Homemade Snickers Bars
Layers of chocolate, peanut butter nougat, salted peanuts and condensed-milk caramel. A no-bake homemade Snickers slice for a 20 cm tin, with a nougat that holds its shape.
Chocolate, chewy peanut butter nougat, salted peanuts, sticky caramel, more chocolate. Four short jobs, with the freezer doing the waiting in between.
Recipe inspiration
A birthday, a bake sale, a work morning tea: one 20 cm tin gives 24 squares, each richer than a whole shop bar. It uses half a tin of condensed milk, and the other half makes the caramel for a second batch, or our homemade Bounty the non-vegan way. No oven, so it's a summer slice too.
About this dish
Mars made the first Snickers in Chicago in 1930 and named it after the family's favourite horse. In Britain and Ireland it was sold as Marathon until 1990. The bar is nougat topped with caramel and peanuts, all in milk chocolate. Australian Snickers were made here at 53 g, moved to China in the late 2010s at 50 g, and came home in 2022 at 44 g.
The factory nougat isn't the egg-white and honey nougat of southern Europe. It's sugar syrup aerated with a whipping agent such as gelatine, which is why melted marshmallows get so close. This slice stacks the same layers thicker: a snappy chocolate base, soft and chewy peanut nougat, crunchy salted peanuts, a fudgy caramel that pulls, and a chocolate top with a few flakes of salt.
Additions & substitutions
- Dark chocolate: less sweet, better with the salt. Use 50 to 60% cocoa; it sets firmer, so cut with a hot knife.
- Crunchy peanut butter in the nougat for more bite. Use a regular supermarket one; natural peanut butter separates and makes the nougat greasy.
- Other nuts: roasted almonds, cashews or walnuts, chopped, with almond butter in the nougat. See nuts.
- Nut-free: sunflower seed butter and roasted sunflower seeds. Check your chocolate for nut traces.
- Easier caramel: melt 150 g soft caramels with 2 tbsp cream instead of cooking the condensed milk caramel. Softer, and it never burns.
- Vegan: dairy-free chocolate, coconut cream, vegan butter, gelatine-free marshmallows and sweetened condensed coconut milk. Untested here; vegan marshmallows melt less smoothly, so stir longer, and watch the caramel's colour, not the clock.
- Salted caramel: ½ tsp flaky salt stirred into the caramel as it comes off the heat.
Expert tips
Shopping
- Block chocolate, not chocolate melts. Melts set waxy and taste of little. See chocolate.
- Fresh marshmallows. Stale ones melt lumpy. Plain white; pink ones turn the nougat grey-pink.
- Salted roasted peanuts. The salt is the Snickers flavour; unsalted peanuts make a flat slice.
- A sugar thermometer takes the guessing out of the nougat. Without one, drop a little syrup into cold water: at soft ball it gathers into a soft ball you can squash between your fingers.
Preparing
- Weigh everything before you start. The nougat and caramel both move fast once hot.
- Each layer cold before the next. Press the surface: it should feel firm, not tacky. Warm layers smear together.
- Stir the caramel the whole time it boils. Condensed milk catches on the base and burns in seconds. Use a heavy pan and a flat-ended spatula to scrape the corners.
- Cut with a hot knife. Dip a long knife in just-boiled water, dry it, cut, wipe, repeat. Clean edges show off the layers.
Make ahead, or for a crowd
- It keeps a week in an airtight container in the fridge, layers separated by baking paper, or 2 months in the freezer. Thaw in the fridge.
- Serve it fridge-cold. At room temperature the chocolate softens and the caramel slides, especially in summer.
- For a crowd, double it in a 20 x 30 cm slice tin and cut 48. Make the nougat in two lots; a bigger batch is hard to spread before it sets.
Serving suggestions
- Cut small, with a coffee or a cold glass of milk.
- Boxed with homemade Bounty for a gift.
- Chopped over vanilla ice cream, or beside our chocolate liqueur.
- More sweet things without an oven: no-bake cake and Healthy snacks.
Homemade Snickers Bars
Published 2 Oct 2026 · Updated 3 Oct 2026
Ingredients
Makes 24 squares from a 20 cm square tin.
Chocolate base and top
- 340 g milk or dark chocolate, chopped (divided)
- 60 ml thickened cream (¼ cup) (divided)
Peanut butter nougat
- 75 g caster sugar (⅓ cup)
- 30 ml thickened cream (2 tbsp)
- 30 g butter
- 35 g smooth peanut butter (2 tbsp)
- 100 g white marshmallows (about 2½ cups mini, or 12 large, chopped)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 120 g salted roasted peanuts (¾ cup)
Caramel
- 60 g butter
- 110 g caster sugar (½ cup)
- 200 g sweetened condensed milk (about half a 395 g tin)
- Flaky salt, to finish (optional)
Method
- Line the tin. Grease a 20 cm square tin and line it with a strip of baking paper across the base and up two sides, so you can lift the slice out. Clear a flat space in the freezer.
- Make the base. Melt half the chocolate (170 g) with half the cream (30 ml) in the microwave in 30-second bursts at 50% power, stirring each time, until smooth and glossy. Spread it evenly over the base. Freeze 15 minutes, until firm when pressed.
- Boil the nougat syrup. Put the sugar, cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the butter melts. Turn up the heat and boil, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes, until thick, foamy and 112 to 116°C, or a drop forms a soft ball in cold water.
- Melt in the marshmallows. Off the heat, stir in the peanut butter, marshmallows and vanilla until the marshmallows vanish and the nougat is smooth, pale tan and pulls in thick ribbons. If lumps remain, 10 seconds back on low heat.
- Spread and scatter. Working quickly, spread the nougat over the frozen chocolate with an oiled spatula. Scatter the peanuts over and press them in gently. Freeze while you make the caramel.
- Cook the caramel. Put the butter, sugar and condensed milk in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and stir constantly for 5 to 8 minutes, until deep honey-coloured, thick, and pulling away from the base as you stir. It smells of toffee; a bitter smell means it's catching. It's very hot, so take care.
- Pour it over. Pour the caramel over the peanuts and spread it to the edges. Freeze 15 minutes, until it no longer moves when you tilt the tin.
- Add the top. Melt the remaining chocolate and cream the same way as the base. Spread it over the caramel and scatter with flaky salt, if using.
- Set and cut. Freeze 30 minutes, or refrigerate 2 hours, until firm right through. Lift out with the paper and cut into 24 squares with a hot knife, wiping it clean between cuts.
Notes
- Nougat oozes when cut? The syrup didn't reach soft ball. Keep the slice frozen and serve it cold; next time boil a minute longer.
- Nougat hard and chewy as toffee? Boiled too far, past firm ball (118°C). It still tastes right; cut it smaller.
- Marshmallows won't melt smooth? The syrup cooled. 10 seconds on low heat, stirring.
- Caramel grainy? Sugar crystals on the pan sides fell in. Brush the sides with a wet pastry brush while it boils next time.
- Caramel burnt specks? It caught on the base. If it smells bitter, start again; the taste runs through the slice.
- Layers sliding apart? A layer went on warm. Chill the whole slice an hour; it firms up and holds.
- Top cracked when cut? Too cold from the freezer. Let it stand 10 minutes, then cut with the hot knife.
- Leftover condensed milk? It keeps a week in a covered jar in the fridge. Stir it into coffee, or make a second batch of caramel.
Sources
- "Snickers", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snickers
- "Nougat", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nougat
- "Marshmallow", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshmallow
- "Candy making", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_making
- "Chocolate Peanut Nougat Bars", King Arthur Baking, https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/chocolate-peanut-nougat-bars-recipe
- "Choc-peanut caramel slice", The Australian Women's Weekly Food, https://www.womensweeklyfood.com.au/recipe/baking/choc-peanut-caramel-slice-11330/
- "Peanut caramel squares", The Australian Women's Weekly Food, https://www.womensweeklyfood.com.au/recipe/baking/peanut-caramel-squares-31617/
