Pecan Pie Bars are one of the best pecan recipes you’ll try, and they are easier than pie. It’s a cross between a classic Pecan Pie and a cookie. Loaded with pecans in a homemade caramel sauce filling over a buttery shortbread crust, these pecan squares are a crowd-pleasing, easy dessert. Add these to your holiday cookie platter!
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Pecan Pie Squares Video
In this video, I’ll show you how easy it is to make Pecan Pie Bars. One bite of the gooey caramel pecan filling and you’ll have found a new favorite treat. Now go forth and bake!
Easy Pecan Pie Bars Recipe
The first time I tried this was at a wedding in Washington. My husband’s cousin’s wife, Tanya, made them for the dessert buffet, and after trying them, I just knew I had to recreate them. These pecan pie bars have an amazing texture—gooey, chewy, and crunchy — with a soft caramel filling that doesn’t stick to your teeth. The recipe also uses high-quality ingredients (no corn syrup) and makes a big batch, which is perfect for holiday parties!
I made a batch of these and sent some home with my sister. Her words exactly – “that’s the best pecan recipe I’ve ever tried!” She was smitten. These pecan bars have that effect on people.
We love dessert casseroles from Strawberry Pretzel Salad to Classic Tiramisu and of course Baklava. If you are looking for a crowd-pleasing party or potluck dessert that fits into a 9×13 casserole, this Pecan Pie Bars recipe is a must-try!
Ingredients for Pecan Pie Bars (without Corn Syrup!)
These have just the right balance of textures and flavors, and are so satisfying. The ingredients are simple, and because there’s no corn syrup, I think it tastes even better than traditional pecan pie.
- Crust – All-purpose flour creates the sturdy base, powdered sugar lightly sweetens and salt balances the sweetness. The mixture is coated with cold unsalted butter to create a rich, buttery crust.
- Light Brown Sugar – has molasses, which adds rich color and flavor to the caramel
- Honey – creates a soft caramel base
- Unsalted butter – adds richness to the caramel and buttery flavor
- Heavy whipping cream – make sure to use HEAVY cream, which has a higher fat content to help the filling thicken up properly
- Salt – we use a bit of fine sea salt to balance the sweetness
- Vanilla extract – use homemade vanilla extract or store-bought
- Pecans – coarsely chopped pecans add great crunch and texture to the filling. You can use pecan halves or coarsely chopped pecans. You can substitute pecans with walnuts or cashews, which have a similar crunchy and chewy texture.
How to Make a Shortbread Crust
- You can use either a food processor or a bowl and pastry cutter to make the crust. Combine flour, powdered sugar and salt. Cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal, with some pea-sized crumbs forming.
- Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom of a parchment-lined 13×9 baking pan, then bake at 350˚F until set and lightly golden at the edges. Transfer to a parchment-lined
Natasha’s Pro Baking Tip:
Lining the pan will make it much easier to lift the bars out of the pan and serve. Once it has cooled, I transfer it to a cutting board and cut into squares or bars.
How to Make Pecan Pie Bars
- Prep – preheat the oven to 350˚F and coarsley chop the nuts if they aren’t pre-chopped.
- Prepare the crust – see instructions above. While crust is baking, I make the filling.
- Make the Caramel – In a large saucepan, combine brown sugar, honey, butter, cream and salt. Bring to a boil then simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and pecans.
- Spread pecan filling over your warm baked crust.
- Bake – return to the oven for another 20-25 minutes or until the top is bubbling and turns caramel color. Once the bars are fully cooled to room temperature, remove from the pan, cut and serve.
Can I Make This in a Pie Dish?
You will need to cut the recipe in half to fit a traditional pie pan, or use it to fill 2 pie pans. I also suggest lining the pie pans with parchment paper for easier serving and removal from the pan.
Make-Ahead
- Storing: Once these pecan bars are cooled completely to room temperature, transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for 3-4 days.
- Freezing: You can freeze for longer storage. Transfer to a freezer-safe zip bag, remove any excess air, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
Pecan Pie Bars are such a decadent treat for the holidays and are a dessert everyone loves. Make them once, and they will probably make it to your holiday rotation. They are such a fun addition to a holiday cookie platter along with Gingerbread Cookies, Christmas Sugar Cookies, Angel Wing Cookies, Cranberry Cookies, and Date Snickers. So festive and delicious!
Pecan Pie Bars
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 12 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold, diced
For the Filling:
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup honey
- 12 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans, 14 oz
Instructions
To Make the Crust:
- Make the Dough: Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a 9×13 baking pan with foil or parchment paper (leave some paper hanging over the sides of the pan for an easier lift later. Spray with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In the bowl of a food processor (or in a bowl with a pastry cutter), pulse together the flour, powdered sugar, and salt and pulse a couple of times to combine. Add diced cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal with some pea-sized pieces forming.
- Bake the Crust: Transfer the mixture to your prepared pan, pressing the crust evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350˚F for 18-20 minutes or until the crust has set and the edges are just lightly browned. Remove from the oven and set aside while you finish the filling.
Make the Pecan Pie Bars:
- Make Pecan Filling: In a large saucepan, combine the brown sugar, honey, butter, cream and salt. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and pecans, mixing until incorporated.
- Assemble and Bake: Pour hot pecan filling over your warm crust. Return to the oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes until the top is bubbling and turns a caramel color. Set the baking pan on a wire rack and cool completely to room temperature before cutting.
- Cool and Serve: Once the pecan squares are at room temperature, loosen the edges if needed and use the parchment paper or foil to lift the bars out of the pan. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into 2-inch squares. Serve at room temperature.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Recipes with Pecans to try
If you love these Pecan Pie Bars, then you won’t want to miss these recipes with pecans:
- Candied Pecans
- Baked Apples
- Russian Tea Cakes with Pecans
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Carrot Cake
- Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
I made these this morning for Thanksgiving. It was hard to wait until they were ready to cut… WORTH THE WAIT. They are delicious. I really like the shortbread crust. I cut some of them into rounds using a small cookie cutter. Thank you for another wonderful recipe.
You’re so welcome, Vicki! I’m so glad you loved them!
These are the BEST! The carmel is ooey, gooey deliciousness. A perfect bite. Will definitely make these again.
Not sure what I did wrong, because I don’t see anyone else complaining of this….but the crust ingredients – when pulsed – was just a big pile of flour. It was defintely not enough butter for the amount of flour and sugar. It could not be pressed. Had to throw it all out and go with another recipe.
Hi Roseann, did your mixture look like a coarse meal like in the photos? Also see the video to see if it looked the same. Make sure to measure the flour correctly – spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level the top. If you push the measuring cup into the flour bin, you can get up to 25% too much flour. I’ve tested this theory with a scale. I hope that helps with all your future baking projects!
I am an avid baker and measured flour and rest of ingredients correctly. So strange that there are so many amazing reviews, which shows that it must be something I am doing. Will try again. I ended up using more butter and the filling as the recipe called for and they turned out amazing! The filling is lovely!!
Absolutely delicious and completely decadent. Perfect for a special occasion. And very easy to make.
I was a little underwhelmed with these. The pecan mix is good but I felt like the shortbread crust is too sweet so doesn’t present with a contrast in taste to the pecan topping. It may b the confectionary sugar which makes the shortbread sweeter than most shortbreads. I am serving them at Thanksgiving and may try sprinkling them w flaky salt.
Hi Margaret, did you make sure to add the salt to the crust? That definitely helps to balance it. I do love the idea of sprinkling with flaky salt.
I made these last Thanksgiving, and made them again today, and everyone Loved them. Said they were the best THING they’ve ever tasted! Not just pecan bars, but the best thing! This year I’m using a high quality maple syrup instead of honey, I’m sure they’ll be just as good!
Another fantastic recipe! So easy to make, and the biscuit base is absolutely delicious. We crumbled the pecan bars over ice cream, it was so good we immediately wanted more.
Can the pecan bar filling be used for a pie shell instead of the Karo syrup recipe?
Hi Sally! You can make this in a pie crust, but it’s not quite like traditional pecan pie which has more of a custard filling.
I’m at my daughter’s home and they are at an altitude of 4500 ft. Any suggestions on adjustments for altitude?
Hi Toni! I don’t have any experience with high altitude baking but based on my research online, a few recommendations are to lower
the temperature by 15-25 degrees because the filling tends to bubble and set faster.
I would start checking 5–10 minutes earlier as well.
Haven’t made these yet but wanted to ensure that these set up without any egg? All the pecan pie desserts I’ve ever made have eggs.
Hi Jessica, that’s correct. We use a Caramel style filling so you don’t need eggs.
Has anyone tried making 1/2 of the recipe and cook in 8×8 pan? If so, how was it?
Hi Diane! I haven’t tested it. Here’s what one of my readers mentioned about an 8×8 pan: “I used an 8×8 pan,saved and froze a third of the shortcake mixture,but added all the filling.which resulted in a nicely set bar but way too many pecans,tgis was my fault…the recipe is great..next time im only goibg to add 1.5 cups of pecans and an egg to set the mixture,i think without all the nuts i will need an egg to hold it together.”
These are wonderful! I can’t believe how delicious they are! My husband also said they were great. It’s nice that they make a lot of bars so you can give them away on the holidays. Thank you so much! Natasha!
These are wonderful! The shortbread is also so delicious! Am I able to freeze these?
So glad you loved them, Darlene! They freeze well, see the make ahead section above for instructions.
So glad you enjoyed them! Freezing: You can freeze for longer storage. Transfer to a freezer-safe zip bag, remove any excess air, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
This was a hit at my dinner party, many of us stated we liked it way better than pecan pie. I did half honey and half maple syrup, because I ran out of honey, and it worked great. My bars looked picture perfect too and I’ve already shared this recipe with others. Also, it’s extra yummy with a little whipped cream on top.
I am wondering if these can be made in mini muffin cups instead of a bigger pan to have cute individual bites?
Hi Michelle! I haven’t tested a mini version of this to advise. I think it could work but you’ll also have to watch them in the oven since they will most likely bake faster. Good luck! Let us know how they turn out.
(Also- you may find this article HERE helpful).
I’ve made this before and it’s always a hit! This year we have someone with a severe allergy so we can’t use the honey. Will this still work with agave nectar instead?
Hi Emily! I haven’t tested an alternative. I think it will work. Several of my viewers have reported using maple syrup with good results.
I am staying at an airbnb limited resources is there a crust shortcut?
Hi Michelle! You may be able to find a pre-made shortbread crust at that store, but likely it will be a round pie shape.
Also- if you don’t have a food processor, you can cut in the butter with two forks, or a pastry cutter.
I got up this morning and went to get milk for my coffee and saw the cream, the cream not opened! I forgot to add the cream, but they were delicious anyway. No one noticed. Sad thing is this is not my first rodeo. I am a baker and a cook. My only excuse is I am 73. Delish
I’m so glad you still loved it! You’ll have to make it with the cream next time, you’ll love it even more!
Can chocolate chip be added to this recipe?
Hi Becky! I have not tested it to advise. I think it can be done to top it off with chocolate chips as it cools.
I LOVE this recipe, Natasha! I’ve made it several years now. One question, I think I’ve used the filling recipe in my pecan pie last year because I prefer honey instead of Caro syrup . My husband wants these as well as a pecan pie. Also, should I make it the day before? I usually make it the morning of Thanksgiving, but I’m tired of cooking so much the day of (I always host🙄😂). I would like to leave out on the counter overnight if possible.
Thanks,
Heather
Hi Heather! I’m so glad you love the recipe. You can store them at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Thank you!
What about the pecan filling? Can I use it for a pie as well?
Thanks!
Hi Heather! It can work, but this is a lot more firm. It’s not your traditional pecan pie filling.