Pecan Bars
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My pecan bars recipe is like pecan pie in bar form. It includes a scrumptious shortbread crust topped with a buttery honey-flavored filling overloaded with pecans.
Oh yes, you read that right! If you like classic pecan pie, it’s going to be love at first sight when you try my pecan bar recipe. With the combination of the shortbread crust and the deliciously sweet pecan filling, if you close your eyes you will 100% think you’re biting into pecan pie.
Fortunately, these pecan bars are so easy to make. The first step is to make the crust using flour, salt, sugar, and butter. Cut the ingredients together and then pop that in the oven to pre-bake. While that’s baking, we make our delicious pecan pie filling using pecans (of course), more butter and sugar, honey, and vanilla. Some pecan bar recipes do this on the stovetop, but we’re cutting out that step and just giving it a quick mix in a bowl. Then we spread the pecan mixture over the crust to bake for about 20 minutes.
How quick and easy does that sound? Music to my ears, I tell ya! You will have to be patient though and let them cool before you take that first bite. But I promise they’re definitely worth the wait. Go that extra mile and serve your pecan square with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream or custard for Thanksgiving dessert.
I’m such a fan of pecan recipes, especially when the weather finally cools in the fall. Pecans and Thanksgiving just go hand in hand, right? However, don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been known to swap them for walnuts more often than not because we all know they’re so much cheaper! Here are 9 pecan recipes to keep you going, but there’s even more below.
Alright, that’s enough of me sharing my love for pecans, let’s get baking!
Recipe Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Honey
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Chopped pecans (or pecan halves)
How to Make Pecan Bars
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.
In a large bowl mix the flour…
½ cup sugar…
And salt.
Mix the dry ingredients together.
Add chopped butter to the mixing bowl.
Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or long-tined fork until it looks like crumbs.
Make the crust by pressing the mixture into the prepared pan.
Bake this for 20 minutes. Remove but keep the oven on.
In a different mixing bowl, we’re going to make the pecan bar filling. So add the honey…
1.5 cups of sugar…
Eggs…
Melted butter…
And vanilla.
Make sure that it’s smooth like so…
Then fold in the chopped pecans and stir once more.
Spread the filling evenly over the baked crust ASAP when it comes out of the oven.
Bake in the oven until the filling is set (approximately 20-25 minutes).
Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan before slicing them up into delicious pecan bars.
Note: If you have a wire rack place the pan on it to cool.
I’m sorry but how delicious does this pecan pie bar look?!
Excuse me, I’m going to go dig in!
Storage
- Store leftover pecan pie bars in an airtight container either at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 5 days. They can be served chilled, at room temperature, or warmed.
- You can also freeze leftovers for up to 3 months and thaw them at room temperature before enjoying them.
Recipe Notes
- If you like, you can substitute the granulated sugar for light brown sugar in either the crust and filling or both. You can also substitute the sugar in the crust for powdered sugar or confectioner’s sugar to make an extra-tender, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread crust.
- Other options besides honey are light corn syrup (the traditional method) or maple syrup.
- I know pecans aren’t cheap, so feel free to substitute them for walnuts or use a combination of mixed nuts, like cashews and blanched peanuts.
Recipe FAQs
How do you know when pecan bars are done?
How do you serve pecan pie bars?
These pecan bars taste delicious on their own, but for dessert, I love to serve them with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or custard.
How do you make chocolate pecan bars?
To make chocolate pecan pie bars, fold in 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks when you add the pecans. Another option is to add toffee bits.
Can we tempt you with more pecan recipes?
Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
Crust
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter
Pecan Filling
- 1.5 cups honey
- 4 eggs
- 3 tbsp butter, melted
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 2.5 cups chopped pecans
- 1.5 cups sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, ½ cup sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter until it looks like crumbs. Make the crust by pressing the mixture into the pan.3 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 cup butter
- Bake this for 20 minutes. Remove but keep the oven on.
- Mix the honey, 1.5 cups sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl. Make sure that it's smooth and then add in chopped pecans and stir it up.1.5 cups honey, 4 eggs, 3 tbsp butter, melted, 1.5 tsp vanilla extract, 2.5 cups chopped pecans, 1.5 cups sugar
- Spread the filling evenly over the baked crust ASAP when it comes out of the oven.
- Bake in the oven until the filling is set (approximately 20-25 minutes). Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan before slicing them up into delicious bars.
Does it work better in a glass baking dish or a metal one or does that matter?
Doesn’t matter too much for this recipe but if use a metal baking pain I would increase the temp about 25 degrees. Glass takes longer to heat up but it holds the heat longer, whereas Metal heats up fast but doesn’t retain the heat as easily as glass.
This looks and sounds so easy. With all the step by step instructions it will be easy to make
Yum looks yummy. I’m going to try it but have a son who is allergic to eggs … one of the substitutes for an egg is cornstarch and water, another is chia seed and water which seems like the consistency would be closer to an egg. What would you do? I usually make a couple of eggless options for him whenever they all come to my house
I haven’t made them without the eggs but from what you have described if I were experimenting I would go with the chia seeds and water and see what happens. Let me know!
I have a tree nut allergy, would these be good with peanuts ? Thank you !
If you can have peanuts then yes I think that would work just fine.
I have some English walnuts on hand as well I think I’ll add those in addition to pecans!
I love pecans and these look delicious!
I don’t usually have honey, but I always have maple syrup. I will be using that as a substitute. I think this will be so much better than a pie!