The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars (V + GF)

These vegan pumpkin chocolate chip oatmeal bars are the perfect healthy snack. Made with simple ingredients, these chocolate chip pumpkin bars are as easy as they are delicious. Best served with a cup of coffee!

These healthy pumpkin oat bars are the dream. Spiced pumpkin flavour, melty chocolate chips and a lovely texture from rolled oats, this sweet treat is the cosy snack you've been looking for. 

Packed with healthy ingredients, these granola bars are a great addition to your baking roster and a great way to take advantage of pumpkin season. They also make the perfect breakfast for a slow weekend morning and are also gluten-free when made with coconut flour and gluten-free oats. 

The best part is that they also make a healthy-ish dessert option. They're: 

• A tasty way to incorporate veggies, thanks to pumpkin puree
• Made without any refined sugar, thanks to coconut sugar
• Gluten-free, thanks to a combo of oat flour and coconut flour (as long as you use certified gluten-free oats)
• 100% vegan-friendly

Making Your Own Pumpkin Puree

While canned pumpkin might make this recipe easier, it's not strictly necessary. It's perfectly fine to make your own pumpkin puree, which is easier than you might expect. 

If you're doing lots of pumpkin-themed baking, feel free to make a big batch, using some for this recipe at saving the rest for later. You can even eat it alone as a side, with a bit of salt and spice added for flavour. 

To make your own pumpkin puree: 

• Pour a bag of frozen pumpkin chunks into a colander or steamer basket
• Fill a large pot with about ½ - 1 inch of boiling water
• Steam the pumpkin by placing the colander or steamer basket into the pot
• Turn the heat to high, and cover the bot (and colander/basket) with a lid
• Steam for about 10-15 minutes, until all pumpkin is defrosted and soft
• Remove the pumpkin from the pot, letting it sit in the colander or steamer basket for a few minutes, so any excess water can drain away
• Blend steamed pumpkin until smooth

Making Your Own Oat Flour

You’ll also see that this recipe calls for oat flour. Again, this is super simple to make yourself. 

All you need to do is put your oats in a blender, and blend until they’ve become a fine powdery flour. We recommend doing this as the very first step so that you can have all your ingredients ready to go as you bake these oatmeal bars.

What You Need to Make This Recipe

Dry ingredients

• Coconut sugar: If you don't have coconut sugar, brown sugar will work 
• Oat flour: This recipe is best made with oat flour - to make it yourself, simply blend oats in a high-speed blender until powdery. 
• Oats: Rolled oats work best for this recipe. In a pinch, you can use quick oats, but note that they'll be less textured. 
• Coconut flour: Coconut flour keeps these gluten-free, but feel free to swap for all-purpose flour or a 50/50 mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour. Using only whole wheat flour will make these bars too dry and is not recommended. 
• Baking powder: Baking powder is a must, so make sure you have this on hand. 
• Pumpkin pie spice/ mixed spice: Pumpkin or mixed spice adds a delicious autumn flavour. If you don't have either of these, you can use a 50/50 mix of cinnamon and ground nutmeg. 
• Pinch of sea salt: A small pinch of salt adds complexity - don't leave it out!
• Vegan chocolate chips: If you're not vegan, you can use any milk or dark chocolate chips. 

Wet ingredients

• Pumpkin puree: This is essential. See notes on making it yourself above. 
• Coconut oil: Coconut oil tastes great in these bars, but if you don't have it you can use any neutral-tasting oil (not olive oil) or melted butter instead. 
• Vanilla extract: Vanilla adds a hint of flavour and is highly recommended but not 100% essential. 

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