Rice Krispie treats are everyone’s favorites. A staple for just about any event from parties to family nights. But not all rice krispie treats are created equal! We love them so much we have an entire section of our index dedicated to them. Everything from Toasted Coconut-Lime to Smore’s and Salted Caramel. Today’s recipe is probably the one I use the most, because it’s scaled for a huge batch, that’s still doable at home. And even though these are basic “plain” rice krispie treats, they’re also perfect. Too often recipes fall short on the marshmallow to cereal ratio and end up with treats that are either too gooey and hard to chew, or too dry and they scrape up the top of your mouth. These Large Batch Rice Krispie Treats have the perfect ratio and I’m going to share LOADS of tips today on how to do them well. This large batch is perfect for bake sales, fundraisers, parties and potlucks, any time you need either BIG rice krispie treats, or simply lots of them!
First let’s talk equipment. One of the handiest and most-used items in my kitchen are gigantic mixing bowls. You can find these at restaurant supply stores for super cheap, or grab one on Amazon. If you’re a member of my faith you might also call them Mormon Salad bowls because just about every LDS chapel has these stocked in the kitchen for big church potlucks! They make mixing this sticky gooey stuff so easy because you don’t just need to fit stuff in there, you need room to really toss it around.
Before you even start, you’ll want to lay a sheet of parchment (or foil) in your pan and spray it lightly with non-stick spray. The pan size we’re using is 12×18. This is one of the most useful pan sizes to have in your kitchen. It works so well to be able to make 1 and 1/2 times your favorite 9×13 recipes. When 9×13 just isn’t quite big enough. If you don’t have a pan like that, then use a 12×18 rimmed baking sheet. Chances are you have one of these! It’s the size of your standard cookie sheet.
Next place your cereal in your giant bowl (if you don’t have a really huge bowl for mixing, I’ve used a roasting pan in a pinch!) Another secret to really great rice krispie treats is adding some whole marshmallows to the cereal mixture. It bulks up the mixture all together and makes the treats softer and fluffier when you eat them.
Melt your marshmallows and butter on the stove top until they’re really smooth. Sometimes people don’t cook these long enough. It should be easy to stir and fall off your spoon like a sauce. You’ll also stir in a little salt at this point. Most people don’t include salt in their rice krispie treats but they are so full of sugar, they need it for balance!
Pour the melted marshmallow mixture into the big bowl of cereal and marshmallow. Make sure to scrape out all that good melted goo and then immediately stir stir stir to get it all coated.
Immediately transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Either spray your hands with non-stick spray or rub them with butter and gently spread the mixture out and pat it down. Don’t pack it down.
Once they set up you can pick up the whole sheet by the parchment paper and remove it from the pan and put it on a cutting board.
This recipe will make 12 jumbo rice krispie treats, or up to 48 normal sized ones. I love the jumbo size for bake sales and gifts. There’s just something so fun and enticing about a HUGE rice krispie treat. I don’t make these extra thick because I think that makes them kind of hard to eat. I’d rather have more surface area. You can see these ones are about as big as my hand!
If you are going to package these for sale or an event or picnic or whatever, my favorite way to package is with a strip of parchment and then in plastic wrap. This keeps them looking nice and they don’t get melted and stuck to the plastic.
Well-wrapped, these really stay great for several days.
If you need to make multiple batches in a row, my tip is to make 2-3 max and then wash and dry all your equipment! Any more than that and things are just ay too goopy. But I made 6 batches yesterday and it was relatively quick considering how many rice krispie treats I was able to make and wrap in one sitting.
Try this recipe for the best large batch jumbo rice krispie treats next time you need a bunch!
Large Batch Rice Krispie Treats
Ingredients
- 1 ½ sticks real butter 12 tablespoons
- 16 cups + additional 4 cups mini marshmallows
- 12 cups rice krispie cereal
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Line a 12 x 18” rimmed baking sheet with parchment or foil and spray lightly with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- In a very large mixing bowl add rice krispies and 4 cups mini marshmallows, set aside.
- In a large stock pot on the stove top, melt the butter and add the 16 cups marshmallows. If you feel your pot isn’t large enough, add half the marshmallows at a time and let them melt down a bit before you add the rest. Melt completely and stir in salt.
- Once melted, quickly pour over cereal mixture and stir well until all cereal is coated. Transfer mixture to prepared pan. Spray your hands with non-stick spray (or rub with a little butter) so you can gently press down mixture to the edges of the pan.
- Let treats set until firmed up and then lift your foil/parchment out of the pan for easy cutting.
Notes
Questions & Reviews
Are the 16 cups marshmallows large or mini?
Mini Marshmallows!
I have been using this recipe for 2 years in a row at an annual children’s event I help with. They are perfectly gooey, chewy and delicious! When I don’t have nice big pans to use, I just divide this recipe between two 9×13 pans. Today, I did something crazy. I needed a rice crispy treat dessert with a summer twist. So, I added one 6 oz. box of raspberry Jell-O and 6 packets of True Lemon powder to the melted butter and marshmallows. The final product was a fun Raspberry Lemonade flavored treat!
I am making these this week and was wondering how long they stay fresh for. My meeting they are for is Thursday, but could I make them Wednesday and still have them seem fresh?
Yes, one day ahead is just fine!
I made a 1/2 batch in a 9×13 and they turned out great! The ratio of marshmallow to rice krispie creates a nearly perfect bar! Thanks for the great recipe.
I’ve never tried the salt idea! I’ll have to add that next time. But where’s the vanilla?!! ???? Actually, most recipes online don’t call for vanilla. But my dad is the Rice Krispie treat master and always taught me to add vanilla. So yummy! Rice Krispies are my all time favorite dessert! I can eat a pan by myself!
You are welcome to add vanilla if you like!
I’m confused on the ratio. 1x is enough for a cookie sheet, correct? 2x I thought would double that so 2 sheets and so on but it only increases the butter, not the krispies..
Making this for my daughters birthday cake (Mount Krumpit!:)
Are you using the automatic scaling feature? If it’s being glitchy, I’d just double by hand 🙂
I could have sworn I saw somewhere on your blog about freezing rice krispie treats. But now that I really need to know how to do it for an upcoming event that I will be making multiple multiple batches of rice krispie treats I can’t find where you talk about it. Was it you? Could you give me a quick run-down of the best way to freeze them, or if that doesn’t work tell me so they don’t taste bad!! Thanks!!
I mentioned it on Instagram! My friend told me about it and I only tested it with a few large, individually wrapped treats and it worked great! I’m sure you could wrap a whole “sheet” of them and cut them after as well, but I froze some of these individually wrapped ones from this very blog post and they worked great. Just thaw at room temp.
Making these at the moment, as a rule of thumb when you have butter in your recipes is it salted or unsalted?
Always salted unless otherwise specified.
Hi… you really use” salted butter” in these Krispy treats? Making large batch for folks at work …just want to make sure I am reading this correctly..Salted Butter.
Yes, I always use salted butter! If you’re worried about them being too salty, you can decrease the added salt if you like 🙂
I’ve been looking for a really stiff, strong spatula to replace my favorite one I picked up at Aldi’s years ago. Do you have any brand recs?
Yes! These GIR brand spatuals are my FAVORITE. This listing should show multiple sizes. The large 16″ ones are my favorite for rice krispie treats and the others are my go-to’s. They’re strong, sturdy, heat resistant and reliable.
Thank you so much!
I’m glad you share this recipe. I’m looking for snack recipe to do for my children, and I think they will love it.
This is seriously the best recipe, thanks you! My quest to find the perfect rice Kristy treat is over?. They were soft and chewy, but not sticky. Perfect ratio of marshmallows and cereal… and I loved that it used the full box of cereal and packages of marshmallows rather than leaving me with a little extra that I end up throwing out.
I’m so happy you love them!!
I add a generous scoop of cookie butter to each batch I make (you can get the real thing, aka Biscoff, for a pretty penny at your local grocery store, or Trader Joe’s makes a super yummy version that’s tons cheaper). It guarantees chewiness and ups the savory/sweet factor. <<>>
This is random but I’m dying to know what you did with 6 large batches of Rice Krispie treats? How many boxes of cereal was that? That sounds deliciously dangerous to have lying around your house!!
Wow! But How’ many packages of marshmallows equals 20 cups?
Marshmallows are generally sold in 2 size bags, 10oz and 16oz. You’ll need a little more than 2 16oz bags so you either need three 16oz bags,or two 16oz bags + one 10oz bag, or four 10oz bags.
Are you using a 1/2 sheet pan or something deeper?
You can use either one, I use both
This sounds great– I love the idea of the extra, un-melted marshmallows! Sometimes Rice Krispie Treats are a little dry….
One question– I wouldn’t begin to know how many bags of mini marshmallows I’d need to buy to make 20 cups. Same goes for # of boxes to make 12 cups of Rice Krispies! Do you have any estimates?
Thanks!!!
Marshmallows are generally sold in 2 size bags, 10oz and 16oz. You’ll need a little more than 2 16oz bags so you either need three 16oz bags,or two 16oz bags + one 10oz bag, or four 10oz bags.
I am glad you posted this recipe because we have a family picnic coming up and who doesn’t love these? I am also glad because I, too, find the ratio of marshmallow to cereal difficult to get right. Visually, I think yours looks really good. You can totally tell by looking when a rice crispy bar will be too dry (my biggest pet peeve with them). I think I will give your recipe a try this weekend. Thanks!
These look so good! I need to make them for family night tonight!
Paige
Do you know off hand how many bags of marshmallows equals 16 cups?
Marshmallows are generally sold in 2 size bags, 10oz and 16oz. You’ll need a little more than 2 16oz bags so you either need three 16oz bags, or two 16oz bags + one 10oz bag, or four 10oz bags.