Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars — 🍁🧡🤎 These EASY pumpkin bars are super soft, dense, and are like biting into a piece of rich pumpkin fudge! Loaded with chocolate and crazy good! Best of all, it’s a ONE BOWL, NO-MIXER recipe so that you can whip these up anytime you’re craving pumpkin!
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It’s no secret I love pumpkin recipes of any kind. But when pumpkin and chocolate get together, watch out. My kryptonite.
If you’re looking for the best ever pumpkin chocolate chip cake, I’ve got you covered, but these bars aren’t cake. They’re super soft, moist, and full of robust pumpkin flavor. They’re dense like a blondie rather than cakey.
These pumpkin chocolate bars are like biting into a piece of rich pumpkin fudge. When I want an easy, fuss-free recipe that I know everyone will love, I call upon my trusty blondie base. With 25+ versions and counting, it never lets me down.
It’s an easy no-mixer, one-bowl recipe that takes just minutes to whisk together. There’s an abundance of chocolate in every bite, and pumpkin and chocolate is such a winning combo.
Ingredients in Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
Trust me when I say these chocolate chip pumpkin bars are going to be the BEST dessert you make this fall. In addition to being easy to prepare, the ingredients list is short.
To make these chocolate chip pumpkin bars, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Egg
- Pumpkin puree
- Light brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Cinnamon
- All-purpose flour
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
These are such easy pumpkin bars to make! Full instructions are given in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Here’s an overview of how to make the pumpkin chocolate chip bars recipe:
- Whisk together the wet ingredients, then stir in the dry.
- Fold the chocolate chips in last. Be careful not to overmix!
- Turn the batter into a greased and foil-lined 8×8-inch baking dish.
- Sprinkle with chocolate chips, then bake until a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.
Recipe FAQs
Most likely, yes! I added 1 1/4 cups of chocolate chips to the batter. Feel free to mix and match up to 1 1/4 cups mix-ins total. I think a blend of baking chips, chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and /or dried fruit would all work nicely.
Yes, you can double this recipe and bake it in a 9×13-inch baking dish. The bake time should be roughly the same.
Absolutely! In fact, they taste better on the second day after the flavors have married. As a bonus, the bars get softer and moister.
No! This recipe calls for plain pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling! Pumpkin pie filling is pre-sweetened and would make these bars far too sweet.
Storage and Freezing
At room temp: Store bars in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
In the freezer: Store in an airtight freezer-safe container or freezer bag for up to 6 months. When ready to eat, thaw on the counter.
I first made this recipe, I think, the fall of 2015 while I was still living in a college dorm. Now every year since, I crave these when it starts getting cold out. They are so good, by far my favorite version of a pumpkin bar. I always make it as a double batch so I don’t run out right away and I’m about to start my yearly round of them again right now. — Aren B.
Recipe Video Tutorial
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Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree, (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon1
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips + 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
- Wait momentarily before adding the egg so you don’t scramble it. Add the egg, pumpkin, brown sugar, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour and stir until just combined, don’t overmix.
- Stir in 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Evenly sprinkle with 2 tablespoons chocolate chips, smoothly the top lightly with a spatula.
- Bake for about 32 to 33 minutes, or until done. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. The moisture content in pumpkin varies, as do climates and ovens; bake until yours are done.
- Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Pumpkin Bar Recipes:
Cooking With Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie is my second cookbook. There’s over 50 pumpkin recipes including sweets, savory, drinks, and a photo for nearly every recipe!
Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting — These super soft and moist pumpkin bars are the perfect EASY fall dessert!! Tangy cream cheese frosting is a wonderful complement to these perfectly pumpkin-spiced bars!!
Soft Pumpkin Praline Bars — SUPER soft pumpkin bars studded with chocolate chips, candied pecans, and plenty of pumpkin pie spice!! A FAST and EASY dessert that feeds a crowd for your fall and winter celebrations!!
Fudgy Pumpkin Spice Bars — Moist pumpkin bars so soft they’re like biting into pumpkin fudge!! The glaze is ahh-mazing!!!
Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Blondies — Soft pumpkin bars, cinnamon-sugary snickerdoodles, and buttery blondies rolled into one! Super good!!
Chocolate Chip Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Bars — Incredibly gooey, soft, and chewy bars bursting with PUMPKIN and CHOCOLATE in every bite!! The vanilla spiced glaze complements these EASY bars just perfectly!!
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars — 🧡🤤 Classic cheesecake bars get an autumnal makeover in this recipe! A spiced pumpkin mixture is swirled into creamy cheesecake batter before being baked.
September 13, 2014 and republished September 13, 2024 with updated text.
These look AMAZING!!! My question is- have you or anyone else tried using a Gluten Free flour instead?? I’m eager to try baking these but with brown rice flour or almond flour instead. Thanks for your help!
No I have not tried using GF flour. I would use a GF blend rather than just 1 type – and not all almond flour since that’s a nut and nuts + pumpkin = super dense, heavy, batter. So use a blend, i.e. Bob’s, Pamela’s, etc.
These are incredible! I was looking for a quick pumpkin chocolate cookie/bar when I found this recipe on Pinterest. The bars are amazing! One of the best pumpkin recipes I’ve ever made.
Thanks for saying that this is one of the best pumpkin recipes you’ve ever tried! That’s awesome! So glad you’re happy and there’s 50+ more in my pumpkin cookbook – sounds like you’re as big of a pumpkin fan as I am :)
Oh my God – I made these yesterday and just had my first piece. Delicious! It has COMPLETELY hit the pumpkin spot.
I followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfect. Thank you! I love it when things I find on Pinterest actually work out!
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it came out exactly as advertised and it hit the spot!
Really delicious…ate them warm out of the oven. Next time I will only use 1tsp
pumpkin pie spice instead of 2…. a little bit too much pumpkin pie spice for my taste.
Ok just dial it back then a bit next time. The flavors marry and meld as time passes so if you have any left on days 2-3, you may actually like them as is! Sort of like chili, it gets better after a couple days. Glad you’re enjoying them!
The bars are in the oven!!! We didn’t have chocolate chips so, I used white chocolate chips instead. Can’t wait to see how they turn out. :)
I only have a 9×12 pan so I increased the measurements keeping the same proportions.
I multiplied the recipe by 1.5 (the difference in size between a 8×8 and 9×12 pan). The + next to measurements means to fill the measuring cups just a little extra without leveling the ingredients off because the true conversion is 1.6 which multiplied doesn’t make the standard measurements.
Also, since you can’t add half an egg, I replaced the half egg with banana. (Applesauce would work too)
Here’s the converted recipe. Very delicious!
+ means just a tiny bit extra
• Unsalted butter (melted)
¾ cup (1 stick and a half)
• 1 large egg and
¼ a banana OR 3 ¾ tbsp applesauce
• 1 cup+ pumpkin puree
• 1 ½ cup+ brown sugar (packed)
• 1 ½ tbsp+ vanilla extract
• 3 tsp+ pumpkin pie spice
• 1 ½ tsp+ cinnamon
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Sprinkle 3 tbsp on top
I made these last night and they are very good. They are moist and chocolaty. The pumpkin pie spice I used has a lot of cinnamon in, so that combined with the cinnamon in the recipe caused the cinnamon flavor to overwhelm the other flavors a bit. So I would recommend cutting the cinnamon down to 1/4 teaspoon or so if your pumpkin pie spice has a significant amount of cinnamon. I also made these in a 9×9″ instead of 8×8 pan, so reduced the baking time to 30 minutes. Next time, I’ll probably reduce it a bit more because the edges got a bit dry.
I love a lot of cinnamon but yes, with spices and seasoning things, always season to taste. I love the 8×8 pan because they turn out thicker and yes, I’d imagine if you were baking in a 9×9 you’d have to reduce baking time since they’ll be thinner but I have never tried in a 9×9 pan. Glad you enjoyed them and thanks for trying the recipe!
These look delicious! Oh wait, all of your bar recipes do. My friend made these over the weekend and they looked just liked your photos. :) YUM.
Oh that is awesome to hear your friend made these and they turned out just like my photos! I’m glad you got to try them! :)
This recipe is PHENOMENAL! I baked this on Sunday and brought them into work today. People cannot stop raving about this recipe and this is one of the few recipes that truly look as good in real life as they do in your picture. I will definitely have to try other recipes on this site.
Thanks for trying these, Jessica, and my favorite type of comments are yours…where the recipe totally lives up to expectations, turns out as shown, and everyone is happy :)
I don’t think they sell pumpkin pie spice here in Australia, do you know what spices are in it so I can try to make it from scratch?
I actually have a recipe for my favorite homemade version in my cookbook, which I linked in the post.
Or you could try google.
Wow-my mouth is watering! All of your pumpkin recipes are dreamy. These bars lasting longer than a day? Not a chance, they may not even make it to the oven…I’m a big fan of cuddling a snuggly bowl of batter on the couch.
What do you think would happen if I added 1/4 cup more pumpkin?
Not sure since I haven’t tried it but they possibly could get almost TOO moist. You may then have to add more flour. I would make the recipe as written and if you see fit, make it again with tweaks, but I loved these bars, as is.
Is there much leeway in terms of how much more flour I can add? Is 1/4 cup more okay or too much?
Hey Averie, I wanted to know if the texture of the bars are more mushy or fudge-y. And do you think that this recipe could work without eggs?
I addressed the texture in the 4th sentence of the blog post. They’re soft, but not ‘mushy’. Dense and fudgy.
And I haven’t tried without eggs so cannot speak to if it will work, however pumpkin recipes are generally fairly forgiving when it comes to veganizing them. However I have no idea what that will do to the texture.
You had me at pumpkin + chocolate. Yum!
You have seriously outdone yourself here, Averie! They look so chewy I can hardly breathe! I agree about the heavy handed spicing. No one wants a bland pumpkin dessert.