You'll find a perfect blend of flavours and wholesome ingredients in these gluten-free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oat Bars. Made with oat flour, quick oats, pumpkin, coconut sugar, and maple syrup, these bars make a nutritious breakfast bar or afternoon snack. Gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan.
Nothing says "Fall" more than pumpkin! These healthy pumpkin bars are made with a combination of oat flour and quick oats. With nourishing ingredients like pumpkin purée and applesauce, you can enjoy a delicious treat that satisfies your sweet cravings!
Perfect for pumpkin season!
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🛒 Ingredients for pumpkin oatmeal bars
Here are the ingredients you'll need to make these easy pumpkin chocolate chip bars. You'll find a complete list with quantities in the recipe card below.
- oat flour, gluten-free: You can purchase oat flour or you can easily make your own oat flour simply by grinding rolled oats in a blender.
- quick oats, gluten-free: quick oats work best in this oatmeal bar recipe.
- pumpkin pie spice: homemade (see below) or store-bought
- pumpkin purée, canned or homemade
- applesauce, unsweetened
- coconut oil, or butter, melted and cooled
- pure maple syrup
- coconut sugar, or brown sugar
- pure vanilla extract
- semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided * save ¼ cup for sprinkling on top of batter. Use dairy-free chocolate chips to keep this recipe vegan.
🔪 How to make pumpkin chocolate chip oatmeal bars
Here's a quick overview. You'll find complete instructions in the recipe card below.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients, then add the remaining ingredients.
2. Stir in dark chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
3. Press in an even layer into an 8-inch square baking pan and sprinkle with extra chocolate chips on top.
4. Bake at 350°F. for 25 to 28 minutes. Cool completely before slicing.
🔁 Substitutions
- If necessary, use certified gluten-free oats. While oats are naturally gluten-free, some brands are processed in a facility that also processes wheat and there may be a chance of cross-contamination for those who have celiac disease.
- No applesauce on hand? You can replace it with the same quantity of mashed banana.
- Keep this recipe vegan by using dairy-free chocolate chips.
- Pumpkin Spice Mix: You can make this at home in a few minutes!
🥄 How to make pumpkin pie spice at home
While you can buy Pumpkin Spice Mix ready-made, it’s ridiculously easy to make your own and you can be sure that the spices you’re using are fresh. Mix the following spices, store them in a small jar, and label it.
To make your own Pumpkin Spice Mix, combine:
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground allspice
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground cloves
Then you'll have it ready to make other pumpkin recipes, like these
- Pumpkin Pecan Coffee Cake with Caramel Sauce
- Almond Flour Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Pecan Streusel
- Pumpkin Spice Bread
- Pumpkin Spice Shortbread Cookies
- or my favourite Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal
- and more! Search "pumpkin" in the search bar.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Chocolate chip pumpkin bars make a good coffee-time snack or even a breakfast bar. You can slice the batch into 9 squares, or slice each square in half to make 18 smaller bars. Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea.
Include these chewy bars as part of a holiday cookie platter. With pumpkin spice flavours, they're perfect as a Thanksgiving treat, too!
🕑 Storage
Store these pumpkin bars on the counter in a covered container for 2 to 3 days or in the fridge for a week or longer.
To freeze, store them in an airtight container. If you have to stack them, place a sheet of parchment paper between layers. Freeze for up to 3 months.
👍🏼 Top tips
Using a combination of oat flour and quick oats guarantees that these pumpkin chocolate chip bars hold together without crumbling.
For best slicing results, chill the bars for 15 to 30 minutes, then slice with a sharp knife.
❓ FAQ
Besides the gluten-free pumpkin recipes listed above, you'll find more ideas in this collection of Smart Ideas for Leftover Pumpkin Purée.
And don't forget your pooch! Dogs can eat pumpkin and in fact, it has a number of health benefits for dogs. Try this popular recipe for homemade dog treats when you have leftover canned or fresh pumpkin purée.
Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Treats. (Gluten-free, of course!)
🗒 More recipes for bars and cookies
When you're ready for more fall flavours, pumpkin desserts or all things pumpkin, enter "pumpkin" in the search bar. Looking for other recipes for bars and cookies? Try these:
You must use the category name, not a URL, in the category field.🌟 Did you make this recipe?
When you make these pumpkin oat chocolate chip bars, please leave a comment and a star rating below. I love hearing from you! Subscribe to my newsletter and have new recipes delivered straight to your inbox.
📖 Recipe
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oat Bars - Gluten-Free
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups oat flour, gluten-free
- 1 cup quick oats, gluten-free
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon sea salt or Kosher salt
- 1 cup pumpkin purée, canned or homemade
- ⅓ cup applesauce, unsweetened
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, or butter, melted and cooled
- ¼ cup coconut sugar, or brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided * save ¼ cup for sprinkling on top of batter. Dairy-free chips for vegan diet.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. (180°C.)
- Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper. Allow it to hang over the sides to allow for easy removal and slicing.
- To make oat flour, whir rolled oats in a blender until they're the consistency of flour, then measure.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: oat flour, quick oats, pumpkin spice mix, and salt.
- Add the remaining ingredients, reserving ¼ cup of chocolate chips.
- Use a spatula or large spoon to combine the ingredients until the batter is smooth and no traces of flour remain.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, pushing it right into the corners and leveling the top. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips.
- Bake for 25 - 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or almost clean. Avoid overbaking or the bars will be dry.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely before slicing. For easiest slicing, chill the bars for 15 minutes first.
- Serve as squares (9) or as bars (18).
Daphne
Loved these! They're just sweet enough and perfect as a healthy snack bar. I did as you suggested and cut them into 18 bars and froze half of them. Thanks!
Elaine
That's great to hear you liked these! Can't go wrong with oatmeal and chocolate chips!