Pecan pie bars are like little squares of pecan pie that you can eat with your hands! These easy dessert bars have a crunchy shortbread crust topped with the classic buttery, gooey pie filling with crunchy pecans. They’re perfect for holiday potlucks!
If you’re looking for more easy ways to entertain a crowd this season, you might also like these caramel apple cheesecake bars, magic bars, and these apple pie bars inspired by classic apple pie.
I love pecan pie for its ease, prep time, and the fact that everyone else loves it, too. It’s one of my favorite desserts to bake for the holidays! When I’m making pie for a crowd, I take the rich, buttery pecan filling from a traditional pecan pie and make it into even easier-to-eat pecan pie bars.
Gooey pecan pie dessert bars are perfect to take along to potlucks and parties. They’re also for the days when there just isn’t enough time to prepare a flaky pie crust and bake a whole pie. Instead, these homemade pecan pie bars are baked like cookie bars in a 9×13 pan.
Pecan Pie That You Can Eat With Your Hands!
- Ease of prep. The shortbread pie crust takes minutes to mix, as does the filling. Assemble the pie in your casserole dish, and bake! There’s no need to fuss with a traditional pie crust.
- Simple ingredients. This pecan pie bars recipe uses everyday pantry ingredients like sugar, butter, and eggs, and always comes out perfect.
- Make a large batch, perfect for entertaining or the holidays. Pecan pie bars are special enough for serving to guests. They’re also laid back enough to eat with a scoop of ice cream at family get-togethers.
- They freeze very well. Make these pecan bars ahead of your next Christmas bash and freeze them so they’re ready to thaw and serve.
Ingredients You’ll Need
The process for making these bars is super simple, and it’s a great dessert recipe to make in advance with the ingredients below. Make sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post for the full ingredient list and recipe.
- All-Purpose Flour – This will be for the crust, as well as the filling. To avoid a dry crust and filling, make sure to measure the flour using the spoon-and-sweep method, where you spoon the flour into the measuring cup. Afterward, level off the cup with the back of a knife. This prevents overmeasuring.
- Butter – The crust is a shortbread-style, so you will definitely need butter! I prefer to bake with salted.
- Sugar – You’ll need granulated sugar for the crust and brown sugar for the filling.
- Corn Syrup – You can use light or dark corn syrup. I used light in this recipe because I always seem to have that on hand.
- Eggs – 4 large eggs give structure to the filling.
- Vanilla Extract and Kosher Salt – Important for flavor! Use real vanilla extract or an equal amount of vanilla paste, and not imitation vanilla.
- Pecans – Of course, you need pecans! You can buy the pre-chopped or coarsely chop them yourself.
How To Make Pecan Pie Dessert Bars
These bars are easy to put together, and this is a great recipe for beginner bakers. Scroll to the bottom of this post for the full recipe details.
- Prepare the crust. First, you’re going to make the shortbread-style crust by mixing butter, granulated sugar, and flour. You can do this in your stand mixer, food processor, or by hand with a pastry cutter. Then, press the crust mixture into a 9×13 baking pan. You’re going to bake this at 350ºF until it’s lightly golden brown (about 20 minutes).
- While the crust is baking, make your filling. The pecan pie filling is made by whisking brown sugar, corn syrup, eggs, and vanilla extract. Next, mix in flour, salt, and chopped pecans.
- Assemble and bake. When the crust is done baking, pour the filling over the warm crust and pop it back in the oven. Bake at 350ºF for an additional 30-35 minutes. Allow the bars to cool completely (or chill them overnight in the fridge, see below). When it’s time to serve, slice the bars and enjoy!
Can I Make Pecan Pie Bars in Advance?
Yes! Your pecan pie bars will need to cool completely before you slice into them, which makes them great for baking in advance. I typically make these bars the night before, and leave them in the pan (uncut) to refrigerate. This not only gives them time to cool completely but also allows all the flavors to combine.
Bonus Tips for the Best Pecan Pie Bars
- Make sure your pie bars are done. Just like a traditional pecan pie, these dessert bars are done baking when they’re set and no longer jiggly in the middle.
- Don’t overbake. If you overbake the bars, the tops might crack, so check them at the earliest suggested baking time and go from there.
- Toast the pecans for more flavor. If you’d like, you can lightly toast the pecans in a skillet or roast them in the oven to make them extra crispy and bring out their flavor even more.
- Try a chocolate version. Borrow the filling from my chocolate pecan pie recipe to make a fudgy version of these pie bars!
How to Store
- Refrigerate. I do prefer to refrigerate pecan pie because it makes it easier to cut into pieces or, in this case, into bars. Store the bars airtight and they’ll last in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can leave these pecan pie bars at room temperature, too, if you don’t mind a slightly softer filling.
- Freeze. You can freeze the pecan pie bars in the pan OR individually! Make sure everything is wrapped airtight before storing it in the freezer for up to 2 months. Allow it to thaw in the refrigerator or heat in a 300°F oven for about 20 minutes.
More Dessert Bar Recipes
Pecan Pie Bars
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 30 bars 1x
- Category: Pie
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
These pecan pie dessert bars have a crunchy shortbread crust and a classic gooey, buttery pecan pie filling. They’re perfect for passing around at holiday potlucks!
Ingredients
For the Shortbread Crust
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
For the Pecan Filling
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups corn syrup (light or dark)
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 baking dish with foil and set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the butter and sugar together on medium speed. Turn the mixer to low and add in the flour until combined. Mixture will be dry.
- Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden.
- While the crust is baking make the filling. In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Add in the flour and salt and whisk again until combined. Stir in the pecans.
- As soon as the crust is done, pour the pecan mixture on top of the hot crust. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the center is set.
- Cool completely before slicing into bars, or refrigerate airtight until ready to serve.
Notes
Store airtight in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 186
- Sugar: 18.7 g
- Sodium: 99.3 mg
- Fat: 8.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 25.9 g
- Protein: 2.2 g
- Cholesterol: 37 mg
The amount of salt shows one teaspoon. It’s excessive. The recipe is a good one. I will make it again but I will half or even fourth the amount of salt called for.
These came out so good. I love pecan anything and these bars did not disappoint. I definitely will make these over and over again.
These were delicious! They’re not the same texture as pecan pie, but they’re still so good! They are thicker than the ones in the picture.
Turned out absolutely amazing!! Everyone loved them.
Super good … idk if easier than making a pie but it definitely feeds more and they are so good they still won’t last but are worth it I’ve tried many pecan bar recipe and this one has the best middle to crust ratio imo
I’ve used this recipe many times and it always turns out perfectly. I’m also an experienced baker and chef. These are my go to and I use the double batch recipe.
This was, unfortunately, a huge disappointment based on the ratings. I would recommend making a trial before you make it for a crowd.
Some tips: First, the crust is shortbread not pie crust. Do not put beans/pie stones in it to hold its shape or they will stick to it and prevent it from cooking. Second, the crust was not set in 20 min at 170 c. Third, the filling was not set after cooking more than an hour and never totally set. Fourth, 100% make sure to rotate your pan at half time or it will be cooked lopsided. Side note-I probably could have put foil on it and kept cooking it (the crust was browning too much to continue w/o covering after around an hour) but I ran out of time….
I am an experienced baker and have made hundreds of pecan pies-I’m actually known for them and they are my go-to reliable recipe. But I could not find ready made crusts or disposable tins this year (I live overseas) so I opted for trying a new recipe for my husband’s office party. We had to serve it in cups. So embarrassing. Maybe if you added more eggs and/or flour?
I will not be make this recipe again, but the crust is a keeper for other similar desserts. Maybe I’ll try it in the future with my usual pecan pie filling and see how it goes. 🙂
Also, people did like the taste even though it was pecan and shortbread soup lol 😉 Hopefully my mistakes will help you get it right. Happy baking!
Super good … idk if easier than making a pie but it definitely feeds more and they are so good they still won’t last but are worth it I’ve tried many pecan bar recipe and this one has the best middle to crust ratio imo
If directions are followed they turn out literally perfect. Uneven bars are an uneven oven or crust. I cooked the crust at 340° for 20 minutes, added the filling out them back in and they were done 26 minutes later. I’m also an experienced baker, the recipe says once the middle is set take them out. They do still move a little but not at all like when you put them in. The rest of the cooking will finish on your counter. Also make sure you use 9×13. Not sure if you’re using a smaller cake pan or something.
Sadly, it sounds like you were not aware that these are cookie bars. There are many types of cookie bars; lemon bars, cheesecake bars, etc. They are based on a cookie type bottom, not a pie crust. The bottom should not have to set up and it doesn’t need any pie weights. It bakes for a short time just so the cookie filling can be poured or spread on top. It sounds like you’re oven has hot spots and/or a temperature problem if it was necessary to rotate the bars in order for them to bake correctly and in the correct amt of time. Because cookie bars are so great, I just wanted to address some of the problems you had and the bad review.
You didn’t read the recipe thoroughly. It’s not a pecan pie, like sponge cake isn’t muffin batter.