Homemade Payday Bars

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These sweet and salty Homemade Payday Bars taste just like Payday candy bars, but they're vegan and have only 3 ingredients!

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"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. - Amy"

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.

The peanut butter mixture also tastes great in 5 Ingredient Date Snickers, Vegan Peanut Butter Cups, and Peanut Butter Caramel Apples.

If you like to make your own homemade candy bars I've also made Sugar Free Mounds Bars.

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❤️ Why You'll Love It
What are the ingredients in PayDay bars?
🧾 Ingredients
Are There Any Substitutions I Can Make?
Instructions
💭 Tips
👩🏻‍🍳 Recipe FAQs
Other Vegan Bars
🎥 Video
📋 Recipe
💬 Comments

❤️ Why You'll Love It

It is sweet, rich, and salty. It tastes like the original payday bar, but it's vegan.
It is the perfect sweet treat for peanut butter lovers.
It's an easy recipe. You don't need a candy thermometer! The hardest part is waiting for them to set.

What are the ingredients in PayDay bars?

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.

🧾 Ingredients

Sweetened condensed coconut milk: Adds a sweet, rich creamy flavor. You could also use sweetened condensed oat milk.
Peanut butter: I used all-natural peanut butter. Shelf-stable peanut butter would also work.
Salt: Enhances sweetness. I like to use sea salt.
Roasted and salted peanuts: Work the best because they are crunchy and salty.

To see the full list of ingredients with measurements and instructions, see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

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.

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Instructions

Step 1: Combine peanut butter, sweetened condensed coconut milk, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer while stirring constantly.

Peanut butter mixture in a plastic wrap lined container before freezing.

Step 2: Pour mixture into a plastic lined 6x6" container and freeze for at least an hour.

Sliced bars on plastic wrap after freezing.

Step 3: Slice into 6 long pieces or 12 small ones.

Homemade Payday Candy Bars with layer of peanuts in jumbo size and small sized on parchment paper.

Step 4: Roll in the halved peanuts.

Homemade Payday Bar in hand with more in the background.

💭 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 an airtight container in the freezer for the best consistency. They are soft and gooey at room temperature and in the fridge. Freezing them helps to solidify the peanut butter mixture.