Easter Rice Krispie Treats

You will love making these Easter Rice Krispie Treats! I love holidays and making items my kids or grandkids will love to enjoy. It’s all about memories in the kitchen, right?

I think we all grew up making Rice Krispie treats, this recipe takes it up a notch. We had some grandkids coming over last Sunday and we made them before they came as a special surprise for when they arrived. These treats make the cutest table centerpiece at this special time of year when families get together. Oh, and they taste great too!

These Easter Rice Krispie Treats are a little crunchy inside and out. We fill them with Easter candy after the mixture sets up. My choice was M&M Peanuts! The candies looked a little like eggs, so I grabbed them at the grocery store.

With what’s going on in the world, we need to do some fun things with family and friends. Please take the time to enjoy the people around you. This would be a fun and delicious project to make together, especially for the kids!

Kitchen Items You May Need:

• Microwaveable Mixing Bowl
• Measuring Cup(s)
• 12-Cup Muffin Tin

Ingredients – Easter Rice Krispie Treats

• Mini Marshmallows: Small, bite-sized versions of regular-sized marshmallows. They’re made with sugar, water, corn syrup, modified corn starch, gelatin, and flavoring such as vanilla extract. Along with the butter, they act as a binding agent to hold the treat together.
• Salted or Unsalted Butter: Used to help hold the treat together and to give the treat a rich, creamy flavor and a nice, glossy finish. It also helps the marshmallows to melt faster and mix more evenly with the rice.
• Rice Krispie Cereal: Made of puffed rice and sugar, it provides a crispy texture and sweetness that is complementary to the marshmallow and butter. The puffed rice pieces stick together when melted marshmallows are added, allowing the treats to hold their shape.
• Green Food Coloring: A type of food dye that is used to give food a green color. Combined with the rice cereal it gives the look of green grass.
• Easter Candies: Store-bought candies – Cadbury Mini Easter Eggs, easter M&M’s, Jelly Beans, Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs, or Reese’s Easter Bunnies, pastel sprinkles, Peeps, chocolate eggs, or any other Easter candies of your choosing. The ideal touch would be to use candies made with pastel colors.
• Shredded Coconut (optional): Adds a unique flavor, texture, and look to the Rice Krispie treat baskets. High in healthy fats and fiber, which makes it a nutritious addition.

Easter Rice Krispie Treats

Step One: Gather the Ingredients

Gather your ingredients so you’re ready to start the recipe. You only need 4 ingredients and the green food coloring. Of course, you can make your own food coloring from scratch, but I have never done that. Plus, you need to decide on the candy you want to fill the little baskets.

Step Two: Place 6 Cups of Marshmallows in a Glass Mixing Bowl

Grab a large glass mixing bowl and place 6 cups of mini marshmallows in it. The recipe calls for 7 cups, but you will set one cup aside at this point.

Step Three: Pour Melted Butter over the Marshmallows – Microwave for 1 Minute

Pour the melted butter over the marshmallows and microwave for about one minute. Watch it closely. You can also melt the marshmallows and butter in a large saucepan or large pan on low heat.

Step Four: Combine Cereal with Melted Marshmallows and Butter

Remove the melted marshmallows and butter from the microwave and add them along with the Rice Krispie cereal and mix them until the rice is completely covered.

Step Five: Stir in One Cup of Marshmallows

Then add the last cup of mini marshmallows you had set aside to the bowl and stir them in.

Step Six: Add a Few Drops of Green Food Coloring

Add a few drops of the green coloring. Keyword, a few, as in very little, unless you want the mixture to be very green. Either way, the little baskets are so cute! Stir in the green food coloring until you create the color you want.

Step Seven: Spray Muffin Tins – Scoop 1/4 Cup Mixture into Muffin Cups – Create a Cavity

Now, lightly spray the muffin tins with cooking spray to ease in getting them out of the muffin tins when it’s time to add the candy. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the marshmallow mixture into each muffin cup. Make sure to make as deep a cavity in the mixture as possible so you can fill the baskets (or nests) with Easter candy. With the small size of each muffin cup, the cavity won’t be very big, but do the best you can.

Step Eight: Set for 1 Hour – Remove from Muffin Tin – Fill with Easter Candy

Let them set up for about one hour in the muffin tins. This gives them time to harden up a bit. Use a thin spatula to remove them. Fill with your favorite Easter candy. Optional, place some shredded coconut in the baskets before you place the “eggs” of Easter candy in them. Enjoy.

Final Product

Easter Rice Krispie Treats Recipe

How do I store the leftovers?

We rarely have any leftovers, but if you do, just place them on your kitchen countertop covered with plastic wrap, wax paper, or in an airtight container. They store well at room temperature which helps to keep the treats soft and moist.

Do I need to refrigerate these Easter treats?

No need to refrigerate them, just put them on the kitchen counter, lightly covered with plastic wrap.

Why are my Rice Krispie Treats so sticky?

If you use too many marshmallows and butter, the mixture will be sticky. Plus, if you don’t use enough, it makes the mixture hard and crumbly.

Why won’t my marshmallows melt?

They taste so good when they are fresh, but when they get old and stale, they are much harder to melt, if you can even melt them at all.

How do I keep the mixture from sticking to my hands?

Well, it’s a bit messy but this step works. You can spray vegetable spray on your hands, or even rub some butter on them. Apply more as needed.

How long does it take for these to harden or set up?

Plan on about an hour for the mixture to harden or set up. It’s worth the wait, I promise. These cute little baskets were ready to fill after about one hour.

Can I use a different brand of the same type of cereal?

Yes, you can, I just wanted the picture of the original type for the picture above. Otherwise, I would have purchased the store brand to possibly save some money.

Are these Rice Krispie treats gluten-free?

As with any food allergy, I would highly recommend reviewing the ingredients on any product that you use in this recipe or on any other packaging if you decide to add additional ingredients. With the recipe made as is, the most common ingredient that would contain gluten is in the rice cereal. 

There are many crispy rice kinds of cereal that are sold that don’t contain gluten and are advertised as such on their packaging.

Final Word

Let me know if you make these Easter Rice Krispie Treats, I love to hear how it worked out when you made them. Also, if you make them in different shapes, I’d like to hear about that too. These are the funnest Easter desserts to make! Please teach your kids and grandkids to cook from scratch. May God Bless this world, Linda