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These keto healthy pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting are an absolute essential to make during pumpkin season — and you don’t have to be keto to enjoy them! They bake up soft and sweet with a rich icing (based on my sugar-free cream cheese frosting recipe). And thanks to a few easy ingredient swaps, they have no white flour or sugar whatsoever.
To keep these low carb pumpkin bars tasting like the real deal, I carefully chose flour and sugar substitutes that would create the same flavor and texture. This recipe uses Wholesome Yum Almond Flour and Besti Monk Fruit Allulose Blend (both crystallized and powdered) to create a soft consistency and sweetness in the bars and frosting.
Why You’ll Love This Healthy Pumpkin Bars Recipe
- Spiced pumpkin and tangy cream cheese flavor
- Super soft, moist, cakey texture
- Fluffy, creamy, tangy frosting
- Simple, natural ingredients
- Just 10 minutes prep time
- Gluten-free, sugar free, and low in carbs (only 2g net carbs per bar)
- Loaded with protein and fiber
- The perfect fall dessert!
Ingredients & Substitutions
This section explains how to choose the best ingredients for keto pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, what each one does in the recipe, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card below.
Healthy Pumpkin Bars:
- Pumpkin Puree – Make sure to use 1 cup for this recipe, not 1 can. Also, get pure pumpkin puree instead of pumpkin pie filling, which has added sugar. You can use the extra canned pumpkin for making other pumpkin recipes.
- Coconut Oil – Keeps the bars soft and moist. If you don’t want coconut flavor, you can use a refined coconut oil or unsalted butter.
- Cream Cheese – Adds a tangy flavor and softness to the bars. You might be able to make this recipe dairy-free with a non-dairy cream cheese, but I haven’t tested it.
- Egg – Use whole, large eggs, at room temperature so that they don’t solidify the cream cheese and coconut oil. I haven’t tested these healthy pumpkin bars with flax eggs as a substitution, but let me know how it goes if you try that.
- Vanilla Extract – Use a high-quality extract for best flavor.
- Wholesome Yum Almond Flour – Some recipes use oats or oat flour, but I find that this almond flour has the the perfect consistency in these bars. The brand you choose can impact the result though, since some tend to be more grainy. That being said, you could probably substitute half the almond flour with oat flour if you’re not concerned about the carbs. Avoid using coconut flour, which would be too dry.
- Besti Monk Fruit Allulose Blend – Adds a touch of just-like-sugar sweetness, without the sugar spike! Besti locks in moisture better than other sugar substitutes, so the bars may be more dry if you use something else. If you still want to try another sweetener, use the sweetener conversion chart here. Avoid substituting with liquid sweeteners like maple syrup, which would make the bars fall apart.
- Baking Powder – Helps the sugar-free pumpkin bars rise. Don’t confuse this with baking soda, which is different.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – This is a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves, and ground allspice. You can usually find it in grocery stores, or make homemade pumpkin pie spice in minutes!
- Sea Salt – Balances the sweet flavor.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Cream Cheese – I use a full-fat variety, but any plain kind will work.
- Besti Powdered Monk Fruit Allulose Blend – This powdered sweetener blends effortlessly into the cream cheese, so it’s never gritty. And the new powdered formula is the finest grind out there, just like real powdered sugar.
- Vanilla Extract – Adds a touch of flavor.
- Heavy Cream – Optional, but makes the frosting slightly more spreadable.
VARIATION: Cream cheese frosting not for you?
You can skip it altogether, or try sugar-free buttercream frosting instead.
How To Make Healthy Pumpkin Bars
This section shows how to make pumpkin bars healthy, with step-by-step photos and details about the technique, to help you visualize it. For full instructions, including amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card below.
- Melt. Use a bowl or double boiler to melt cream cheese and coconut oil together, stirring to combine.
- Beat wet ingredients. Combine pumpkin puree, cream cheese mixture, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl and beat with a hand mixer until smooth.
- Mix dry ingredients. Stir together almond flour, Besti, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a bowl.
- Make batter. Combine wet and dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined.
- Bake. Transfer batter to a baking pan (this is the right size) lined with parchment paper. Bake the healthy pumpkin bars in the oven, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Make cream cheese frosting. Use a hand mixer to beat cream cheese, powdered Besti, and vanilla together, until smooth.
- Frost. Once bars have cooled, spread frosting over the top and slice. (You can also add a sprinkle of cinnamon or pumpkin spice on top if you like.)
VARIATION: Get more crunch!
Add chopped pecans, walnuts, or chocolate chips to the finished bars for extra texture.
Storage Instructions
- Store: Keep healthy pumpkin bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Freeze: Chill fully in the fridge, then carefully wrap. (I recommend plastic wrap followed by foil.) Place in the freezer for up to 3 months. Unwrap and thaw overnight in the fridge before serving.
More Keto And Healthy Pumpkin Recipes
Enjoy all the rich, cozy flavor of pumpkin without the sugar. Try it with these easy treats (and check out more healthy and keto pumpkin recipes here)!
Tools To Make Keto Pumpkin Bars
- Hand Mixer – Makes batter quick and easy to whip up for this healthy pumpkin bar recipe.
- Baking Dish – The perfect size for these low sugar pumpkin bars.
Keto Healthy Pumpkin Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting
Keto Healthy Pumpkin Bars (Cream Cheese Frosting!)
Keto healthy pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting use natural ingredients, no added sugar, and taste bakery fresh. Just 10 minutes prep!
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Ingredients
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Healthy Pumpkin Bars
Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
Tap on the times in the instructions below to start a kitchen timer while you cook.
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Line a 9×9 in (23×23 cm) baking pan with parchment paper.
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Using a bowl in the microwave or a double boiler on the stove, melt together the cream cheese and coconut oil, until you can stir them together easily.
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In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, melted coconut oil/cream cheese mixture, eggs and vanilla. Beat with a hand mixer at medium speed, until smooth.
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In another bowl, stir together the almond flour, Besti, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
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Add the dry flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Beat with the hand mixer at low speed, until just combined.
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Transfer the batter to the lined baking pan and smooth the top. Bake for30-35 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.
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To make the frosting, use a hand mixer to beat together the cream cheese, powdered Besti, and vanilla, until smooth. (You can thin it out with a little milk or cream if you'd like.) Let the bars cool completely before frosting and cutting.
Last Step: Leave A Rating!
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Readers Who Liked This Easy Recipe Also Made:
Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 bar, or 1/16 of entire recipe
Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see our nutrition policy.
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454 Comments
Gloria
1I made this recipe this evening and it turned out quite well. I used Swerve brown and Swerve confectioners sugar because that’s what I had. For the cake I used 1/3 C brown and 1/4 C confectioners, which was less than the 2/3 C called for. For the icing I used 1/4 C, less than the 1/3 C called for, of Swerve confectioners. I will use even less sugar next time. This was still too sweet for me. I also increased the heavy cream to 3T, could probably use 4. I will make this again.
Angela
1This is sooooooo delicious, easy to make, and a favorite to bring over to friends and family!
Julia
1This is my absolute favorite dessert! Thank you!
Deb Hall-Hofertza
1What size baking pan? I have several.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0You use a 9 x 9 baking pan, Deb! Thank you!
Ebony
0This was a good recipe. It comes together pretty easily and looks really appetizing. I may try to add some maple flavoring as another baker suggested to bump it to a full five stars for flavor. Regardless, it was a really nice treat I’m sure I’ll make again.
Roberta
0These bars are wonderful and just right to cure the sweet tooth craving. I was surprised at the size of the serving, but it just goes to show how we need to retrain our thinking of healthy portion sizes.
Michelle
0I was going to make my own keto pumpkin bar, but after I saw this easy recipe I knew I had to try it.
My whole family loved this. Great texture easy to serve, perfectly pumpkin pie flavored.
– I made a traditional pumpkin pie for the normies and I made these bars primarily for myself and my father-in-law we eat low carb no sugar for health reasons. 1 out of two people actually prefered this bar to the traditional P pie!
I used half butter and half unflavored coconut oil & I added vanilla and used part xylitol and part allulose to sweeten, (allulose sets as it cools the knife test might not be accurate just time it and eyeball the top color for doneness), It was quite sweet almost overly*. I skipped the cream cheese topping, used big dollops or unsweetened whipped cream that helped even out the sweetness and keep it light.
This recipe is so easy, I’m in NZ and have to roast a whole pumpkin to make my thanksgiving pies (since we don’t have Thanksgiving & hard to find canned P Puree) . Easy to freeze 1 Cup portions of fresh puree to make this bar quick and easy any time. Fresh roasted pumkin is super yum and easy – just have to plan ahead.
* If you slow roast your pumpkin the natural sugars develop and I think that’s why mine was overly sweet so, slow roast a pumkin and reduce your granulated sweetener for even more wholesomeness.
Twists:
add a little ground clove, suger free maple syrup, chinese five spice, or cardamom, or make it pumpkin Chai.
VICKIE BUETTNER
0ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!! Thanks for sharing!!
Susan
0Made these last night…super easy and they were a hit at work today. Even one of the none Keto/Low Carb people loved them! Of course mine were not nearly as pretty as your pictures but the frosting covered up my sloppy bars lol
mare
0I really enjoyed these pumpkin bars! I didn’t have pumpkin pie spice so I simply used cinnamon. And my toothpick came out clean at 30 minutes but for a slightly firmer bar, I’d probably go 35 min next time. But they were very moist. And the frosting was perfect. Thank you for the recipe.