Pumpkin Granola Bars
Oct 07, 2016, Updated May 07, 2023
Easy and delicious Pumpkin Granola Bars are packed with all the fall flavors. Great for breakfast or snacking, they are also vegan!
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Vegan Pumpkin Granola Bars are great for breakfast or snacking. These chewy bars are packed with all the delicious fall flavors!
Snacking problem? How many of you face it? And if you do what is your favorite snack? I am terribly bad at choosing good snacks, like just yesterday I had one whole bag of Doritos with my chai! ? Eeks bad bad girl Manali and damn you Doritos for being so addictive! But on my good days, I snack on nuts, that’s mostly it as far as my healthy snacking is concerned. Sometimes I also get in the mood to make homemade granola bars to rectify my bad snacking habits and since it’s fall, I wanted to make something pumpkin and made you guys these Pumpkin Granola Bars!
I really love homemade granola bars but I don’t make them very often. It’s mostly because I am just plain lazy. Because honestly making granola bars at home doesn’t take much time at all and homemade always tastes better than store bought. There’s so much that you can do when you make granola bars at home, add in your favorite things and get rid of things that you don’t like. They are easily customizable like that.
These pumpkin granola bars are chewy in texture and loaded with some of my favorite things like
peanut butter
chocolate chips
pumpkin seeds
dried cranberries
& of course pumpkin
You can remove whatever you don’t like from the list and replace it with your favorite ingredient. All these flavors sounded just right to me to be added to pumpkin granola bars but of course feel free to experiment. These bars are sweetened with natural sweeteners like dates and maple syrup and of course there’s always chocolate chips to add to the sweetness. And the best part? These pumpkin granola bars are vegan! You can make them gluten-free too by using gluten free oats.
I got 8 bars from this recipe but as you can see, my bars are pretty big. I wanted something filling enough for breakfast hence the large sizes. You can cut them in any size you like! Happy baking!
Method
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Transfer oats onto a baking sheet and toast the oats for 15 mins at 350 degrees.
Meanwhile pulse pitted dates in a food processor till it forms a ball. Set aside.
Once the oats are toasted, transfer to a bowl and add pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon powder and salt. Mix and set aside.
To a pan on low heat, add pumpkin puree, peanut butter, maple syrup and coconut oil.
Whisk till it’s all smooth and slightly heated.
To the bowl, now add the pulsed dates.
Also add the pumpkin puree-peanut butter mixture , chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds and cranberries.
Now use your hands to mix everything together. I suggest using hands here because that you can really break up the dates so that they are well dispersed throughout the mixture.
Press down the mixture into a 8 x 8 inch square pan, lined with foil (spray with foil with little non-stick spray for easy removal). Â Press more chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries on top (this is optional).
Bake at 350 for 15-20 mins. Remove the pan from oven and let the pumpkin granola bars cool completely before cutting into slices.
* Toasting oats is optional but recommended.
Pumpkin Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats toast them for 15 mins @350 F
- 1.5 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup dates [around 14 mejdool dates] pulse in food processor
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips more on top
- 2 tablespoons dried cranberries more on top
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Transfer oats onto a baking sheet and toast the oats for 15 mins at 350 degrees.
- Meanwhile pulse pitted dates in a food processor till it forms a ball. Set aside.
- Once the oats are toasted, transfer to a bowl and add pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon powder and salt. Mix and set aside.
- To a pan on low heat, add pumpkin puree, peanut butter, maple syrup and coconut oil.
- Whisk till it's all smooth and slightly heated.
- To the bowl, now add the pulsed dates, the pumpkin puree-peanut butter mixture , chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds and cranberries.
- Now use your hands to mix everything together. I suggest using hands here because that you can really break up the dates so that they are well dispersed throughout the mixture.
- Press down the mixture into a 8 x 8 inch square pan, lined with foil (spray with foil with little non-stick spray for easy removal).
- Press more chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries on top (this is optional).
- Bake at 350 for 15-20 mins. Remove the pan from oven and let the pumpkin granola bars cool completely before cutting into slices.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Pumpkin Granola Bars
Do you think this could be baked in a toaster oven? (My oven is not working right now, but the recipe looks fantastic!!)
probably, but haven’t tried personally
Hi! Do you think it’s necessary to toast the oats first? What would be the difference if they weren’t toasted? Thx! Great recipe!
Actually I haven’t tried these without roasting the oats first. I like roasting them first but you can try without roasting, let me know how it turns out
I have tried these many ways, but they really are best just as written. Thanks, Manali!
You are very welcome Kirsten!! 🙂
Hi Manali,
We tried these today…had to make a few substitutions but still turned out good!
Question for you…do you think you these bars would turn out if you left out the peanut butter? I wanted to make them for my daughter’s class, but they have a strict no-nut policy. Would you have to substitute something else, like maybe sun butter?
Thanks so much for all your great recipes!
Yes I think it would work if you use sun butter, shouldn’t be a problem! 🙂
my favorite too! Thanks Kelly
What a perfect looking bar!! Wholesome deliciousness
Thanks Maria!
my favorite too!
Hello Manali, I think, that I have finally run out of excuses, when it comes to baking breakfast bars at home. Your recepie being the final nail in the coffin! ? I am going to try and bake this tomorrow. I have 2 questions – please help me out –
1) I don’t have maple syrup, what can I substitute it with?
2) Can I use mango puree instead of pumpkin puree (I have a tin of mango pulp)?
Thanks.
Hi Aparna! haha good that you finally deiced to make bars at home. To answer your questions, you can use honey or agave in place of maple syrup. If you don’t use pumpkin puree, then these won’t be pumpkin granola bars lol but I would suggest using banana puree in place. Not sure how mango would work. But of course you can always experiment! Also if you decide to use mango pulp, you might want to reduce the quantity of sweetener a little. The canned mango pulp are mostly sweet!
Sounds healthy and delicious Manali. This is surely a great snack recipe idea for kids. 🙂
Thanks Puja!
I’m a snack addict!! These bars look like the perfect treat! So wholesome and perfect for fall 🙂
Thanks Megan!