These healthy peanut butter cups are nutritious, delicious and made with good-for-you ingredients. All you need are a few simple ingredients including all-natural peanut butter, cocoa powder, maple syrup, and Himalayan sea salt!
These healthy peanut butter cups are a FFF reader favorite recipe. They’ve been made and rated 5-stars by so many of you and we can’t wait for you to make them!
BEST Peanut Butter Cups
If you’re anything like me, it’s going to be hard to eat just one of these. I mean…peanut butter + chocolate = love and that’s just the truth.
This peanut butter cup recipe is amazing for so many reasons, but mostly because everybody loves peanut butter cups. I’m totally the type of person that always needs something sweet after dinner and these for sure hit the spot.
These healthy peanut butter cups double as a freezer fudge because, well, they’re made with coconut oil! They live in the freezer until you need to sink your teeth into them, but don’t worry, they don’t even need to thaw in order to eat them!
Guess what else? They triple as a peanut butter fat bomb because they’re made with a peanut butter and coconut oil base, which makes the healthy fats count super high.
Ingredients for Healthy Peanut Butter Cups
You need 6 total ingredients for this healthy dessert recipe. Guess what else? There’s no unrefined sugar involved.
- All-Natural Peanut Butter – make sure to use drippy, all-natural peanut butter. The kind that you can easily stir.
- Coconut Oil – you’ll be using coconut oil in both the chocolate and peanut butter layers.
- Maple Syrup – maple syrup is an all-natural sweetener that adds warmth and the perfect sweetness to this recipe.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – make sure to buy unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Himalayan Sea Salt – don’t skip the salt! Salt will bring out the peanut butter + chocolate flavors of these peanut butter cups.
- Vanilla Extract – vanilla is like the cherry on top. It adds just the right flavor profile.
ingredient swaps
peanut butter – can’ t do peanut butter? Feel free to use any kind of drippy nut butter such as cashew or almond.
maple syrup – honey is an easy 1:1 swap for maple syrup.
Homemade Peanut Butter Cup Tips
Since these are a fan favorite and have been made time and time again, I thought I would give some tips on how to have the most success when making these homemade peanut butter cups.
Coconut Oil: Unfortunately we don’t recommend swapping any other oil for the coconut oil in these healthy peanut butter cups. The only other alternative that I can think of is using extremely oily peanut butter, which essentially has more peanut oil in it than actual peanut butter!
Peanut Butter: We recommend using an all natural, drippy peanut butter for this recipe. Brands we love include Smuckers All Natural, Trader Joe’s All Natural, or Fresh Thyme All Natural.
Freezer: You’ll notice in the recipe that these homemade peanut butter cups need to live in the freezer. This is because they are part coconut oil, which can melt easily at room temperature. With that said, these cups will last in the freezer for up to 3 months!
Consistency: If your peanut butter cups are too thick, add a tablespoon more of coconut oil. If they are too thick add a tablespoon more of peanut butter!
Storage
Once your peanut butter cups have frozen, we suggest transferring them out of the muffin tin and into a large, freezer-safe gallon-size bag and storing them in the freezer. They should last for about 3 months or longer.
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Healthy Peanut Butter Cups
Ingredients
Bottom Layer (chocolate)
- 1/3 cup all-natural creamy peanut butter*
- 2.5 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Top Layer (peanut butter)
- 1/3 cup all-natural creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- Himalayan sea salt
Instructions
- Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners and then spray with coconut oil cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir all ingredients for the bottom layer (chocolate) together until smooth. Set aside.
- In another medium bowl, stir all ingredients for the top layer (peanut butter) together until smooth. Set aside.
- Scoop a heaping 1/2 tablespoon of the chocolate layer into each muffin cup. Repeat until you’ve filled 12 cups. Then, pick up the entire muffin tin and shake/tap it until the layer is set evenly.
- Repeat the same thing with the peanut butter layer, adding around a heaping 1/2 tablespoon on top of the chocolate layer. Pick up the entire muffin tin one more time and shake/tap it until your cups are even.
- Finally, sprinkle each cup with some Himalayan sea salt.
- Place the muffin tin in the freezer for 30 minutes or until firm. Enjoy!
- Store healthy peanut butter cups in the freezer to enjoy for later.
Tips & Notes
- Make sure you are using an all natural, drippy peanut butter for this recipe. We recommend Smuckers All Natural, Trader Joe’s All Natural, or Fresh Thyme All Natural.
- Store healthy peanut butter cups in the freezer to enjoy for later.
I just made these and they are AWESOME. I wanted them a little smaller so I made 14 out of an ice cube tray. Perfect fit and absolutely delicious. Thanks for the great recipe!
Ice cube tray…GENIUS.
I’ve made these a couple times per the recipe and they are SUPER good! Made a couple modifications today, I used PB Fit powder to make the peanut butter and SF maple syrup. Definitely not as amazing as the regular version but still a pretty darn good treat! And with the modifications theyre about 73 calories per cup. I also made only the bottom chocolate layer and used the pb fit, SF syrup and peppermint instead of vanilla and made a batch of 12 mini cups that ended up being 39 calories each. I’m pretty stocked up!
So yummmy and simple
Why must you make me drool? These look delicious, and I’m going to try the stevia that one of your other commenters suggested in the recipe. Thanks for the inspiration!
Good recipe but way too much cocoa for my taste. Will try it again and half the cocoa next tine.
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I can’t believe I never saw these on your site…I make tons of your recipes….just made these for the first time, wow amazing….thanks so much for sharing!
These look delicious and I wonder if anyone has tried or can I sub PB2 for peanut butter? I looked through the comments and didn’t notice any subs
Hey Shari! Unforuntaltey this recipe will not work with PB2!
These came out amazing! Very creamy!
Can anything else (such as honey) be substituted for the maple syrup in the healthy peanut butter cups?
Hi! Yes, you can sub honey or any other liquid sweetener!
I seriously can’t wait to make these! Bookmarking now!
I kept seeing these pop up on my screen and decided I had to make them. Made them with sunbutter as we have a nut allergy in our house. They are amazing and way more satisfying than the real thing!
What’s a substitute for coconut oil…allergic to coconut
My 4 year old daughter loves to help cook in the kitchen and tonight we made these together! She calls them Buttercups ? So delicious and healthier than the store bought alternative! Love it!
That is the cutest thing ever!
I just made these. They’re in the freezer. I can’t wait to pull them out and try them.
Thanks for the recipe!
Did you add maple syrup to this recipe? I had the link saved and this recipe is different. 🙁 Can you share the old recipe without the maple syrup? It was my fave and I can’t have maple syrup. Thanks !!
Hi! I unfortunately did not save the old recipe and I apologize! Instead of maple syrup, I used stevia. It’s a very similar recipe, just stevia instead!
Do you know about how much Stevia it would take to replace the maple syrup? I think these are great for Keto (with almond butter) so I was just going to try them without any sweetener but I’m guessing a little stevia would probably be better than nothing at all.
Hi! I have no idea. I’m not really a stevia girl.
Someone above said 8 drops of liquid stevia. I know this is about a month out, but worth a shot. I was confused by the comments also. So glad I read about the stevia. I so prefer that over other sweeteners.