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Healthy Pumpkin Bars are made without flour or refined sugar, and are surprisingly light and fluffy! They are one of my favorite grain-free desserts for the Fall, and once you taste them, I think you’ll fall in love with them, too.
Inspired by my Paleo Banana Snack Cake, this recipe uses almond butter instead of flour. It’s amazing how when you pair it with eggs and a little honey, it becomes quite cake-like!
Ingredients You’ll Need
What’s in healthy pumpkin bars?
- Almond butter
- Pumpkin puree
- Eggs
- Honey
- Pumpkin pie spice
If you don’t have almond butter on hand, cashew butter also makes a similar substitute. I’ve tested this recipe using peanut butter, and the results aren’t quite as delicious, because the peanut flavor competes with the pumpkin flavor too much.
For best results, I recommend using a “raw” or non-roasted nut butter, for the most mild flavor.
How to Make Pumpkin Bars
1. Mix. Combine the almond butter, pumpkin, honey, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, and stir until very smooth.
Once the batter is mixed, add in the vinegar and stir again. You’ll notice that lighter swirls will start to appear as you mix, and that is the reaction between the baking soda and vinegar.
This will help the bars rise even better, and will help to avoid an aftertaste from the baking soda.
2. Bake. Pour the mixture into a lined or greased 8-inch pan, and bake at 350ºF for 35 to 40 minutes.
When the pumpkin bars are done, the center should rise, without jiggling in the middle when you shake the pan.
3. Slice. Let the bars cool completely in the pan, then slice into squares and serve right away.
These pumpkin bars are lightly sweet on their own, but I like topping them with a quick maple pecan glaze for an extra-special dessert. To make it, you just need to blend a few ingredients together!
This glaze is naturally sweetened and will NOT set like one made with powdered sugar, so it’s best to drizzle it over the bars right as you serve them, with a few chopped pecans on top.
They taste so impressive this way!
Pro Tip: For an even deeper flavor, swap the water in the Maple Pecan Glaze for black coffee. The maple coffee flavor is also excellent on these healthy pumpkin bars.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I swap the sweetener? This recipe should work well with a 1/2 cup of maple syrup to replace the honey. II’ve also tested it with 2/3 cup of coconut sugar, but the texture changes slightly when you swap a liquid sweetener for a granulated one.
I don’t work with zero calorie sweeteners, so I don’t know how this will work with a sweetener like stevia.
Can I make this vegan? Try my Vegan & Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bars recipe, for an egg-free recipe that is already tested for you.
Or try my Vegan Pumpkin Muffins, if you prefer to work with oat flour.
Can I make pumpkin puree from scratch? Check out my how to cook pumpkin tutorial, for the easiest way to make pumpkin puree at home!
More Pumpkin Recipes
Looking for more pumpkin inspiration? Try these!
- Pumpkin Ice Cream
- Vegan Pumpkin Donuts
- Oat Flour Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Overnight Oats
- Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Spice Latte
Ingredients
Pumpkin Bars
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Maple Pecan Glaze
- 3/4 cup pecans , plus extra chopped for serving
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup water (or coffee)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, almond butter, honey, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda, and stir until very smooth.
- Add the vinegar into the batter, and stir again. The batter will have lighter swirls in it, from the baking soda reacting to the vinegar. This will help the bars rise and remove any baking soda flavor in the final bars, so keep stirring until the batter looks uniform. Pour into a greased 8-inch baking dish, lined with parchment paper for easy removal later.
- Bake at 350ºF for about 35 minutes, until the bars rise in the center and don't jiggle when you shake the pan. Cool completely, then slice and serve.
- To make the optional Maple Pecan Glaze, combine the pecans, maple syrup, coconut oil, water, vanilla, and salt. Blend until very smooth, scraping down the blender as needed. You can add a tablespoon of water, as needed, to help it blend. Pour the glaze over the bars, and serve right away with chopped pecans on top.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try these healthy pumpkin bars soon, please leave a star rating and comment below letting me know how you like them!
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Reader Feedback: Which Fall dessert would you like to see next?
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this makes me so excited for fall 🙂
pumpkin cravings already!
OOOOH, yum! I am so glad it’s pumpkin season! I could eat pumpkin every day. And, thank goodness it’s almost past zucchini season. Love it, but overdid it.
I love anything pumpkin and usually make a lot of traditional pumpkin bread…can’t wait to try this version! Going to add chopped pecans into the batter and skip the glaze, although it looks yummy, trying to cut a few calories HA!
Mmmm… love the added pecans!
I think I could eat that glaze all by itself! These are such a decadent treat….I’ll definitely have to try these out! I’m so happy to have found your blog and your delicious recipes. I’ve looked forward to reading it each day. I was wondering if you have a particular diet you follow (i.e. paleo, vegan, etc.). I noticed you don’t use grains in your cooking… Have a great day!
I think I have eaten that glaze all by myself. 😉
In regards to diet, I don’t follow any particular plan. I’ve experimented with LOTS of stuff over the years (Paleo, vegan, vegetarian, Candida-cleansing, etc.) and prefer to simply focus on eating whole foods that make me feel good. I’ve learned that I feel my best when I keep my meals fairly simple and properly combined, though that doesn’t always happen at EVERY meal.
Since cutting out grains earlier this year, I haven’t had much desire to add them back in. That’s not to say I’ll never have them again, but for now, I’m enjoying the grain-free baking!
Yum. These look so awesome!
Looks delicious! Can you give us your tips for cooking the pumpkin in order to get the puree? Thanks!
I’ll work on a post about that, Anne!
Just cut a sugar pumpkin (best for making puree) in half, scoop out the seeds and roast, cut side down, on a greased baking sheet for about 45-55 minutes in a 375F oven. Scoop out the pumpkin with a large spoon and puree in a food processor or blender. Voila, pumpkin puree.
those look amaaazing. just wondering though.. why are all your baked goodies so heavy on the nut butters?
Hi Tanya! I prefer to keep my baking grain-free lately, so almonds make a great nutrient-dense substitute for flours, without sacrificing the texture of traditional baked goods. Almond flour can be a bit pricey, so I’ve been leaning towards using almond butter for convenience and accessibility.
Even if you cut these bars into 9 large squares, each one will contain less than a tablespoon of almond butter, which I don’t think is unreasonably heavy.
Hi Megan,
I’m allergic to all kinds of nuts. Is there a substitute that I can use?
Thanks,
The Gluten Free Girl
Maybe Sun butter would work:). ( from sunflower seeds)
I used sun butter and it was amazing! Heads up about sun butter tho, it can turn green with baking soda. It doesn’t affect the flavor.
Megan,
You are absolutely correct. I love your recipes as I am strictly SCD for celiac. I found that the nut flours, particularly almond flour (even the blanched) is difficult to digest, whereas the butters are a piece of cake! Please keep on with the nut butter recipes…and ditto on properly combining them..it does make a fantastic difference!
Cynthia,
Have you tried doing your own almond flour using soaked almonds? Nuts, seeds, legumes and grains all are difficult to digest because of thy phytic acid and phytates. I suspect that is even more difficult for someone whose gut is compromised (as most of ours are!) I soak my almonds in salt water and then dehydrate them. Then you can turn them into anything…flour, butter, or just eat them!! Sadly, I have yet to find a soaked almond flour on the market…and if you did it would likely be very expensive. Just an idea!!
Colleen B.
Can you use almond flour instead of butter if that’s what you have on hand?
Marilyn – I had the same question… here’s a link I found: https://whattocooktoday.com/easy-homemade-almond-butter.html
We love these bars!! I haven’t had the glaze because I’m allergic to pecans, but they’re great plain!
If I wanted to try a glaze, could I use almonds in the mixture instead of pecans?
Looks yummy. Thank you for posting this!
These sound absolutely fantastic. Bookmarked in my folder of recipes I’ll be making now the temperatures are dropping…. Thank you!
I love this recipe! They sound amazing and are very different anything I’ve tried before! Can’t wait to try this recipe out!
So good!