These hearty pumpkin chocolate chip bars are quick and easy to make with real pumpkin, gluten-free rolled oats, gooey chocolate, and a touch of maple syrup. Enjoy chewy, soft-baked pumpkin oatmeal bars for a special fall breakfast treat or for dessert!
Try my banana bread chocolate chip oatmeal bars, and these strawberry oatmeal bars next. You might also love my vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
Fall means that pumpkin season is officially here! Lately, the kids and I have been all about pumpkin muffins and these chocolate chip pumpkin bars. These soft-baked beauties are absolutely delicious and so easy to make. They’re packed with real pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and chocolate, sweetened with maple syrup and applesauce. After all, it is fall right!? Apples, maple, and pumpkin are a must! And we’ll never say “no” to chocolate around here.
Why You’ll Fall For These Chewy Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars
- Soft and chewy. I love including feel-good ingredients like gluten-free oats in my fall baking recipes! Not only does it make treats like these pumpkin chocolate chip bars a little more hearty, but they’re also ridiculously soft, moist, and chewy.
- Sweetened without sugar. Unsweetened applesauce and a hint of real maple syrup make these pumpkin bars just sweet enough without refined or added sugar.
- Easy to make. This chocolate chip pumpkin bars recipe is a perfect fall dessert, and even kids can get in on the fun of making them. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another, mix, and bake!
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make This Recipe
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe, and you’ll find the printable recipe with amounts in the recipe card after the post.
- Oats – The best oats for these bars are old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick oats or steel cut oats). I use the gluten-free oats from Bob’s Red Mill brand.
- Gluten-Free Flour – In my opinion, 1:1 gluten-free baking flour gives you the same taste and texture as regular all-purpose flour in this recipe! The brands I always come back to are Bob’s Red Mill, Cup 4 Cup, and King Arthur. Any of these will work great here.
- Pumpkin Puree – I like to use organic pumpkin puree. Make sure you’re using 100% pure canned or homemade pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling. They are NOT the same product.
- Apple Sauce – Natural and unsweetened applesauce (without the cinnamon). We’ll be adding our own spices.
- Leavening Agents – Baking Soda, baking powder, and salt help these bars rise and get fluffy.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – Choose your favorite brand of pumpkin pie spice from the store (I often buy the McCormick brand), or make it yourself with 1 ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, and ¼ teaspoon ground cloves.
- Maple Syrup – Our natural sweetener in these bars. Make sure you’re using pure maple syrup and not artificially flavored syrup or pancake syrup. You can swap this for honey, agave, or another liquid sweetener if you’d prefer.
- Vanilla Extract – Substitute an equal amount of vanilla paste if needed.
- Chocolate Chips – Dark chocolate, semi-sweet, or mini chips, it’s up to you! You could also make these bars with butterscotch chips or toffee morsels.
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars in 3 Steps
These are different from pumpkin pie bars. They’re more like oatmeal cookie bars, or blondies, packed with pumpkin and chocolate. You’re going to love how easy they are to make!
- Mix the wet and dry ingredients separately. Whisk together your oats, flour, leavening, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. In a separate bowl, mix the pumpkin, maple syrup, vanilla, and applesauce.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture. Stir that together and then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Bake! Transfer the mixture to a greased and lined 9×9-inch baking dish. Bake these bars for 20-25 minutes at 350ºF until they’re golden on top and a tester comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes before serving, or cool the bars completely to store them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Storage and Freezing
- Store at room temperature. Wait until the bars have cooled and then store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- Freeze. These pumpkin chocolate chip bars freeze well! Make sure that they are cool, and separate any layers with parchment paper so they don’t stick together. Then freeze them in an air-tight container or freezer storage bag for up to 6 months.
More Pumpkin Recipes You’ll Love
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
- Category: Bars
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These chewy, soft-baked gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip bars are quick and easy to make with real pumpkin, rolled oats, and gooey chocolate.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups gluten free regular oats (not quick oats)
- 1 1/2 cups 1:1 gluten free baking flour
- 1½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Spray a 9″ x 9″ baking dish with cooking spray and cover with parchment paper. (This will help you remove the bars more easily later)
- To a medium bowl, add oats, 1:1 baking flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
- To a large bowl, add pumpkin puree, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and apple sauce. Whisk together until combined.
- Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
- Add oatmeal mixture to prepared 9″ x 9″ baking dish.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the toothpick test comes out clean.
- Serve!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 135
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 81 mg
- Fat: 4 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 23 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
24 comments on “The Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars”
Rubbish recipe. Not at all like the photos. Just bad, rubbery bricks. And I followed the recipe to the T.
Hi Pambis, I’m so sorry these didn’t turn out for you — that’s frustrating after putting in the work. Rubbery texture usually points to overmixing or too much flour (especially if it was scooped vs. spooned and leveled). I’d love to help troubleshoot if you ever want to give them another shot.
Can you use almond or coconut flour instead of gluten free flour?
Hi Kristy! Almond and coconut flour don’t swap 1:1 for gluten-free flour blends — they behave totally differently in baking. Almond flour would give you a denser, more crumbly bar, and coconut flour absorbs way more moisture so you’d need to adjust the eggs and liquid. I’d recommend sticking with a 1:1 GF blend like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur for the best results!
These came out more like a breakfast casserole than bars. I know i put the right amount of ingredients in there and put it the oven for 10 minutes longer than it said to. Perhaps the pan I used was too small? I used an 8×8. Hmm
They are super tasty though. I’ll chalk the doughyness to not using a big enough pan for them. 🙂
The texture of them is more like a baked oatmeal bar, then a crunch bar if that makes sense. But if you want them harder, yes you could use a big pan and that should do the trick. 🙂
Have you ever made these into muffin tins? If so, how long did you bake them and at what temp?
OH I have not. I would think between 10-12 minutes at 350F
I had a tough time adding wet ingredients to dry. Seems it would be easier the other way around. The batter was very dry, like a bread dough and not wet like a typical bar recipe. I used King Arthur 1:1 GF flour. They are baking now. I’ll update on how they turned out.
UPDATE: these came out dry and bland looking. Not at all like the photos. Not sure what went wrong. I followed the recipe exactly to double it and did not over cook them. Please let me know where I may have gone wrong. I was making these for a friend. So disappointed.
Oh no I’m so sorry. It’s always hard to tell with baking because altitude can play a difference too. We’ve made these a couple of times now and have never had that problem, even my kiddos make them. If they are too dry I’d say maybe add 1/4 cup more of pumpkin and 1/2 cup of maple instead of the 1/3 and bake for 5 minutes less. Hopefully that will do the trick.
Yes it will be a little thicker than normal
My daughters love chocolate but they can’t eat it much. This recipe is perfect combine. It provides enough energy for all activities morning and makes breakfast fun. The color and flavor are characteristic of pumpkin. With this recipe, my little daughters can use all chocolate chips in the kitchen to cook.
So happy you love them! These bars are the perfect sweet treat!
Will regular all-purpose flour work?
Yes, all purpose will work as well. 1:1 ratio.
My son is in kindergarten this year and I feel the same way! It’s crazy how much he’s learned in two short months already!
These bars look great!!! I love pumpkin!
So Yummy! How many bars does this make?
These look seriously AMAZING! I’d love one this morning with my coffee!
I love that you added the nice big sized chocolate chunks to these pumpkin bars! I’ve always loved chocolate and pumpkin together!
These cookie bars look irresistible! I love the added pumpkin
These look and sound terrific!
I would love one of these bars right now!
I’m pretty sure these would disappear quickly in my house! Pumpkin, oatmeal and chocolate are always winners!