Could Trader Joe’s New “Crispy Rice Treats” Actually Be Rice Krispie Treats?

They’re made by an “expert maker of cookies and cereal bars.” Does that mean Kellogg’s?

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Trader Joe’s has a new sweet treat, made of marshmallow and crisped rice: basically their version of Kellogg’s longstanding buffet-and-bake-sale-staple Rice Krispie Treats. But could these treats actually be made by Kellogg’s? It’s possible. Let’s take a look.

What are these Crispy Rice Treats?

They’re a new line of packaged marshmallow and toasted rice treats that are making their way to Trader Joe stores now. Each box comes with eight .77-oz individually wrapped treats, clearly looking to compete with Kellogg’s individually wrapped Rice Krispie Treat bars.

The online description even includes a disguised reference to Rice Krispies, saying that the original recipe was developed by “a cereal company in 1939,” as if the name “Kellogg’s” was the name of a long-forgotten cereal company whose name had somehow been lost to time.

Now, this isn’t Trader Joe’s first crisped rice treat, as last year they introduced the Chocolatey Coated Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Bites—small squares of crisped rice mixed with, well, peanut butter and chocolate. But they didn’t have any marshmallow, so they didn’t have the gooey consistency you get from the original treat.

Could these be Rice Krispie Treats in disguise?

It’s actually possible. In their online description, they mention that their supplier is “an expert maker of cookies and cereal bars,” which certainly describes Kellogg’s.

And, if you didn’t already know, a lot of store’s private label brands—like Walmart’s Great Value, Target’s Good & Gather, or everything Trader Joe’s sells—are often made by the same companies that make big brand name products. Those companies get to earn a bunch of extra money by being paid directly by the stores, and nobody knows as the stores keep their manufacturers names a closely guarded secret.

We might never know the manufacturer of these bars, but we can say they aren’t exactly Rice Krispie Treat bars, based on their listed ingredients. Trader Joe’s bars are largely the same as Kellogg’s bars, but with a few key differences. Trader Joe’s version uses sunflower oil and palm oil, while Kellogg’s bars use soybean oil and palm oil. But the biggest difference is probably the sweeteners, with the TJ’s version using a mixture of tapioca syrup, fructose, cane sugar, regular sugar, and invert sugar syrup, while the Kellogg’s version just lists sugar and corn syrup solids.

Now, this isn’t a dealbreaker; Trader Joe’s could’ve simply asked Kellogg’s to create a new formula for their version of the treat. But we can definitely say that they’re not just repackaged Rice Krispies Treats.

As for how they taste, we’ll just have to wait until we can find some on our local shelves. I just hope there are some left by the time I get there.