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
Healthy Pumpkin Bars
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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I’m very eager to try this recipe I LOVE pumpkin. I do have a question or so for you though. I am getting married in Sept and my fiance’s mom will be making our cake (or cakes if we do several different varieties)
Do you have any suggestion on recipes that we could try. I ran across your site and am happy I did so, we recently gave up wheat, refined sugar, and most dairy with the exception of goat. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Also can you freeze the cakes for a week or two and be OK, or have you tried that before?
Thanks for the recipe! I made these with pumpkin seed butter and they’re lovely! I’m looking into making some almond butter soon so will make them again with that.
These are great whether you’re eating gluten and dairy free or not! While I was baking them everyone who walked by asked what smelled so good, and after trying them they said you couldn’t tell they didn’t have flour in them. People around here really know their baked goods too! This recipe will be added to the recipe collection at our house to be enjoyed by all with or without food sensitivities.
Thank you!
Hi great recipe. Have to say that after the first time I began making this recipe with almond flour made from pulp of almond milk and dehydrated in the oven @ 50 Degrees C. Ima,ways have almond flour around because i make almond milk regularly. They came out just as good. Making almond butter is time consuming and I’m always afraid I’ll burn out the food processor’s motor, so I was happy it worked out using the flour. I make it in a loaf tin and sometimes just have it as cake without the maple glaze.mofmcourse for a special occasion i would bother making the glaze (which is no bother really, so easy).
Were they dry when substituting the almond butter with pulp, or did you add in some oil or something to make up for the fat? Love the idea of using up my almond pulp this way 🙂
Just made these. Delicious! Thank you.
Hi I wanted to know how many grams of protein are in each bar. Also do you have any other protein bar recipes with more protein in them. I’m guessing I could add some protein powder but not sure how much.
Thank you
Erin
I can’t wait to try this recipe as written. As a framework, I used it with mashed bananas and cashew butter. Ohmygoshsogood.
Thanks.
DELICIOUS!!!!
hello i am wondering if Wow Butter can be used instead of the almond butter my son has a nut allergy. thanks
I’m not familiar with Wow Butter– is it seed based? Sunflower seed butter should work fine in this recipe, but sunflower seeds do have a reaction with baking soda and can turn baked goods green. They are safe to eat, but they can look scary if you’re not prepared for it!
These are AMAZEBALLS. Even my anti-nutrition hack husband liked them! They are soft and fluffy and SO easy to make it isn’t even funny. I added some chopped walnuts and pumpkin seeds on top to up the omega 3 and B-vitamin factor, and honestly – I eat them for breakfast with a coffee…. soooooo goood.
These bars are fantastic! I have served them to non-paleo people and they were gobbled up by adults and children! I’m about to make these for the third time! I do have to cook mine for 30 minutes though. My oven is tempermental 🙂
These are delicious! I have made them three times so far and they have been such a big hit, even with my pumpkin loathing seven year old who gobbled them up.
Made this recipe last night for my family and it turned out perfect! Delicious pumpkin bars… Better than I’ve ever had! I made a cinnamon maple whip cream to top it with.
OMG these were amazing.!!! I did 3 batches. 2 for my co-workers, which I made the way the recipe said minus the glaze. And the other I followed the recipe but added chocolate chips and still without the pecan glaze. Both were amazing, however I am a chocolate freak so I will keep doing it that way. Thank you for the recipe post. Please keep them coming.
Do you think I can omit the honey and use a mashed ripe banana?
The link to the maple pecan sauce doesn’t work. I can’t find it……. Help?
Made these this afternoon, great! I already got a few friends addicted to your almond freezer fudge, this will be next. Should they be refrigerated? Wasn’t sure. Thanks again.
Oh my!! I made these tonight and invited my friend over to sample with me. The whole family loved them. My friend does not really like nuts so I wasn’t sure she would like the glaze but she did. Everything about this recipe is fantastic. I can’t wait to share it with more people. Thank you!
Made these for our 5 kid family and they were a hit. They were super easy and quick to make and it is always rewarding when a recipe turns out just as good as you hoped.
I made these this morning using .25c (or 1/2 of an individual cup) of unsweetened applesauce and a few drops of stevia instead of the honey. Worked out great. Likely still not as sweet as the original recipe but I also ate 1/4 of the pan as breakfast and was looking for a post work out snack or breakfast as oppose to dessert. I calculated the nutrition the way I made it and it is:
Calories: 247.4
Total Fat: 19.9 g
Cholesterol: 93.0 mg
Total Carbs: 11.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.6 g
Protein: 8.3 g
I made these and the taste is awesome – but the texture did not turn out like a ‘bar’; very squishy…almost too moist. What did I do wrong?
These are so good! I made these for my Mom’s birthday. I reduced the honey to 1/4 cup and they were delicious. (I don’t even like pumpkin and I loved these.)
I don’t have almond butter but I have almond meal (ground almonds) would that work and what else would I need for moisture or fat?? to make up for the “almond butter”?
I had it at a pot luck/book club and loved it. I have made this cake multiple times this fall season for pot lucks and dinners and it was a hit. I whipped the eggs with my kitchen aid first then added all the ingredients, I find this order fluffs the cake a bit more. I also used fresh pumpkin, cut it up, roasted it for an hour on 425 then blended in the food processor. The maple topping really makes the cake pop!
These are to DIE for!! Taking a lot of restraint to not keep eating these! I will absolutely keep these in my Fall rotation and keep in mind for entertaining and parties. The glaze just takes it over the top! Thank you soooo much!
I just made these the other night and they’re AMAZING! Sooooo tasty. They’re also quite addictive, so I have to restrain myself from eating the whole pan whenever I go into the kitchen. 😉 Thanks for this recipe.
These are absolutely GREAT. I have a patch of persimmon trees in my yard and every fall I am looking for recipes for persimmons. All pumpkin bread/muffin recipes work great, but I am not eating so many grains and flours these days. This is the very best persimmon recipe that I have tried. I substituted the same volume of persimmon pulp for pumpkin in your recipe. I have used peanut butter in a pinch (peanuts are a great pair for persimmons flavor-wise in my opinion).
I just have to say WOW! These were wonderful. I can’t wait to adapt it to other recipies. Thanks for making these wonderful easy recipies. So inspired!
Is there a way to use a substitute for honey if we wanted to make it sugar free?
Try using agave. I always sub agave for honey since I am I diabetic.
Hi Megan!
I LOVE your blog. Quick question about the glaze. You mentioned it hardens up after a while…. If I make these for Thanksgiving a day ahead of time, can I glaze them and they’ll still be okay to eat the next day?
Megan or all, I made these today according to directions and they turned out perfectly. Even tasted good going down, however, more than two hours later I have a nasty taste left in my mouth – thinking it might have been the pumpkin pie spice (too old?)(they had a twang), so I purchased a new bottle and will give these one more try tonight.
Since I was going to remake them anyway, I also thought they lacked serious pumpkin flavor, even though I used organic, unsalted Almond Butter. Therefore, I am wondering if anyone has increased the pumpkin puree to 3/4 cup or more and lessened the almond butter accordingly?
p.s. Thanks to such creative people and responses on here, I will also be making a grainless batch with banana 🙂
These are delicious! I made the recipe as is but used a maple almond butter I’d just picked up. Pinned. Shared on FB. Definitely one to remember and make again.
My husband made these for me as a treat for Thanksgiving (I’m currently doing SCD and am not ready for nut flours yet), and I just wanted to tell you they were FANTASTIC. Thank you for the wonderful “keeper” recipe. 🙂
Hi, just gotta tell ya, I served these at Christmas and no one knew they were grain free. They were loved by all!
I just tasted my batch and they’re amazing! Thank you for always having such great recipes. I was wondering if you happened to have the nutritional information per serving? I followed your recipe exactly. Thanks again,
Cheers!
This looks fantastic!I wonder if I should use peanut butter instead of almond butter?
I just made these without the spice and added some chocolate cocoa powder. I also switched it to mini muffins and they came out great! Like a little mini cupcake. =) Thanks for the recipe!
I just watched you on Hallmark…I know a star! You were great, seemed very much at ease, despite the 40-11 people all talking to you at once! This is so exciting…I’m SO glad I found you! You’ve made my journey into a healthier lifestyle a piece of cake! (pun intended) gigglesnort! Thank you, Megan 🙂
Is the pumpkin puree the same as can pumpkin. I keep this in my pantry year round.
Yes it is! You’re smart to keep it on hand– I can’t find canned pumpkin ANYWHERE right now. It’s in high demand!
Wow!! Once again a great recipe!! Moist flavorful and easy to whip up. Maybe too easy! Thank you!
OH. MY. PUMPKIN. these are sooooooOooOOoo good!!! Perfectly moist and perfectly pumpkiny. And the glaze?! I died and went to maple pecan heaven. I didnt have any coconut oil (I was at work ok) so I used almond milk instead of the water and it was SOoOOooo yummy and creamy and healthy?! Thank you for thus recipe I will DEFINITELY be making these again….tomorrow…. 😉
Megan, my son has chrons and I use your site daily! Thank you for following your heart and mission.
This recipe along with countless others are AMAZING! Don’t know what I would do without this site and your cookbook!!!!!!
If you do the glaze, do these need to be refrigerated or are they okay at room temperature?
This recipe sounds amazing! I’d like to make it vegan, can an egg substitute be used? Sometimes egg subs don’t always work well when doing a grain-free recipe so thought I’d ask. Thanks in advance!
These were really good. I didn’t change anything & they turned out great. I will be making again. I do have a question, do you think I could use sugar free pumpkin spice syrup for the honey? Thanks for a winner.
My family loves these. I always double it and use a 13″ x 9″ Pyrex to bake them. Check them early, mine are usually done at about 28 minutes. Thanks for such an amazing recipe.
I just made these and they are great! Even without the glaze, which I will make when they cool. I do have a question for those substituting banana. Are you replacing the pumpkin or honey with the banana? I think the banana and honey together would be too sweet. How would I correct that?
I would love to know the answer to the banana question! I may try subbing banana for the honey today and I will let you know if I do. I have three very ripe bananas just begging to be baked. Oh and Detoxinista, thank you for this recipe! I have made a kuzillion batches of it. I like to use a mix of PB, almond butter and sunbutter. I’ve never made the glaze, they’re so sweet and yummy without it. And I bake it in cupcake tins. They Hulk out on us (the inside turns green) from the chemical reaction but no one every complains! Delicious!
These were great.!!! Mine didn’t even last the day my neighbors all loved them. I will definitely be making these again. Can you freeze these?.
Yes, I think they’d freeze well!
Oh my it’s in the heat of July I just made these. I am a cookie freak and missing anything close on day 75 Scd. Thank you…I am searching for anything I can after I cried thinking I’d never eat again.
Can you use maple syrup instead of honey?