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
- 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 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.
🧾 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.
Step 2: Pour mixture into a plastic lined 6x6" container and freeze for at least an hour.
Step 3: Slice into 6 long pieces or 12 small ones.
Step 4: Roll in the halved peanuts.
💭 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.
👩🏻🍳 Recipe FAQs
This payday candy bar recipe will last 3-4 months in the freezer.
If you tried this Homemade Payday Bars Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and let me know how you like it in the 💬 comments below. I love hearing from you!
These salty Homemade Payday Bars are really easy to make. It's waiting for them to set in the freezer that's the hard part!
📋 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.
Notes
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Nutrition
*Note: Nutrition information should be considered an estimate only. Different nutrition calculators give you different results.
Chessie says
OMG WHAT?!
Where has this been all my life?
Willow Moon says
I hope you like them!
Donna says
Not sure how you can say the total prep time is an hour and 15 minutes. It took me an hour just to “roll” the logs into the peanuts and get them to stick.
Would it be possible to layer the 6x6 pan with half the peanuts and then add the filling and then top with the rest of the peanuts?
They taste great, but the work involved was more than I expected.
Willow Moon says
That sounds like a great idea! I will have to try that the next time I make them as well.
Jai says
I was weary to make this recipe after seeing reviews about it not working out for some people, but glad I gave it a shot because these turned out amazing! Everyone I gave them to (non-vegans included) loved them, and they honestly taste BETTER than paydays. Thanks for the recipe!
P.S. I used oat condensed milk - worked just fine.
Willow Moon says
Thanks so much Jai! I'm glad they worked out for you and everyone loved them!
Wendy Rodriguez says
So sad it came out Way too oily must be too much to use whole cup of peanut butter. Most recipes call for 1/3 cup. I’m definitely Not making this recipe again 🥲
Willow Moon says
Hi Wendy, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. I've made this recipe many times and it's never come out oily for me. Maybe I could help you troubleshoot what might have gone wrong?
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!