If you love Kellogg's Frosted Flakes Cereal, you've got to make a batch of these crispy and chewy marshmallow Frosted Flakes treats. They're GREAT!
It is so fun to make marshmallow cereal treats using your favorite cereal.
I've really enjoyed making Fruit Loops Cereal Bars, Fruity Pebbles Marshmallow Cereal Treats, Reese's Puffs Cereal Treats, and Cap'n Crunch Cereal Treats.
Today, I made these Frosted Flakes Treats and am excited to share this recipe with you.
These treats were so much more amazing than I'd imagined they would be.
The crispy sugar-coated cornflakes make a great substitute for Rice Krispies in a gooey marshmallow cereal treat.
I was so surprised at how well the thin flakes held up in these treats. I thought perhaps they would become soft and chewy but they stayed perfectly crispy even 7 days after they were made (the day I ate the last treat out of the pan).
Just like when making any of the rice krispie treat recipes, we recommend using European-style butter for the very best flavor.
Cereal treats made using European butter will have a richer flavor and creamier texture.
Compare European Butter and American Butter
- European butter and has a higher butterfat content than American butter, which is higher in water.
- Butter made in Europe must have a minimum butterfat content of 82% while butter made in America only needs to have 80%.
- While that may not seem significant, when you melt the butter to make your treats, more water will be evaporated from American butter leaving you with less butterfat, which means less flavor.
- Also, the cows that make European butter graze almost entirely on grass which gives the butter a richer flavor and a more vibrant yellow color.
Salted vs Unsalted Butter
- We like the flavor that salted butter adds to the treats. Salted butter balances the sweetness of the marshmallows and sugar-coated cereal.
- If you do not have salted butter, just use unsalted butter. Do not sprinkle in the salt. It won't blend into the treats well and you'll have pockets of salt.
Marshmallows
- When we created the very first recipe for this website, we had over 20 people taste test over 20 versions of the traditional Rice Krispie Treat recipe and found that tasters preferred the delicate vanilla flavor and texture of Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows in their treats over store-brand marshmallows.
- We found store-brand marshmallows to be stickier and were much more difficult to blend with the cereal.
- If you use store-brand marshmallows (like Kroger and Walmart) add more cereal (½ - 1 cup extra) so that our treats won't be overly sticky.
How many cups of marshmallows?
We found that every brand of marshmallows is different. Some are denser than others. So when making these Frosted Flakes treats it's best to use a 10-ounce bag of marshmallows. But you can measure them out if needed.
If you can't find 10-ounce bags you can measure the marshmallows.
I prefer to use mini marshmallows because they melt more quickly, but you can use standard-size marshmallows if you prefer.
Mini Marshmallows:
- Each cup of mini marshmallows weighs approximately 1.67 ounces.
- A 10-ounce bag contains 6 cups of mini marshmallows.
- A 16-ounce bag contains 9 ⅔ cups of mini marshmallows.
NOTE:
- For some reason, Kellogg’s original Rice Krispie Treat recipe says there are 4 cups of mini marshmallows in a 10-ounce bag. We’ve weighed and measured this many times and there are definitely 6 cups in 10 ounces.
Standard (large) Marshmallows:
- Each large marshmallow is approximately 0.24 ounces.
- 7-8 marshmallows = 1 cup of mini marshmallows
- There are approximately 40-48 marshmallows in a 10-ounce bag.
- There are approximately 64-70 marshmallows in a 16-ounce bag.
- Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows are lighter than some other brands. If using them you’ll need 40 marshmallows for a recipe calling for 10 ounces and 64 for a 16-ounce recipe.
Check out our Marshmallow Conversion Chart for more detailed information.
Let's make Frosted Flakes Cereal Bars
You'll need:
- Frosted Flakes cereal
- European-style salted butter
- Kraft jet-puffed marshmallows
Instructions:
- Grease an 8-inch or 9-inch square pan with butter or nonstick baking spray.
- Grease the inside of a large mixing bowl with butter or non-stick baking spray then pour in the 6 cups of Frosted Flakes cereal.
- Set the bowl aside until needed.
Stove-top recipe:
- Begin to melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan set over low heat.
Then stir in 10 ounces of marshmallows and allow them to melt, stirring often, until about 75% have melted. - Remove the marshmallows from the heat and stir, smashing them, until they are completely melted.
- If you remove the pan from the heat when the marshmallows are not fully melted the residual heat will continue to melt them.
- If marshmallows are overheated the sugar will begin to crystalize which in turn will create hard treats.
- Pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal and toss to coat evenly.
- Spread the cereal mixture into the prepared pan.
- Press down gently to flatten the mixture into an even layer. You don't want to crush the cereal. Plus if you compact it too much, the treats won't be as soft and chewy.
- Then set the pan aside for at least 1 hour in order for the marshmallow cereal treats to cool before cutting them into 16 squares.
Microwave recipe:
- Combine 4 tablespoons of salted butter and 10 ounces of marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl.
- Heat on high power for 1 minute then remove and stir until the melted butter blends with the marshmallows.
- Keep stirring until the marshmallows melt.
- If needed, reheat for 15-second increments, stirring after each until the marshmallows are fully melted.
- Once again, you do not want to overheat the marshmallows!
- Pour over a bowl filled with 6 cups of Frosted Flakes cereal and stir until the cereal becomes well blended with the marshmallows.
- Spread the cereal mixture into a prepared pan.
- Give the cereal treats time to cool before cutting.
Chocolate Frosted Flakes Treats
You can use Chocolate Frosted Flakes to make a chocolate version of the cereal treats by simply swapping out the chocolate cereal for the traditional cereal. To make taste even better, you can add a ½ cup of chocolate chips to the melted marshmallows.
- Melt 4 tablespoons of salted butter and 10 ounces of marshmallows.
- Remove from the heat, and stir in ½ cup of chocolate chips until melted.
- Pour over 6 cups of cereal, toss to combine.
- Spread into a pan, cool, then cut into squares.
Strawberry Milkshake Frosted Flakes Bars
If you find boxes of Kellogg's Strawberry Milkshake Frosted Flakes cereal in your grocery store, I highly recommend you buy a box to make these treats. Incredibly, the marshmallow cereal treats taste like a strawberry milkshake. They are so amazingly good and are perfect treats for summer.
Cornflakes Treats
If you prefer treats that aren't quite as sweet, you can make Corn Flakes treats instead.
Storing your cereal treats:
- These treats are best served the day they are made but will stay nice and fresh if stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week and possibly longer. I ate my final treat on day 7 and it was still crispy and delicious!
- If you'd like to make these treats in advance you may freeze them.
- See our Rice Krispie Treat FAQ for information regarding freezing and storage.
Printable Recipe
Frosted Flakes Treats
Equipment
- 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan
- large mixing bowl
- medium-large saucepan
Ingredients
- 6 cups Kellogg's Frosted Flakes cereal
- 4 tablespoons European-style salted butter
- 10 ounces Kraft jet puffed marshmallows
Instructions
- Grease an 8-inch or 9-inch square pan with butter or nonstick baking spray.
- Grease the inside of a large mixing bowl with butter or non-stick baking spray then pour in the Frosted Flakes cereal.
- Begin to melt 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan set over low heat.
- Then, stir in 10 ounces of marshmallows and allow them to melt, stirring often, until about 75% have melted.
- Remove the marshmallows from the heat and stir, smashing them, until they are completely melted.
- Pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal and toss to coat evenly.
- Spread the cereal mixture into the prepared pan then set aside for at least 1 hour in order for it to cool before cutting into 16 squares.
Notes
- Store the treats in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- Optional Microwave Method:
- Heat the butter and marshmallows on high for one minute then remove and stir until melted and smooth.
- Heat for an additional 15-second burst of high power, only if needed.
Pour over the cereal and continue with the recipe listed above.
- Heating the marshmallows just until about ¾ of them melts, then stirring until melted off-heat, keeps your marshmallows from overheating which causes the sugar to caramelize and makes your treats too hard.
- To make chocolate Frosted Flakes treats, stir ½ cup of chocolate chips into the melted marshmallows then combine with Chocolate Frosted Flakes.
More Cereal Treat Recipes:
You might also like these other cereal treat recipes:
Elisabeth P.
I never thought to use Frosted Flakes to make marshmallow cereal treats until I saw this recipe. My entire family went crazy over these. They are even better than the classic Rice Krispie Treats.
Margaret Houpland
These treats were better than I thought they'd be and my kids loved them!
Brooke
Easy and delicious!
Ann Leeds
Hi! Thanks for sharing! This may be a random question, but where did you get your taste testing sheet pan from in the photo where you tested the different types of butter? I have never seen something like this before and it's really cool!
Beth Klosterboer
Hi Ann,
The pan is a 3-row lasagna pan that I found years ago. I just saw that Amazon has something similar back in stock. You can see it here - https://amzn.to/3YGihnH
Sheila Wilson
I thought these Frosted Flakes Treats might be too sweet but they were fantastic! My kids loved them. We are excited to try many more of your recipes. Thanks!
Beth Klosterboer
I'm happy to hear you and your kids love this recipe! Have fun trying out more of our fun cereal treat recipes.
TNT
Easy to follow recipe and super yummy
Meaghan Mountford
Thank you so much! It's one of our favorites too.