My vegan pecan pie bars are delicious, decadent, and incredibly easy to make! These bars feature a simple press-in crust covered in crunchy pecans and sweet brown sugar caramel topping. They're great for the holidays, but you'll probably want to enjoy them year round!
Pies are where it's at when it comes to holiday dinners. I find that every family has a go-to pie. For mine, it's my vegan pumpkin pie. We wouldn't dream of having Thanksgiving without it. But also, nobody wants to miss out on all my other delicious vegan pie recipes, especially my vegan pecan pie. The solution? We have the pumpkin pie, but I also bake up a batch of these vegan pecan pie bars for everyone to nibble on.
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It's not that big of a deal to whip up a batch of these vegan pecan pie bars in addition to whatever other dessert you're making for a holiday celebration. They're so easy! I made them with a simple press in crust, which I stole from my vegan lemon bars recipe. While the crust bakes, you can whip up the filling, which is super simple and requires just some brief heating up on the stove.
They're absolutely delicious, and you can cut them as large or small as you'd like. Bigger bars can totally be the main attraction dessert, while smaller bars make a great sweet snack!
Ingredients You'll Need
- Flour. The recipe calls for all-purpose flour, also known as wheat flour or white flour. Other types of flour may work, but I haven't tried any of them.
- Sugar. Make sure to use organic sugar. Conventional sugar is often processed using animal bone char, so it may not be vegan.
- Salt.
- Vegan butter. You can buy this at most grocery stores in the refrigerated section, right near the regular butter.
- Brown sugar. This also needs to be organic.
- Maple syrup.
- Coconut cream. This is sold in cans, near the coconut milk at most stores. If you can't find it, buy a can of full-fat coconut milk instead. Chill it in the fridge overnight, then open the can and drain off the liquid. The solid portion that's left is coconut cream.
- Cinnamon.
- Vanilla extract.
- Chopped pecans. Use pecans that are super finely chopped! Pecan halves or roughly chopped pecans are too large for these bars. We want every little bit of pecan to be embedded in the filling.
How They're Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Step 2: Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper. Leave a bit of paper hanging over the long sides of the pan. You'll use this later to remove the bars from the pan.
Step 3: Whisk the dry ingredients for your crust together in a large bowl: flour, sugar, and salt.
Step 4: Melt your vegan butter and stir it into the dry ingredient mixture.
Step 5: Press the dough into the bottom of your baking pan.
Step 6: Bake the crust until it starts to darken around the edges.
Tip: To get your dough nice and flat in the pan, cover the top with a sheet of parchment paper, then use something appropriately sized and flat, like a cookbook, to press the dough down.
Step 7: To make the filling, first heat up brown sugar, maple syrup, and vegan butter in a saucepan. Just bring it to a simmer.
Step 8: Stir in the coconut cream, cinnamon salt, and vanilla, then stir in the chopped pecans.
Step 9: Spread the filling evenly over the crust.
Step 10: Pop the pan back into the oven, and bake the bars until the filling is bubbly.
Let your bars cool completely before loosening them from the pan, then use the parchment paper to lift them from the pan. Cut them into squares and enjoy!
Shelf-Life & Storage
Vegan pecan pie bars will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about three days, in the fridge for about five days, or in the freezer for about three months.
Frequently Asked Questions
I think an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend should work for the crust, but I haven't tried, so no promises!
You can! Chopped walnuts should work particularly well.
Yes, but you might need to adjust the bake time. A larger pan will give you thinner bars and require less time in the oven. A smaller pan will give you thicker bars and may require more time in the oven. Also keep in mind that thicker bars may be more challenging to cut.
More Vegan Dessert Bars
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📖 Recipe
Easy Vegan Pecan Pie Bars
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup organic granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegan butter, melted
For the Topping
- 1 ¼ cups organic brown sugar
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup vegan butter
- â…“ cup coconut cream
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups finely chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan with a sheet of parchment paper, allowing some of the paper to hang over the long sides of the pan. You'll use this to remove the bars when they're done.
- To make the crust, first whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the melted butter and stir to form a sticky dough.
- Press the dough into the bottom of your pan.
- Bake the crust for 20 minutes, until it's lightly browned around the edges. Leave the oven on when you remove the pan from the oven. Place the pan on a cooling rack when it's done.
- When the crust has about five minutes left in the oven, start making the filling. First, stir the brown sugar, maple syrup, and butter together in a small saucepan. Place the pot over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar as the mixture heats up. Bring it to a simmer, then remove it from heat.
- Stir in the coconut cream, cinnamon, salt and vanilla, followed by the pecans.
- Spread the filling over the crust, smoothing it out as best as you can.
- Bake the bars for about 20 minutes longer, until the filling has darkened slightly and is bubbling.
- Place the pan on a cooling rack and let the bars cool completely.
- Once the bars have cooled, run a knife along the short edges of the pan, then use the parchment paper to lift the bars from the pan.
- Cut into squares and serve.
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Made these today, the day before Thanksgiving. I'm having a hard time keeping my family out of them! Printing the recipe now. These are a do-over!
Made these for Thanksgiving and they were a hit with both the vegan and non-vegans alike.
Super easy to make, too.
Can you suggest a sub for the coconut cream?
There are vegan heavy cream substitutes available that might work. I've used the one made by Silk in other recipes, and it's a great product. I haven't tried it in this particular recipe, so I can't make any promises, but I think it should work!