These sweet and salty Homemade Payday Bars taste just like Payday candy bars, but they're vegan and have only 3 ingredients!
These Homemade Payday Bars will satisfy both your sweet and salty cravings.
With only 3 ingredients (not counting salt), these sweet and salty bars could not be any easier.
What Ingredients Are In Store-Bought?
The original PayDay bar has peanuts, corn syrup, skim milk, palm oil, sunflower oil, carrageenan, salt, mono and diglycerides.
This vegan homemade version has roasted peanuts, peanut butter, salt (which I didn't count as an ingredient) and sweetened condensed coconut milk
Instructions
Combine peanut butter, sweetened condensed coconut milk, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer while stirring constantly.
Pour into a plastic lined 6x6" container and freeze for at least an hour. Slice into 6 long pieces or 12 small ones. Roll in halved peanuts.
Other Vegan Bars
- Sesame Crunch Bars
- No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
- Chocolate Coconut Almond Bars
- Cashew Cranberry Bars
Tips
- Use roasted and salted peanuts for a sweet and salty candy bar. I used cocktail peanuts for half the recipe and dry roasted for the other half. Both worked well.
- If you make these into 6 bars, they are jumbo sized. I prefer them smaller, so I ended up making them into 12.
- Store in the freezer for the best consistency.
Storage
This payday candy bar recipes lasts 3-4 months in the freezer.
Are There Any Substitutions I Can Make?
You could use a different nut and nut butter, but then it wouldn't be a Payday bar right! You could try these with another sweetener, like maple syrup, agave syrup, sugar, or powdered sugar, but I haven't tried this recipe with any of those so I can't comment on the results.
Recipe
These peanut bars are really easy to make. It's waiting for them to set in the freezer that's the hard part!
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You May Need
📋 Recipe
Homemade Payday Bars
Ingredients
- 11.25 ounces can of sweetened condensed coconut milk (1 cup)
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 2 pinches sea salt
- 2 cups roasted and salted peanuts halved
Instructions
- Pour sweetened condensed coconut milk, peanut butter, and salt into a saucepan over medium heat. Stir well to combine. Stirring constantly, bring to a simmer. Remove from heat.
- Pour into a plastic wrap lined 6x6" baking dish (or similar size). Place in the freezer to set.
- Lift out mixture by the plastic wrap. Cut into 6 large pieces if you want jumbo candy bars. They'll be about 5 ½" long and 1" thick. If you want small bars, cut into 12 pieces.
- Roll each bar in the halved peanuts. Store in the freezer for best consistency.
Nutrition
*Note: Nutrition information should be considered an estimate only. Different nutrition calculators give you different results.
Jeanne says
These did not work at all for me. I used Nature's Charm Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk 11.25 ounces, and store-brand organic no-stir peanut butter, which is solid when kept in the refrigerator. The fudge never set up in the freezer, even after overnight, and was very "goopy". It was impossible to cut into bars. I tried making a sticky ball of the fudge and rolling it in peanuts, but that wasn't satisfactory either. The taste of the fudge was very peanutty, not at all similar in texture or flavor to Payday.
Perhaps Nature's Charm has changed their sweetened condensed coconut milk. I ended up discarding the whole recipe, except for the one piece I tasted. Disappointed because I was looking forward to the candy, and also the recipe is quite expensive to make. I usually prefer vegan remakes to the original, but not in this case.
Willow Moon says
I am sorry that they didn't work out for you and you didn't like them! I don't understand why they wouldn't set. I've used this combination for fudge, peanut butter cups, chocolate covered stuffed dates, and as a peanut butter caramel apple coating. As you can see from the video, they get hard enough to cut. I've even used Nature's Charm recently and it was the same consistency.
Abby says
Holy moly! The filling is so good that I’m not sure I’ll have enough left to make the bars!!
Willow Moon says
I actually made the filling as a peanut butter fudge recipe first! So I hear you!
Jeffrey says
I was wondering could you use sweet and condensed milk Instead of the coconut condensed milk?
Willow Moon says
Definitely!
Amy Paul says
Well we have another winner, the whole family loves them! I brought one to my candy connoisseur son and said “Doesn’t this taste exactly like a real Payday?” And he says “ No, it’s BETTER”.
Now I have to hide them.
Willow Moon says
I’m so glad everyone loves them! Thanks Amy!
Amy Paul says
Oh I am SO gonna make these. I don’t have a sweet tooth, not in the least, but I’ve never been able to pass up a Payday candy bar. I’m heading up to the market today to get these ingredients, and let you know how they turn out
Willow Moon says
I hope you like them! They’re pretty sweet!