chocolate chips (white chocolate and butterscotch are great)
    • Reese’s Pieces
    • Sprinkles
M&M Chocolate Bars Recipe in baking pan.

Storing

  • 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.
  • Once cooked and cooled, you can FREEZE these cookie bars by placing a freezer-safe Ziploc bag and freezing for up to 2 months.
  • Thaw overnight and REHEAT in the microwave.
M&M Chocolate Bars Recipe on plate

For more Bars:

5 from 76 votes

M&M Chocolate Bars Recipe

By: Lil’ Luna
These M&M Chocolate Bars have layers of oats, a sweetened condensed milk and chocolate center topped with more oats and M&Ms.
Servings: 15
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total: 35 minutes

Ingredients 

  • cups all-purpose flour
  • 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

Make Ahead: These bars can be stored, covered tightly with plastic wrap, on the counter for up to 3 days. You can reheat in the microwave for about 15 seconds before serving, if desired.
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.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bar, Calories: 310kcal, Carbohydrates: 39g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 35mg, Sodium: 266mg, Potassium: 65mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 23g, Vitamin A: 410IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 38mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
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Share it with us on Instagram using the hashtag #lilluna, so we can see what you’re creating in the kitchen!

About Kristyn

My name is Kristyn and I’m the mom of SIX stinkin’ cute kids and the wife to my smokin’ hot hubby, Lo. My mom’s maiden name is Luna, and I’m one of the many crafty “Lil’ Lunas” in the fam. On this site I like to share all things creative - from recipes to home decor to gifts and home decor ideas. Welcome!

So Easy & So Yummy

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Recipe Rating




125 Comments

  1. 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. : )

    1. LOL! I admit that it’s hard to eat just one. I find myself cutting off little squares of it all day long. 😉

  2. 5 stars
    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!

    1. 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!

  3. 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 🙂 Just wondering -thx!!

    1. 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! 😀

      1. 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!!

  4. 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.

    1. 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.

  5. 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?

    1. Yes – 2 sticks of butter… never said they were healthy. 😉 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. 😉

  6. 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!

    1. 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?

          1. 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.

  7. 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!

  8. 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.

    1. 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. :/