Stuff It, Replace the Cereal in Your Rice Krispie Treats With Potato Chips

As a kid, I couldn’t get enough of Rice Krispies treats. The gooey texture of marshmallows. The crunch of rice cereal. It was exactly what I wanted, and I wanted it all the time. This was hard, as I had parents who refused to allow them in the house.

As an adult, I’ve grown beyond my love for Rice Krispies. These days I prefer sweets with a little bit more oomph to them — a little more complexity — whether that means a tang of salt, a little spice, or some extra flavour.

Well, as the food writer Patty Catalano recently reported for the Kitchn, there is a new way to make Rice Krispies treats that can elevate the treat you loved as a child into the kind of treat you demand as an adult: Instead of Rice Krispies, use potato chips.

This bold suggestion originated in a reader comment on the blog Cup of Jo, in a thread about crowd-pleasing recipes. Wherever this dear reader is today, I wish to thank them for their service to humanity. The chips give the concoction a satisfying salty crunch, which melds with the gooey sweetness of marshmallows, creating a treat that is damn near capable of sending you into sensory overload. It’s everything I never knew I wanted, in the shape of a beloved childhood treat. I will never be the same again.

How to make Potato Chip Krispies treats

To make these potato chip krispies treats (“Ruffles Krispies,” Catalano calls them), you’ll need six tablespoons of butter, six cups of crushed wavy potato chips, and one 453.59 g bag of marshmallows. Six cups of crushed potato chips equal about one family-size bag, or nine of the lil single-serving bags that come in the family pack from Costco — the ones leftover after everyone else has claimed all the good flavours.

Catalano recommends adding in a little extra salt to really enhance the chips, or you can use salted butter. (I chose to use salted butter.) If you fear straight chips might be too much for your delicate sensibilities, she notes you can try a half-and-half mixture of chips and rice cereal. Personally, I don’t go in for half-measures when it comes to dessert.

To make the treats, first crush the chips and put them in a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter in a saucepan on the stove, then add the marshmallows and stir until you have produced a smooth, gooey sauce. Take it off the stovetop and pour over the crushed chips. (Pouring the marshmallow sauce into the bowl of crushed chips, rather than the other way around, will help keep the chips crunchy — though if you want them to have more texture, consider using a studier chip (kettle chips might be taking things one step too far, however).

Once the chips have been covered with an even coating of goo, transfer to a greased pan and shape them until they lie flat. Allow them to set, at which point you can cut them into bars.

Take your Potato Chip Krispies to the next level

Once you’ve made this basic recipe, you can get even wilder with one of a number of different variations, whether shaping them into an ice cream cone, using the chips at the bottom of the bag to make a single serving, mixing in other cereals along with the chips, or using them as a (surprising!) reinforcement for your gingerbread house.

I’m certainly not above taking inspiration from our chocolate potato chip cookies, and mixing in some dark chocolate chips. Or you could go several steps farther and just slather the entire pan with a layer of dark chocolate. After all, the joy of being a grown-arse adult is that you can eat whatever the fuck you want, whenever the fuck you want it. Sorry, mum and dad.