These healthy pumpkin pie bars are flourless, vegan and pretty addictive! You’ve been warned. The crumbly buttery crust and topping of the bars are made with oats and nuts and there’s a creamy pumpkin filling that you can make even without adding sugar. We find these pumpkin bars are great for meal prep, as they get better and better in the fridge. They are solid for dessert, a bigger sweet snack or even breakfast on the go.

Healthy Pumpkin Pie Bars

OMG! You have got to make and eat all of these healthy flourless pumpkin pie bars…

She said to herself two days ago.

Don’t worry, we're still at number 3. Or 4…we're kinda scared because they’re coming to an end.

We simply love these. The thing that makes them SO good is the combination of the buttery, crumbly crust and the creamy, spiced pumpkin filling. Good on their own, but when they come together….Mmmmm. Magic.

We are addicted! Sorry, we screamed. In fact, we're so addicted, we think we're going to make some more pumpkin puree and make the bars again. It’s pretty much the only pumpkin recipe we like and want to eat. And we hope, we HOPE, our inability to focus and follow a recipe doesn’t ruin our breakfast for the next few days.

Now, we do have a similar recipe from a few years ago for a vegan butternut squash crumble pie that we've been thinking about ever since making and eating all of it within 3-4 days. Those were some of our most precious pre-pan…. memories. We’re still not allowed to say the bad p word. And if you’re wondering, we're not talking about panis. It’s something else, you know what and we hope no search engine puts two and two together and makes this post about human anatomy. It’s about an innocent pumpkin recipe, mkay?

Flourless Pumpkin Pie Bars Ingredients

The list for this healthy pumpkin pie bars recipe is kinda long, we're not gonna lie to you. But you might just have everything at home, let’s check:

For the oatmeal crust:

Oats
Coconut oil
Walnuts
Maple or coconut blossom syrup
Cinnamon
Salt

For The Pumpkin Filling

pumpkin puree
coconut sugar (or soaked dates for a sugar-free version)
coconut oil
nutmeg
ground ginger (optional)
vanilla
cinnamon
pinch of salt

Got everything? Good, now let’s see what we’ll be doing!

How it comes together

We’ll start by getting all of the ingredients together and then making the crust. The filling is pretty simple to prepare.

How it comes together

A reliable way to make the flourless oatmeal crust is to first grind the nuts and oats in a high-speed blender. That’s going to be OUR flour. Originally, we used to make everything in one bowl using a hand blender. This time, it got pretty messy, and the immersion blender looked (and sounded) overwhelmed.

So our updated suggestion – first grind oats and nuts in a blender or a nut/coffee grinder and then combine in a bowl with the coconut oil, maple syrup, salt and cinnamon.

You should get a nice crumbly mixture that sticks together when you press it.

Once you have the “dough”, put it in a small pan and spread it with your fingers, pressing it down to shape the crust. Oh, we forgot, reserve about 1/3 for the crumble on top.

Because we're practical now, we used a stainless steel food container from IKEA (we think it’s this one – we bought it a long time ago) that you can also bake in. So yes – we bake and then store the bars in the same thing in the fridge.

Now your crust only needs baking.

Putting The Pumpkin Bars Together

Make sure to preheat your oven to 180C/350F at this point.

with sugar

To make the pumpkin filling, heat up the pumpkin puree (if it’s cold) for a bit in a large mixing bowl. Then add in the coconut oil, coconut sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon and blend or stir until well-combined.

with dates

Version with dates: In case you want to make the filling a little bit “healthier” you can use dates and omit the sugar. In that case, you need to blend the pumpkin puree and soaked dates (to soften them) with the spices, coconut oil or cream, and a pinch of salt until smooth.

Spread this pumpkin filling on top of the oat crust and resist eating it on its own.

Top with the reserved crumble. We did this by grabbing small amounts of the crumble mix and just squeezing it between our fingers as if that little crumble owes us money.

Place those crumbs all over and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the top looks golden brown and beautiful.

Wait for it…to cool off. You need to let the pumpkin pie bars cool off for a few hours. We know life’s hard for us as well. But while you’re working on some other projects, these bars will be getting more and more satisfying in the fridge. The filling will become creamier and all the flavors will combine. So let it meditate for a few hours in the fridge. We recommend at least 2-3.

How To Store

If you used our intelligent, some might call it genius, tip for baking in the stainless steel food container from IKEA, you’re three steps away from storing these flourless pumpkin pie bars like a pro. A pro at what? Nobody knows, but we've heard people talk like that. We're trying to fit it.

Step 1: Let the bars cool off.

Step 2: Lock them in the food container. Don’t worry, though, pretty large, pumpkin usually isn’t claustrophobic.

Step 3: Put the container in the fridge and store for 3-4 days.

If you have resisted the genius container tip (though we don’t know how you could not appreciate this eternal wisdom), we’ll have to smuggle in another step after cooling off the bars. Which is – transfer them to an airtight container.

Pumpkin pie bars, healthy, flourless & vegan

Yield: 6
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 3 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

Oat Crust and crumble

2 cups oats
3 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
¼ cup walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
2 ½ tbsp coconut syrup
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp water

Pumpkin Filling

1 2/3 cup pumpkin puree, warm
3 tbsp coconut sugar*
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger (optional)
3 tbsp coconut oil**
pinch of salt

Method

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F.
Blend the ingredients for the crumble in a food processor, a high-speed blender or in a bowl with an immersion blender. The resulting mixture doesn't need to be super smooth, but it should resemble crumbly dough that sticks together. We usually first start with the nuts & oats and then add everything else.
Spread ⅔ of this dough in a small pan lined with parchment paper and press it with your hands to form the crust. Reserve the other 1/3 for the crumble on top.
Mix the ingredients for the pumpkin filling; you can blend or stir until super smooth.
Spread the pumpkin filling over the oatmeal crust.
Form crumbles from the rest of the dough and spread over the filling.
Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the crumble becomes golden brown.
Let it cool off and refrigerate for about 2-3 hours to allow the pumpkin filling to become more creamy.
Slice into pieces and enjoy or store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Notes

*You can use dates, soaked in hot water for 5-6 minutes (to soften) and omit the sugar. We added seven dates (about 1/4-1/3 cup) and found the filling sweet enough, to be sure - taste test after blending everything smooth.

**If available you can also use coconut cream (top part of a coconut milk can).