Hi guys! Sorry about taking last week off of blogging. I was in Boston on a little vacation with some of my friends from college. We had an unbelievable time baking cookies (new recipe coming soon), exploring the North End, running around Southie, and laughing until we couldn’t anymore. Life is good!
I’ll have a recap soon of all of my Boston outings plus some favorite things of mine, too! But of course, Monday came and vacation ended. And now it’s October; I can’t believe it! I’ve been busy running outside trying to soak it all up before Minnesota weather comes swinging in with negative temperatures. Obviously since it’s been so lovely, I’ve been slacking in the baking department. Sorry about that! I’m back now… with tasty little bars. You’re excited, right?
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You should be! I’m a HUGE fan of all things pumpkin. In fact if I had to choose my last meal on earth, it would be a simple slice of warm pumpkin pie with whipped cream. That’s my heaven. Seriously pumpkin is the JAM to my peanut butter. What I really mean is that it completes me.
These bars are just as wonderful as pie in their own way. They make mornings a little brighter. Somehow they feel romantic and will definitely have your house smelling like fall.
Oh and did I mention that they’re healthy? Yes, you can totally eat them for breakfast or as a snack — there’s only 128 calories per bar and healthy ingredients, too!
How can that be? Well I made these bars based on my vegan and gluten free banana bread. It’s one of my favorite recipes on my site and I knew that I could make some tweaks to convert it into an amazing healthy bar. Usually you can sub pumpkin for bananas in recipes with ease; just make sure you account for any sweetness that may be removed.
To ensure this recipe was gluten free, I used gluten-free oats to make oat flour (listed in the instructions). Making oat flour one of the easiest things to do, and especially wonderful if you are gluten free! Oats hold a ton of moisture and provide healthy carbs — so eat up!
Secondly, I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips to keep the recipe vegan-friendly. However if you aren’t vegan, regular mini chips will work just fine!
I hope you enjoy this recipe. I’ve been working hard to create better for you treats and snacks! So of course… more coming soon!
More healthy bar recipes to try:
Pumpkin Pie Bars with Brown Sugar Oatmeal Crust (gluten & dairy free)
Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars with Almond Flour Sugar Cookie Crust
Coconut & Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars
Chocolate Chip Coconut Flour Pumpkin Bars
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125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oat Bars {vegan and gluten free}
Ingredients
- 3 cups gluten free oats
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
- 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (or sub 1/3 cup melted butter or coconut oil)
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 tablespoon olive or melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9x9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Make oat flour: Place oatmeal into blender or food processor and blend for 1-2 minutes until oatmeal resembles flour. You may need to stop blender and stir oats a couple of times to ensure that all oats have been blended.
- Measure out just 2 1/2 cups of the oat flour and place in a medium bowl. Whisk in baking powder, salt and spices; set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, brown sugar, vanilla extract, oil, and applesauce for 1-2 minutes until the consistency is smooth and creamy.
- Slowly add in oat flour mixture and mix until just combined.
- Gently fold in 1/3 cup of chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for 15-25 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Timing will depend on what size pan you use, but definitely check around 15 minutes. Once finished baking, cool 10 minutes on wire rack. Cut into 16 slices.
I love the delicate crumb and pumpkin flavor of these bars!
While I tried to increase the flavour with additional spices this bar turned out relatively tasteless with a gluey texture. I like the recipes on this site but this one was a disappointment.
I’ve made these on repeat every fall for the last several years. My toddler is absolutely obsessed with them (as am I)! Two very important notes: 1) Bake in an 8×8, not 9×9. They’re better when thicker. 2) UNDERBAKE THEM. Trust me. Over baking is what makes them dry and tasteless, I learned the hard way. There’s no egg or flour in them so you’re not looking at salmonella risk for underbaking. Just do it. 15 minutes, 16 max. I promise.
It’s okay. Mine was moist and cake like but on the bland side. I would suggest using more spice, also I used dark chocolate but I think semi sweet or milk chocolate would have been better.
Sorry to hear this recipe did not turn out as you had expected. There are lots of different spices in this recipe so I am not sure what could’ve gone wrong.
These were OK. I followed the recipe with the exception of using olive oil and I added some dried cranberries. They need something. The flavor is kind of bland. They do seem healthy though.
Bummed I didn’t read the reviews first. Chewy and flat, pretty flavorless and I doubled the spices. Won’t repeat
Really sorry to hear you didn’t love these! You might like these pumpkin oatmeal cups more–they’re a newer recipe!
still making these every fall since I found this recipe 7 years ago!
😍 LOVE THAT!! I need to make these again soon!
Looking forward to making this recipe as a back-to-school treat (I’m a teacher and we need BTS treats too! Lol). The recipe says to use 3 cups of oats to make the oat flour, but only measure out 2.5 cups of oat flour. What do you do with the rest of the oat flour? Did I miss something?
Sorry! My iPad showed 0 comments earlier, but as soon as I posted my question they all appeared and I see my question was already answered. Thanks!
No worries, glad you found the answer! 🙂
I didn’t see any comments either! Until, after I posted a comment. It would’ve been helpful because a lot of times I look at the comments first to see what people who have made the recipe say. Wonder if this is just a glitch
These turned out so well – delicious & hearty, but still definitely sweet enough for a treat. I subbed in 1/2 a cup of whole wheat flour for the oat flour because I didn’t blend enough oat flour, and it worked perfectly. I did 1/4c brown sugar and 1/4c coconut sugar, and added some of a chopped up super dark chocolate bar along with the chips, which I would recommend. I used 1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice instead of the individual spices and it was the right amount for a nicely spiced bar. I topped with flaky sea salt – also highly recommended. Baked in an 8X8 lined with parchment for 25 min & they came out soft and chewy, but completely baked – sort of the texture of a brownie on the cakier side. Really good. I will definitely be making again.
I’m glad that worked out well! Perfect treat 🙂
I have loved all of your recipes, but not sure about this one. I made exactly as above, but they came out sponge-like. Your picture looks amazing, but mine were pretty dense. I baked for only 15 minutes. Suggestions?
this is definitely an older recipe that is likely going to need some retesting! so sorry you didn’t like the result, I’ll be sure to retest in the near future and update 🙂
My 4th recipe so far for pumpkin week… made exactly as is except 2 1/2 cups store-bought oat flour instead of grinding my own, and added a whole apple to mix in. So good!! Thank you, I am excited to try more this week…
I followed the recipe exactly and they were great! It is a cross between a brownie and granola bar. So gooey yummy.
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed 🙂
Mine looks nothing like the photo but what a yummy, healthy treat! Will definitely be making these again. Thank you!!
Looks like this recipe calls for 3 c oats but I only see 2.5 c used? Where does the extra 1/2 cup oats go?
The 3 cups of oats are used to make oat flour, and then with the way they’re reduced after processing you’ll just need 2 1/2 cups of the oat flour.
Monique, what ingredients did you use for the picture of your recipe? The applesauce, melted butter or coconut oil? I would like the result to be more like a brownie. I noticed some comments said the texture is more cake like. I don’t really care for cake and prefer to have a more dense texture.
Hi! I used applesauce when I tested these. Let me know how you like them!
making your own oat flour is amazing!
If using purchased oatflour how much should be used (as it is much finer than homemade)?
I would suggest 2 1/2 cups oat flour.
I made these bars for my book club Christmas Cookie Exchange. I will say these bars were awesome👍 I did bake them for the full amount of time an after cooling I placed in the refrigerator, next morning I cut into 20 bars, was perfect, everyone loved them. I would definitely make these again!! Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
So sorry I didn’t take an pic’s😞
Next time I will👍😉💕
Amazing! So happy to hear that Kathleen.
I followed the recipe exactly and mine came out really cakey and dry? I was hoping for the gooey texture like the photo. Kinda bummed.
Weird, I’ve never had that issue. Did you perhaps overbake them?
These turned out great; loved them & will make them again for certain!
So happy to hear that!
I really enjoy these with a cup of milk, and my husband with a cup of coffee, but I think they’d be a bit dry on their own, esp. after the first day. The flavor is great, and I’ll definitely make again! I have made these twice, most recently this month.
I would double check your liquid to dry ratios here! I’ve found that these stay nice and moist.
Any advice on making these with preground oat flour? I tried these with some I purchased and liked the taste but it looked nothing like the picture texturewise (instead of dense and gooey it was more breadlike) and took longer to cook. I’m guessing maybe it’s because the preground flour is much finer exactly like all purpose than when I’ve tried grinding them myself and is possibly a higher quantity than the courser home ground oats? So long story short if using preground oat flour do you think I’d need to add less to get the same results as the picture? Thank you so much I’m looking forward to trying them again with better results! 🙂